Fwd: How read Cyl 0 from within a program?

[Edward Gould]

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: Charles Mills 
> Subject: How read Cyl 0 from within a program?
> Date: February 13, 2024 at 12:19:46 PM CST
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Reply-To: IBM Mainframe Discussion List 
> 
> I am interested in writing a program to read the IPL records from a DASD 
> volume. (Read only, not update). I am comfortable with XDAP but how do I OPEN 
> a "dataset" that would include cylinder 0?
> 
> APF, OPERATIONS and so forth are not out of the question.
> 
> Thanks,
> Charles


Its been a while but, doesn’t dsn-format4.dscb,vol=ser=………. Or am I thinking of 
the vtoc…?
Ed


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Fwd: What is the PDS command?

[Edward Gould]

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: Seymour J Metz 
> Subject: Re: What is the PDS command?
> Date: January 10, 2024 at 7:20:00 AM CST
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Reply-To: IBM Mainframe Discussion List 
> 
> Admittedly the initial VSAM had warts, but the first cut at ICF was so bad 
> that IBM had to withdraw it.
> 
> I never understood the intent behind the 3850; why only 3330V and not, e.g., 
> 3350V, 3375V?
> 
> --
> Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
> http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3
> עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי
> נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר
> 
> __—SNIP—

Shmuel:

I never got to the MSS school myself. The person who “owned” the thing was “Mr 
DASD” at GUIDE.
As I understood it, IBM never for saw the use of TSO people using it causing 
the 3850 to sort of thrash (don’t quote me as t was 40 or so years ago). It did 
work well in batch though). As to which device type it was probably a flip of 
the coin.At the time we were converting volumes with little or no effect on the 
users. Although we did have a programmer (he should never have been one) have 
issues with the difference in the space ( long story omitted) between the two. 
Also, we had issues on most of the catalogs doing the conversion. I can’t  
remember where but I found a freebie catalog conversion program at a semi 
government agency that save our back many times doing the conversions between 
3330’s and 3350’s.
Ed


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Fwd: What is the PDS command?

[Edward Gould]

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: Seymour J Metz 
> Subject: Re: What is the PDS command?
> Date: January 4, 2024 at 6:22:39 AM CST
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Reply-To: IBM Mainframe Discussion List 
> 
> Paper?! For, e.g., SYSABEND, SYSUDUMP, on SPOOL you can at least do a search 
> for, e.g., eyecatchers, key addresses. On paper a large dump is unmanageable.
> 
> When you're swamped is precisely when you need good tools. Not having PDS86 
> is bad; not having IPCS is intolerable.
> 
> --
> Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
> http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3
> עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי
> נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר
> Seymour:

Needless to say we had a lot of politics gong during this time. We hated VSAM 
as ti was a mess. Europe didn’t want it either. I was the repository for 
standalone dumps. We had a MSS but I have long forgotten the model number but 
IIRC it was a medium-to-large MSS. The two sysprogs that were dedicated to it 
were swamped with work. I disliked VSAM (this w before ICF) and we ended up 
with sam volume ownership and the MSS people were at wits end with it. I still 
remember taking a call from IBM (all our MSS people were taking a day off) I 
started to talk with the guy and they wanted me to zap the MSVI(?) I knew a 
little about it after talking with the MSS people. I zapped it and everything 
started to work (again) The following day I told the MSS people what I had done 
(since they weren’t around).  Because of the MSS and enque issues we must have 
taken at least 40 dumps and shipped them off to boulder (IIRC). IBM ended uo 
rewriting ENQUE and another component(allocation). We were lucky as we had a 
great IBM team and we had a couple leave IBM -Chicago and go out either West to 
the JES3 (we were Jes2 and did not understand that at all) Others went to GBURG 
and one went to the dasd in (CA?). Without them we would have truly been in a 
world of hurt). I think they have all retired by now.
Ed


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Re: What is the PDS command?

[Edward Gould]

> On Dec 27, 2023, at 4:57 AM, David Spiegel 
> <0468385049d1-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> Hi Ed,
> You and your programmer were not impressed?!
> How can you not be impressed by the ability to add Directory Blocks (by 
> moving members out of the way), the ability to generate JCL to LinkEdit PDS 
> members, the ability to copy members (with ISPF Stats) or the ability to 
> recover deleted members (with selection criteria)?
> (There are a lot more features.)
> SMH.
> 
> (I've been using the PDS Command Processor (File 182) for more than 40 years.)
> 
> Regards,
> David

David:
I was looking at it from a typical applications programmer POV as a every day 
utility. Most of the features (I thought) were sysprog type or maybe a senior 
level programmer. I1. I do not like trust programs from the CBTTAPE as I did 
not want to try and debug anything that I had not written and especially at 0 
dark 30 . I was working at that time 100 hours a week and supporting people in 
thee Time zones and I wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible. The 
third times zone was western Europe and as friendly as they were they would 
pull out the daggers every now and then. The locals were semi (except for about 
20)competentand we rarely heard a peep out of (except for the 20). My workload 
at the time included going through about 20 standalone dumps over a week and we 
did not have IPCS so every dump was on paper and went from 2 foot thick to 5 
foot. I had my hands full .
Ed
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Fwd: What is the PDS command?

[Edward Gould]

HI Roger,
The PDS command as I remember it from 40 years ago did a lot more than 
scanning. It had lots of other capabilities, Some of them were updating (IIRC) 
link date, SSI, and fixed alias issues and about 10 other things. I think it is 
still on the CBTAPE still. My memory was from 40 years ago but I am sure at 
that time it did not support Panvalet. I played around with it for about a week 
and was not to impressed at the time. It may or may not have been updated in 
the last 40 years. I tried to get a programmer interested in it but he was not 
impressed.
Ed

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: Roger Bolan 
> Subject: Re: What is the PDS command?
> Date: December 15, 2023 at 6:11:25 PM CST
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Reply-To: IBM Mainframe Discussion List 
> 
> It's all built into ISPF nowadays.  I would suggest that it is worth your
> time to go through the ISPF Tutorial every time you get a new release.  On
> my systems the main ISPF panel has an option 11 for Workplace  ISPF
> Object/Action Workplace.   You can also get to by the ISPF command DSLIST.
> You can list datasets, append other datasets and save any lists you want.
> I construct lots of lists for different projects.  Once I am displaying the
> datasets in my list, I can use the SRCHFOR command to search inside all the
> libraries in my list.  I can exclude libraries with the X (EXCLUDE) primary
> command if I need to. I have the options for SRCHFOR set to default to
> searching only the non-excluded libraries.  So, for example, if I want to
> search through a list of 30 JCL libraries for all members that use AMBLIST,
> it's easy.
> 
> On Fri, Dec 15, 2023 at 4:51 PM Paul Feller  wrote:
> 
>> Greetings Bob,
>> 
>> I was looking through my old JCL library and ran across several examples of
>> scans using ISRSUPC.  Depending on what you want to do you could try
>> ISRSUPC.  If you have access to JOBSCAN you could try it.  If you client
>> has
>> DAF, you can use that to scan SMF records to see if any executing jobs are
>> touch the dataset.
>> 
>> 
>> //SEARCH02 EXEC PGM=ISRSUPC,PARM=('SRCHCMP,ANYC,LPSF')
>> 
>> //NEWDDDD DSN=D0PCPN.JCLLIB.CA7PROD,DISP=(SHR,KEEP,KEEP)
>> 
>> // DD DSN=D0PCPN.JCLLIB.OVERRIDE,DISP=(SHR,KEEP,KEEP)
>> 
>> // DD DSN=D0PCPN.JCLLIB.ALTERNAT,DISP=(SHR,KEEP,KEEP)
>> 
>> // DD DSN=D0PCPN.JCLLIB.FREEZE,DISP=(SHR,KEEP,KEEP)
>> 
>> // DD DSN=D0PCPN.JCLLIB.ABEND,DISP=(SHR,KEEP,KEEP)
>> 
>> //OUTDDDD SYSOUT=X
>> 
>> //SYSINDD *
>> 
>> SRCHFOR'UNIT=TAPE'
>> 
>> /*
>> 
>> 
>> Paul
>> 
>> -Original Message-
>> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf
>> Of
>> John Pratt
>> Sent: Friday, December 15, 2023 5:09 PM
>> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: What is the PDS command?
>> 
>> Hi Bob,
>> 
>> If I remember correctly =3.14 has a batch option and you can concatenate
>> all
>> your JCL libraries into the generated job.
>> 
>> John.
>> 
>> -Original Message-
>> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf
>> Of
>> Bob Bridges
>> Sent: Saturday, 16 December 2023 8:55 AM
>> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
>> Subject: What is the PDS command?
>> 
>> Long ago I wrote - I'm pretty sure I wrote - a REXX exec that would do a
>> 3.14 search through multiple libraries for a character string.  I'm looking
>> for it now, and I find one in my archives that uses the PDS command to do
>> the search.
>> 
>> But what's the PDS command?  I've a strong suspicion that I wrote this at a
>> client that had a popular CBTTAPE utility, and if so it's not appropriate
>> for my current location.  Can someone confirm?
>> 
>> If you care, what I really want to do is search through a list of JCL
>> libraries for certain DSN fragments.  There's a job we're probably going to
>> shut down, and I want to be sure the datasets it produces are not used
>> anywhere else in production.
>> 
>> ---
>> Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313
>> 
>> /* "Bother", said the Borg, "we've assimilated a Pooh". */
>> 
>> --
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> 
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Re: HMC hardware messages

[Edward Gould]

I wish we would have had this feature 40 years ago. At that time we shut the 
entire data center down on Sundays. Some time Sunday morning we had a 
consultant from a well known company came into the DS and IPL’d one of our 
system and turned off SMF recording and EREP and ran  a bunch of jobs. Come 
Monday morning I was casually walking through the DS and went over to an out of 
sight 3215 (hard copy console) and while I was looking through the HC I saw the 
IPL and the operator (consultant) turning off SMF and EREP. I went over to the 
manager and asked what was going on Sunday and I explained to him what I saw on 
the HC and he said no-one was working and I took him over and showed him the 
log. He quickly looked at the security system and saw that a consultant had 
been there. I asked him if we shout tell the VP or not. He told me to go up 
there and explain what had happened. The VP managed to let me see him after I 
explained to his secretary what had happened. The VP told the consulting 
company that if the person had updated any DS they would be marched off the 
premises that morning.
If I hadn’t chanced looked at the hidden console we would not have known.
Ed

> On Nov 28, 2023, at 3:04 PM, Tom Brennan  wrote:
> 
> That reminded me of Skip Robinson testing out autoipl parameters when that 
> was new, and one morning maybe 4am our Dev system died and IPL'd itself.  No 
> notification, no complaints, and we only saw it by chance. I think we added 
> emails to ourselves via startup task after that.
> 
> On 11/28/2023 12:46 PM, Radoslaw Skorupka wrote:
>> W dniu 28.11.2023 o 05:09, Bhum Muth pisze:
>> Of course ticket creation is another topic. But it cannot be simply 
>> automatic creation of ticket for every message, because many of them are 
>> just notification.
>> Example: REIPL.
> 
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Re: ISPF to Panvalet interface

[Edward Gould]

> On Dec 19, 2023, at 11:24 PM, Brian Westerman  
> wrote:
> 
> Does anyone have an inexpensive (i.e. free) working ISPF interface to 
> Panvalet.  There is one on the CBT Tape that doesn't support any recent 
> versions of Panvalet and it abends because of Panvalet changing to PS 
> datasets from DA, and also the format of the data being sent back from the 
> PAN# modules has changed since the time it was written.  

