Yes, we are aware! Saves a bit of $$$ for us. We are currently running a half dozen zCX instances running Rocket Terminal Emulator Web, JSPWiki, IBM Workload Scheduler Console, and will move Omegamon TEP and TEMS(when available), plus whatever else comes along.
We are fairly silo’d here based on platform, so nothing makes me happier than being able to support mainframe based apps that require supporting servers on my own platform. Dave Jousma Vice President | Director, Technology Engineering From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on behalf of Timothy Sipples <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at 5:36 AM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: z/OS Container Extensions 2.0: No Additional Charge I’m a rather surprised nobody seems to have mentioned this important expansion in the base z/OS operating system yet, so I’ll mention it! (Did I just miss it?) https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/announcements/withdrawal-from-marketing-container-hosting-foundation-zos-replacements-available?region=US__;!!MwwqYLOC6b6whF7V!lWRBccI6UuI3XgXB9NDVaQ0pIB0ESMzZJfIe7aG7Tv4ITwoOKznbETC8GZn1bPn3zh4LX6FcZLUs0nACfQ$<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.ibm.com/docs/en/announcements/withdrawal-from-marketing-container-hosting-foundation-zos-replacements-available?region=US__;!!MwwqYLOC6b6whF7V!lWRBccI6UuI3XgXB9NDVaQ0pIB0ESMzZJfIe7aG7Tv4ITwoOKznbETC8GZn1bPn3zh4LX6FcZLUs0nACfQ$> Here’s what this announcement means using my own words. Prior to February 24, 2025, the z/OS Container Extensions (zCX) required a chargeable license called the IBM Container Hosting Foundation, IBM Program Number 5655-HZ1. There was also a system feature code available on certain older IBM Z machine models that was a valid alternative to 5655-HZ1. And there was a one-time limited term trial license available. Now if you simply upgrade to zCX 2.0 (or configure zCX 2.0 as a new installation) you don’t even need 5655-HZ1 or the system feature code. zCX 2.0 is provided and supported within the base z/OS operating system license at no additional charge. The z/OS Container Extensions provide a standard Docker/OCI compliant container image runtime environment on z/OS. The container images you can run on zCX are the same images you can run on OpenShift on z/OS, on container runtimes on Linux on IBM Z/LinuxONE such as Podman and Docker, and on OpenShift on IFLs. zCX has always exploited zIIPs (if available), and zIIP exploitation continues with zCX 2.0. This zCX news applies to z/OS 2.5 and higher. (If you still have z/OS 2.4, the z/OS release that introduced zCX, this news is another good reason to upgrade to z/OS 3.1.) PTF/APAR details are available here (z/OS 3.1 link, subject to change): https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/3.1.0?topic=extensions-release-notes__;!!MwwqYLOC6b6whF7V!lWRBccI6UuI3XgXB9NDVaQ0pIB0ESMzZJfIe7aG7Tv4ITwoOKznbETC8GZn1bPn3zh4LX6FcZLXHt1PN1Q$<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/3.1.0?topic=extensions-release-notes__;!!MwwqYLOC6b6whF7V!lWRBccI6UuI3XgXB9NDVaQ0pIB0ESMzZJfIe7aG7Tv4ITwoOKznbETC8GZn1bPn3zh4LX6FcZLXHt1PN1Q$> Note that if you have any zCX 1.x instances you’ll need to upgrade ALL of them to zCX 2.0+ to remove the 5655-HZ1 licensing requirement. However, in some cases you *might* be able to reduce 5655-HZ1 licensing in steps depending on where you run zCX 1.x instances and how quickly you upgrade them. I know there are many software vendors that will appreciate this news. Many software vendors would like to ship container images to deliver certain functions in their products, but there was some potential friction among their customers since they needed to obtain either the chargeable system feature code on older model machines (no longer available) or the chargeable IBM Program Number 5655-HZ1. Now their customers can skip that procurement step and expense. ————— Timothy Sipples Senior Architect Digital Assets, Industry Solutions, and Cybersecurity IBM Z/LinuxONE, Asia-Pacific [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN This e-mail transmission contains information that is confidential and may be privileged. It is intended only for the addressee(s) named above. If you receive this e-mail in error, please do not read, copy or disseminate it in any manner. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. Please reply to the message immediately by informing the sender that the message was misdirected. After replying, please erase it from your computer system. Your assistance in correcting this error is appreciated. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
