Mail2ZOS Presented by Robert LaBayne Product Development Manager [email protected].

Mail2ZOS

Presented byRobert LaBayne

Product Development [email protected]

Mail2ZOS - Agenda

Overview The Problems Addressed The Mail2ZOS Solution Mail2ZOS Email Flow Summary of Benefits Some Examples A word about FTPSweeper Licensing

Overview

Mail2ZOS is like giving your mainframe application an email address.

The user sends an email, with or without attachments, to the mainframe for processing.

Mail2ZOS then: Receives the email Stores attached files into MVS datasets And based on the contents performs actions such as

submitting jobs for execution. Sends email notices to all

The Problems…

On Demand Jobs Driven by end-user requests and

requirements Can have complicated request procedures Or simply be a nuisance for ‘Operations’ Things can fall through the cracks at busy times.

Uploading Files and ProcessingMulti-step, jury-rigged procedures that can require costly human intervention and/or arcane knowledge

…On Demand Jobs

Some ‘traditional’ ways The user calls up ‘operations’:

“Hi George, this is Mary in accounting, can you run job AB023 for me and send the printout to my printer?”

Give the user a TSO account: Train users in 3270 usage,TSO/ISPF for submitting the

JCL and SDSF for output review Manage TSO accounts for users

More ways than we can describe…

…Uploading Files and Processing

Some ‘traditional’ ways TSO IND$FILE – requires TSO account, 3270

software and trained end-users FTP - client connection to open port on host

server More methods than ways to describe

them!

The Mail2ZOS Solution

Give your mainframe application an email address!

The user attaches the data to an email and sends it!

Mail2ZOS takes over:

Mail2ZOS: Receives or retrieves the email ‘Recognizes it’ by email address, sender

address or subject, etc. Parses the email and safely stores the

attachments into mainframe datasets. Composes and submits a job to process the

newly stored data. Sends email confirmation notices to all

concerned (built-in to Mail2ZOS) Sends job results via email (with JES2Mail)

The Mail2ZOS Solution

Email is the easiest, most reliable and universal method for interacting with end users

Everyone has access to email! Natural queuing mechanism. Email could be generated by any mechanism, ie.

Web page Users never ‘see’ the mainframe or require

training – they simply send an email message with a proper subject to a proper address.

Mail2ZOS does (or at least invokes) the rest.

Flow of email with data

Email Client

Mail2zOS'Get Mail'

SubmittedBatch Job

Report ofProcessing JES2Mail

==========

==========

Recieve emailas SMTP server Email with attached Report

Email Request with Data

Decode email, storeattachments, compose

and submit processing job.

Send the report of theprocess back to requestor

POP3 Server Pick up fromPOP3 Server

Mail2zOSProcess

Mail

==========Notice

Mail2ZOS Dataflow

Configuration for Receiving

Trace=fullListenPortNo: 25OurDomainName: Mail2ZOS.Mainframe.comTempDirectory: /u/M2Z/Mail2ZOSReceiverUserList: UserList

File: Config


Domain: Mail2zos.Mainframe.comDomain: Mainframe.comForUser: DepositReconciliation Subdir: MailboxDR1ForUser: TimeSheets Subdir: MailboxDR2


File: UserList

File: Config


Domain: Mail2zos.Mainframe.comDomain: Mainframe.comForUser: DepositReconciliation Subdir: MailboxDR1ForUser: TimeSheets Subdir: MailboxDR2


File: UserList

File: Config

[email protected] /u/M2Z/Mail2ZOS/MailboxDR2

Processing the ‘raw’ Email

The ‘Process Mail’ task takes over: Each ‘host mailbox’ has a corresponding Ruleset, or

set of Rules. A ‘Rule’ within the ruleset is determined by the

email’s envelope, or so called ‘headers’. Some of the envelope items we can look at are:

Sender address Recipient address Subject

The email’s body (‘cover page’) can be processed, just like an attachment

I.e. With a script it can ‘pick out’ data fields.

Ruleset for Timesheet Data

RULESET: TimeSheetRecognizeBy: &Subject; eq “TimeSheet*"Coverpage: Action: IgnoreOBject: Where AttachmentFilename = "*.csv" Action: File StoreName: hlq.payroll.time###.dat StoreOpenOption: wb,type=record,lrecl=100,recfm=FB,blksize=10000,- DISP=(*,CATLG,DELETE) DeeditStyle: Comma DeeditMask: "11x,25x,7v2z,8v2z,8v2z" SubmitJobFilename: Job2

File: TimeSht1

JCL to Process Timesheet Data

//M2ZJOB2 JOB . . . //*//* *--------------------------*--//* * SUBJECT: &Subject;//* * From: &From;//* *--------------------------*--//STEP1 EXEC PGM=PAYROLL1//TIMEIN DD DSN=&ZFULLSAVEFILENAME;,DISP=SHR//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*//SYSIN DD *From: &From;Date: &Date;

File: Job2

Multiple Mailboxes can Isolate Multiple Applications

Mail2ZOS'Process Mail'Application1

Task

Email User1

Email User2

Email User5

Email User4

Email User3

Z/OS Mainframe with Mail2zOS

Mail2ZOS'GetMail'

Task


Task


Task

Applicaiton3Job3C

RACFUser3

Application2Job2

RACFUser2

Application1Job1

RACFUser1

Applicaiton3Job3B

RACFUser3

Applicaiton3Job3A

RACFUser3

HFS Mailbox App1

HFS Mailbox App1

HFS Mailbox App1

Users Send Email todifferent Email Address

Mail2ZOS Receive theemail, and can place in

common or separate 'host'mailboxes in HFS

directories.

