Open Mainframe Project

COBOL Programming Course - Meet the Community of Learners! (Webinar)
2022-12-12 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
As we bring 2022 to a close, the COBOL Programming Course team would like to showcase our amazing learner community. We are always pleasantly surprised by the continued interest in COBOL learning content and are super thankful for this amazing learner community that has helped us by sharing valuable insights, inputs and direction to the course. You don’t want to miss this session – Your one opportunity to hear from some of our amazing learners as they share their learning journeys!
Register here.
Speakers include:

Michael Bauer, Broadcom
Sudharsana Srinivasan, IBM
Hartanto Widijaya, COBOL Programming Course Community Member
Paul Newton, IBM
Joe Winchester, IBM
Elizabeth Joseph, IBM
Tiiso Senosha, Mainframe Open Education member
Janos Varga, Community Member

SHARE (Atlanta + Live Stream)
2023-03-05 - 2023-03-08
SHARE Atlanta, taking place on March 5-8, 2023 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, brings together subject-mater experts and enterprise IT professionals to impart lessons, explore new release capabilities and dive deep into the most pressing issues facing confronting the enterprise IT industry today. Learn more about the conference or to register, click here.
Open Mainframe Project will be on-site in full force again with several ambassadors giving talks about Zowe and COBOL. Please see below and add these sessions to your schedule (all sessions are in Eastern Daylight Time).
Sunday, March 5:
3:45-4:45 pm: Can Zowe act as an enabler of innovations? Sure it can! – Jan Prihoda, Product Owner at Broadcom
Are you interested in innovating and wondering how you can leverage Zowe? I would like to share my experience with Zowe as an idea generator. In the first part I will share my journey developing Ansible collections and show how development in one area can be utilised in other areas. Next I will discuss my experience with Zowe deskop app development and share contributions based on feedback from a customer. And finally, Zowe can be taken as an inspiration for unrelated development, and I will tell you how.
Monday, March 6:
9:15-10:15 am: Zowe the First Five Years – Rose Sakach, DevOps Product Manager, Mainframe Division at Broadcom; Peter Fandel, Director of Software Development at Rocket Software; Bruce Armstrong, IBM Z Product Manager at IBM; and Michael DuBois, Senior Manager for Product Management at Broadcom
From concept to core technology for mainframe automation, more customers are leveraging Zowe for a wide-range of use cases. In this session, our panel will share insights into how Zowe has matured, how Organizations have earned approval to fast-track their implementation for enterprise use.
10:30-11:30 am: Zowe Version 2 Updates and Beyond – Domenico D’Alterio, Senior Product Manager at IBM; Bruce Armstrong from IBM; and Joe Winchester, Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM
Zowe allows you to protect your investment in z/OS and build the future of the mainframe in an open, simple and familiar way. Zowe 1.0 entered in maintenance mode, Zowe 2.0 became the “active” Long Term Release (LTS) of Zowe from the open community. It is based on 2+ years feedback on Zowe 1.0 from enterprise customers and the z/OS mainframe community at large. In this presentation you will learn about the enhancements that are available as part of Zowe 2.0 and following releases as well as you will learn what you need to know to migrate from Zowe 1.0 to Zowe 2.0.
1:15-2:15 pm: Using the Right Tool for the Job – When to Use z/OSMF, Ansible and, Zowe– Luisa Martinez, Software Engineer; Barbara Leinberger, Modernization Specialist; and Frank John DeGilio
Your modernization toolbox should employ as many varied tools as the toolbox you have on your workbench at home. One tool alone will never be the answer. In recent times, many people are finding themselves confused about when to use z/OSMF, Ansible and Zowe. In this session, we will be taking a closer look at the problems each tool aims to solve and their approach to solving them to allow you to make informed decisions on the tools to use when.
Tuesday, March 7:
9:15-10:15 am: End to End Software Delivery: From Inception to Production – Michael Bauer, Product Manager at Broadcom
Modern DevOps practices are critical to delivering business value quickly and safely. In this session, we will cover the journey of an enhancement request to a mainframe application. We will: ? Apply agile management tooling to prioritize work ? Leverage Enterprise Git Servers for source control and collaboration ? Code using modern editors like Visual Studio Code ? Validate and Package changes using process-controlled CI/CD pipelines ? Protect the software supply chain by leveraging attestations ? Deploy the verified package to production environments
10:30-11:30 am: How Open Source Modernized the Mainframe – John Mertic, Executive Director at Open Mainframe Project
The open source movement has rapidly become the way code is being developed for today’s smart and agile businesses. This session will cover how an “open mainframe” is the perfect solution for deploying open source on an enterprise computing platform. Attendees will learn how the open source community has gathered around the mainframe platform and how open source projects such as Zowe, COBOL, a new working group focused on Mainframe Modernization and more are the starting point for open development.
10:30-11:30 am: Tour Top Zowe Client Use Cases from medium.com/zowe! – Dan Kelosky, Principal Software Engineer at Broadcom and Michael Bauer, Product Manager at Broadcom
In this session we will walk through some common user scenarios for Zowe clients as outlined in our most popular blogs! Instead of reading the content, we will demo and explain the steps outlined in our top blogs with live Q&A.
1:15-2:15 pm: Back to the Future with COBOL – John Mertic, Executive Director at Open Mainframe Project
COBOL is the lifeblood of mainframe applications that power the global econony. It is reliable, proven and the foundation of most mission critical financial services at the world’s biggest banks. Yet few people realize or acknowledge the profound impact the COBOL language has had over its 60-year history. In this panel, we’ll take a look at the COBOL’s history, the sudden demand for it, the academic landscape and the efforts of Open Mainframe Project and other organizations to create resources for COBOL and showcase its value to a broader audience.
Wednesday, March 8:
4-5 pm: Diagnosing Transient Performance Issues by Analyzing SMF 98 and 100 Records in Zowe – Daniel Wiegand, Senior Product Manager; and Daniel Rosa, Senior Software Engineer at IBM
z/OS transactional workloads contain interactions between IBM z/OS components, middleware, Independent Software Vendor (ISV) products, client applications and shared resources. Sometimes these interactions and resources can cause transient short term performance issues. In the worst cases, these transient issues can repeat, worsen, and result in broader service degradation, critical situations, and even outages. When things go wrong, Subject Matter Experts spend significant time (e.g. days, weeks, or months depending on the issue) looking for clues needed to define the root cause. SMF 98 and 100 records can be generated on synchronized, 5-second intervals with micro-summary, exceptionalism enriched data. Subject Matter Experts can analyze this data to identify and correlate short interval anomalies with only 15 minutes of data, reducing the time required to diagnose complex critical situations, service degradation, and outages. In addition, Subject Matter Experts can proactively identify repeating transient workload resilience risks, providing an opportunity to diagnose the root cause and address it before a crit-sit or outage occurs.
Learn more about the conference at its main event website here.

