IBM z/VM 6.4 Continuous Delivery Information

Last Updated: 31 March 2021

z/VM 6.4 Continuous Delivery Function

This page contains a list of continuous delivery function released on z/VM 6.4 after the General Availability date. This list only contains z/VM 6.4 new function APARs released after August 1, 2017. The items in this list have been included in the base of z/VM 7.1 and future releases of z/VM.

Characteristics of a New Function APAR

New Function Information
Name	The name of the project. This can include any previous names the project was known by.
Description	A brief summary of what changes, who it effects, and why you would care.
Status	Along with the current status, this will give indication of key changes since the last iteration of this page.
Target availability	Depending on the project, where it is in the cycle, and other factors, this will list TBD, a quarter, a month, or, in cases where it has become available, a date. This is not a commitment and as more is learned about the work and priorities the target availability date will likely be adjusted.
Compatibility	This will describe how compatible an item is. In most cases, this will say 'No known incompatibilities'. It is not meant to list all details like a migration guide, but to give some indication of what to expect.
Enablement	This will briefly describe how enablement is managed for this Small Product Enhancement. Can it be enabled or disabled? What is the default? Can it be done dynamically? Is it on a virtual machine basis or system wide basis? It is not meant to describe all details of that process, but to give an idea of what's involved. Will also give indication of whether an IPL of the z/VM system is required, or just recycle of virtual machines or new CMS modules.
Effect	Describes what effect enabling the code may have beyond the compatibility statement above. Such as may slightly elongate logoff time or CCW translation code paths changed. These are basically meant to be hints as to how the system may respond or behave differently.
ISV impact	Indicates any impacts to ISV related products that are known, such as "If using a directory manager product, see vendor for required updates."
Linux or hardware interaction	Indicates whether a special level of Linux or hardware is required because of an interaction or dependency.
Environment variable name	If the CP New Function Indication API (APAR VM66439) is installed, the variable name is used to determine if the function is present on the z/VM system. Variable names are only present on CP New Function APARs released after the z/VM 7.2 GA date. For non-CP function, such as CMS, TCP/IP, Performance Toolkit, etc., or CP APARs released prior to z/VM 7.2, there will be no variable associated with the function and this field will show "N/A". Some new function APARs may introduce more than one environment variable and/or add new valid values to existing variables. Please see the z/VM New function Variable List for more information. This cell has been intentionally highlighted. Cells with this shading have been recently changed.
Release(s)	Indicates the releases planned for this enhancement.
Service details	See below for the IBM service information.
APAR	Information and link to the Authorized Program Analysis Report.
PTF	Information and link to the Program Temporary Fix.
RSU	Information and link to the Recommended Service Upgrade.

z/VM 6.4 New Function APARs	Date released	Last updated
Encrypted Paging	December 15, 2017	February 20, 2019
Extended Address Volume Minidisk Support	August 25, 2017	February 20, 2019
FCP Monitor Enhancements	April 2, 2018	February 20, 2019
Firewall Friendly FTP Client	August 23, 2017	September 30, 2017
Guest Exploitation for the Instruction Protection Facility	December 11, 2017	February 20, 2019
Guest Support for the Guarded Storage Facility	December 11, 2017	February 20, 2019
High PR/SM LPAR Management Time Relief	October 23, 2017	February 20, 2019
NICDEF Security Controls	August 4, 2017	September 30, 2017
Perfkit Support for HyperPAV Paging	April 13, 2018	April 18, 2018
Processor Scalability Efficiency Enhancements	August 23, 2017	February 20, 2019
Support for ZHPM CPU Resource Management	April 11, 2018	February 20, 2019
VSwitch Link Aggregation Load Balance Enhancements	December 15, 2017	February 20, 2019
z-Thin Provisioning	March 28, 2018	February 20, 2019