Brian:
It really burned me when we were looking (mind you in the 1980’s) that the Pan 
People wanted 10,000.00 for the TSO command. I think if PDSe would have been 
available then we would have dumped the product. I was mixed at best about PAN 
product. But as I recall the nice feature was that when we used to do system 
gens we could selectively submitted jobs from the stage 2 and there was some 
other features that we as sysprogs never needed.
Ed
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Fwd: Permission to redistribute LE

[Edward Gould]

Long ago and far away there was a LARGE company that did similar things (ie 
Cobol) . It was some auditing company (IIRC) and they claimed that you must 
user their Cobol library. Anyway, I never bothered. I said if it abends then we 
will consider using their library. In the 10+ years I never needed it. And 
believe it or not the library was called sys1.coblib. And chuckle the two files 
were in IEHMOVE unloaded format. The auditors just cringed. 
Ed

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: Andrew Wilkinson <04f504c2b946-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
> Subject: Permission to redistribute LE
> Date: October 21, 2023 at 4:09:26 AM CDT
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Reply-To: IBM Mainframe Discussion List 
> 
> Dear List,
> 
> "z/OS Licensed Program Specifications" includes a section permitting you to 
> redistribute modules from CEE.SCEELKED (among many other libraries) which 
> have been included your programs.
> 
> This is not a surprise as I had always believed this to be allowed. What is a 
> surprise is that this permission first appears in z/OS Licensed Program 
> Specifications with z/OS 2.3 in September 2017. Prior to that, permission was 
> (and still is) in the notices at the end of "LE Vendor Interfaces".
> 
> My research also uncovered a change in the IMS Licensed Program 
> Specifications at around the same time. I couldn't find the CICS Licensed 
> Program Specifications, so I gave up looking for a pattern.
> 
> Does anyone know why it changed? Is there some legal reason?
> 
> If you haven't guessed by now, I don't really care about any of this, but 
> Legal are on my case (pun intended) and I am at a dead end. I've a feeling 
> that the people on this List have long memories and might be able to help.
> 
> A t D h V a A n N k C s E,
> 
> Andrew
> Andrew Wilkinson
> 
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Re: SMF Extract Using to find the user id who deleted datasets

[Edward Gould]

> On Sep 4, 2023, at 10:21 AM, Ituriel do Neto 
> <03427ec2837d-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> There is a utility on CBT site that may help you to find it.
> It is called DAF.
> 
> 
> Best Regards
> 
> Ituriel do Nascimento Neto
> z/OS System Programmer
> 
> 
> 

Yes, that program saved me a lot of time finding the culprits. Its fast and 
easy to use. I forgot who wrote it but it was worth  every penny.
Ed
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Re: With regrets, after many years I will no longer be following IBM-MAIN

[Edward Gould]

> On Sep 4, 2023, at 12:36 AM, Brian Westerman  
> wrote:
> 
> I think even the ones that abuse the list the most still provide assistance 
> from time to time that is very useful.  I completely understand that 
> oftentimes they want the person to RTFM, which makes a lot of sense because 
> you also don't want the list to become a primary school.  The "new guys" need 
> to learn how to use the manuals and I think the "old guys" are trying to, in 
> their own way, help them to see that using the manuals and figuring stuff out 
> is a good thing.  Where it becomes an issue is when the newbie honestly can't 
> figure it out and may have truly tried to find the solution on their own. 
> 
> It might be helpful for them, in fact everyone, to disclose what you have 
> already tried or read about, that way everyone will see that they are trying 
> and won't just kiss them off as using the list instead of manuals (and the 
> internet) as opposed to using it in conjunction with attempting to learn.  
> 
> Sometimes they may have actually read the solution, but just don't see it as 
> such, and by disclosing what they have tried so far will allow people to let 
> them know where they missed something.  I think that no one likes to think 
> that the guy asking the question is not even really trying to work the 
> problem.  But without disclosing the path they are currently on, we have no 
> way to know otherwise.
> 
> Just a thought.
> 
> Brian
> 
> -

> Brian:
I had a situation years ago. We were looking for a entry level systems 
programmer. I came up with a simple request to write an assembler program in as 
short of statements as possible. I handed it to the third interviewee and asked 
for the answer the next day as I wanted to get to know the guy a little before 
hiring him.

This was in the 1990’s (early) IIRC. I was new to IBM-MAIN and was getting to 
know the contributors. When I got home that evening I looked at the email for 
the list and was surprised when I saw the candidate  that I had handed the 
quick quiz to. He asked the question I had a posed and wanted someone to help 
him out.
The next day he dropped off the answer to the question with a very short (well 
written) answer.

I looked at him and asked who on IBM-MAIN helped him out. He was surprised that 
I was on IBM-Main as well. He said no one, but I pushed back a little and he 
said finally a couple of people on here had helped him out a little. I thanked 
him and as he left I threw “his” answer in the trash can. I finally after about 
15 interviews hired a person, who worked out well and I was happy to see him 
get promoted almost on a yearly basis. I ended up leaving the company as they 
want to move to Florida to get cheap labor. I hated to leave as the company up 
until I left had excellent education offerings and 4 weeks every year of 
vacation and other great benefits.
Ed
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Re: Is the IBM Assembler List still alive

[Edward Gould]

> On Sep 5, 2023, at 8:17 AM, Clem Clarke  wrote:
> 
> Yes, we send a bug report way back in the 1960's at Shell Oil in Melbourne.
> 
> We used COND codes a lot, and it mucked everything up!
> 
> Clem
> 
> 
> Colin Paice wrote:
>> I heard that IEFBR14  had the highest "bug rate" per line of code
>> 1) There was no CSECT statement
>> 2) It was not reentrant
>> 3) It did not clear R15 prior to exit
>> 4) It was missing an end statement
>> 
>> I was told this over 40 years ago... and may not be true


Clem,
I still remember getting called in at 2 AM because IEFBR14 did not set r15 with 
a zero before exiting. When I called it in to IBM and asked when can we expect 
a fix, 
I was told maybe in a month. I created my own version which did zero out r15. 
The next morning my boss’s boss came down from the tower and complemented me 
for fixing the issue. So quickly.
Later on in the year they handed out bonuses and I got a nice 3,000.00 check. I 
did not do anything that any other competent sysprog would have done.
Ed
Ps: I just don’t remember the year but I think it was in the 1970’s (probably 
late), boy do I feel old.
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Re: Simple request from chatGPT to write assembler program.

[Edward Gould]

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: Steve Thompson 
> Subject: Re: Simple request from chatGPT to write assembler program.
> Date: September 5, 2023 at 2:27:52 PM CDT
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Reply-To: IBM Mainframe Discussion List 
> 
> And so we can now understand that when a paralegal or newly minted attorney 
> uses it to find case law for points and authorities, it will will make them 
> up to match what was being searched for when it prepares a motion it was 
> asked for using the results of the search.
> 
> And some attorneys got a judge quite angry with them when they didn't tell 
> the court this, but the opposing council pointed out they could not find any 
> such case listed in the pleadings/motion. Then the judge's people also could 
> not find same This is the kind of thing that concerns me about AI today. 
> Once it has been taught enough to learn on its own
> 
> Steve Thompson

SNIP=

Steve,

This is a war story, so ignore it if you want.
I worked at a place in the 1970s and 80's that did a lot of "what if" or other 
type of DB2(type) inquiries that came from manufactures or food chains wanted 
answers to questions like in (either/or) stores/cities or regions how good a 
product was selling (it was essentially) ad-hoc inquiries. These inquiries came 
to us via the phone. The person answering the phone would create (on a CRT) the 
language that the application used (in this case, it was assembler H macro's). 
The phone person would write the inquiry up on the screen) and submit the job. 
This would essentially create a semi unexecuteable load module. At the end of 
the week/month, A program that ran on MVS would take these non-executable 
programs, use them essentially as an inquiry and would, run these inquiries, 
and would spit out reports that the client received and would tell the client 
how well campaign did for sales of a specific ad champaign.
These clerks were essentially entry level (sub entry?) programmers. In the day, 
it was a remarkable system. I am not an expert and only interacted with the 
programmers(real). The batch system's multi-tasking was complex, and they kept 
the wolves away from the system's people. The entire system was at one time 
CICS-based, but due to politics, they went to another CICS type system 
(Intercom?). I do remember INTERCOM(?) as the first time they tried the system 
up, and it amended on a SOC1and I was presented a dump with the explanation 
that it was a system error. I looked at it and told them to look at the manual 
as it was a valid OC1 and to talk to the INTERCOM people. The real programmers 
left with the dump and spoke to the INTERCOM systems people. They fixed it. 
Luckily, they looked at the dumps before they brought them down to us again. 
Ed
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A Little off topic but reasonable post (IMO)

[Edward Gould]

Hello,
I am looking for an ISPF editor(like) for MACOSX I will be needing this quite a 
bit in a month or two.
Can anyone give me a hint as to its availability/non.
Thanks,
Ed
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Fwd: Bob Shannon

[Edward Gould]

> ——SNIP
> It is with great sadness that I have to inform this forum that Bob Shannon 
> passed away unexpectedly last week aged 75.
> 
> Bob was the systems programming manager at Rocket Software from 2003 until 
> his retirement in 2016.
> 
> He was a real character, and anyone working at Rocket during that time will 
> have memories of Bob that will make them smile.
> 
> During his long career he was also a developer at Compuware, however many 
> people on this list probably know Bob from his work with Share on the MVS 
> project track.
> 
> He leaves behind his wife of 50 years, Vicky, and two daughters.
> 
> A knowledgeable and helpful man, he will be fondly remembered and keenly 
> missed.
> 
> Rob Scott
> Principal Architect, Mainframe Systems Tools
> Distinguished Engineer
> Rocket Software
> 77 Fourth Avenue . Suite 100 . Waltham . MA 02451-1468 . USA
> Tel: +1.781.684.2305
> Email: rsc...@rs.com
> Web: www.rocketsoftware.com
> 

Rob,
Wasn’t he also a big part of Omegamon? I have used several of Bob’s “tools” 
over the years and remember him from Guide/Share.
Unfortunate news, indeed. I had expected Bob to live a long life. 
My condolences to his wife and children. I will miss him.   
Ed
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Fwd: Simple request from chatGPT to write assembler program.