Mail2ZOS Processoperations can select

messages from a 'host'mailbox and process

under separtate RACFuser IDs appropriate to the

specific application.

After storing data files, theproper job is submitted or

action performed.

Processing the Attachments

Attached files can be: Translated from ASCII to EBCDIC if needed De-edited into fixed field records (CSV files) Parsed into records or treated as an undefined

(Binary files ‘blobs’) Stored into MVS dataset

Fixed or we’ll make a unique filename Written to JES as a SYSOUT ‘Wrapped’ with JCL and submitted

Any records with “//” are converted to “$$” to prevent any JCL to be submitted

Processed with the script language Parse out data elements that might be used for

table lookup or composing job stream parameters Issue messages, compose JCL or email notices, etc.

Jobstream ‘JCL’ handling

JCL composition: Can come from a library member. Can be part of a script. Cannot come from the email or its attachments. Symbolic variables can be inserted. Can have conditional logic to alter the composed JCL

Job submission: Submitted via internal reader - or Instead of immediately submitting jobs, they can be

composed and stored in libraries for later submission - or The script language can call a routine to schedule a job -

or The script language can issue master console messages

(often used as ‘triggers’ by job schedulers)

More Features

Email Notices: Notices can be emailed to the requester to

confirm message has been received and is being processed

Notices of what was performed can be emailed to ‘operations’ to keep them informed

Script Language Parse Cover page or text attachments files ‘Pickout’ elements for JCL generation Do table lookup

Some security features

We only accept emails addressed to ‘us’. There can be separate email address for different

‘applications’. Their emails are stored in separate ‘mailboxes’ for specific processing.

We have to ‘recognize’ the email subject or other envelope info for processing selection.

JCL cannot be submitted directly If we are ‘wrapping’ JCL, then any “//” in the data is

converted to “$$” – not an option! All JCL is predefined in host libraries, or host

maintained scripts. All rules of RACF or other host security still

apply.

Summary of Benefits

Allows an end user to request a mainframe action without direct access to the mainframe.

Email is about the easiest way to upload data to the mainframe.

Intrinsic queuing of email insulates the sender from mainframe or network outages.

Automate more complicated procedures Better audit trails on upload operations Better audit of requests for on-demand jobs Happy Users!

Some examples

A Regional Bank

Retrieve archived customer statements: A batch operation does the job, but

Someone with TSO knowledge and access is needed To edit the required a parameter card And submit the job And monitor the job And get the results back to the requester

Now the customer service user just emails the request with the customer ID and the job is submitted.

The results are emailed back to customer service for review and forwarding to the customer.

Results: Better customer service!

Request a statement

And a few minutes later:

A Regional Bank

A department has PC software that creates large text files to be printed on forms.

The old way… FTP and phone calls Now they simply email the text files. The subject line is parsed to get the ‘form name’ the

file is to be printed on. Mail2ZOS submits a job to format the data for the

printer with the appropriate form. And sends out email notices to operations and the

requesting department that the reports are ready for printing.

Results: Faster results with less steps!

A County Government

How to get Excel data into the mainframe. The user now saves the spreadsheet as .csv (comma

separated values) and emails the file to Mail2ZOS Mail2ZOS ‘de-edits’ the .csv file into fixed (zoned) fields

ready for mainframe application use. Then it submits the job to process the spreadsheet

data.

Results: Mainframe database updated faster!

Government Agency

How to get secure data from remote sites into the mainframe to update a database.

The ‘sender’ uses PKZIP to compress and encrypt the data file, with their assigned password.

They email the encrypted attachment to Mail2ZOS. Mail2ZOS:

Stores the encrypted data file on the mainframe Using the sender’s address, it does a ‘host’ look up to

find their assigned password. Submits a job that will invoke PKZIP on the mainframe

and inserts the assigned password into the jobstream. Email notices go out to all

Results: Database updated securely!

FTPSweeper

Just a word about the companion

FTPSweeper

Instead of handling email, FTPSweeper: Connects to any number of remote FTP

servers SSL/TLS secure transport is supported

Looks for files to upload Uploads and stores them on the mainframe Then deletes or renames them on the FTP

server. The rest of the functions of Mail2ZOS are

then available: Job submission, script, etc.

Licensing – North America Annual License.

Not tier priced 45 day free trial No more than 5% per year increase

Perpetual License. Not tier priced 45 day free trial Annual Maintenance after 1st year, 15% or

price 1st year of Annual License can apply

towards perpetual purchase.Prices Subject to Change Without Notice

For a Free Software Trial

Contact: Register and download Mail2ZOS from

www.casisoft.com

Send a request for trial keys to:[email protected]: Ed Hollshwandner

Mail2ZOS Presented by Robert LaBayne Product Development Manager [email protected].

Documents

email address

mail2zos solution email

mail2zos dataflow slide

data slide

flow of email

email notices

email stores

config slide