Encrypted Paging
Name	Encrypted Paging
Description	Encrypted Paging will improve system security for z/VM 6.4 by exploiting z14 hardware to encrypt guest page data. Ciphering will occur as data moves from active memory onto a paging volume owned by CP (ECKD, SCSI, or native FBA). This will make customer data defensible from attack or breach of volumes, even in cases where a system administrator has unintended access to those volumes.
Status	Available December 11, 2017
Target availability	December 15, 2017
Compatibility	No known incompatibilities.
Enablement	Apply PTFs, re-IPL z/VM, SET ENCRYPT command within CP.
Effect	For the workloads studied, total CPU/tx did not increase more than 5% when compared back to an EP disabled configuration. Compared to a z13, the z14 with EP enabled performed better. As paging rate increases, the total amount of CPU used on EP will increase. View the Encrypted Paging perfomance report.
ISV impact	Some monitor changes are needed. If you have a performance product, please see your vendor.
Linux or hardware interaction	z14 with CPACF license required
Environment variable name	N/A
Release(s)	z/VM 6.4
Service details	See below for the IBM service information.
APAR	VM65993
PTF	UM35257
RSU	1802

Extended Address Volume Minidisk Support
Name	EAV Minidisks
Description	Enhanced extended address volume (EAV) support for 3390-A DASD devices supporting 28-bit cylinder addresses is provided. This support will allow non-fullpack minidisks to reside anywhere on the volume, including beyond the current restriction of the 64K cylinder boundary (0-65519), and up to the one TB limit currently supported.
Status	Available August 25, 2017
Target availability	August 25, 2017
Compatibility	While most common diagnoses and I/O interfaces for ECKD devices were extended, not all were. If you have non-common interfaces in user written programs, please review documentation for restrictions. Minidisks used as mapped dataspaces may not be located above the 64K cylinder boundary.
Enablement	Changes in Directory or through a directory manager. Requires an IPL of z/VM to activate the code in CP for this PTF.
Effect	Allows larger minidisks and for the minidisks to reside anywhere on the EAV volume. Various common code paths for I/O processing have been changed regardless of whether EAV minidisks are exploited.
ISV impact	If you have an ISV product for Directory Management and/or backup and restore please see your vendor for appropriate updates.
Linux or hardware interaction	Assumes current Linux implementations that have EAV support. Requires EAV capable hardware. If using GDPS, please consult GDPS PSP buckets for possible service needed.
Environment variable name	N/A
Release(s)	z/VM 6.4
Service details	CP	CMS	ICKDSF
APAR	VM65943	VM65945	PI85943
PTF	UM35187	UM35204	UI49579
RSU	1802

FCP Monitor Enhancements
Name	FCP Monitor Enhancements
Description	The FCP Monitor Enhancements will provide new Monitor records which will contain information related to the usage/utilization of FCP devices (subchannel) and CHPIDs (physical channels) for EDEVICE activity. This will provide the customer information that can be used to determine if their existing EDEVICE configuration is optimal or should be changed for better performance.
Status	Available April 2, 2018
Target availability	April 2018
Compatibility	No known incompatibilities.
Enablement	Apply PTFs and re-IPL z/VM. Monitor EVENT, SAMPLE, START, and STOP commands are used to gather the Monitor data.
Effect	No known effects.
ISV impact	Some monitor changes are needed. If you have a performance product, please see your vendor.
Linux or hardware interaction	No known Linux or hardware interaction.
Environment variable name	N/A
Release(s)	z/VM 6.4
Service details	See below for the IBM service information.
APAR	VM66095
PTF	UM35297
RSU	1802

Firewall Friendly FTP Client
Name	Firewall Friendly FTP Client
Description	Updates the z/VM FTP client to improve interaction in configurations which require traversing firewalls.
Status	Available August 23, 2017
Target availability	August 23, 2017
Compatibility	Some incompatibilities: deprecates the PASSIVE subcommand.
Enablement	Apply PTFs and use of new LOCSITE options.
Effect	Deprecates PASSIVE subcommand. Allows new controls via new operands on the LOCSITE command.
ISV impact	No known impacts at this time.
Linux or hardware interaction	No Linux or hardware interaction.
Environment variable name	N/A
Release(s)	z/VM 6.4
Service details	See below for the IBM service information.
APAR	PI80912
PTF	UI49779
RSU	1702