[Edward Gould]

> 
> 
Bill,
There are at least 2 large DC’s  that run a majority of their production in 
assembler, that I know  personally. The coding is quite complex, ie multi 
tasking in Production and doing cross memory “stuff”. While I know 2 isn’t a 
lot there is hope yet. The multitasking is a wonder and I am glad I only got 
roped into one instance of helping to debug.
Most of this code has not changed since the 80’s except when thy wanted to take 
advantage of new features of the OS.
The cross memory application seems to break with every release of Z/os but I 
stayed away from it on purpose as I did not want to be responsible for anything 
that broke. It was a political nightmare.
Ed
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Fwd: Syncsort > DFsort migration

[Edward Gould]

The only issue I ran into (this was years ago) was that if you use the PARM in 
Syncsort of “EQUAL” expect different output in DFSORT.. We did not run into 
this but a friend did. There are items in Syncsort that are different in 
DFSORT. Syncsort made the decision that some of the (I do not have a manual in 
front of me but certain commands do not work the same or do not work in DFSORT) 
so be careful.
Ed

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: Richard McIntosh 
> Subject: Syncsort > DFsort migration
> Date: August 26, 2023 at 6:52:58 AM CDT
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Reply-To: IBM Mainframe Discussion List 
> 
> We are starting to do a very rushed syncsort to DFsort migration.
> I am assuming most of the sort ports are identical, but I bet not all of them.
> Does anyone have a list of parms that need to be looked at?
> Or anything thing else that I should be aware of.
> 
> Thanks in advance for your time in replying.
> 
> Richard M
> 
> 
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Re: Ars Technica: The IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives - Universal Command Language

[Edward Gould]

Clem:
It has been years. We were “neighbors”  and after a visit to your place I was 
given a (I think) an 8” inch. 6250 reel of tape that contained JOL. When I got 
back to my company I d/led it on our system. I tried for several days to 
understand it. I gave up and gave it to another sysprog and he was stumped more 
than I was. I had a general idea but I just could not get to a point where I 
was used to it. While your comments are valid about JOL We just could not get  
to the point where we were even close to being comfortable. I sat done with an 
applications type for about an hour and he ended up frustrated as he could get 
the basics either. Maybe if there was a manual we could have gotten there.
Ed

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Re: z/OSMF

[Edward Gould]

> On Jun 27, 2023, at 6:43 AM, rpinion865 
> <042a019916dd-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> Remember the days when you could purchase mainframe software?  In 1987  we 
> had UCC-1, UCC-7, and UCC-11.  And we had just gotten ACF2, which had just 
> been acquired by Uccel.  The instructional material at the ACF2 class still 
> had SKK printed on it.  Then CA came along and bought Uccel, within a very 
> short time of the Uccel acquisition of ACF2.  That's when they started 
> offering their Unipacks to replace the original Uccel purchase contracts.  
> 
> In my humble opinion, that's where mainframe software pricing took a turn for 
> the worse. 
> 
> 
> SNIP—
I used to (50+) years ago worked in a downtown of a large mid west city.

Several times a year the sysprogs would get together at a SHARE/GUIDE  and with 
no vendor around the true stories would come out.

Having said that and the time span involved (40 years) One of the companies 
upgraded the CPU on one of their systems. IIRC it wasn’t drastic but I think it 
was one model number, They were a large DB2 user, They received a bill from the 
DB2 vendor (not IBM) for around 1 MILLION dollars, That was sticker shock. 
About 6 months later another vendor sent them a bill for 2 Million dollars. The 
two vendors are still around today. Then the race started to the bottom of the 
river. The second vendor was CA (sorry I was never a DB2 person as I do not 
recall the name of the vendor. IMO, CA2 night was quite at the front end of 
over charging. Those two vendors started the death nell. Can anyone remember 
the major DB2 player was?. BTW the company that owned the CPU moved to the 
suburbs and has been on the slow march to death ever since.
BTW at one time we had quite a few UCC products and the support  we got from 
them did not match the software price. We should have ditched them but I think 
the company I worked for was maybe trying to sell off the division and wanted 
to keep the costs down so as not to scare any buyers away, it was sold off, but 
not for another 20 or so years.

Minor story line here and my memory is iffy here. A person that used to work in 
my department founded(?) the DB2 company and was a multi-millionaire a few 
years after he left the company where we worked. I think that I may have been 
hired to replace him.

Ed

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Re: Checkpoint/restart in COBOL applications?

[Edward Gould]

> On Jun 18, 2023, at 10:31 AM, Steve Thompson  wrote:
> 
> In years gone by, I had checkpoint/restart in COBOL programs using Tape, so 
> that they could pick back up from the last checkpoint. Obviously a long 
> running program since it was processing multiple tapes (reel to reel stuff).
> 
> In the COBOL 6.2 Programming guide, there is chapter 36 that is about 
> Interrupts and checkpoint/restart, and that is found about p. 651 
> (SC27-8714-01).
> 
> In the JCL REF, there is info on SYSCHK DD, and RESTART (JOB stmt) that is 
> associated.
> 
> I've not used these for many years.
> 
> But they are documented and are possibly still in use in certain customer 
> sites.
> 
> If IBM gets rid of this, they may have a loud cry from Banks and/or TELCOs 
> and others that have a short period of time to process all their monthly data.
> 
> Granted, paperless statements have solved many of these old problems, but 
> still...
> 
> Steve Thompson
> 
> On 6/18/2023 3:59 AM, Binyamin Dissen wrote:
>> 
———SNIP
In a previous job we ran jobs(actually 20-3x) that actually took 2-3 days to 
run.
There was also an issue about changes to the OS (ie fixes) we could not touch 
anything in LPA as well.
This caused a lot of problems (politically).
I can’t begin to tell you of how many jobs that ran for days on end, We had to 
be involved (the systems group) heavily when someone wanted to buy a software 
package as it could impact check point restart, Its been years and I can’t 
remember the product and it created political waves around the company as we 
said “NO”. Just remember check point restart has implications beyond using it.
Ed 

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Dave Josuma's post

[Edward Gould]

I have been here lurking for the last five or so years. Here is my response to 
Dave’s post.

As for me “arguing,” much of it had to do with IBMer’s sugar-coating many 
issues in older times. To name two, a few were IBM and their blind attitude 
towards COBOL. Arguing on COBOL was and always has been IBM’s blind attitude 
toward the lack of support for large table sizes. They still can’t do large 
table sizes (i.e., 64-bit). 

The other issue was for the group of IBM-Main people at GUIDE (SCIDS, to be 
specific) who refused to talk to other IBM Main people. The favorites on here 
seemed (to me anyway encourage it). I should add here that other people sent me 
private replies agreeing with me.

The other sticking point was the old IBM HUGE fix tapes for VSAM. They still 
should be hung out to dry for not doing it well. 
 The systems type started the process of turning gray from those. My point 
(beside the complexity of the number of fixes) and to be a bit fair towards 
IBM, SMPE has helped a bit in this area but not to the extent of large numbers 
of fixes).

My health has declined over the years, so I have stayed out of IBM-Main as much 
as possible.

Ed

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Another Old Timer lost

[Edward Gould]

All:

Anyone who knew Bob Levy I wish to inform you of his death. Bob was a big-time 
GUIDE person. He was a prominent person in the Storage Group in GUIDE.
Bob passed away in December. I just found out about it a week ago. Bob died of 
Cancer.
All that knew Bob was better off because of what Bob did for Storage 
Management. He provided excellent user input into IBM for immediate and long 
term storage futures. After Bob retired, he was still active in Storage 
Management. Some of the code from 40 years ago still runs today on Z 
architecture with little or no change. Bob was drafted, and he went into the 
Navy. After he got out, he was an operator and then Programmer for the 7090 and 
then the 360, 370, and upwards. He was a significant person in the user 
community in the MSS from IBM. 
If you know of any old-timers active in Guide, please let them know of Bob’s 
passing.
Sorry for the interruption. Back to the discussion.
Ed
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Re: DEVSUPxx question

[Edward Gould]

> On Nov 1, 2018, at 2:36 AM, Giliad Wilf 
> <00d50942efa9-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> In short, your DEVSUPxx should have been coded like this:
> 
> NON_VSAM_XTIOT=YES,
> COMPACT=YES,
> MEDIA1=11,
> MEDIA2=12
> 
> ...rather than like this:
> 
> NON_VSAM_XTIOT=YES,
> COMPACT=YES,
> MEDIA1=11,
> MEDIA2=21

OK, I give what is the difference between the two?
Ed
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Re: ICEGENER to the rescue again?

[Edward Gould]

> On Jun 25, 2018, at 4:52 AM, Sean Gleann  wrote:
> 
> is would be greatly appreciated
> 


Sean:
Look at the CBTTAPE.ORG  there is at least one program 
that offload the the entire PDS into a sequestion format and you can easily 
insert ./ replace and ./ seq cards daily it has work for at least 20 years that 
I have used it with no issue.

Ed


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(OT) Good bye everyone

[Edward Gould]

Approximately 2 months I had a life altering incident. 
I can no longer function as a sysprog. I resigned my no pay job at the place I 
used to donate my time.
I find I can no longer do the job.
I hope much success to all of you and hope that you can carry on with your 
work, despite IBM’s best efforts to do away with the profession.
Thanks, to John Ells and the many other IBMer’s who give their time and their 
experience with IBM-MAIN.
Not sure what is ahead for me, other than traveling with a companion as I can 
barely walk.
I am 70 years old and I am finding life without a technical challenge not 
interesting and since I can no longer function in that capacity I will have to 
find some other outlet.
Best wishes to you all.

Ed

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Re: empty KSDS behavior - why?

[Edward Gould]

> On Jun 1, 2018, at 5:55 PM, Frank Swarbrick  
> wrote:
> 
> Here's something interesting I found in the "VSAM Demystified" Redbook:  
> "Empty KSDSs: RLS allows you to open an empty KSDS without first loading the 
> data set. In other modes (NSR, RLS [sic?]), this process is not possible."  
> (I'm assuming that last usage of "RLS" should be "LSR".)
> 
> Can't find the actual IBM documentation of this, nor can I test it (we don't 
> use RLS), but it seems to add weight to my thought that this should be 
> allowed...
> 
Frank,

Maybe it is a IBM marketing tool to sell RLS, if it is then it fell on deaf 
ears, as I never heard of that feature either, anyone one else?

Ed
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Re: Best Group for COBOL Question(s)

[Edward Gould]

> On May 30, 2018, at 9:43 AM, Steve Thompson  wrote:
> 
> 
> So anyone else see anything a bit silly about this?
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Steve Thompson

Steve,

IBM is in the business of making money and the more CPU you use the more 
computers they will sell.
Ed


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Re: empty KSDS behavior - why?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 28, 2018, at 12:38 AM, Paul Gilmartin 
> <000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> No, no!  The suggestion was that it should automagically add one record, 
> *then*delete*it*.
> (Others have said this suffices.)  Or, in a shortcut initialize the data set 
> in such a state.
> Once the record is gone, it doesn't matter what the key was.  There's nothing 
> for any record
> subsequently inserted to be a duplicate key of.
IBM doesn’t want to touch your dataset, You created it and its up to you to 
prime it. But this is counter intuitive to IBM automatically encrypting all 
datasets.
> 
> (But does that create a CA/CI for a range that the customer would never use 
> and
> leave it dangling?)
> 
> What happens when the programmer REPROs an empty KSDS which formerly contained
> records in order to reorganize it and prune otiose CA/CIs?