COBOL Q1 Webinar (COBOL Course & COBOL Check - Integration)
2023-03-22 09:30 - 10:30
Topic: COBOL Course and COBOL Check – Integration
NOTE: Date changed.
Join the COBOL Programming Course team on March 22 at 9:30-10:30 am PDT (12:30-1:30 pm EDT) as we kick off 2023 with an exciting session with our Open Mainframe sister project – COBOL Check. Rune Christensen, Lead Software Developer at Bankdata, and Dave Nicolette, Chair of COBOL Check, will share updates and together we will explore opportunities to integrate the project into the course.

It is part of the COBOL Programming Course strategic Roadmap to bring in debug and testing – this presents an exciting opportunity to give our learner community that end-to-end developer experience. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn first-hand from the creators of COBOL Check!!!
Register for the free webinar here.

COBOL Programming Course Q2 Update Webinar
2023-06-21 09:30 - 10:15
Since the launch of Open Mainframe Project’s COBOL Programming Course two years ago, we have held quarterly TSC calls to encourage our learners, COBOL fans and the community at large to join us to learn more about our work we drive and provide inputs and thoughts about the course.
Join us on Wednesday, June 21 at 9:30 am PT, for the COBOL Programming Course Q2 Webinar. The core COBOL team will be joined by Lezlie Browder, an Open Mainframe Project Summer Mentor with several years of COBOL experience. She recently went through the COBOL Programming Course and experimented with Zowe and COBOL Check. She’ll share her experience, feedback and more.
Register to join the conversation here.

