z/OS standard naming convention

In WebSphere® Application Server for z/OS®, cells and nodes are created using customization jobs that are built using the Profile Management Tool or the zpmt command. When you use the Profile Management Tool to create these customization jobs, most fields are preset to default values. Defaults are used that follow the standard naming convention if one- and two-character cell, cluster, and system identifier values are specified during customization.

The standard naming convention is suitable for both initial and production use, and it allows you to create groups of cells and servers with each group sharing a common set of user IDs and group names. A group of cells and servers is distinguished by sharing the same cell identifier.

How the standard naming convention differs from the basic naming convention

While the basic naming convention supports at most a single Network Deployment cell and a single application server node on a given z/OS system, the standard naming convention allows for the creation of up to 936 separate administrative groups, each corresponding to a single two-character cell identifier, on a single z/OS system. Each of these administrative groups can include the following:
  • One Network Deployment cell
  • Up to 36 application server nodes
  • Administrative agents, job managers, and secure proxy servers

This administrative group is not actually a part of the WebSphere Application Server architecture; it simply represents the fact that on z/OS, a group of cells can use a common set of SAF groups and user IDs, which in turn simplifies the setup of connections between these cells. On the other hand, using different SAF groups and user IDs for separate cells provides for administrative and runtime separation so that the cells using different SAF identities can interact only in ways that you specify or not at all.

Selecting cell, system, and cluster identifiers

If you want to use the standard naming convention, specify a cell identifer, system identifier, and (in some cases) a cluster identifier when you configure a new WebSphere Application Server cell or node using the Profile Management Tool.
Cell identifier
This two-character, uppercase-alphanumeric value is used to construct the names of the SAF user IDs and groups that will be used for all cells and servers that share the same cell identifier. Together with the system identifier, it is used to build cell names, node names, and other values.

To simplify interaction between two cells, create them using the same cell identifier. To minimize or prevent interaction between two cells, create them using different cell identifiers.

Restrictions:
  • Separate Network Deployment cells must have separate cell identifiers.
  • Up to 36 of each of the other types of WebSphere Application Server cells (standalone application servers, administrative agents, job managers, and secure proxies) can be created with the same cell identifier as long as a separate system identifier is chosen that distinguishes each cell from the others of the same type.
  • If a standalone application server is to be federated into a Network Deployment cell, security setup is considerably simpler if the application server uses the same SAF user IDs and groups as the Network Deployment cell. If both are created using the standard naming convention, configure them using the same cell identifier.
  • An administrative agent must run under the same SAF groups as the standalone application servers that it administers. Configure them with the same cell identifier.
System identifier
This one-character, uppercase-alphanumeric value is used to distinguish the application server nodes in a Network Deployment cell and the various types of other servers (standalone application servers, administrative agents, job managers, and secure proxy servers) from each other. The name comes from the practice of creating a Network Deployment cell with one application server node on each z/OS system that the cell spans. However, the one-character identifier can also be used to distinguish several nodes on the same z/OS system or to identify several single-node cells that have the same cell identifier. In these latter cases, the system identifier does not have to represent an actual z/OS system.

For a Network Deployment cell with one node per z/OS system, assign a single alphanumeric character to each z/OS system and use that value when configuring the federated or managed application server nodes on that system. For other types of cells, you can assign any desired convention for the system identifier as long as no two servers of the same type share both a cell identifier and a system identifier.

Cluster identifier
This two-character, uppercase-alphanumeric value is used to distinguish application servers within an application server node. In order to allow for any application server to be used as the basis of an application server cluster, create each unclustered application server in a Network Deployment cell with its own cluster identifer. In the examples at the end of this article, the cluster identifier is given as a two-digit number to make it easy to identify the parts of each name.

Default values for cell, node, and server names

One Network Deployment cell and up to 36 of each of the other cell types can be configured with the standard naming convention under a single cell identifier by assigning a unique system identifier to each of the other cell types. In other words, two standalone application servers or two job managers that share a common cell identifier must have separate system identifiers.

Table 1. Default values for cell, node, and server names.

For cell identifier aa and system identifier s, the standard naming convention would assign the following cell and node names:

Name ND Cell Deployment Manager ND Cell Managed Node Standalone Application Server Administrative Agent Job Manager Secure Proxy Server Secure Proxy Administrative Agent
Cell name aaCELL aaCELL aaBASEs aaADMAs aaJMGRs aaPROXs aaPRXAs
Node name aaDMNODE aaNODEs aaNODEs aaADMAs aaJMGRs aaPROXs aaPRXAs

Note that the Network Deployment cell has one deployment manager node and can have one application server node (managed or federated) for each system identifier. The node name for a standalone application server uses the same convention as the Network Deployment cell, allowing for easy federation. The other server types use the same value as the cell name and node name because none of them require multiple nodes or an elaborate naming convention.

All of the names used so far are uppercase because they are z/OS short names, such as the cell short name and node short name, which must be uppercase. Each of these values also has a mixed-case long name, which is the internal WebSphere Application Server version of the name. For convenience, the standard naming convention uses the same value for the long name as for the short name but changes it to lowercase.