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Re: empty KSDS behavior - why?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 27, 2018, at 8:51 PM, Charles Mills  wrote:
> 
> Exactly. I am no VSAM guy ... but whatever magic you have to do manually go 
> get the VSAM file to be readable, why can't AMS just do that when it creates 
> the file? Is there any reason anyone would want a "virginal" (unreadable) 
> VSAM file specifically?
> 
> How many ABENDs, how many application problems, how many stupid little 
> customer fixup programs and PROCs could have been saved if AMS just did that 
> from the get-go?
> 
> Or am I missing something? As I say, I am no VSAM guy.
> 
> Charles
Charles,
I like many others feel your pain. I can understand it in a way, say a KSDS and 
(in your world) VSAM automagically adds a record. What key would IBM possibly 
use that high end up without it being a duplicate key. RRDS would automatically 
loose 1 record as the first record would be ??. IBM decided (I think) to take 
it as its *YOUR* dataset and its up to you to prime it.
Ed


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Re: CLIP?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 24, 2018, at 8:49 PM, Paul Gilmartin 
> <000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 24 May 2018 20:03:55 -0500, Edward Gould wrote:
>> 
>> Our big boss was trying to show the board how he tried to save money. They 
>> sort of forced him into getting STC (now STK) tape drives. All of a sudden 
>> some of our jobs were getting S237 (block count did not match trailers), STC 
>> said we had bum tapes, we went through all sort of shenanigans to prove they 
>> weren’t. I had to write a program that counted blocks and compare it the 
>> tapes count. The entire mess ended up with STC getting kicked out and IBM 
>> drives were brought back in. Of course never a S237 with a IBM drive. Our 
>> tape library while not super large it was large and finally management 
>> finally figured it out in order to get good people you had to hire/pay for 
>> them. 
>> 
> You couldn't just discard the tape if the data were precious.
Of course not they at least checked in TMS to see.
> 
> Just curious: did it write blocks and not count them or count blocks and not 
> write them?
> (Full disclosure: I may have been a StorageTek (AKA STC, AKA STK) employee 
> around
> that time.)
It seemed *NOT* to write the block. and that is what scared us the most how 
much data did we loose. I wasn’t privy into the investigation (but I guess it 
caused quite a uproar in upper echelons) People were assigned to find out how 
much data was lost. We did not work with any money it was just data to us. 
Luckily (I guess) none of the tapes contained any master data (we had a huge 
database of everybody in the country that subscribed to our magazines and 
books, records(CD'sl), etc . This was “our treasure”. This was 30++ years ago 
and I do not remember the Number of tapes (6250) that contained the maser file 
but it was probably in the 60’s.
> 
> I once read a tape, all CDC equipment; no IBM nor StorageTek and discovered
> an entire block missing with no error reported.  I visually inspected the 
> first few
> meters of the tape and noticed a transverse crease.  I assume that wafted
> exactly one block over the read heads.  Score -1 for NRZI.
> 
> -- gil
> 
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Re: empty KSDS behavior - why?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 25, 2018, at 10:43 PM, Mike Schwab  wrote:
> 
> I remember working with HSM migration control datasets a few years
> ago.  Even for that you had to load a high key value dummy record
> before using the dataset.

Mike,

I think you are talking about the SDSP VSAM data set(s).

Ed



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Re: Potter (was: CLIP?)

[Edward Gould]

> On May 25, 2018, at 8:21 PM, Paul Gilmartin 
> <000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 25 May 2018 19:47:47 -0500, Edward Gould  wrote:
>> 
>> What we did use from potter was their printer. All the programmers seem to 
>> love it as the page size was 8 1/2 by 11.
>> I do not remember specifically anything wrong with it although I think it 
>> got used heavily. It may have had more down time, I don’t remember.
>> 
> Laser?  Impact?  Matrix?  Other (specify)?  Landscape?  Portrait?  Character 
> pitch?
> What year?
It was an impact printer and it was landscape character size smaller than a 
1403 as to year the early 80’s. My memory is vague here but the speed was 
similar to a 1403. We never used it to print the stand alone dumps as you got 
crossed eyes after looking at it for a while (and our IBMers  didn’t like it 
either and those were the ones that looked at dump’s 8 hours a day). In those 
days we had 40 or more standalone dumps waiting to be looked at and those were 
7 feet high on the floor and 5 -7 feet high on the tables. I might be 
conservative  in those numbers. Most days we saw the PSR going into his desk 
and we would not see him until he needed parts of the dump that were not 
printed. He would ask us to do so, not an issue as we all felt sorry for the 
guy because of his drudge. I know that when the backlog got to great he would 
ask his boss for another person. Jim (the PSR) was so good at his job the JES3 
team snapped him away from us. We got stuck with a PSR that was at best bad, We 
asked for a replacement and according to IBM there wasn't any. The IBM SE 
helped out until a decent replacement was found.That is about when the quality 
of IBM people really slid (1985- forwards). I was so used to getting an idea on 
how good an IBM PSR/SE I could get it right in about 10 minutes after meeting 
them. I am usually right and have never been wrong.
Ed
>  
>> All I know is that one day it was there and the next day the 1403 was back.
> 
> -- gil
> 
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Re: CLIP?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 25, 2018, at 1:34 PM, Seymour J Metz  wrote:
> 
> Have you used Potter tape drives in that time frame? If not, I don't see any 
> reasonable argument that you could make.
My mind is cloudy here so I can’t remember anything during that time frame. At 
the time the boss was looking at automatic tape mount products and not a one 
would have worked in our environment.
No, we did not use any of their tape drives. 
What we did use from potter was their printer. All the programmers seem to love 
it as the page size was 8 1/2 by 11.
I do not remember specifically anything wrong with it although I think it got 
used heavily. It may have had more down time, I don’t remember.
All I know is that one day it was there and the next day the 1403 was back.

Ed


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Re: smp/e question - PTF relinks, but missing CSECTs.

[Edward Gould]

> On May 25, 2018, at 12:39 PM, Jesse 1 Robinson  
> wrote:
> 
> I'm sympathetic to the argument that new stuff should be investigated, but 
> the problem is whether that really happens in practice. We've all met the 
> sysprog who meticulously codes parameter defaults as a kind of in-your-face 
> documentation so that 'we will all know' what's happening. Then years later 
> the defaults change, but the user-coded list does not get updated. Call me 
> Pollyanna, but I'm willing to trust the latest default.
> 
> As for getting inconsistent results, I suspect that SMP/E results can be 
> influenced by the particular mix of elements being processed in a given run. 
> That is, applying SYSMOD-A and SYSMOD-B in the same step might uncover a 
> sinkhole that applying one sysmod or the other alone would not. This problem 
> is very difficult to detect in development and may require a lot of customer 
> activity to unearth. 
> 
> .
Jess1,
*YEARS* ago with a well known vendor I was trying to apply a zap (gotten in 
Hardcopy from the vendor) the module was right but the csect did not exist in 
the module flushed the zap, I called the vendor and the person I talked to 
started to argue with me about how I coded the zap. I was annoyed and said fine 
I will fax you the output. I faxed him the sheet of paper.. I did not hear back 
from him in an hour so I called him. He said I had coded the zap wrong, I 
looked at the zap again because I do not miscode zaps. I did this on the phone 
with him. I said the first column is blank and then the word "name” and then 
there is the module name and a blank and the csect name,  the rest of the card 
out to 72 is blank. What is wrong with it? He said you must be a beginner you 
never code zap statements like that. I said EXCUSE me that is how a the first 
zap statement is coded, I do this daily with another vendor and that is by the 
book how its done.  He told me I was wrong and not to bother him again. I said 
what? He hung the phone up on me. I went to the boss and explained to him what 
had transpired and he took a look at my zap statements and he said OK we will 
get him on the line. The guy hung up the phone and soon as he heard the 
company. My boss called the marketing rep and explained what was going on, the 
marketing rep followed the top-down chart as to who the guys boss was. 5 
minutes later we get a call from the guys boss and explains that the guy had a 
bad day. We explained the situation and he said what you are telling me you are 
correct, let me check with another technician he puts us on hold (with lousy 
music on top of it). The technician gets back on the the phone and said there 
was a typo on the sheet and its being faxed to all the customers as we speak. I 
said OK, but the treatment I got from this other technician was just wrong and 
a customer should never be treated that way. He said he will take it up with 
his management. My boss was surprised at me speaking up like I did, but I was 
pissed. The next day I called in with a small question on a wording of a zap 
and what sequence it was supposed to go on. A technician got on and I asked the 
question and he said he was happy we had caught the issue. I said OK thank you. 
He said was I going to report him? I said no why should I, you handled the call 
correctly. He said the technician I had talked to yesterday was fired.

 

> .
> J.O.Skip Robinson
> Southern California Edison Company
> Electric Dragon Team Paddler 
> SHARE MVS Program Co-Manager
> 323-715-0595 Mobile
> 626-543-6132 Office ⇐=== NEW
> robin...@sce.com 

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Re: Mantissa z86VM ?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 25, 2018, at 11:51 AM, Dyck, Lionel B. (RavenTek)  
> wrote:
> 
> The last update I can find is in their blog from June 2015 - does anyone know 
> what happened to this promising product to enable x86 software to run on Z?
> 
> --
> Lionel B. Dyck (Contractor)  <
> Mainframe Systems Programmer - RavenTek Solution Partners
Lionel,

Somewhere in the 1990’s IBM did this (I think it was top secret at the time). 
My friend who was aware of the project (worked for IBM) did not want to talk 
about it. He is retired and the next time I see him I will broach the subject 
matter and see if he will talk.

Ed


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Re: CLIP?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 25, 2018, at 10:34 AM, Seymour J Metz  wrote:
> 
> STC drives were the reliable ones. Ever use Potter drives in the late 1970s 
> or in the 1980s?

I will argue with you about the reliability of STC/STK drives. At the time we 
had a full time (actually a couple) of IBM SE’s. One of them took on tape as a 
general issue. They wrote a (yellow/orange?- before the orange books actually 
meant something special) the book (Forgot the number) he did a study on how 
much buffering tape would decrease run time (he actually took production jobs 
(with the owners permission of course) and added dcb=bufno= on various dd cards 
and of course it dramatically decreased run time. 6 Months after publication, 
IBM offered SAMe at $60 a month. I think we were ESP and it did help but it 
also uncovered bad code in 8 or so IBM modules. I think I had 4 apars and 
another sysprog had 4, IBM took on some. All in all not too bad. This was 
during the switchover time frame from STC back to IBM. The STC CE’s were jerks 
about getting kicked out and they dragged their feet getting out. When the last 
one left we all stood up and clapped.
Our management noticed the the STC people were being jerks and told the 
customer manager for STC never to darken our door again.

Ed


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Re: [SUSPECTED SPAM] smp/e question - PTF relinks, but missing CSECTs.

[Edward Gould]

> 
> 
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
> John McKown 
> Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2018 10:14 AM
> To: IBM-MAIN@listserv.ua.edu
> Subject: [SUSPECTED SPAM] smp/e question - PTF relinks, but missing CSECTs.
> 
> OK, y'all probably know that I'm on a very back level system -- z/OS 1.12
> and we're even back level on maintenance. I'm trying to get more up to
> date, mainly for "fun & profit". Anyway. There are a number of RACF modules
> which were hit and SMP/E tries to relink them. The problem seems to be that
> some CSECTs are missing in the relink. They are in the LMOD in the running
> LINKLIB. In the output, I see the binder output which tries to relink the
> module. I see the missing CSECTs. The CSECTs which are not missing are have
> Binder " INCLUDE AOSBN(csect)" in the binder's input stream. The CSECTs
> which are needed are in AOSBN properly, but there is no INCLUDE for them.
> 
> I've never had anything like this happen before. I've been looking around
> in the current SMP/E manual and I _might_ be able to "fix" all the LMOD
> entries using UCLIN. But this seems to be dangerous to me.
> 
> Any suggestions other than a stiff shot of something "nice" and "soothing"?
> 
> --
> Once a government places vague notions of public safety and security above
> the preservation of freedom, a general loss of liberty is sure to follow.
> 
> GCS Griffin -- Pelaran Alliance -- TFS Guardian (book)
> 
> 
> Maranatha! <><
> John McKown

John,
Long ago and far away I think I had something similar to your issue.
After a lot of research (we kept all SMPE output) IBM was surprised and a 
little pissed as we had hardcopy proof. IIRC it was an issue with with IPO (yes 
that old) building process. My memory is stretched here but I think IBM quietly 
put out a replacement for most of the DLIB (that was the problem). It was I 
think about 30 or so modules. There was a note in the PMR about it but it is so 
long ago, frankly I have forgotten a lot of the specifics. It is worth 
following up on, IMO.

