Welcome
IBM Z Software Asset Management 8.3.1
Running utilities
IBM Z Software Asset Management provides utilities that you run to perform routine functional tasks to maintain the product lifecycle.
Tagging unidentified products with the Product Tagging utility
The Product tagging utility allows you to create local entries for your in-house software in the Local Knowledge Database. It is not intended for creating IBM or ISV software, as this may cause unpredictable results. If you need to add products or versions that are not being identified, then notify IBM Support, so that they can then update the GKB. On certain occasions, IBM Support may consider your request to add IBM or ISV software to the LKB database, but contact them first before doing so.

IBM Z Software Asset Management 8.3.1
- Program Directory
- PDF manual
- Product overview
  IBM Z Software Asset Management is built on the concept of remote and central mainframe components which work together to produce reports on z/OS® mainframe products and their usage. This section provides you with a high-level overview of the IBM Z Software Asset Management core architecture.
- Planning for deployment
  Before you deploy IBM Z Software Asset Management, consider which deployment option is best suited to your environment.
- Installing and customizing IBM Z Software Asset Management
  The product installation involves downloading the product and available updates, preparing the database, and configuring and populating a test database. After verifying that all components are correctly installed, you duplicate the test database to create a production database where you automate data collection and import tasks.
- Implementing deployment scenarios
  Most implementations of IBM Z Software Asset Management are based on one of the common deployment scenarios. An example is provided for implementing each of these common deployment scenarios with a Db2® Repository database. You can adapt an example for use with an SQLite Repository database.
- Migrating to IBM Z Software Asset Management 8.3.1
  When you migrate to the latest version of IBM Z Software Asset Management from an earlier version, you must convert existing data to be compatible with your new environment.
- Collecting and importing data with IBM Z Software Asset Management
  IBM Z Software Asset Management includes programs that collect system and usage data, import, filter, and match this data, update the Repository tables, and make the data available for review and query.
- Reporting with the Analyzer
  The primary reporting facility in IBM Z Software Asset Management is the Analyzer.
- REST API
- Running utilities
  IBM Z Software Asset Management provides utilities that you run to perform routine functional tasks to maintain the product lifecycle.
  - Condensing usage data with the ZCAT utility
    The ZCAT utility concatenates and condenses Usage Monitor data sets and generates a file that is then processed by the Usage Import program. When you condense the data produced by the Usage Monitor program, you can save storage space and improve the performance of the Usage Import program.
  - Deleting usage data with the Usage Deletion utility
    Use the Usage Deletion utility to delete detailed, summarized, and aggregated usage data for a specified period for all systems in the repository. Each time you run the utility, usage data is aggregated to update the asset tables.
  - Deleting a specific system with the System Deletion utility
    Use the System Deletion utility to delete discovery, usage, and hardware data for a specified system.
  - Deleting obsolete data with the Physical Deletion utility
    Use the Physical Deletion utility to delete obsolete data that are no longer required.
  - Deleting obsolete audit records with the MDEL Deletion utility
    Use the MDEL Deletion utility to delete obsolete audit records that are no longer required.
  - High-level qualifier listing
    IBM Z Software Asset Management collects large amounts of usage data. The High-level Qualifier Listing for the Usage Monitor utility creates a list of high-level qualifiers for the products that are to be identified.
  - Updating the TPARAM table
    The TPARAM table in the repository can be set to an inconsistent state due to failures in jobs that update the repository tables. You can reset a parameter in the TPARAM table to rectify this inconsistent state.
  - Tagging unidentified products with the Product Tagging utility
    The Product tagging utility allows you to create local entries for your in-house software in the Local Knowledge Database. It is not intended for creating IBM or ISV software, as this may cause unpredictable results. If you need to add products or versions that are not being identified, then notify IBM Support, so that they can then update the GKB. On certain occasions, IBM Support may consider your request to add IBM or ISV software to the LKB database, but contact them first before doing so.
    - Product tagging process
      Product tagging is a manual process where you must provide the product name, the vendor, and the location of the programs. The Product Tagging utility uses the same method as the Inquisitor program to scan the programs and records the results in dedicated program members.
    - Product tagging job and control statements
      You use the HSISPTAG job in the JCLLIB to run the Product Tagging utility. This job is generated from the HSISCUST post-installation customization job. You input control statements using the SYSIN file.
    - Product tagging examples
      Three examples are provided to show the ways that you can use the Product Tagging utility to tag unidentified products.
  - Importing Subcapacity reporting data with the SCRT Import utility
    The SCRT Import utility imports data (CSV files) which are generated from the IBM Subcapacity Reporting Tool. The import tool now also supports the importing of Tailored Fit Pricing (TFP) data. New reports to show TFP data are available in the Analyzer under the Asset tab.
  - Extracting data with the XML Export utility
    The XML Export utility extracts information in XML format that you can then import into IBM Control Desk (ICD).
  - Loading data into a staging table (for Db2® only)
  - Reporting LMOD ownership from the CSI
    The CSI scanning utility scans LMOD ownership in target zones either from the GLOBAL CSI or a TARGET CSI.
  - Compressing and decompressing data sets with the HSIZIP utility
    HSIZIP is a utility program that can compress a sequential or partitioned data set into a zip archive, decompress the contents of a zip archive into a sequential or partitioned data set, and report on the contents of a zip archive.
  - Browsing zipped data
    Components such as the Inquisitor programs, the Usage Monitor, and the ZCAT utility deal with sequential data sets containing zip archives. Processing the data with a zip algorithm allows the same information to be conveyed in a fraction of the original size, but it does mean that browsing the file to quickly confirm the nature of its content becomes a more involved process.
  - Browsing active collection data
    The Usage Monitor collects program usage information and writes out the collected data at least once each day. Once the data is in a data set, it is possible to browse it to determine if some expected usage was collected or not. Sometimes it would be advantageous to be able to determine if expected data collection has taken place without waiting for the collection cycle to end, either at the expected time or because it was triggered manually to facilitate data access.
  - Verifying database changes since the product was released
    This utility verifies database changes that were introduced after the product was released.
- Configuring language support
  Z Software Asset Management includes Japanese language support for MVS™ Message Service (MMS) message information. You can also configure the Analyzer utility to create and view reports in Japanese.
- Reference information for IBM Z Software Asset Management
  Reference information includes messages, repository table layouts, and performance and tuning.
- Troubleshooting and support
  To isolate and resolve problems with your IBM software, you can use the troubleshooting, messages, and support information. This information contains instructions for using the problem determination resources that are provided with your IBM products.
- IBM Z Software Asset Management messages
  You can identify the type of message by the message prefix.
- Description of output message content
  Messages generated during batch processing are explained in detail here.
Notices

Tagging unidentified products with the Product Tagging utility

The Product tagging utility allows you to create local entries for your in-house software in the Local Knowledge Database. It is not intended for creating IBM or ISV software, as this may cause unpredictable results. If you need to add products or versions that are not being identified, then notify IBM Support, so that they can then update the GKB. On certain occasions, IBM Support may consider your request to add IBM or ISV software to the LKB database, but contact them first before doing so.

Note:

Using options from the Administration tab of the Analyzer is the preferred method for updating and managing the contents of the Local Knowledge Base (LKB). Use of the Analyzer will ensure that the LKB is updated in a logically consistent way. In order to continue creating program tag data with the Tagger in batch, supply a program parameter of OLDTAG (e.g. PGM=HSITAGP,PARM='OLDTAG'). For tagging large amounts of data, always use the batch job. Also, the tag data can only be collected by the Inquisitor if the OLDTAG keyword is defined in the INQPARM string that is passed to the Inquisitor program, HSIPINQ.