Skip to main content
Version: v2.9.x LTS

Zowe CLI quick start

Last updated
:  |
... min read
|
Edit this page
PDF
Open doc issue

Zowe CLI quick start

Get started with Zoweâ„¢ CLI quickly and easily.

This article presumes that your role is that of a systems administrator or you possess prerequisite knowledge of command-line tools and writing scripts. If you prefer more detailed instructions, see Installing Zowe CLI.

Installing​

The following topics describe the Zowe CLI system requirements and the various methods to use to install Zowe CLI.

Software Requirements​

Before you install Zowe CLI, download and install Node.js and npm. Use an LTS version of Node.js that is compatible with your version of npm. For a list of compatible versions, see Node.js Previous Releases.

(Linux only): On headless Linux, follow the procedure documented in the SCS plug-in Readme.

Installing Zowe CLI core from public npm​

Issue the following command to install the core CLI.

npm install -g @zowe/cli@zowe-v2-lts

Installing CLI plug-ins​

zowe plugins install @zowe/cics-for-zowe-cli@zowe-v2-lts @zowe/db2-for-zowe-cli@zowe-v2-lts @zowe/ims-for-zowe-cli@zowe-v2-lts @zowe/mq-for-zowe-cli@zowe-v2-lts @zowe/zos-ftp-for-zowe-cli@zowe-v2-lts

The command installs most open-source plug-ins, but the IBM Db2 plug-in requires additional configuration to install.

For more information, see Installing plug-ins.

Issuing your first commands​

Issue zowe --help to display full command help. Append --help (alias -h) to any command to see available command actions and options.

Optionally, you can view the Zowe CLI web help in a browser window. For more information, see Displaying help.

All Zowe CLI commands start with zowe followed by the name of the core command group. For example, zowe plugins -h. To interact with the mainframe, type zowe followed by a command group, action, and object. Use options to specify your connection details such as password and system name.

Listing all data sets under a high-level qualifier (HLQ)​

Example:

zowe zos-files list data-set "MY.DATASET.*" --host my.company.com --port 123 --user myusername123 --pass mypassword123

Downloading a partitioned data-set (PDS) member to local file​

Example:

zowe zos-files download data-set "MY.DATA.SET(member)" -f "mylocalfile.txt" --host my.company.com --port 123 --user myusername123 --pass mypassword123

See Understanding core command groups for a list of available functionality.

Team profiles​

Zowe CLI V2-LTS now supports team profiles. The process of setting up team profiles is simple and can be rolled out easily accross your organization. We highly recommend that you configure team profiles to support your Zowe CLI implementation. For more information, see Using team profiles.

Using profiles​

Zowe profiles let you store configuration details such as username, password, host, and port for a mainframe system. Switch between profiles to quickly target different subsystems and avoid typing connection details on every command.

Profile types​

Most command groups require a zosmf-profile, but some plug-ins add their own profile types. For example, the CICS plug-in has a cics-profile. The profile type that a command requires is defined in the PROFILE OPTIONS section of the help response.

Tip: The first zosmf profile that you create becomes your default profile. If you don't specify any options on a command, the default profile is used. Issue zowe profiles -h to learn about listing profiles and setting defaults.

Creating zosmf profiles​

zowe profiles create zosmf-profile myprofile123 --host my.company.com --port 123 --user myusername123 --password mypassword123

Notes:

  • The port defaults to 443 if you omit the --port option. Specify a different port if your host system does not use port 443.
  • If z/OSMF is configured for high availability in Sysplex, create the CLI zosmf-profile with DVIPA address/hostname to ensure availability of REST services. For more information, see Configuring z/OSMF high availability in Sysplex.

Using zosmf profiles​

zowe zos-files download data-set "MY.DATA.SET(member)" -f "mylocalfile.txt" --zosmf-profile myprofile123

For detailed information about issuing commands, using profiles, and more, see Using CLI.

Writing scripts​

You can write Zowe CLI scripts to streamline your daily development processes or conduct mainframe actions from an off-platform automation tool such as Jenkins or TravisCI.

Example:​

You want to delete a list of temporary datasets. Use Zowe CLI to download the list, loop through the list, and delete each data set using the zowe zos-files delete command.

#!/bin/bash

set -e

# Obtain the list of temporary project data sets
dslist=$(zowe zos-files list dataset "my.project.ds*")

# Delete each data set in the list
IFS=$'\n'
for ds in $dslist
do
     echo "Deleting Temporary Project Dataset: $ds"
     zowe files delete ds "$ds" -f
done

For more information, see Writing scripts.

Next steps​

You successfully installed Zowe CLI, issued your first commands, and wrote a simple script! Next, you might want to perform the following tasks:

On this page