Ed
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Re: CLIP?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 24, 2018, at 2:17 PM, Dan D  wrote:
> 
> Back in the 70's & 80's we had a program to "CLIP" a DASD volume to simply 
> change the label (before ICKDSF was available)

> I am stretching my memory but, I believe the precursor to ICKDSF was IEHDASDR 
> (or something close).
> 
> When a tape lead was crunched around the capstan we would simply splice in a 
> NEW lead.  As soon as that tape had completed being used for the current job 
> we quickly took it to support to be duplicated to a new tape with a 
> NON-spliced lead.
> The spliced tape had the temporary lead cut off, a new reflector tape was 
> added to the appropriate location and the volume was re-initialized.   An 
> exciting time for the "library support" people.

Our “tape Librarians”  we not our first class people. The only thing they did 
was to throw the tape away (forget about erasing it first) And goto a new box 
of tapes and set up the initializations. I don’t even recall if they told TMS. 
We tried to put a tape degausser in the budget but it was never approved. 
Somehow an auditor got involved and suddenly a tape degauser showed up.  I 
might be a cynic but I don’t think they ever used it. 

Our big boss was trying to show the board how he tried to save money. They sort 
of forced him into getting STC (now STK) tape drives. All of a sudden some of 
our jobs were getting S237 (block count did not match trailers), STC said we 
had bum tapes, we went through all sort of shenanigans to prove they weren’t. I 
had to write a program that counted blocks and compare it the tapes count. The 
entire mess ended up with STC getting kicked out and IBM drives were brought 
back in. Of course never a S237 with a IBM drive. Our tape library while not 
super large it was large and finally management finally figured it out in order 
to get good people you had to hire/pay for them. 

Ed
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Re: [External] Old School Maintenance Philosophy -- Never ACCEPT?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 23, 2018, at 2:13 PM, Gerhard Adam  wrote:
> 
> SMP was available in MVT and MFT.  It did not begin with MVS

I beg to differ. But I was new to the job and our senior sysprog did maint with 
another IBM program (which I do not remember but it was NOT SMP but something 
like iebptfle or something like that.
Someone else, please confirm.

Ed


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Re: [External] Old School Maintenance Philosophy -- Never ACCEPT?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 23, 2018, at 9:08 AM, David L. Craig  wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Not sure how long ago eons was, but I started in the
>> mid-80s on MVS/SP and at my first SMP/E (and I believe
>> only) class, I was taught the APPLY / run for a while /
>> ACCEPT usage - except for USERMODs or APARs that hadn't
>> had a published PTF yet.
> 
> I learned to use SMP back on MVT (am I the only one still
> here that can truthfully make that statement?) and while
> it's been a while since I last used SMP/E, I do not recall
> ever encountering a no ACCEPT policy for any IBM MRM.
> But people aren't mentioning policy for archiving snapshots
> of target and DLIB volumes and restoring therefrom--much
> faster than reAPPLYing LOTS of maintenance.  That also
> requires tracking the target/DLIB volume snapshot
> associations, which are not necessarily based upon the
> dates of the snapshots.

AFAIK smp (e)  did not exist during mvs 2.0 3.0(shakes on this one) and it came 
out with 3.7 (?)
Before smp there was tremendous and I do mean tremendous working by having to 
manually to the co, prerec's by hand. It was drudge work that needed a high 
amount of concentration and immersion.
I did it once and couldn’t handle the long hours needed. We printed a 
spreadsheet and it helped a little but still took copious amounts of time.
SMP was a godsend to sysprogs. I would venture to say that  MVS would have 
ended up in the dust pile for computer history without SMP. Yes it was 
cumbersome and the PDS’s needed and large number of directories was a real 
pain. VSAM saved SMP as well.
Ed

 


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Re: Old School Maintenance Philosophy -- Never ACCEPT?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 22, 2018, at 3:28 PM, Ed Jaffe  wrote:
> 
> z/OS Sysprogs,
> 
> ISTR a maintenance philosophy from "eons" ago where PTFs would be applied but 
> never accepted.
> 
> What was the rationale for this? Does anyone still use this philosophy? If 
> so, why?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -- 

Ed,

Long ago and far away we never accepted maintenance as we wanted to be able to 
back fixes off, This was after the DFP fiasco (mega PTF tape).
We were not loathe to change the philosophy but Management seem to cut the 
number of sysprogs so we started to not accept PTF’s (unless there was a need).
Management kept cutting and the acting got delayed and delayed and then 
forgotten. I won’t say it was because of management 100 percent but 95 percent.

Ed

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Re: [EXTERNAL] TSO notifications from batch job on different LPAR?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 22, 2018, at 8:27 AM, Dyck, Lionel B. (RavenTek)  
> wrote:
> 
> I phrased the question incorrectly or at least it wasn't complete.
> 
> The batch job end notification does appear on the TSO LPAR but messages from 
> Connect:Direct that run on the Batch LPAR to no show up on the TSO LPAR until 
> the users signs back on or does a LISTBC>

What is his/her profile say about intercom/nointercom?

Ed


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Re: VTL as 3490 vs 3590

[Edward Gould]

> On May 22, 2018, at 1:04 AM, Timothy Sipples  wrote:
> 
> Radoslaw Skorupka wrote:
>> It is really nice sales pitch, but *technically* IBM it is no longer
>> possible to write directly to a tape volume from z/OS.
> 
> First of all, it's not a sales pitch. I don't do sales pitches very well.
> 
> Second, it's also no longer possible to "write directly" to disk drives.
> *All* mainframe-attached storage -- flash/SSD, disk, and now tape -- is
> highly virtualized, with intelligent controllers equipped with caches.
> 
> Why is this progress a problem? And it's a very long arc of progress, not
> at all sudden. As I've carefully and accurately documented, there was
> nearly 19 years of product overlap as IBM tape made the transition to
> virtualized-physical.
> 
> Finally, "ask your friendly IBM representative" about IBM TS1155/TS4500
> attachment to your IBM TS7700. I have no inside information on that, but I
> do pay some attention to IBM's past practices. What I see is that, for
> several generations of tape drives stretching back many years, IBM has
> waited some period of time before certifying z/OS use of that new tape
> drive/tape media/density. I suspect that's because IBM is just being that
> extra bit careful with your most precious data (such as most of the world's
> most important financial records) and its long-term retention needs, but
> ask.

Timothy,
I disagree about your sales pitches a little. You do do them but not as blatant 
as others.
I am wondering about your descriptions a little, from several perspectives IBM 
is cutting their head off. 
I have had about 5 times in my life as a sysprog, where various utilities 
*FROM* IBM absolutely needed a stand alone tape drive, i.e. one you had to 
mount a physical tape to do say a stand alone restore and the other function I 
needed was to supply the CE with a IOCP deck that was needed for a new system 
(fresh from IBM). There were others which I have done in mostly the middle of 
the night (one or two was with IBM[’s blessing).
I know its not an ever day occurrence but the point is you still need a 
physical tape drive.
I am attempting to remember other utility type functions that a physical tape 
was needed but it is late.
Ed


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Re: CLIP?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 21, 2018, at 9:54 AM, Michel Beaulieu  wrote:
> 
> Let me speculate that the term goes back to  tape use:
> In these days, sometimes the first few inches or feet of tapes could become 
> damaged
> 
> so it would not be possible to load the tape and even less read the tape 
> label or the data after that.
> I remember there was a little tool to make a clean cut  or "clip" of the half 
> inch tape
> 
> so that it could load cleanly on the tape drive.
> Then you had some JCL to put a new label on the tape.
I don’t go further back than the 360’s, but IIRC the tape reals also needed a 
reflector. I have never heard of a reflector being applied, anyone?
Ed

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Re: Syncsort to DFSort Migration

[Edward Gould]

> On May 17, 2018, at 3:05 PM, Brian France <b...@psu.edu> wrote:
> 
> On 05/17/2018 01:25 PM, Edward Gould wrote:
__snip--
> excellent and no one ever questioned me, after it was Hmmm…
> And just how many stubbed toes have they had? Damn I hate hearing
> stuff like this.

From me none, other sysprogs long ago a few times. One thing that we were not 
allowed mistakes. If the stock market didn’t open on time it was killing time.

Ed
>> 

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Re: Syncsort to DFSort Migration

[Edward Gould]

> On May 17, 2018, at 11:21 AM, Sri h Kolusu  wrote:
> 
>>> in IBM sort you have to specify equals this seemed to be the hardest
> 
> Edward,
> 
> You can set EQUALS as default at the installation level for DFSORT. There
> is a slight overhead with EQUALS option which increases the time needed for
> comparison of records and for data transfer.  DFSORT team provides
> documentation of how Syncsort SYNCMAC installation options relate to DFSORT
> ICEMAC installation options, based on our best current knowledge of the two
> products.  It's meant to be used as a guideline to help you determine how
> to set your DFSORT ICEMAC options for easier migration
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> Kolusu
> DFSORT Development
> IBM Corporation


Yes I knew that. It was more of an issue with SYNCSORT defaulting to it and not 
highlighting the fact. What we did in this one specific instance was to allow 
them to specify equals. 
Those few extra say milliseconds add up over a week/month/year  I will say it 
was hell to debug until the programmer gave us a hint. That and the fact that 
was the *ONLY* glitch in that conversion. I got a stubbed toe in my reputation 
from management. Up until that my reputation was excellent and no one ever 
questioned me, after it was Hmmm…

Ed
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Re: Syncsort to DFSort Migration

[Edward Gould]

> On May 17, 2018, at 12:20 AM, zos reader  wrote:
> 
> Hello All,
> 
> We are planning to migrate Syncsort to IBM DFSort, May you share your
> thoughts on it, some might have done this on their shops, please share your
> experience
> 
> Thanks, Samat
> 

I have done this a few times over the years.
The little issues were :
1. The syntax for Syncsort control statements is (at least the times that I was 
involved) were slightly different and usually a call to IBM resolved the 
differences.
2. The second issue that seems to float to the top is (my memory is being 
stretched here) Syncsort defaulted to “equals" and in IBM sort you have to 
specify equals this seemed to be the hardest to debug and we ran into that 
once. Once you figured it out its a no-brainer (but getting there is not easy 
IIRC).
Please note this was quite a few years ago, but Syncsort seemed to leap frog 
IBM sometimes in control statements and it can get out hand. We always had the 
rule that you could not use those special statements and it worked out in the 
long run. It used to be that Syncsort had better level 2 support, but IBM came 
to the batters box and either equaled or superseded syncsort.
Ed

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Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Heretic alert: I really detest TSO REXX (the language)

[Edward Gould]

> On May 15, 2018, at 8:34 AM, Dyck, Lionel B. (TRA)  wrote:
> 
> While I agree that REXX is more appropriate for smaller projects - there are 
> tradeoffs. If an application is going to be used frequently (100's of times 
> per day) and performance is important then don't use REXX. If an application 
> is going to be used less frequently, or there is a need to be able to easily 
> and quickly update it, then REXX is excellent for that purpose. REXX allows 
> you to prototype an application, and if it works adequately then it may be 
> better to leave it in REXX than to rewrite it.
> 
> Just my $0.01

Lionel:
 I agree pretty much with you, if there are only two options (CLIST & Rexx) 
which would you choose?

