Initializing team configuration

Team configuration is a profile management method introduced in Zowe Version 2.

Required roles: Security administrator, DevOps architect

Under this method, team-specific profiles are saved in the zowe.config.json configuration file and user-specific profiles in the zowe.config.user.json configuration file. Team configuration profile management can be applied globally and/or per project, depending on the development project. See Team configurations for more information.

Use one of the following methods to initialize global team configuration. These instructions show how to create a configuration file that you can later open in a text editor or IDE (such as Visual Studio Code) to add or modify profiles.

note

If API Mediation Layer is running on your site, Connecting profiles to API Mediation Layer is the recommended method to use to initialize team configuration.

Creating a global team configuration file

1. To initialize a global team configuration file, open a command line window and issue the following command:

   zowe config init --global-config

2. Respond to subsequent prompts with a username and password for a mainframe service such as z/OSMF.

   The zowe config init command ensures that your credentials are stored securely on your computer by default.

   When the credentials are received, the zowe.config.json team configuration file is added to the local .zowe directory. Use a text editor or IDE to add or modify connection details for your mainframe services.

   note

   Run the zowe config init --global-config command again after installing a new plug-in to add the plug-in profile to the global configuration file. See Creating team plug-in profiles for information.

3. To test access to z/OSMF, issue a Zowe CLI command.

   For example, list all data sets under your user ID:

   zowe zos-files list data-set "IBMUSER.*"

   • IBMUSER

     Specifies your user ID.

   A list of data sets is returned, indicating Zowe CLI is successfully configured to access a z/OSMF instance.

   If the CLI returns an error message, verify that you have access to the target system. Examine the configuration files in a text editor to check that the entered information is correct.

Important

After the configuration file is in place (by using either the zowe config init command or a file provided by a system administrator), the zowe profiles commands used in Zowe V1 no longer function. Zowe CLI returns errors when deprecated profile commands are issued.

Creating team plug-in profiles

After the zowe.config.json team configuration file is created and new plug-ins are installed, run the zowe config init (or zowe config auto-init, if using the API ML) command again to add the plug-in profiles to the configuration file.

To create a team plug-in profile:

1. Install a new plug-in.

   For example, open a command line window and issue the following command to install the IBM CICS Plug-in from an npm online registry:

   zowe plugins install @zowe/cics-for-zowe-cli
   note

   If the zowe.config.json file has not yet been created in the .zowe directory, see Creating a global team configuration file.

2. Issue the zowe config init --global-config or zowe config auto-init --global-config command.

   This adds a plug-in profile to the configuration file in the .zowe home directory.

3. Open the zowe.config.json file and confirm the plug-in profile is included.

   In the example from Step 1, the profile information displays similarly to the example below:

   "cics": {
           "type": "cics",
           "properties": {
               "port": 123
           },
           "secure": []
       }

   The plug-in profile has been successfully added to the zowe.config.json file in the .zowe home directory.

   note

   To add plug-in profiles to a configuration file in the current working directory, enter the base command without the --global-config option: zowe config init.

Connecting profiles to API Mediation Layer

You can use profiles to connect to the API Mediation Layer. This more efficient way to connect to the mainframe allows you to specify a host and port only once on a base profile instead of multiple host-and-port combinations across several service profiles.

To set up the zowe.config.json file to automatically access the services that are registered to the API ML and support Single Sign-On:

1. Open a command line window and issue the following command:

   zowe config auto-init --global-config
   note

   To add a profile to a configuration file in the current working directory, enter the base command without the --global-config option: zowe config auto-init.

2. Respond to subsequent CLI prompts with the following information:

   • The host name and port to your API ML instance.

   • Your username and password.

   A default base profile is added to the configuration file in the .zowe home directory.

   note

   To use certificates instead of basic authentication (such as user ID and password), you can specify the options --cert-file and --cert-key-file on the base command (zowe config auto-init). For more information on how to log in with certificates, see Integrating with API Mediation Layer.