Support Central

BMC provides SMP/E based product maintenance delivered via quarterly Recommended Service Level (RSL) files. RSL files contain PTFs and HOLDDATA. We certify the PTFs as IBM Recommended Service Update (RSU). 

You can obtain the quarterly RSL distribution by using the IBM SMP/E RECEIVE ORDER process. For more information about the quarterly RSL distribution and schedule, see Maintenance and schedule information.

Important: When you install a product, all currently recommended maintenance is applied. For more information about the maintenance recommended by BMC, see BMC Recommended Maintenance for Mainframe Products and Solutions.

Use one of the following methods to obtain product maintenance:

For required login information for these methods, see File server and certificate information.

• (Recommended) IBM SMP/E RECEIVE ORDER
  Use this method to obtain quarterly RSLs, batches of PTFs, or individual PTFs. BMC provides a standard batch job and web-based maintenance request service. 
  
  If you need assistance for using the SMP/E RECEIVE ORDER service to obtain your BMC product maintenance, open a support case. While creating the case, specify the following information:
      Product: Common Install – z/OS
      Product Component: Receive Order Maintenance
  
  Important: SMP/E RECEIVE ORDER (batch and web-based) service supports BMC AMI Data, BMC AMI DevX, BMC AMI Ops, BMC AMI Security, and In-Control for z/OS products. 
• Maintenance packaging engine (for select BMC AMI products)
  Use this method to obtain the service package (cumulative maintenance) for select BMC AMI products. The EPD-BMC Mainframe application provides the BMC AMI DevX tab where you can choose the cumulative maintenance for your products. This service package is available for:
  • All BMC AMI DevX
  • BMC AMI Ops Automation for Batch ThruPut
    
  • BMC AMI Strobe
  • BMC AMI Security Session Monitor
  Important: We are removing the Cumulative Maintenance order option for the for the above BMC AMI products by December 31, 2023. To avoid any disruption to the product maintenance delivery, we strongly recommend that you transition to the IBM SMP/E RECEIVE ORDER process as soon as possible.
  There is no change in the process for BMC AMI products that do not use the SMP/E process to receive their product maintenance.
  

• BMC AMI Ops Automation for Batch ThruPut APAR maintenance
  Use this method to obtain the BMC AMI Ops Automation for Batch ThruPut APAR cumulative maintenance files. These files are delivered after the associated product PTFs were made available. This link takes you to the EPD page where you select the product version and use the Patches tab to get to the APAR maintenance.
• eFix PTF Distribution Services (eFix)
  You can use this method to obtain PTFs for INCONTROL for z/OS product family. For more information, see INCONTROL for z/OS - Where can I download ad-hoc INCONTROL ptfs from eFix?.

For additional information, see:

• Enhanced HOLDDATA 
  BMC supports Enhanced HOLDDATA, which is a single source of ERROR-type ++HOLDs. The BMC implementation of Enhanced HOLDDATA uses the same format as the published IBM Enhanced HOLDDATA. For more information about IBM Enhanced HOLDDATA, see IBM documentation. 
• Fix Category Enhanced HOLDDATA
  A fix category (FIXCAT) is an identifier, which is used to group PTFs to a specific category of product fixes. We provide FIXCAT in the form of SMP/E FIXCAT HOLDDATA statements. Each FIXCAT HOLDDATA statement is associated with an APAR and its related fixing PTF to one or more fix categories.
• BMC Mainframe Security and Integrity portal
  BMC provides security and integrity information for z/OS products via the BMC Mainframe Security and Integrity portal. Incorporating this information in your security management processes will help your system administrators, security response teams, and auditors to be up to date with the latest BMC security service and recommendations. Access to this portal is completely voluntary and based on your organization's needs. For more information about how to register to get access to this portal, see BMC Mainframe Security and Integrity portal registration form.
• Documentation
  Online documentation for the current version of the Installation System.

BMC Support requires diagnostic information to analyze issues.

You can send diagnostic information to BMC Support via email or by updating the case.

If your organization requires a more secure method than email or when you update the case, use the Secure File Transfer (SFT) service. Use the SFT service to send large files or SVCDUMPS. For more information, see Secure File Transfer User Guide and video on sharing a file using SFT.