Guest Exploitation for the Instruction Protection Facility
Name	Guest Exploitation for the Instruction Protection Facility
Description	This PTF provides support for guest exploitation of the IBM z14 Instruction Execution Protection facility. This facility provides functionality to help improve the security of programs running on IBM Z by allowing virtual memory elements to be identified as containing only data. If an attempt is made to fetch an instruction from an address in such an element, or if an address in such an element is the target of an execute-type instruction, a Protection Exception will occur. The support and use of the Instruction Execution Protection facility can prevent erroneously or maliciously modified data in a program stack from being executed on the guest.
Status	Available December 11, 2017
Target availability	Fourth Quarter 2017
Compatibility	No known incompatibilities.
Enablement	Can be enabled or disabled dynamically by the guest. This is done by the guest setting enablement bits in individual DAT tables that it builds.
Effect	No known effects.
ISV impact	No known ISV impacts.
Linux or hardware interaction	z14 required. Corresponding Linux fix is also needed. IBM is working with its Linux distribution partners to provide support via future distribution releases.
Environment variable name	N/A
Release(s)	z/VM 6.4
Service details	See below for the IBM service information.
APAR	VM65986
PTF	UM35255
RSU	1802

Guest Support for the Guarded Storage Facility
Name	Guest Support for the Guarded Storage Facility
Description	This PTF provides guest support for the guarded storage facility that was introduced with the IBM z14. This facility is designed to improve the performance of garbage-collection processing by various languages, in particular Java.
Status	Available December 11, 2017
Target availability	Fourth Quarter 2017
Compatibility	No known incompatibilities.
Enablement	Can be enabled or disabled dynamically by the guest. This is done by the guest turning on or off a bit in control register 2.
Effect	No known effects.
ISV impact	No known ISV impacts.
Linux or hardware interaction	z14 required. Corresponding Linux fix is also needed. IBM is working with its Linux distribution partners to provide support via future distribution releases.
Environment variable name	N/A
Release(s)	z/VM 6.4
Service details	See below for the IBM service information.
APAR	VM65987
PTF	UM35254
RSU	1802

High PR/SM LPAR Management Time Relief
Name	High PR/SM LPAR Management Time Relief
Description	This APAR provides support for new unparking heuristics that can help to reduce the number of unparked vertical-low logical cores. To offer relief APAR VM66063 provides two additional unparking heuristics for the case where GPD is on. New support in the command CP SET SRM selects the unparking heuristic to be used. The three GPD-on heuristics are now LARGE, MEDIUM, and SMALL.
Status	Available October 27, 2017
Target availability	Fourth Quarter 2017
Compatibility	No known incompatibilities.
Enablement	Apply PTFs. IPL z/VM system. Turn on function through CP SET SRM command.
Effect	Performance implications. Please see the performance tips for more information.
ISV impact	Some monitor changes are needed. If you have a performance product, please see your vendor.
Linux or hardware interaction	No Linux or hardware interaction.
Environment variable name	N/A
Release(s)	z/VM 6.4
Service details	See below for the IBM service information.
APAR	VM66063
PTF	RA64 UM35231 R640 UM35232
RSU	1802