SHARE New Orleans
2023-08-13 - 2023-08-18
SHARE New Orleans takes place on August 13-18 at the Hyatt Regency. Open Mainframe Project will be represented at the conference with several sessions.
Monday, August 14:
9:45 – 10:45 am: Creating a Thriving Multi-Generational Workforce.” Dr. Gloria Chance, CEO and Founder of The Mousai Group, will moderate a panel discussion exploring how multigenerational mainframers are bridging the age gap within their organizations including:

Acknowledge the age gap in the industry
Discuss the realities of multigenerational workplaces
Explore what it is like to be older/younger/mid-career as the demographics of your workforce shift
Examine the challenges/opportunities that exist
Discuss ways for all to thrive

9:45 am – 4:15 pm: Zowe Day
For a list of all Zowe Day speakers and sessions, click here.
7-8 pm: Making Our Strong Community Stronger Reception (Empire Room)
Making Our Strong Community Stronger (MSCS) was born in 2020 as mainframe leaders, community members and partners came together to accelerate diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) initiatives and create environments that foster belonging. DEI isn’t a one-time initiative; it’s a lifetime of educating and listening to everyone in the company to improve – and no matter what your role is, everyone can contribute.
Tuesday, August 15:
9:15-10:15 am: Deploying Zowe CLI Configuration Throughout Your Organization – Eugene Johnston, Broadcom
Most companies try new technology, like Zowe CLI, in a pilot program. Once you are convinced of the value of Zowe CLI, you are challenged with deploying that technology throughout your organization. In this session you will hear how Zowe CLI team configuration was designed to improve sharing your configuration with everyone on your team. We will identify different approaches that are available to address different deployment situations. We will describe techniques for creating the most flexible and effective configurations. We will discuss best practices. And, we will show useful techniques to diagnose problems that you may inadvertently place into your configuration.
10:30-11:30 am: Improve Mainframe Integration with Zowe Explorer – Brijesh Anghan, Roayl Cyber Inc.
The Zowe project has revolutionized the way we interact with mainframe systems, making it easier than ever before to develop, deploy, and manage applications on the mainframe. One of the latest developments in the Zowe project is the integration of Zowe with the Visual Studio Code (VS Code) editor, providing a seamless and modern interface for developing mainframe applications. At the heart of this integration is the Zowe Explorer extension for VS Code, which provides a set of tools and features for working with mainframe systems. With Zowe Explorer, developers can browse mainframe datasets and files, edit JCL files, submit batch jobs, and view system logs, all from within the familiar VS Code interface. This greatly simplifies the development process, allowing developers to use their preferred tools and workflows when working with mainframe systems. The Zowe Explorer extension also includes support for DevOps tools and practices, allowing developers to build, test, and deploy mainframe applications using familiar DevOps workflows. For example, Zowe Explorer includes support for Git, allowing developers to easily manage mainframe code alongside code from other platforms. Zowe Explorer also includes support for Jenkins, allowing developers to automate build and deployment processes and streamline the development cycle. In addition to its development features, Zowe Explorer also provides tools for managing and monitoring mainframe systems. With Zowe Explorer, administrators can view system metrics, manage mainframe resources, and perform system-level tasks such as IPLs and shutdowns, all from within the VS Code interface. Zowe Explorer enables developers and administrators to be more productive and efficient than ever before. Whether you are a seasoned mainframe professional or a developer just starting out in the mainframe world, the Zowe Explorer extension for VS Code is sure to be a valuable tool in your toolkit.
4-5 pm: Is the Mainframe Ready for Open Source? Joe Winchster, IBM; Joe Bostian, IBM; Steven Perva, Ensono; Donna Hudi, Phoenix Software; Vaughan Marshall, Broadcom; Jeff Cherrington, Rocket Software
The mainframe is a secure, reliable, trusted computing platform. Open Source Software is often viewed as hobbyists coming up with free ephemeral stuff that may or may not work, may or may not be secure, and is supported through on-line public forums. How can these worlds collide and co-exist, or can they ? This panel discusses all of the issues surrounding this exciting area that to some is driving the platform forward, and to others is driving it off a cliff.
