Mail2ZOS

1
Mail2ZOS

• Presented by
• Robert LaBayne
• Product Development Manager
• rlabayne_at_casisoft.com

2
Mail2ZOS - Agenda

                                 

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

3
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

4
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 Processing
• Multi-step, jury-rigged procedures that can
  require costly human intervention and/or arcane
  knowledge

5
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

6
Uploading Files and Processing

• Some traditional ways
• TSO INDFILE 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!

7
The Mail2ZOS Solution

• Give your mainframe application an email address!
• The user attaches the data to an email and sends
  it!

8
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)

9
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.

10
Flow of email with data
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Mail2ZOS Dataflow
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Configuration for Receiving
File Config
Tracefull ListenPortNo 25 OurDomainName
Mail2ZOS.Mainframe.com TempDirectory
/u/M2Z/Mail2ZOS ReceiverUserList UserList
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Configuration for Receiving
File Config
Tracefull ListenPortNo 25 OurDomainName
Mail2ZOS.Mainframe.com TempDirectory
/u/M2Z/Mail2ZOS ReceiverUserList UserList
File UserList
Domain Mail2zos.Mainframe.com Domain
Mainframe.com ForUser DepositReconciliation
Subdir MailboxDR1 ForUser TimeSheets
Subdir MailboxDR2
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Configuration for Receiving
File Config
Tracefull ListenPortNo 25 OurDomainName
Mail2ZOS.Mainframe.com TempDirectory
/u/M2Z/Mail2ZOS ReceiverUserList UserList
File UserList
Domain Mail2zos.Mainframe.com Domain
Mainframe.com ForUser DepositReconciliation
Subdir MailboxDR1 ForUser TimeSheets
Subdir MailboxDR2
TimeSheets_at_mainframe.com ? /u/M2Z/Mail2ZOS/Mailbox
DR2
15
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
  emails envelope, or so called headers.
• Some of the envelope items we can look at are
• Sender address
• Recipient address
• Subject
• The emails body (cover page) can be processed,
  just like an attachment
• I.e. With a script it can pick out data fields.

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Ruleset for Timesheet Data
File TimeSht1
RULESET TimeSheet RecognizeBy Subject eq
TimeSheet" Coverpage Action Ignore OBject
Where AttachmentFilename ".csv" Action
File StoreName hlq.payroll.time.dat
StoreOpenOption wb,typerecord,lrecl100,recfmFB
,blksize10000,- DISP(,CATLG,DELETE)
DeeditStyle Comma DeeditMask
"11x,25x,7v2z,8v2z,8v2z" SubmitJobFilename Job2
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JCL to Process Timesheet Data
File Job2
//M2ZJOB2 JOB . . . // // ------------------
---------- // SUBJECT Subject //
From From // ---------------------------- /
/STEP1 EXEC PGMPAYROLL1 //TIMEIN DD
DSNZFULLSAVEFILENAME,DISPSHR //SYSPRINT DD
SYSOUT //SYSIN DD From From Date Date
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Multiple Mailboxes can Isolate Multiple
Applications
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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 well 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.

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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)

21
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

22
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.

23
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!

24
Some examples
25
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!

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Request a statement
27
And a few minutes later
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(No Transcript)
29
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!

30
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!

31
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 senders 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!

32
FTPSweeper

• Just a word about the companion

33
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.

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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
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For a Free Software Trial

• Contact
• Register and download Mail2ZOS from
• www.casisoft.com
• Send a request for trial keys to
• info_at_casisoft.com
• Attention Ed Hollshwandner