Ed


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Re: [TSO-REXX] Sdsf rexx

[Edward Gould]

> On May 12, 2018, at 7:31 PM, Paul Gilmartin 
> <000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
>> SNIP---
> Ironically, it already exists in z/OS: /bin/patch, but people are loath to 
> use it --
> perhaps they associate it with a 4-letter word.
> 
> Patch even supports RESTORE which IEBUPDTE never did.
SNIP——

You are correct it is a four letter word and one that will never be spoken 
about again.

Ed
> 
> -- gil
> 
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Re: [TSO-REXX] Sdsf rexx

[Edward Gould]

> On May 11, 2018, at 10:25 AM, Paul Gilmartin 
> <000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> When I first encountered SPF panel definitions were RECFM=VB.  I coded some 
> and
> modified others.  I experienced conversion anguish when a later release went 
> to
> RECFM=FB.
> 
> IEBUPDTE is broken.  That doesn't forgive breaking other things to conform to 
> its rules.
> 
> — gil

Gil,
Not disagreeing with you but I just do not see it being brought back from the 
dead. I agree that there should be a replacement but I am not sure you could 
get anyone to agree what a satisfactory replacement might be like. Maybe this 
might be a good session at SHARE? You would have to generate some enthusiasm 
and you might get enough people to form a committee.
Personally I think it needs to be done, but there would be forces pulling at 
the product from at least 2 or 3 angles, each would insist that they are 
“right”.
Ed


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Re: [TSO-REXX] Sdsf rexx

[Edward Gould]

> On May 10, 2018, at 10:30 PM, Paul Gilmartin 
> <000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> ——SNIP---
> 
> Fear of indention is collateral damage of RECFM=FB,80.  When Rexx first came
> to TSO it came with a GIM that recommended RECFM=VB,LRECL=generous.
> IBM then ignored its own advice and made SYSPROC FB,80, dragging wiser
> coders down with it.
> —_SNIP——

This issue long predates Rexx. Someone please correct me but the first conflict 
came in Netview (no idea of release but it was early even then)
There also may have been an issue with SPF (early version) We did not jump on 
that bandwagon .
Memory says it was Netview though. They were the second people to come along 
with clists. This was in the 70’s (i think) I was caught in the middle trying 
to keep both.
My memory also could be wrong as somewhere in this mess as IBM insisted that 
source had to be maintained by IEBUPDTE. Somewhere in that mess VB won out, I 
*vaguely* remember arguments at SHARE/GUIDE (not sure which) as what the right 
way to go. A memory says there were factions at SHARE and they almost got into 
a fight over this but it was almost 40 years ago and after drinking at Scids 
everybody calmed down. It is still discussed today so nobody was happy with the 
solution. REXX for MVS did not appear until 1992(?). I remember it was that 
time frame as management wanted some device support on an IPO but I knew the 
next IPO contained REXX so I was able to hold back and wait for REXX.

Ed
> -- gil


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Re: Anybody running this?

[Edward Gould]

> On May 10, 2018, at 1:05 PM, Greg Boyd  wrote:
> 
> I know of several customers running this newest level.  The other new 
> function is support for STATs.  That's an option you can enable to generate 
> SMF records with counters on use of engines, algorithms and services.  Could 
> be a significant step forward in monitoring your crypto workload.
> Greg
> Greg Boyd
> www.mainframecrypto.com 

That sounds promising. Does anyone know if there will be a SHARE presentation 
on this at the next SHARE?

Ed


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Anybody running this?

[Edward Gould]

ICSF Delivers With the New FMID HCR77C1 Release 

Usability improvements, such as an ISPF-based browser for CKDS key material, 
and integrated support for a PCI HSM configured CCA coprocessor, are among the 
enhancements to Cryptographic Support for z/OS V2R1 - z/OS V2R3, which was 
released in September 2017.



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Re: GETMAIN LOC=32

[Edward Gould]

> On May 7, 2018, at 8:42 AM, Joel C. Ewing  wrote:
>> ——SNIP---
> One of the big advantages of IBM mainframes (since S/360) has been
> upward compatibility for application code.  Unlike other platforms, you
> don't have to redesign application assembly code or re-compile all
> application programs just because of an operating system upgrade or an
> architecture upgrade.   Documented application code interfaces continue
> to be compatible.
Well…. you should change the wording a bit. Except for COBOL and COBO-le 
issue(s)… and… Sorry.. I think COBOL should be listed as a unique entity and 
deserves to have its own hall of shame.
> 

SNMIP——



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Re: DFSMSdss Release command

[Edward Gould]

> On May 2, 2018, at 3:50 AM, Gadi Ben-Avi  wrote:
> 
> Hi Ed,
> The DSORG is PS for these datasets.
> 
> Gadi
> 


Are they in use?

Ed

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Re: DFSMSdss Release command

[Edward Gould]

> On May 2, 2018, at 2:06 AM, Vernooij, Kees (ITOPT1) - KLM 
>  wrote:
> 
> Ed,
> 
> From the FM: "DFSMSdss does not release any space for data sets that are 
> empty (the last used block pointer in the data set's VTOC entry is zero)."
> DMS still exists and is called CA-DISK for the last 25 years, since Sterling 
> and Sam sold it to that company for 8 million dollars (I wish I had written 
> such a piece of software).

Kees,
Thanks for the update on DMS, We had DMS during the 3850 time and DMS spent 
quite a bit of time add 3850 code.

I was a so-so fan of it for a while and then we decided to drop it which was a 
major blow to our storage manager. IIRC it got too expensive.
It had/has a LOT of good features, it just takes a bit of time hunting around 
in the manuals to find some information, although once you are reasonably 
proficient you mostly don’t need the manuals.

Sorry about the misdirect on ADRDSSU like I said though its been a while.

Ed
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Re: DFSMSdss Release command

[Edward Gould]

> On May 1, 2018, at 6:35 AM, Gadi Ben-Avi  wrote:
> 
> --
> - Enter "/" to select actionTracks %Used   XT
> --
> KVPO.LGDM02.KLITMINL.SHILTA.D11804091  100 1
> KVPO.LGDM02.KLITMINL.SHILTA.D11804121  100 1
> KVPO.LGDM02.KLITMINL.SHILTA.D118041510 1
> KVPO.LGDM02.KLITMINL.SHILTA.D118041610 1
> KVPO.LGDM02.KLITMINL.SHILTA.D118042210 1
> KVPO.LGDM02.KLITMINL.SHILTA.D1180423 35420 2
> KVPO.LGDM02.KLITMINL.SHILTA.D1180425 35420 2
> KVPO.LGDM02.KLITMINL.SHILTA.D1180426 35420 2
> 
> So I would expect the last 63 files to be processed, but I get a message 
> saying that no files were processed.
> Each of the files is allocated on one volume, so there are no multivolume 
> issues.
> 
> Gadi
Gadi:
What is the dsorg of these data sets ? If it is unknown  I think that is the 
why. I am reaching here but I think that is a adrssu restrictions. Other 
packages like DMS (If its still marketed) did this with the greatest of ease. 
Again my memory is dim but there is a way around this but I have always 
disliked it as the syntax stinks, IMO. Once you get it to work its all down 
hill but it does tape a patience.)

Ed


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Re: Check out Is this the world's smallest computer? IBM chip is no bigger than a grain of salt - TechRepublic

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 30, 2018, at 7:27 PM, Mike Schwab  wrote:
> 
> https://singularityhub.com/2018/03/26/ibms-new-computer-is-the-size-of-a-grain-of-salt-and-costs-less-than-10-cents/#sm.0kjd99y9b1dtfskgb3s914c65
>  
> 
> 
> Many other links available.

Is that expected be Kosher salt?


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Re: z/VM Live Guest Relocation

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 30, 2018, at 10:43 AM, Seymour J Metz  wrote:
> 
> What MVS part?
> 
> 
> --
> Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
> http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 

There are scattered references to being conn’d (I think it is the usage) and 
items like this:
other trivia: my wife had been in the gburg JES group and was part of
the ASP "catcher" team turning ASP into JES3. She was then con'ed into
going to POK to be in charge of loosely-coupled architecture (mainframe
for cluster). While there she did peer-coupled shared data architecture
... past posts

etc etc...


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Re: z/VM Live Guest Relocation

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 30, 2018, at 2:42 AM, David Crayford  wrote:
> 
> Great story. You should add some content to the Wikipedia page 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_migration.

I would expect IBM to object to it unless she tones down the MVS part.
Ed
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Re: z/VM Live Guest Relocation (Was: z/OSMF....)

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 28, 2018, at 5:44 AM, Timothy Sipples  wrote:
> 
> Yes, and others saw that clever trick years earlier. Here's the history.
> 
> In July, 2010, IBM issued a Statement of Direction announcing its intention
> to add Live Guest Relocation to z/VM. IBM then made Live Guest Relocation
> generally available as part of z/VM Version 6.2 Single System Image (SSI)
> on November 29, 2011.


Timothy,

I do not follow VM so I am not sure I follow. From your note saying that the 
extra charge feature was incorporated (this I understand).
Are you suggesting that a company just did a demonstration of what a feature of 
VM and called it their own?

Ed
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Re: Tapeless delivery

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 27, 2018, at 1:01 PM, J R  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> Dr. Evil wrote:
>> 
>> ... The data that is in these files are only known by the President of the 
>> company and I think one VP. The President’s boss work’s in another country 
>> and the board is scattered around the world, if I met one in the hallway I 
>> would not know him. The “board” is only known by the President. Where the 
>> money comes from that pays us, I have no clue as we do not (AFAIK) publish 
>> or see or exchange anything that would bring $$ into the company. All I know 
>> is that everyones gets paid (well) and there hasn’t been a person 
>> dismissed/fired/let go/asked to find another job. 
> 
> It's inconceivable that you expect us to believe such rubbish.  You are not 
> an employee, you don't get paid, and yet you can waltz in every day and play 
> in the sandbox.  Does this appear to be an ultra secure environment?  I don't 
> think so!  
> 
> BTW the asylum called; if you leave now you'll be just in time for a story 
> before bed. 

I don’t care what you do or do not believe.
I work in this situation . I have worked in other crazy companies, this one is 
security conscious. Others have each their own  crazy world, luckily in the 
past it was reasonable to a point. This one seems to have a privacy issue. The 
company is legit and they have the connections to prove it. I live and work in 
this environment for free, they only thing in real money that it cost me is 
gas/food. I have enough money to keep me doing what I have done in the past. 
These people are pleasant to work with. In the past I have worked in several 
hostile work environments, this is interesting and allows me to try things out 
that in other companies I would be shutdown. The people are really nice and it 
nice to work in an environment that learning is encouraged. I will continue to 
work here for a few more years and then really retire. 

