That was educational

Thanks Al!

-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of Al 
Sherkow
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2023 10:23 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Question on use of LPARNAME, SYSNAME and SMFID

The 4-char SMFID has been around a very long time. This field is in the header 
of SMF records at offset=14 (SMF70SID), SMF0SID, etc.). 

SYSNAME and SYSPLEX were added to many SMF records with MVS/ESA 5.1.0 (as 
documented in MXG with change 12.034 on Feb 14, 1994). LPARNAME was added in 
1988 with PRSM. I think the OS was ESA/390 on 3090 hardware.

For some expert witness work I did in the early 90s I began identifying MVS 
images with the 4-char SMFID from offset 14, the CPUTYPE (SMF70MOD) and the 
serial number (SMF70SER). I don't think this happens anymore, but also long ago 
a machine could be significantly changed and keep the same serial number to 
make software licensing simpler. (For example, replacing a 3033 with a 3090). 
Keeping the CPUTYPE and the serial number handled that condition. 

This worked well, and I implemented the same image tracking when I wrote LCS 
(https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sherkow.com%2Flcs%2F&data=05%7C01%7COtto.Burgess%40opm.gov%7Cddb2470d86ff454f69f108db0e3ad95a%7C844ef9977b6348f0882a7dc8162e363b%7C0%7C0%7C638119418160619162%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=wRs69%2FjBQ%2FUjJ3ZSxFLuwiYoNVog8wy6tbekD5nEli0%3D&reserved=0)
 to help sites audit SCRT in 2002. One customer eventually showed me that more 
information was required. They had two 4-char SMFIDs 'ASYS' on the same machine 
in different LPARs simultaneously! That totally broke my software. I called Bob 
Rogers at IBM to ask what was happening and what didn't I understand. He said 
"they must have different 8-char SYSNAMEs, as that is how Parallel Sysplex 
keeps those two 'ASYS' separate." Eye opening for me... I had to add SYSPLEX 
and SYSNAME to completely identify images. I was auditing SCRT, so I determined 
I needed to add LPARNAME also. A particular 4-char SMFID, SYSNAME, SYSPLEX 
could be in two different LPARs on a machine during the month (not 
simultaneously) and I needed to keep them separate. (Later recognized they 
needed LPARNAME to properly merge SMF70 and SMF89 and in 2007 APAR OA20314 
added the LPARNAME to the SMF89 record.)

Most of my licensees have 4-char SMFID=SYSNAME.  I have a few customers where 
they are different. As others have written some sites have found interesting 
uses for the extra four characters in SYSNAME. 

Al Sherkow, I/S Management Strategies, Ltd.
+1 414 332-3062
https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sherkow.com%2F&data=05%7C01%7COtto.Burgess%40opm.gov%7Cddb2470d86ff454f69f108db0e3ad95a%7C844ef9977b6348f0882a7dc8162e363b%7C0%7C0%7C638119418160619162%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=gc679rVXx5DOSWAZKuuWI4HY5eXuEfP8kctp1ge8fnw%3D&reserved=0

----------------------------------------------------------------------
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

Reply via email to