Wednesday, August 16:
8-9 am: Using IBM Z System Automation API with Zowe and Kafka in a Modern DevOps Environment – Michael Alexander Carl Seeburger, IBM
Learn about exciting new Z System Automation capabilities supporting IBM Z and DevOps for enhanced operations management: – The ability to access your automation environment via the new IBM Z Systems Automation Operations (REST) API; – Zowe CLI and its plugins for System Automation and Netview to support Admins, Operators and Developer on z/OS; – Publish System Automation event messages via SA Info Broker to Kafka and visualize in Service Management Unite dashboards.
5:15-6:15 pm: 5 for f: Top 5 Use Cases for Zowe over last 5 years – Rose Sakach, Broadcom, and Michael Bauer, Broadcom
Since 2020, the Arcati Mainframe yearbook has predicted exponential increases in Zowe adoptions. By the end of 2023 close to 70% of mainframe organizations – i.e. more and more of you – will be doing something with Zowe. In this session, we’ll showcase the most popular Zowe use cases. Whether you are a Systems Programmer, DBA, Security Administrator, DevOps Architect or Developer you will gain an understanding of the value of Zowe as we demo and explain 5 common Zowe use cases to help priortize and expedite your adoption journey.
Thursday, August 17:
8-9 am: Accelerate Your Mainframe Modernization using Zowe-Conformant REST APIs – Elliot Jalley, Broadcom and Miroslav Strnad
Mainframe modernization is being driven by a number of factors, not least the requirement to move fast while retaining the absolute focus on security. Embracing open-first technology is key. Opening the platform to ensure the mainframe remains vibrant into the future. This session focuses on the growing number of mainframe infrastructure REST APIs that provide standardized, programmatic access to mainframe resources. Join me to learn how Zowe-conformant APIs play a vital role in a risk-managed, in-place moderniztion strategy that leads to faster delivery, higher quality and increased efficiency, all without compromising on security and compliance.
10:30-11:30: Leveraging Zowe to Enable SCM Actions from Service Now – Thomas McQuitty, Broadcom
Learn how Mainframe SCMs can be driven via ServiceNow for actions such as software change approvals using the ServiceNow MID Server. This walk-through will show you the behind-the-scenes configuration, the technical prerequisites and the role Zowe plays. We will also save time to discuss additional possibilities.
1:15-2:15 pm: zNextGen: COBOL and the Modern Mainframe – Sudharsana Srinivasan, IBM, and Caitlin Mooney, JP Morgan Chase, Jade Melody Walker
Open Mainframe Project: COBOL Programming Course – Importance of COBOL – How COBOL can be used to train new developers – How CI/CD and debug/testing features are being added to the course
1:15-2:15 pm: Diagnosing Transient Performance Issues by Analyzing SMF 98 and 100 Records in Zowe – Daneil Weigand, IBM, and Daniel Rosa, IBM
z/OS transactional workloads contain interactions between IBM z/OS components, middleware, Independent Software Vendor (ISV) products, client applications and shared resources. Sometimes these interactions and resources can cause transient short term performance issues. In the worst cases, these transient issues can repeat, worsen, and result in broader service degradation, critical situations, and even outages. When things go wrong, Subject Matter Experts spend significant time (e.g. days, weeks, or months depending on the issue) looking for clues needed to define the root cause. SMF 98 and 100 records can be generated on synchronized, 5-second intervals with micro-summary, exceptionalism enriched data. Subject Matter Experts can analyze this data to identify and correlate short interval anomalies with only 15 minutes of data, reducing the time required to diagnose complex critical situations, service degradation, and outages. In addition, Subject Matter Experts can proactively identify repeating transient workload resilience risks, providing an opportunity to diagnose the root cause and address it before a crit-sit or outage occurs.
2:45-3:45 pm: Customer Use Cases and Success Stories with Zowe – Joe Winchester, IBM, Murali P. Panchalingam, IBM and Rose Sakach, Broadcom
Many customers have been successful using Zowe to transition their companies to mainframe modernization in-place, blending existing pracitces with modern toolchains. Learn first hand their stories at DevOps, education, automation, optional support and other areas where Zowe has helped accelerate digital transformation.
4-5 pm: Zowe Chat: Extending the Access, Personas and Use Cases for z/OS based REST Services – Domenic D’Alterio, IBM