Ed
 I could write several volumes of bad companies I have worked for, This company 
is actually fun to work for, I wake up in the AM and I am happy to go to work. 
The bad companies are starting to disappear into the bitbucket. I enjoy 
retirement doing what I did before, wouldn’t you like to have something fun and 
interesting to do in your retirement?

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Re: Tapeless delivery

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 26, 2018, at 6:08 AM, Timothy Sipples  wrote:
> 
> I'm utterly mystified. Yes, OK, you have to use a DVD reader instead of
> a tape drive. There's a media change and a drive change...and so what?
> Media and drive changes are also nothing new since there have been multiple
> tape cartridge format changes in the past decades, and you're assuredly not
> using a 20+ year old parallel channel attached tape drive to read what IBM
> is sending today. IBM stopped shipping 7-track, 9-track, 3480, and 3490
> tape cartridges a long, long time ago.

OK, now I only know part of the story and can tell you what has been told to me.
We have some pretty sensitive files on our system. The owners of these files 
are zealots when it comes to security. I have no idea (and frankly don’t care 
what data are in these files). I am not allowed to say much more. The people 
who are the owners take their job seriously , They read and follow (or at times 
exceed the US government requirements on security) They take their job 
extremely seriously and spend most of their time at work making sure there are 
no holes in out security of everything and including these files. The data that 
is in these files are only known by the President of the company and I think 
one VP. The President’s boss work’s in another country and the board is 
scattered around the world, if I met one in the hallway I would not know him. 
The “board” is only known by the President. Where the money comes from that 
pays us, I have no clue as we do not (AFAIK) publish or see or exchange 
anything that would bring $$ into the company. All I know is that everyones 
gets paid (well) and there hasn’t been a person dismissed/fired/let go/asked to 
find another job. The company was in the building when I started here and it is 
cut off from the world electronically There are several power generators that 
generate our own electricity, If the city power goes out we are till fully 
functional. 
> 
> *Hypothetically* you could probably hire a trusted intermediary firm,
> staffed only with citizens of Country X with security clearance level Y, to
> accept DVD or electronic delivery from IBM, write those products to tape
> cartridges, then ship you those tapes. (In armored cars?) I guess that'd
> "work." If you do pursue that Rube Goldberg method, just get in touch with
> IBM through official channels to make sure IBM is OK with the arrangement.
> This is copyrighted and licensed software, after all, so that approach
> would require IBM's permission. (And permission from other vendors if
> you're trying to do the same thing with their software products.)

Timothy, This week I am supposed to have meetings with our network people and 
the PC people. Both of these people have been through this exercise before and 
were told NO. As I said last time I have to figure out a backup plan but from  
little option I can come up with is for some company to deliver the tape to us 
like it was done before. Time will tell. The only thing I have going is that it 
is for the MF and that might be enough.
Timothy supposedly an internal IBM person knows about our situation and will 
jump in if needed. We are a black box within IBM and they generally know what 
the company does and all have top top secret clearances.

Ed
> 
> Or just find the people who are already dealing with every other
> vendor's software products, and do what they're doing and have been doing
> for decades.


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Re: Tapeless delivery

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 26, 2018, at 6:08 AM, Timothy Sipples  wrote:
> 
> [I don't know who wrote this] wrote:
>> DVD’s/CDROMS have an affinity to getting lost and you
>> cannot put a sticker on it (on the sleeve yes) but
>> not on the physical device.

I did and I stand by it. I have gummed up many cdroms and have had a friend who 
would get it out. Its about a 50/50 success/failure rate for me. As a Practical 
matter if I don’t use them they continue to work.
I once amazed myself one day as I had a PS2 and had ordered a power X (its 
been 20+ years and I don’ remember the name of the part but it WAS LARGE. The 
interaction were easy and clear : undo this and this and this cable and two 
other small tasks  and lift. The unit came straight out. I put the replacement 
in and reconnected the wires and pressed the handle and it went in without 
hesitation. I was amazed at how easy the PS2’s were to replace parts on. The PC 
bootted up and it just worked. I never tried it again though as other PC/macs I 
have had are way to difficult.
> 
> No, that's just not correct. You *can* put stickers on CDs and DVDs! Avery
> is among the many vendors that sell them. See here for example:
> 
> https://www.avery.com/products/labels/usage/cd-~-dvd-labels-~-inserts 
> 
> 
> You can even run CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc labels through laser and inkjet
> printers. In fact, there are some inkjet printers that can print *directly*
> onto discs. Then you don't even have to attach labels! See here for
> example:
> 
> https://epson.com/direct-cd-dvd-printing 
> 

My Friend had a blu ray recorder and did not use labels either.
> 

> You can even buy genuine Sharpie brand pens to write directly on discs:
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Sharpie-Permanent-Markers-Black-37035PP/dp/B000PXJ26A 
> I
>  agree as I have done so. The issue is that trying to print a label with a 
> barcode on IME just does not work


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Re: Tapeless delivery

[Edward Gould]

John,
I was in the middle of replying to you last email and it just disappeared.
To all of your first paragraph (If I remember it all) the issue you site are 
essentially the same (IMO) whether it is CDROM or TAPE.
——NOW———
I both agree with you and disagree.
I will not try and put my issues with my current situation, but will try and 
see it through my last employers eyes.
1. CDROM I took a spot inventory of about 200 PC's on the floor at the time and 
not *ONE* had a CDROM/DVD reader.  Now I can’t claim it was business wide, but 
close to.

2. Tape drives were in the computer room and any tapes we got in had to be 
registered and was given a unique internal serial #. It worked PERIOD. Never 
were any tapes lost (one did manage to loose the barcode sticker, but it was 
found with a minimum of mess.

From that perspective we found the tape worked best. DVD’s/CDROMS have an 
affinity to getting lost and you cannot put a sticker on it (on the sleeve yes) 
but not on the physical  device.

Just on the above two items I would say keep tape.
—
From my current situation the same issues occur. Only ours is a lot different 
as far as security (and again no one in the floors that we own has a cd/dvd 
reader except for one person) I have not grasped all the issues with my unique 
situation. Frankly its going to be dicey if this is going to be allowed, So far 
I have a 2 page bulleted list of issues that are going to have to be revised 
(either a little or a lot). I am due tomorrow too go see the the “security” 
person and his group to see what other items I need to address, then next week 
I have to go into the network peoples office and see if they can come up with 
anything. Once that is done, my boss’s boss has to appear before a committee 
(its unclear whether I will be allowed in as it is way higher in security land 
than I am). Hopefully they will come to a conclusion fast as I don’t know the 
lead time from the telco for a T1 line and what issues that is going to 
present, hopefully the network people will have some idea. Outside of the DVD 
it will be a regular PC with a 5TB drive. The network will have to give upper 
management that there will be only one way to access the PC and the other 
conditions that I am not aware of, hopefully the network will work with me. My 
boss told me not to worry about money because if upper management OK’s it money 
will be there.
Ed
ps. My boss doesn’t think this will have a chance, so somehow I have to come up 
with a backup plan if it doesn’t.
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Re: OAM and Object Tape Support with an MTL

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 24, 2018, at 12:58 AM, Brian Westerman  
> wrote:
> 
> OAM is pretty fast for SMS managed tape.  For example, we have a client that 
> uses literally thousands of really small tapes per day (it's a long sordid 
> story as to why) with 512 virtual tape transports and an average of 156 in 
> constant use, averaging 3 to 5 mounts per second, there is less than .25 
> second (wall clock) delay between the request for a tape and the mount being 
> satisfied.


Brian,

Interesting comment thanks,
This goes against what IBM seems to think as to what is happening out in the 
real world. This show why IBM must continue to support tape as a software 
delivery option.
I know your system might be extreme but it does show there is still a demand 
for software delivery, in tape format.
Ed


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Re: IRS - 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware (nextgov.com)

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 20, 2018, at 3:26 PM, David L. Craig  wrote:
> 
> In 1974, we considered it, but the cost of a byte of disk storage was
> enough to push the storage of each date's century toward the '90s.  We
> fully expected the remediation would be needed but storage would be more
> affordable by then, which panned out.  What everybody got wrong was
> expecting the relative costs of hardware and software to not change, but in
> fact they flipped--hardware became dirt cheap but software became very
> expensive.


Tell me about it. At the time I worked on a online savings program that to save 
space always dropped the sign from the packed fields. You sure learned to do 
MVO like it was an MVC.

Ed
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Re: IRS - 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware (nextgov.com)

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 20, 2018, at 3:03 PM, Christopher Y. Blaicher  
> wrote:
> 
> Windows programmers are blown away when I tell them that I still run a 
> program I wrote 45+ years ago.  They ask if I have to re-compile it and I 
> tell them no, it is the same load module created way back then.  Their jaws 
> drop.
> 

Chris,

I have run across 3-4 programs that were compiled in the 1970’s (early IIRC) 
that run many times a day and they still keep running, both in COBOL and ALC. 

Ed

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Re: IRS - 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware (nextgov.com)

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 20, 2018, at 2:13 PM, Paul Gilmartin 
> <000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 20 Apr 2018 07:14:20 -0700, Gerhard Adam wrote:
> 
>> Applications don't get old.  They either do what they're supposed to do or 
>> they don't.   It has nothing to do with age.
>> 
> Remember Y2K?

In the early 70’s I was writing an SMF reporting program.  The y2K hit me while 
I was coding. I stopped and asked the person responsible and he said “Don’t 
worry we will be long gone before it hits” Truth be told the bank sure didn’t 
so nobody was there to hear.

Ed
> 
> -- gil
> 
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Re: The IRS Really Needs Some New Computers

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 17, 2018, at 1:09 PM, Allan Staller  wrote:
> 
> The IRS has been trying to upgrade both hardware and software for at least 30 
> years I am aware of.
> It keeps getting shot down by Congress in the appropriations process.
> 
> The opposite of PROGRESS is CON……

Allen:

I can’t speak to the IRS but the Social Security system (last I heard) was 
*WAY* out of date by at least 20 years (maybe more). Can anyone verify (or 
not), please?

Ed


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Re: One last question on TAPELESS delivery

[Edward Gould]

Anyone:

I talked with my boss yesterday and he told me to get up a short presentation 
on DVD’s and maintenance from IBM over the internet.

Since I still do not know some of the issues (PC SIZE etc) he shot me down in 
about 3 minutes.

I could not answer most of his questions so he told me to get more knowledge 
and come back for another try. He also told me that a connection between the 
HMC and the internet was a gigantic security item that I will have to fight a 
lot as management does not want it and I would have to be a used car salesman 
to sell it and he told me I was not a used car salesman (sigh). I think what he 
suggested is the only answer is to get someone in from IBM (that is cleared) to 
do a presentation and that it would have to get through the budget process and 
that is harder yet because my management would not want to touch this item with 
a ten foot poll . He was also very pessimistic for this to ever happen. He also 
said that even if it was OK’d a VP would have to supervise any time we were to 
connect to the internet. If I knew the subject matter a lot better I might try 
for another run at my boss. But since the documentation is almost zero it will 
be a while. Is there an IBM course that talks about the process?