NICDEF Security Controls
Name	NICDEF Security Controls
Description	Introduces Directory Network Authorization (DNA) capability with which each virtual NIC can be configured and authorized entirely within the user directory. Eliminates the need to use SET VSWITCH and COUPLE commands in applicable scenarios.
Status	Available August 4, 2017
Target availability	August 4, 2017
Compatibility	Changes the default behaviour. So Virtual NICs will now be coupled based on directory statement.
Enablement	Default behaviour changes, but new CP SET VLAN DNA command can be used to revert to former processing. Requires an IPL of z/VM to activate the code in CP for this PTF.
Effect	Turns over control to ESM when available and appropriate. A virtual NIC statement in directory with certain attributes will be coupled automatically. Since the Couple is now implied and automatic, a subsequent Couple command will be rejected. Command output remains the same, however some options will no longer be possible and will not appear.
ISV impact	If you have an ISV product for ESM and/or Directory Management, please see your vendor for appropriate updates.
Linux or hardware interaction	No Linux or hardware interaction.
Environment variable name	N/A
Release(s)	z/VM 6.4
Service details	CP	RACF	DirMaint
APAR	VM65925	VM65931	VM65926
PTF	UM35189	UV61339	UV61338
RSU	1702

Perfkit Support for HyperPAV Paging
Name	Performance Toolkit Support for HyperPAV Paging
Description	This New Function APAR provides new and updated performance reports within the Performance Toolkit Feature in support of HyperPAV Paging. These new reports include new information which will help clients tune the z/VM HyperPAV Paging Subsystem.
Status	Available April 13, 2018
Target availability	March 2018
Compatibility	No known incompatibilities.
Enablement	Apply PTF and recycle PerfKit to pick up HyperPAV changes.
Effect	No known effect.
ISV impact	No known impacts at this time.
Linux or hardware interaction	No known Linux or hardware interaction.
Environment variable name	N/A
Release(s)	z/VM 6.4
Service details	See below for the IBM service information.
APAR	VM66085
PTF	UM35304
RSU	TBD

Processor Scalability Efficiency Enhancements
Name	Processor Scalability Efficiency Enhancements
Description	Changes provide improvements to reduce system overhead from the Scheduler Lock (SRMSLOCK), TRQBK Queue Lock (HCPTRQLK), and Dispatch Vector Lock (DSVLOCK). Helps for systems with high z/VM System Time."
Status	Available August 23, 2017
Target availability	August 23, 2017
Compatibility	No known incompatibilities.
Enablement	Applying PTFs will enable code for the systems. Requires an IPL of the z/VM system to activate the code for this PTF.
Effect	Since these changes involve system locks, all systems will exercise the new code.
ISV impact	No known impacts at this time.
Linux or hardware interaction	There are no known interactions with Linux code. This applies to all IBM Z and LinuxONE servers that z/VM 6.4 supports. Greater benefit may be seen on the IBM z14 and the LinuxONE Emperor II.
Environment variable name	N/A
Release(s)	z/VM 6.4
Service details	See below for the IBM service information.
APAR	VM65988
PTF	UM35214
RSU	1802

Support for ZHPM CPU Resource Management
Name	Support for ZHPM (IBM Z Hypervisor Performance Manager) CPU Resource Management
Description	z/VM provides mechanisms for controlling the CPU resources that a virtual machine can consume, which indirectly can affect the amount of other resources it can use. The Support for ZHPM CPU Resource Management line item provides mechanisms for obtaining information required to manage those CPU resources. Enhancements are provided to the support for resource pools, which were formerly called CPU pools, and additional fields are added to some Monitor records. Extensions to the Store Hypervisor Information (STHYI) instruction enable guests to obtain hypervisor, pool, and guest information relevant to managing CPU and memory resources. New User Directory settings control a guest's authorization to use these extensions. Several new VM Events are generated to allow ceratin guest state changes to be understood. VM Monitor extensions allow low-frequency monitor data records, which are generally associated with commands that affect performance, to be collected without also requiring the collection of high-frequency records.
Status	Available April 11, 2018
Target availability	April 2018
Compatibility	CPU pools have been renamed to resource pools. The DEFINE, DELETE, QUERY and SET CPUPOOL commands are deprecated, but still function as aliases of the new DEFINE, DELETE, QUERY and SET RESPOOL commands. The QUERY RESPOOL output has incompatible changes. The maximum number of members of a resource pool is now limited to 1000. Prior to this line item there was no limit. New User Directory OPTION statement operands and new security events.
Enablement	Install PTFs and re-IPL z/VM system. The command changes, STHYI FC=0 changes, and new VMEVENTs occur as soon as the PTF is applied and there is no way to disable them. The new STHYI function codes require directory and/or ESM authorization to use so that can be viewed as an enablement mechanism. The collection of Monitor Command events is disabled by default and MONITOR EVENT ENABLE COMMAND must be issued to enable it.
Effect	If ZHPM is installed and enabled, CPU resource consumption can be managed and controlled in line with installation policies. The effect is negligible if only the base functions are used.
ISV impact	ISV directory maintenance support products may require changes for the new User Directory OPTIONs. ISV performance monitoring products may require changes for the new Monitor record fields. New security events associated with the new STHYI functions and there may be audit calls for them.
Linux or hardware interaction	z14 will require a millicode update to fix a bug for the MT idle time reporting in STHYI.
Environment variable name	N/A
Release(s)	z/VM 6.4
Service details	CP	DirMaint
APAR	VM66105	VM66109
PTF	UM35303	UV99330
RSU	1802
Additional information	Please see the ZHPM Application listing for details on the separate application. The ZHPM application is not delivered with z/VM.