Zowe Chat provides access to z/OS based services from a chat tool, enabling team collaboration in problem solving and more through the collaborative tool already in use in your enterprise. Come and learn about this new Zowe component, so how it is extensible and how it can help in your daily job.
Friday, August 18
9:15-10:15 am: I get my CICS on Route Zowe – Joe Winchester, IBM, and Murali P. Panchalingam, IBM
This talk shows how Zowe Visual Studio plugins and Zowe Command Line Interface open source extensions can be used for development, operations, and automated deployment tasks to create a modern and powerful experience that works for new, and experienced, CICS mainframers alike.

COBOL Programming Course Q3 Webinar
2023-09-29 09:00 - 10:00
Join the COBOL Programming Course TSC on Friday, September 29 at 9 am PT/12 pm ET for their Q3 webinar. The focus of the webinar will be “My Summer with COBOL – A Mentee Story,” where 2023 Summer Mentee Ashis Kumar Naik will share his experience, lessons learned and more. His mentor Lezlie Browder, an IBM Ambassador and Chief Solutionist with decades of mainframe experience, will also share her experience and the entire team will be available to answer questions about the course, mentorship or COBOL in general. Register here today!

COBOL Programming Course Q4 Webinar: Today's COBOLers
2023-12-20 09:30 - 10:30
COBOL is the language of business, it is a well-known fact…..but is that all it can be used for? Join us for COBOL Programming Course Q4 webinar on Wednesday, December 20 at 9:30 am PT (12:30 pm ET) to hear from an educator and students of Talladega College on the importance of COBOL in our world today, what got them started on their COBOL journey and how they have fun with it! Register here.

Speakers: Professor Philip Grabowskil and Students Reinhard Mensah and Victor Tavares

COBOL Programming Course Q1 Webinar
2024-03-19 08:00 - 09:00
Join us for the COBOL Programming Course Q1 webinar on March 19 at 8 am PST. Zowe Explorer Squad Lead Adam Wolfe, Open Mainframe Project Ambassador and Product Owner at Broadcom Mainframe Software, joins the COBOL Programming Course team to discuss all things Zowe.
Zowe and COBOL are two of the most popular projects of the Open Mainframe project! Tune in to listen to the team discussing about the upcoming Zowe v3 release, the impact to the COBOL course, and more!
Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_q9d5mzezSguu5FGOa1EBiw

COBOL Programming Course Q2 Webinar
2024-06-26 07:00 - 08:00
Join the Open Mainframe Project COBOL Programming Course team on Wednesday, June 26th 2024 at 7 am PT/10 a.m ET to learn more about the new and exciting zOS, registration platform, user experience and more! You don’t want to miss learning about this exciting new update to the much love COBOL course.
Speaker: Ross Cruickshank, Z Developer Advocate at IBM
Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OtLExuXZRRqMxDxUc_jGag#/registration

COBOL Programming Course Q3 Webinar
2024-09-18 07:00 - 08:00
Open Mainframe Project’s summer mentees never disappoint! Join the COBOL Programming Course core team on Wednesday, September 18 at 7 am PT/10 am ET to learn more about all of the great work summer mentees, Rituraj Mahato and Ali Mohammed, did to bring the next generation of COBOL Programing Course to global community of learners. The team will be celebrating the end of the Summer Mentorship, the anniversary of COBOL and more. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from the next generation of COBOL programmers and celebrate all things COBOL!
Even if you can’t attend the meeting live, register here and you’ll receive a link to the recording after the meeting.
Watch the other COBOL Programming videos on the Open Mainframe Project COBOL Programming Course Playlist.
