Initializing Zowe security configurations

This security configuration step is required for first time setup of Zowe. If Zowe has already been launched on a z/OS system from a previous release of Zowe v2, and the zwe init security subcommand successfully ran when initializing the z/OS subsystem, you can skip this step unless told otherwise in the release documentation.

Required roles: system programmer, security administrator

Consult with your security administrator before you proceed with initializing Zowe security configurations.

The JCL member .SZWESAMP(ZWESECUR) is provided to assist with the security configuration. Before submitting the ZWESECUR JCL member, you should customize it to match site security rules. For script driven scenarios, you can run the command zwe init security which uses ZWESECUR as a template to create a customized member in .CUST.JCLLIB which contains the commands needed to perform the security configuration.

note

Zowe supports TLS versions 1.2 and 1.3.

Configuring with zwe init security command

The zwe init security command reads data from zowe.yaml and constructs a JCL member using ZWESECUR as a template which is then submitted. This is a convenience step to assist with driving Zowe configuration through a pipeline or when you prefer to use USS commands rather than directly edit and customize JCL members.

note

If you do not have permissions to update your security configurations, use the security-dry-run. We recommend you inform your security administrator to review the ZWESECUR job content.

Using security-dry-run

Specify the parameter --security-dry-run to construct a JCL member containing the security commmands without running it. This is useful for previewing commands and can also be used to copy and paste commands into a TSO command prompt for step by step manual execution.

Example:

#>zwe init security -c ./zowe.yaml --security-dry-run
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Run Zowe security configurations

Modify ZWESECUR
- IBMUSER.ZWEV2.CUST.JCLLIB(ZW134428) is prepared

Dry-run mode, security setup is NOT performed on the system.
Please submit IBMUSER.ZWEV2.CUST.JCLLIB(ZW134428) manually.
>> Zowe security configurations are applied successfully.

#>

Configuring with ZWESECUR JCL

An alternative to using zwe init security is to prepare a JCL member to configure the z/OS system, and edit ZWESECUR to make changes.

The JCL allows you to vary which security manager you use by setting the PRODUCT variable to be one of the following ESMs:

• RACF
• ACF2
• TSS.

Example:

//         SET PRODUCT=RACF          * RACF, ACF2, or TSS

If ZWESECUR encounters an error or a step that has already been performed, it continues to the end, so it can be run repeatedly in a scenario such as a pipeline automating the configuration of a z/OS environment for Zowe installation.

Important

It is expected that your security administrator will be required to review, edit where necessary, and either execute ZWESECUR as a single job, or execute individual TSO commands to complete the security configuration of a z/OS system in preparation for installing and running Zowe.

The following video shows how to locate the ZWESECUR JCL member and execute it.

Undo security configurations

To undo all of the z/OS security configuration steps performed by the JCL member ZWESECUR, use the reverse member ZWENOSEC. This member contains steps that reverse steps performed by ZWESECUR. This is useful in the following situations:

• You are configuring z/OS systems as part of a build pipeline that you want to undo, and redo configuration and installation of Zowe using automation.
• You configured a z/OS system for Zowe that you no longer want to use, and you prefer to delete the Zowe user IDs and undo the security configuration settings rather than leave them enabled.

If you run ZWENOSEC on a z/OS system, it is necessary to rerun ZWESECUR to reinitialize the z/OS security configuration. Zowe cannot be run until ZWESECUR is rerun.

Next step

After you successfully initalize Zowe security configurations, the next step is to perform APF authorization of load libraries.