What's new in HCL Z Abend Investigator V17.1

This edition of the documentation provides information applicable to Z Abend Investigator Version 17 Release 1. Changes to the latest release are indicated by a "|" change bar in the left margin of the page in the PDF format of the documentation.

Latest service:
For information about the problems that have been addressed in each PTF, see Latest Z Abend Investigator Service Information.

October 2026 (V17R1M0, first edition)

This edition of the documentation contains minor clarifications and corrections, as well as the following changes relative to the previous edition:
  • Modernizing the mainframe with Artificial Intelligence enhancements: In addition to traditional interactive and batch reanalysis, HCL Z Abend Investigator 17.1.0 introduces two artificial intelligence capabilities to accelerate problem determination:
    • HCL ZAI Abend Intelligence: An automated, real-time, host-based analysis pipeline running natively on z/OS. When an application abnormally ends, HCL ZAI Abend Intelligence automatically triggers an asynchronous background job (via the NOTIFY exit) to analyze the abend using a large language model (LLM), and output a Markdown-formatted reanalysis report. The pipeline supports both watsonx and Ollama as AI providers. For configuration details, see Installing and configuring HCL ZAI Abend Intelligence.
    • Asynchronous AI assistant integration using Model Context Protocol (MCP) server: HCL Z Abend Investigator 17.1.0 supports integration with external AI assistants through an optional workstation-based Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. Running on Windows, the MCP server connects directly to the host using z/OSMF REST APIs, requiring no software installation on the mainframe LPAR. The server provides a set of tools that allow external AI assistants to locate history data sets, search history files, retrieve reanalysis reports, read SDSF job spool logs, and extract application source code.

      The MCP server also exposes a set of REST API services with a Swagger UI for direct scripting and manual testing if the server is run in HTTP mode. You can evaluate and test the server before connecting it to an AI client.

      For details, see Asynchronous AI analysis using the Model Context Protocol (MCP) server and Configuring the Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server.

    • HCL Doc IQ, AI-powered search and assistance: With Version 17.1.0, we have integrated an AI-driven chat assistant built directly into the documentation portal. Powered by Agentic RAG and Large Language Models (LLMs), HCL Doc IQ lets you ask technical questions in plain language and receive precise, context-aware answers instantly. The chat assistant eliminaties the need to manually search through topics and search results. All responses are generated exclusively from official product documentation to ensure maximum accuracy and reliability. Simply click the HCL Doc IQ icon in the corner of the portal to get started.
  • The new CompileDateCheck option specifies whether Z Abend Investigator scans user programs in the event list to check if any were compiled within a specified number of days before the abend . If Z Abend Investigator detects recently compiled user programs, the synopsis section of the fault analysis report includes a note. For details, see CompileDateCheck.
  • Two new commands have been added:
    • HTTP command: displays formatted HTTP data located at a specified storage address. See HTTP for the complete command syntax and see Displaying formatted HTTP data (HTTP) for information about how to use this command and interact with the results.
    • XML command: displays formatted XML data located at a specified storage address. See XML for the complete command syntax and see Displaying formatted XML (XML) for information about how to use this command and interact with the results.
  • Direct filtering of IMS programs during history file maintenance:
  • The ability to provide a user name or title when creating a fault entry from interactive MVS dump analysis has been provided. For details, see Creating a fault entry.