<s>
RACF	B-Application
,	O
[	O
pronounced	O
Rack-Eff	O
]	O
short	O
for	O
Resource	B-Application
Access	I-Application
Control	I-Application
Facility	I-Application
,	O
is	O
an	O
IBM	O
software	O
product	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
a	O
security	O
system	O
that	O
provides	O
access	O
control	O
and	O
auditing	O
functionality	O
for	O
the	O
z/OS	B-Application
and	O
z/VM	B-Application
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
RACF	B-Application
was	O
introduced	O
in	O
1976	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Originally	O
called	O
RACF	B-Application
it	O
was	O
renamed	O
to	O
z/OS	B-Application
Security	O
Server	O
(	O
RACF	B-Application
)	O
although	O
most	O
mainframe	O
folks	O
still	O
refer	O
to	O
it	O
as	O
RACF	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
RACF	B-Application
establishes	O
security	O
policies	O
rather	O
than	O
just	O
permission	O
records	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
is	O
a	O
long	O
established	O
technical	O
support	O
community	O
for	O
RACF	B-Application
based	O
around	O
a	O
LISTSERV	B-Protocol
operated	O
out	O
of	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Georgia	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
list	O
is	O
called	O
RACF-L	O
which	O
is	O
described	O
as	O
RACF	B-Application
Discussion	O
List	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
email	O
address	O
of	O
the	O
listserv	B-Protocol
is	O
RACF-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU	O
and	O
can	O
also	O
be	O
viewed	O
via	O
a	O
webportal	O
at	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
text	O
book	O
published	O
(	O
first	O
printing	O
December	O
2007	O
)	O
aimed	O
at	O
giving	O
security	O
professionals	O
an	O
introduction	O
to	O
the	O
concepts	O
and	O
conventions	O
of	O
how	O
RACF	B-Application
is	O
designed	O
and	O
administered	O
was	O
Mainframe	O
Basics	O
for	O
Security	O
Professionals	O
:	O
Getting	O
Started	O
with	O
RACF	B-Application
by	O
Ori	O
Pomerantz	O
(	O
Author	O
)	O
,	O
Barbara	O
Vander	O
Weele	O
(	O
Author	O
)	O
,	O
Mark	O
Nelson	O
(	O
Author	O
)	O
,	O
Tim	O
Hahn	O
(	O
Author	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RACF	B-Application
has	O
continuously	O
evolved	O
to	O
support	O
such	O
modern	O
security	O
features	O
as	O
digital	O
certificates/public	O
key	O
infrastructure	O
services	O
,	O
LDAP	B-Protocol
interfaces	O
,	O
and	O
case	O
sensitive	O
IDs/passwords	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
latter	O
is	O
a	O
reluctant	O
concession	O
to	O
promote	O
interoperability	O
with	O
other	O
systems	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Unix	B-Application
and	O
Linux	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
underlying	O
zSeries	O
(	O
now	O
IBM	B-Device
Z	I-Device
)	O
hardware	O
works	O
closely	O
with	O
RACF	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
digital	O
certificates	O
are	O
protected	O
within	O
tamper-proof	O
cryptographic	B-Device
processors	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Major	O
mainframe	O
subsystems	O
,	O
especially	O
Db2	B-Application
,	O
use	O
RACF	B-Application
to	O
provide	O
multi-level	O
security	O
(	O
MLS	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
primary	O
competitors	O
have	O
been	O
ACF2	B-Application
and	O
TopSecret	O
,	O
both	O
now	O
produced	O
by	O
CA	O
Technologies	O
.	O
</s>
