This IBM® Redbooks® publication covers the planning, implementation, and management of IBM System z® FICON® environments. It discusses the FICON and Fibre Channel architectures, terminology, and supported topologies.

The book focuses on the hardware installation and the software definitions that are needed to provide connectivity to FICON environments.You will find configuration examples required to support FICON control units, FICON Channel-to-Channel (FCTC), and FICON Directors. It also discusses utilities and commands that are useful for monitoring and managing the FICON environment.

The target audience for this document includes IT Architects, data center planners, SAN administrators, and system programmers who plan for and configure FICON environments. You are expected to have a basic understanding of IBM zEnterprise™ and System z10® hardware, HCD, HCM or IOCP, and a broad understanding of the Fibre Channel and FICON architectures.

Part 1. Understanding FICON

Chapter 1. Introduction to FICON

Chapter 2. System z FICON technical description

Chapter 3. FICON Director technical description

Part 2. Planning the FICON environment

Chapter 4. Planning the FICON environment

Part 3. Configuring the FICON environment

Chapter 5. Configuring a point-to-point topology

Chapter 6. Configuring a switched point-to-point topology

Chapter 7. Configuring a cascaded FICON Director topology

Chapter 8. Configuring FICON Directors

Part 4. Managing the FICON environment

Chapter 9. Monitoring the FICON environment

Chapter 10. Debugging FICON problems

Part 5. Appendixes

Appendix A. Example: planning workflow

Appendix B. Configuration worksheets

Appendix C. Configuration and definition tools

Appendix D. Configuring the DS8000 for FICON

Appendix E. Using HMC and SE for problem determination information

Appendix F. Useful z/OS commands

Appendix G. Adding FICON CTC connections