Server names are constructed from the cell identifier, system identifier, and (in the case of application servers) the cluster identifier. A Network Deployment cell can have only one deployment manager, and each of the other non-application server types has only a single server. Each server is also assigned a generic short name that is used to identify the server to Workload Management and is also used as the initial cluster name for application servers being clustered.

Table 2. Default values for server names and generic server short names.

For cell identifier aa, system identifier s, and cluster identifier nn, the standard naming convention would assign the following server names and generic server short names:

Name ND Cell Deployment Manager Application Server in an ND Cell or Standalone Administrative Agent Job Manager Secure Proxy Server Secure Proxy Administrative Agent
Server name aaDMGR aaSRnns aaADMAs aaJMGRs aaPROXs aaPRXAs
Generic name aaDMGR aaSRnn aaADMAs aaJMGRs aaPROXs aaPRXAs

This application server naming convention allows additional servers to be created in an application server node following the same naming convention, and it also makes clustering easier.

Defaults for SAF group and user ID names

Table 3. Default values for SAF group and user ID names.

For cell identifier cc, the following SAF groups and user IDs are created during customization:

ccCFG Configuration group

Provides administration and server privileges

ccSRVG Servant group

Provides privileges needed by servant regions

ccGUESTG Unauthenticated, local user, or guest group

Provides basic privileges to access the cell but nothing more

ccACRU Controller user ID

Controller, control region adjunct, and daemon started tasks

ccASRU Servant user ID

Servant started tasks

ccADMIN Administrator user ID

Used for cell configuration and, in certain circumstances, as a WAS administrator

ccADMSH Asynchronous administration user ID

Used to run administrative shell scripts under a started task

ccGUEST Unauthenticated-user user ID (z/OS-managed security only)

Represents an unknown user for security purposes

Default values for configuration file system names and mount points

Each WebSphere Application Server cell or managed node has its own configuration file system, which might be either an HFS or zFS dataset. When cell, system, and cluster identifiers are specified during configuration, each configuration file system is assigned a unique dataset name:
OMVS.MNT.cell_short_name/node_short_name.HFS	
(for an HFS dataset) 

OMVS.MNT.cell_short_name/node_short_name.ZFS	
(for a zFS dataset) 
You can modify these names to fit local conventions, but make it clear which cell and node are associated with each dataset. The default mount points for these configuration file systems use the cell and node long names (simply lowercase versions of the long names by default) for readability:
/wasv7config/cell_long_name/node_long_name

The datasets can be renamed, but the mount points should not be changed after initial customization because they are referred to throughout the configuration files. One result of this is that when a standalone application server is federated into a Network Deployment cell, it retains its original configuration mount point even if that mount point contains the old (standalone) cell name. Users who know that a standalone application server is to be federated into a particular Network Deployment cell might want to manually update the configuration file system dataset name and mount point during creation of the standalone application server to reflect the node's eventual cell name.

Default values for job names and cataloged-procedure names

Most application servers consist of a controller (control region) and one or more servants (servant regions). An application server also has a messaging region called a "control region adjunct." The job name for the control region is the same as the server short name. The initial job name for the servant consists of the server short name followed by an S, while the initial job name for the control region adjunct consists of the server short name followed by an A. (This is why server short names are customarily limited to a length of seven characters.)

Each control region, servant region, and control region adjunct requires a cataloged procedure that points to the server's configuration file system. In practice, this means that each node has its own controller, servant, and (in some cases) control region adjunct cataloged procedures; but the different servers in an application server node do not need their own cataloged procedures because they share a configuration file system.

Table 4. Default values for job names and cataloged-procedure names.

For cell identifier aa and system identifier s, the standard naming convention would assign the following job names and cataloged-procedures names. In each case, the controller job or procedure name is given first and followed by the job or procedure name for the servant and (if present) the control region adjunct:

Name ND Cell Deployment Manager Application Server Node (Node Agent in ND Cell) Application Nerver Node (Application Server) Administrative Agent Job Manager Secure Proxy Server Secure Proxy Administrative Agent
Controller job name ccDMGR ccAGNTs ccSRnns ccADMAs ccJMGRs ccPROXs ccPRXAs
Servant job name ccDMGRs ccAGNTsS ccSRnnsS ccADMAsS ccJMGRsS   ccPRXAsS
Adjunct job name     ccSRnnsA        
Controller procedure ccDCR ccACRs ccACRs ccGCRs ccJCRs ccXCRs ccYCRs
Servant procedure ccDSR ccASRs ccASRs ccGSRs ccJSRs   ccYSRs
Adjunct procedure     ccAARs        
Table 5. Default values for location service daemon.

Each WebSphere Application Server cell also requires a location service daemon, which is used for all nodes of the cell on a given z/OS system:

Name ND Cell (All Nodes) Standalone Application Server Administrative Agent Job Manager Secure Proxy Server Secure Proxy Administrative Agent
Daemon job name ccDEMN ccDEMNs ccDMNGs ccDMNJs ccDMNXs ccDMNYs
Daemon procedure ccDEMN ccDEMNs ccDMNGs ccDMNJs ccDMNXs ccDMNYs



Related concepts
z/OS application server naming conventions
z/OS basic naming convention
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