It must be encrypted such that when decrypted on an ASCII platform (or any platform, really) it will be in ASCII. Not sure on the line separator requirement, but I will find out.
Your comment about TLS ensuring the data is not altered in transmission is interesting. As far as I know the only concern there is that in the past we've sent files from z/OS (or more often sent files to z/OS) and the file ended up being truncated (for example, the FTP client job was somehow cancelled part way through). Or at least that is the concern. Not sure that TLS could guard against that. (Yes, I know, Connect: Direct could, but we don't have C:D for z/OS.) It does need to be encrypted at rest, as it will be offsite at a location not under our control. Thanks! Frank ________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> on behalf of Alan Altmark <alan_altm...@us.ibm.com> Sent: Friday, June 23, 2017 2:57 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: EBCDIC, ASCII, ugh On Thu, 22 Jun 2017 22:25:21 +0000, Frank Swarbrick <frank.swarbr...@outlook.com> wrote: > We have a requirement to store some information in an encrypted ASCII file > (that is, it was ASCII prior to being encrypted) > on a distributed platform over which we have no control. We also have a > requirement that we make sure that no data is > lost during transmission. Do you have a requirement to create an encrypted ASCII file? Or do you have a requirement to decrypt and save (store) a clear-text EBCDIC version of such a file? Don't overthink the solution. Just remember that ASCII text files are streams with CRLFs in them, which means the CRLFs are part of the encrypted data. You don't encrypt the LINES of a file and then append CRLFs. (Tempting in EBCDIC systems.) Is the encryption solely for the purpose of file transmission? Or does it need to be encrypted at rest for other reasons? I would be tempted to just use TLS-enabled FTP. TLS ensures that the data is not altered in transmission, so the MD5 is superfluous for that purpose. Alan Altmark IBM Lab Services z/VM and Linux ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
