Symbolic links can be used in configuring and maintenance for WebSphere® Application Server for z/OS® applications.
When a WebSphere Application Server for z/OS node is built, the configuration HFS is peppered with hundreds of symbolic links. These symbolic links point to files in the product HFS supplied by IBM®. There is good reason for having this design. Unfortunately, if you configure two or more nodes that point directly to the mount point of the product HFS, then applying maintenance to the product HFS necessarily means updating all the nodes at once.
The way to provide flexibility is to configure what is known as an intermediate symbolic link between the node's configuration HFS and the actual mount point of the product HFS. The result is two symbolic links: the configuration HFS link pointing to the intermediate link, and the intermediate link then pointing to the product HFS. The value of this is that a node can point to a new level of the product HFS by simply changing the one intermediate symbolic link.
Read http://www.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/WebIndex/WP100396 for additional information on the use of intermediate symbolic links.