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What are AGENT & iPACK?
ISC iCAN and E-GEN software have been designed to work under several operating systems (z/OS, Windows, Unix/Linux, z/Linux).
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For convenience, our software solutions were often installed on the operating environment containing the components to be generated or collected. However, it is
also common for companies to look for ways to reduce system load, especially on z/OS, so they move our software to an open environment to generate or collect remote components.The iPack and Agent software greatly simplifies the implementation of the latter configuration, by allowing remote file transport and manipulation, without the need for a third party transfer tool.
What is AGENT?
AGENT is software to facilitate the exchange of files with z/OS.
It consists of a Responder installed on the responding target z/OS(es)to requests
of E-GEN and iCAN through Requesters running on Unix, Linux, Windows and z/OS.​
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Its features include:​
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Sending and receiving files.​
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Submitting JCL on z/OS, with recovery of the execution log.​
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JCL can pre-exist on the target or be sent by the Requester for execution.​
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Writing messages to the system log.​
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The call to all iPACK functions.
And iPACK?
iPACK is a software that manipulates Containers, that are essentially a file meta format, similar to a tar file.
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The Container format was thought out to simplify the exchange of data with z/OS. ​
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On z/OS, the dataset and the library members have attributes (RECFM, LRECL, ISPF statistics..) without an equivalent in a distributed environment.​
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iPACK makes it possible to store datasets and z/OS members in a ISC format called Container, while preserving their attributes and page code.
What are the benefits of AGENT & iPACK?
Simplifies data exchanges with z/OS (data contained in sequentiels or partitioned files).
The z/OS attributes of the files (RECFM, LRECL...) are stored during creation and can automatically be taken into account during extraction.
Manages a non destructive conversion of the encoding (i.e.: EBCDIC <-> ASCII) and endianness (Big Endian <-> Little Endian).
ISPF statistics are stored in the Container at creation. They come from the PDS directory under z/OS, from the import command of Linux/Windows.
Members updated on Z/OS have their ISPF statistics updated.
What are the key features?
A Container has a binary structure that is not susceptible to record length. The Container has to be transferred from one environment to the other in binary. It remains readable even if it is reblocked.​​
The data is always stored in the format of the original system (page code and endian). This allows to preserve the original text data in the event of a translation parameterization error.​
iPACK allows to manipulate the Container: to create it, to load it from the local data, list its content, extract data from it. The software is available for z/OS,Unix/Linux and Windows.
Independently of E-GEN and iCAN, iPACK can be useful when exchanging text files between z/OS and distributed machines. iPack does not handle the transfer, but keeps the z/OS attributes in the container. iPack can also be used between z/OS machines if the transfer medium cannot transmit the z/OS attributes.
The schedulers currently covered
PS
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PDS
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PDSE (V1 and V2)
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ISPF statistics (simple and extended)
Supported file formats:
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RECFM : F or V, blocked or not blocked, non-spanned, with or without ASA code
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Record size : from 1 to 32760.
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On disc SMS or non-SMS
