ADDRESS USS NCREQ - IBM NetCool Interface

Products

• OPS/MVS Event Management & Automation

Issue/Introduction

When trying to send an alert to IBM Netcool using address USS NCREQ between two development environments, the request is making it off the mainframe but hitting a wall at the NetCool side. 

The API Rexx output shows the error messages:

 

T: AN ERROR OCCURRED: COULD NOT ESTABLISH SECURE CONNECTION (NO AT-TLS) 
T: REASON CODE: 1537   
T: RETURN CODE: -1       
T: SERVICE: 54                 
T: SERVICE INSTANCE: 2
T-EXIT: ERROR                 
T-ENTRY: SETRETURNCODE 
T-EXIT: SETRETURNCODE     
HWTHCONN NETCOOL RC=X'106' RSN=X'601' COULD NOT ESTABLISH SECURE CONNECTION (NO AT-TLS) 
NCREQ: FAILED TO CONNECT TO NETCOOL ON ANYWHERE.AT.THE.WEB.NET RC=X'106' RSN=X'601' COULD NOT ESTABLISH SECURE CONNECTION (NO AT-TLS) 
NCREQ: FAILED TO CONNECT TO NETCOOL - TERMINATING REQUEST    

Environment

OPS/MVS

Resolution

The OPS/MVS "ADDRESS USS NCREQ" automation rule rexx command is driven through the OPS/MVS USS Server running on z/OS to an IBM NetCool instance.
Based on the error messages, it appears the instance of IBM NetCool is setup to use Application Transparent - Transaction Level Security (AT-TLS).
OPS/MVS as the "application" does not need to do anything special to get a secure connection to IBM NetCool.
However, Network Administrator may need to define policy definitions in the z/OS TCP/IP configuration so that z/OS apps, like the CA OPS/MVS USS Server, can connect to the IBM NetCool instance using AT-TLS.