Working with system connections
These example tasks illustrate how you can configure and change your system connections.
- Configuring a z/OS FTP system connection
You must have an FTP or z/OSMF connection to use the views in the z/OS perspective. - Configuring a proxy server
Service updates for the z/OS Explorer are available on a pre-configured download site on the internet. Your organization might require you to connect to the internet through a proxy server. You can use the Preferences window to define a proxy server. - Configuring a z/OSMF system connection
The z/OS Management Facility (z/OSMF) is a product for z/OS that provides support for a modern, web browser -based management console for z/OS, and extends the functionality of z/OS Explorer. - Connecting to a system that is already defined
When you have defined your system connections there are a number of ways in which you can activate a connection to a system. - Defining connection credentials
When you connect to a system, your credentials, that is, your user ID and password or pass phrase, are sent to the system for authentication. When you have defined a credential, you can use it on all systems that share the credential without reentering the details every time. You must have at least one credential before you can connect to a system. - Deleting a system connection
If you no longer need one of your system connections, you can delete it permanently from the z/OS Explorer. You can delete only connections that you have created or imported into z/OS Explorer. You cannot delete connections that are loaded from a shared connection definition file. - Disconnecting from a system
To disconnect the z/OS Explorer from your current system connection, you can use the connection status bar or the main menu of the workbench. - Exporting connection definitions
You can export a set of connection definitions and share them with other users. The exported file must have a file type of .pref but the name can be anything that you choose, for example, connections.pref. If you save the definition file on a shared disk, users can load the connection details into their z/OS Explorer. Any changes that you make to the central definition file are picked up the next time the user starts z/OS Explorer. - Updating a system connection
If any system connection settings change, you must update the connection details in the Host Connections view to reflect the changes. - Using shared connection definitions
As an alternative to defining your own connection definitions, you can share a set of definitions that are stored in a central location. You can either load or import the shared connection definitions into your copy of z/OS Explorer. Sharing connections means that the connection definitions can be managed centrally, and any changes to the definition file are picked up the next time z/OS Explorer starts.
Parent topic: Tasks