Enabling Gateway and Discovery for Dataset Access via Zowe Explorer

Products

• Zowe

Issue/Introduction

Requirement exists to access mainframe datasets and USS files through Zowe Explorer in VS Code or Zowe CLI while minimizing the Zowe API Mediation Layer footprint.

Environment

• Zowe 3.4.1
• API Mediation Layer (APIML)
• Zowe CLI
• Zowe Explorer (Intellij or VS Code)

Resolution

Enabling only Gateway and Discovery services is technically sufficient to facilitate access to mainframe datasets and USS files through Zowe Explorer and Zowe CLI. However, note these implications when other components remain disabled:

• Authentication (ZAAS): Disabling ZAAS prevents use of Single Sign-On (SSO) or Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) token management. Provide credentials directly to backend services in this configuration.
• Visibility (API Catalog): Disabling the API Catalog removes the interface for viewing available services. Service IDs and paths must be known manually for zowe.config.json configurations.

Verification
Test the setup by listing datasets through the Gateway using Zowe CLI:
zowe files list ds "####.DATASET.####" --apiml

Recommendation
Although functional, a configuration with only Gateway and Discovery is not officially supported and results in unexpected behavior. For resource optimization in a supported manner, enable single-service API ML deployment.

Refer to Upgrading to single-service API ML deployment for official configuration steps.

For more details on authentication interactions, see Zowe Explorer and MFA.