VSwitch Link Aggregation Load Balance Enhancements
Name	VSwitch Link Aggregation Load Balance Enhancements
Description	Today's VSwitch, even in a Multi-VSwitch Link Aggregation environment, only balances load from an individual z/VM system perspective. This enhancement would extend that across all the z/VM systems involved. Additionally, the balancing algorithms will be improved for single system VSwitches as well.
Status	Available December 11, 2017
Target availability	December 15, 2017
Compatibility	No known incompatibilities.
Enablement	Apply PTFs and re-IPL z/VM to activate the code.
Effect	This PTF will change the load balancing for VSwitches with Link Aggregation.
ISV impact	Some monitor changes are needed. If you have a performance product, please see your vendor.
Linux or hardware interaction	Requires hardware that will support Multiple Vswitch Link Aggregation. (i.e. z13 or newer)
Environment variable name	N/A
Release(s)	z/VM 6.4
Service details	See below for the IBM service information.
APAR	VM65918
PTF	UM35253
RSU	1802

z-Thin Provisioning
Name	z-Thin Provisioning
Description	To meet customer demand for support of extent space efficient thin provisioned volumes, z-Thin Provisioning will provide guest support and host recognition and exploitation. Disk hardware only supports the pre-allocation of full volume, regular data format volumes (i.e., 0-END cylinders with 4K records, same number of records per cylinder). Therefore, the benefits of Thin Provisioning are realized only when using full volumes under Linux and CMS.
Status	Available March 28, 2018
Target availability	April 2018
Compatibility	No known incompatibilities.
Enablement	Thin Provisioned ESE volumes are configured and enabled on the storage hardware. CP, CMS, & Linux self-discover these volumes through discovery information provided by the hardware. Thin provisioned ESE volumes are not compatible with CP-Owned space (Spool, Page, Directory). Thin provisioned ESE volumes can be used for this space but will need to be CP formatted with CPFMTXA. This formatting will allocate all space associated with the volume from the hardware pool, thus defeating the benefit of Thin Provisioning. CMS and Linux will provide mechanisms to "trim" and allocate full volume thin provisioned ESE volumes to make use of the Thin Provisioning hardware function. z/OS also supports Thin Provisioned ESE volumes.
Effect	When properly used, Thin Provisioned ESE volumes reduce storage costs by only allocating real disk storage (from the ESE pool) when data records are written; not when a volume is logically allocated for some purpose.
ISV impact	ISVs that support directory maintenance products should take note of this New Function APAR.
Linux or hardware interaction	DS8880 DASD and higher hardware required. Linux updated with support for ESE devices.
Environment variable name	N/A
Release(s)	z/VM 6.4
Service details	CP	DirMaint
APAR	VM66098	VM66108
PTF	UM35296	UV99329
RSU	1802