Abstract
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.
Table of Contents
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