ACF2/MVS and ACF2/CICS interface different release compatibility.

Products

• ACF2
• ACF2 - DB2 Option
• ACF2 for zVM
• ACF2 - z/OS
• ACF2 - MISC
• PanApt
• PanAudit

Issue/Introduction

Concern over mixing the Release Levels of ACF2 for z/OS and the ACF2/CICS interface.

Is ACF2/CICS Release 15.0 compatible with ACF2/MVS Release 16.0?

Is ACF2/MVS Release 15.0 compatible with ACF2/CICS Release 16.0?

Environment

Release: ACF2..001AO-15-ACF2
Component:

Resolution

With all previous Releases of ACF2, the ACF2 Base (ACF2/MVS) and ACF2/CICS (CICS interface for ACF2) are compatible with each other. But due to enhancements regarding the AES 256 password encryption, or AES2 in ACF2 terms, the base ACF2 for z/OS release 16.0 needs to be converted either first, or at the same time as the ACF2/CICS interface.  Do not do the ACF2/CICS interface first by itself.

Additional Information

Broadcom Support does not recommend you run in this method permanently with different Releases on ACF2.  The reason is that many of the ACF2/CICS fixes have two parts.  One part goes on the ACF2/CICS interface component, and the other goes on the ACF2 base component.  So if you have a problem, you might only be putting on half of the fix if the Releases are different.