A "z/OS Archetype" defines a fundamental role that is commonly associated with the z/OS computing platform. It can be a useful way to identify a class of users who share a set of z/OS skills and responsibilities. Various and many z/OS Archetypes exist; each plays a part in making z/OS a world-class operating system.
In an actual z/OS environment, the delineations between performers can be blurred. One person might be expected to perform tasks that are associated with several of the z/OS Archetypes defined here. Or, the responsibilities of a single z/OS Archetype might be spread among a team of performers.
A key point is that the grouping of the tasks within a z/OS Archetype is generally associated with a skill or domain of knowledge. For example, the z/OS System Programmer archetype is sometimes fulfilled by a large team of people, each of whom might be responsible for performing related system programming tasks, such as installation, configuration, or software maintenance. Further, the responsibilties of a z/OS Archetype might extend to performing related tasks on other computing platforms, too.
Several archetypes are described in this topic.
- Application Developer
- Automation Engineer
- CICS System Programmer
- Data Architect
- Db2 System Programmer
- Enterprise IT Architect
- IMS System Programmer
- MQ System Programmer
- zOS Network Administrator
- zOS Performance Analyst
- z/OS Security Administrator
- z/OS Storage Engineer
- z/OS Systems Programmer
The Application Developer creates business applications to run on z/OS. This person is often part of a team whose responsibilities include planning, provisioning, deploying, building, and testing program code for z/OS.
The Automation Engineer is responsible for ensuring that enterprise automation products are correctly configured for interaction with the z/OS stack software and workloads. When implemented in a z/OS environment, automation can help the efficiency of z/OS operators by reducing the need for repetitive or manual tasks, such as responding to messages, cancelling jobs, and starting or stopping servers during initialization and shutdown.
The CICS System Programmer is responsible for ensuring that CICS applications meet the applicable business objectives and requirements and run securely and efficiently on the z/OS platform.
The Data Architect builds and maintains enterprise databases by identifying structural and installation solutions. This person works with database administrators and analysts to ensure that company data can be accessed easily and securely. Duties include creating database solutions, evaluating requirements, and preparing design reports.
The Db2 System Programmer installs and maintains Db2 products. This person provides oversight for the installation's database administrators. A Db2 System Programmer might interact with colleagues in a variety of areas, including system performance, security, networking, storage, and operations. The Db2 System Programmer might also work with the Service Analyst for capacity planning, scheduling outages, and assessing service level agreements.
The Enterprise IT Architect sets the company strategy for consolidation of tooling, skills utilization, and costs, thereby helping to ensure the efficient delivery of technically advanced solutions.
The IMS System Programmer is responsible for understanding business and application requirements and ensuring that all development, test, and production applications are secure and running efficiently at all times with IMS.
The MQ System Programmer is responsible for ensuring that IBM MQ products are configured correctly. Specifically, the MQ System Programmer is responsible for the configuration and maintenance of queue managers, handling interoperability between IBM MQ on z/OS and other platforms, ensuring high availability and restart characteristics, and advising developers on best practices.
The z/OS Network Administrator is responsible for the configuration and daily operations of IBM z/OS Communications Server, which provides networking functions for TCP/IP, SNA, and z/OS UNIX. Specifically, the z/OS Network Administrator is responsible for maintaining a high-performance foundation for building and deploying networking applications, configuration of servers to provide common networking facilities such as FTP and Telnet, and management of network resources. The z/OS Network Administrator might also be responsible for securing network communications and configuring networking sysplex functions.
The z/OS Performance Analyst is responsible for evaluating z/OS system performance. This person works with z/OS Workload Management (WLM) policies and monitors system resource usage for capacity planning. The z/OS Performance Analyst might also be responsible for SMF/RMF data collection, managing WLM policies based on service level objectives, and performing problem determinations when service level objectives are not met.
The z/OS Security Administrator is responsible for creating and managing the security definitions that keep the mainframe secure from internal and external attacks. This work involves interfacing with various groups in the company.
The z/OS Storage Engineer is responsible for ensuring that enterprise data is available and secure for use by z/OS workloads. This person might be resposible for data access performance, disaster recovery, and data confidentiality. The Storage Engineer is also responsible for maintaining the physical devices that are used for storing enterprise data.
The z/OS Systems Programmer is responsible for installation planning, product deployment (including installation, configuration, and testing), migration, updates, maintenance, and resource management.
Wherever z/OS roles and tasks are described, you might see references to z/OS Archetypes. Examples include z/OSMF workflows, Ansible playbooks, and any actions associated with maintaining a z/OS system.
Feel free to contribute to this directory of z/OS Archetypes! We welcome your comments on the archetypes defined here and would like to hear about other archetypes that you use in your enterprise. To provide this kind of feedback, please open an issue.