Ed

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Re: One last question on TAPELESS delivery

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 8, 2018, at 7:49 PM, Timothy Sipples  wrote:
> 
> Edward,
> 
> Here's the basic process:
> 
> 1. Order and receive physical DVD media containing the software products,
> via postal mail or courier.
> 
> 2. Insert the DVD into the drive of any machine that your designated z/OS
> LPAR can reach. (Not necessarily *every* z/OS LPAR.) That machine might be
> the HMC (as far as I can tell), a PC, a Mac, etc. -- *any* machine the z/OS
> LPAR can reach, in network terms, that has a DVD drive. It could even be a
> "smart" DVD drive that has a NAS (Network Attached Storage) capability
> built-in, such as this 2U size rack mountable gadget (no endorsement
> implied):
> 
> http://www.primearray.com/products/ArrayStor.php
> 
> It could be a machine on a closed network or a machine on the moon. In
> principle, it doesn't matter. *Anything* that can read a DVD and transmit
> its contents across a network. It could also be a machine with a BD
> (Blu-Ray) or BDXL data drive since those are backward compatible with DVD
> data formats.
> 
> 3. The machine should be running either a FTP server (e.g. ftpd) or a NFS
> server. If not, configure the machine's FTP server or NFS server and start
> it up. Make the DVD available to the FTP server or NFS server, directly.
> There's no requirement for an initial copy operation from the DVD to that
> machine's own hard drive or flash drive.
> 
> 4. Using z/OS's FTP client or NFS client, load or copy the files from the
> DVD. That could be directly (SMP/E RECEIVE FROMNETWORK) or via an initial
> copy operation, onto z/OS attached storage.
> 
> That's it, really.
> 
> Conceptually, this is *exactly* what you do today. Except you get to choose
> which DVD drive/machine you wish to use (instead of choosing IBM's specific
> tape drive and controller), and the path from your chosen DVD drive/machine
> to your z/OS LPAR is via FTP or NFS over your (presumably) closed network.
> Also, DVDs are easier to ship and store. They're flatter, in particular.
> 
> Conceptually, this is also exactly what your Microsoft Windows Server
> administrators are doing today. Assuredly they aren't physically loading
> DVDs on each/every Windows server in your data center. That would require a
> strong pair of roller skates for a large data center, if nothing else.
> 
> There's nothing radical, complicated, or controversial about it -- at
> least, there shouldn't be. It's just a change in physical media and
> associated drive, and we've had those many times before. IBM isn't shipping
> 9-track tape, 7-track tape, floppy disks, punched paper tape, or card decks
> any more. And, if anybody is upset for some strange reason, "ask your
> friendly IBM representative" for a phone call with IBM.
> 
> 
> Timothy Sipples
> IT Architect Executive, Industry Solutions, IBM Z & LinuxONE,
> Multi-Geography
> 

Timothy,
Thanks you brought up some issues I didn’t know about.
Guess my question was too general as I do not know specifics and thus the 
general question.
I was talking offline to a member and he recommended a book, After glancing 
through the book, I sent him back this:

> Thanks. However it did not talk about the PC that is hooked up to the HMC 
> (i.e. what connect type, and where it is hooked into the HMC (or is that 
> something IBM has to do) what windows (or LINUX or ?) version is minimum,  
> How much HD space is needed . Also how does the MF get the data off the PC to 
> a real DASD. You know the meat and guts. 
> 
> I will also have to know what exposure this give the “company” security wise. 
> I am guessing that we will need a hi-speed link to IBM (i.e. what is 
> recommended ) or is this a highspeed link to an ISP (I really don’t know this 
> stuff and do not want to underestimate the questions that will be thrown at 
> me). Especially security that will want to know and grill me on it. Does the 
> interface (IBM, ISP) have to be active all the time or just when we need to 
> pull fixes servpacs etc. these people are really security conscious beyond 
> belief.

I think that is the guts of the question I need to know which is not covered by 
the IBM doc. This may kick off another round, but let us start here..
Ed
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One last question on TAPELESS delivery

[Edward Gould]

Hi,

Before I go into a viper pit for telling the boss and his boss and his boss and 
be asked many questions that I am nowhere near qualified to answer. Is there an 
IBM book/manual or SHARE presentation that I can show to the management what 
will be needed, hardware (software) wise to be able to accomplish being able to 
read the DVD and download it to a disk drive on the mainframe?

From what I have heard here the only thing that is needed is a PC with a large 
HD and some connection to the HMC (If I understand this correctly). There is NO 
connection outside the company AT ALL. 

I can’t believe there is no written down instructions on how this is done, I am 
sure the NETWORK people will be all over this, and I am not prepared to take 
the heat right now. I have to thoroughly understand and explain to management 
and technical types. Frankly, I am shaky on all of this.

Thanks,

Ed
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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 1, 2018, at 1:22 AM, Timothy Sipples <sipp...@sg.ibm.com> wrote:
> 
> Edward Gould wrote:
>> Would it even fit on a mod54?
> 
> A Mod54 is about 54GB uncompressed, whereas a DVD disk can hold up to 9.4GB
> (dual layer DVD-RAM at least). I don't recall if the HMC supports dual
> layer DVD disks, but if not (worst case) then the maximum per disk would be
> 4.7GB uncompressed. Unless the particular Mod54 can be compressed quite a
> lot, it won't fit on a single DVD.
> 
> A Mod9 would always fit on a dual layer disk and, at about 2:1 compression,
> on a single layer disk.
> 
>> I am still puzzled on how you get this from the PC to the mainframe.
> 
> This particular path (HMC DVD with FTP) has no intermediate PC or other
> system of any kind in the loop, for those who don't want that. This path
> I'm describing is straight from DVD media to z/OS storage.
> 
>> Our computer room is very secure. I am not even allowed to touch
>> the HMC without a VP looking over my shoulder
> 
> Sure, pick your security (or "security" theatrical) poison. It's up to you
> and your organization. The request was for a way to receive z/OS products
> from IBM on physical media and to load them into z/OS, without an
> intermediate system such as a PC and without a network connection. It sure
> seems like that distribution path is already available, today. IBM can ship
> you DVDs, and you can load them via the HMC, to my knowledge. (Throughput?
> I don't know. Try it and let us know!)
> 
> Or, I should say, via *any* HMC. You aren't limited to one HMC. For
> example, you can order two HMCs, put one inside your machine room, and put
> the other outside the machine room. Configure the latter with more limited
> authorized capabilities, and load your DVDs into that HMC. Mount the second
> HMC in a locked cabinet with dual keys if you wish -- whatever. Your
> "Mainframe Media Insertion Station" is then physically easier to access,
> without entering the machine room. All possible, as you prefer.
> 
> I prefer/recommend electronic delivery with digitally signed software, but
> you've got choices.
> 
> What am I still missing?

You are probably not missing anything. I think its me that is missing something.
I get from you that you do “something” on the HMC (something about a FTP 
server) I haven’t see it but it may be hidden I don’t use the HMC but maybe 
once a year.
If you are saying you FTP what is on the DVD to the FTP started task on the MF 
I guess I am OK (but have questions) with that. The sticking point I am at is 
how does the FTP server on the MF even know about the HMC server? *assuming its 
magic* then does the FTP server on the HMC transmit the data to the FTP server 
on the MF (How) and how does the FTP server on the MF know where to put the 
files that are downloaded and what naming conventions are used and what if you 
do not like them?\
I need a intro or something to explain to me what is going on so I can explain 
it to management as I am not understanding the slight of hand that is going on. 
Since apparently I need access to swap DVD’s as they are done how long 
(estimated) does it take? The reason I ask is that I have to have  VP with me 
when I go near the HMC. I am sure he is not going to be happy sitting with me 
for hours on end.
Sorry to be so pedantic  but before I run this up the flag pole I need some 
basic information.
Ed


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Re: VBSFIX Program

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 2, 2018, at 12:19 PM, Paul Gilmartin 
> <000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 2 Apr 2018 11:33:37 -0400, Carmen Vitullo wrote:
> 
>> DFsort and syncsort can correct some bad record formats in SMF
>> 
> But if SMF or the dump utility is generating bad records that ought
> to be subject to APAR.
> 
>> //SYSIN DD *
>> INCLUDE COND=ALL
>> OPTION COPY,VLSHRT

Once, a very long time ago, I tried aparing it, after two week run around with 
the SMF people I gave up and closed it.
The SMF people I had a feeling they knew the answer but didn’t want to tell me 
or they were not interested.
BUT it’s been years since I have seen one to tell you the truth so I haven’t 
worried about it. 
I did a search on my journal and I have not worked on one in 20 years I have 
been keeping it. Hope this isn’t a start of a new issue (or maybe they broke 
the old fix).
Not sure of before though as any journal got caught up in a HD failure and lost 
the previous 20 years worth (sigh).

Ed

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Re: VBSFIX Program

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 2, 2018, at 10:22 AM, Veryl Ellis  wrote:
> 
> Does anyone have a copy of the IBM module VBSFIX?
> 
> I have short record(s) in my SMF dump dataset, which is prohibiting me from 
> doing my monthly SCRT thing.
> 
> I've seen information that this program can resolve this issue.
> 
> Anyone out there have this program and are willing to share?
> 
> Thanks,

Have you looked at CBTTAPE.ORG it had one or two the last time I looked. I have 
one that was written in house and I use it as I know exactly how it works and 
can trust it. I haven’t tried the CBTTAPE.ORG versions, but I suspect they work 
great. 

Ed
> 
> S. Veryl Ellis
> Sungard Availability Services.
> 
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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Apr 1, 2018, at 1:22 AM, Timothy Sipples <sipp...@sg.ibm.com> wrote:
> 
> Edward Gould wrote:
>> Would it even fit on a mod54?
> 
> A Mod54 is about 54GB uncompressed, whereas a DVD disk can hold up to 9.4GB
> (dual layer DVD-RAM at least). I don't recall if the HMC supports dual
> layer DVD disks, but if not (worst case) then the maximum per disk would be
> 4.7GB uncompressed. Unless the particular Mod54 can be compressed quite a
> lot, it won't fit on a single DVD.
> 
> A Mod9 would always fit on a dual layer disk and, at about 2:1 compression,
> on a single layer disk.
> 
>> I am still puzzled on how you get this from the PC to the mainframe.
> 
> This particular path (HMC DVD with FTP) has no intermediate PC or other
> system of any kind in the loop, for those who don't want that. This path
> I'm describing is straight from DVD media to z/OS storage.
> 
>> Our computer room is very secure. I am not even allowed to touch
>> the HMC without a VP looking over my shoulder
> 
> Sure, pick your security (or "security" theatrical) poison. It's up to you
> and your organization. The request was for a way to receive z/OS products
> from IBM on physical media and to load them into z/OS, without an
> intermediate system such as a PC and without a network connection. It sure
> seems like that distribution path is already available, today. IBM can ship
> you DVDs, and you can load them via the HMC, to my knowledge. (Throughput?
> I don't know. Try it and let us know!)
> 
> Or, I should say, via *any* HMC. You aren't limited to one HMC. For
> example, you can order two HMCs, put one inside your machine room, and put
> the other outside the machine room. Configure the latter with more limited
> authorized capabilities, and load your DVDs into that HMC. Mount the second
> HMC in a locked cabinet with dual keys if you wish -- whatever. Your
> "Mainframe Media Insertion Station" is then physically easier to access,
> without entering the machine room. All possible, as you prefer.
> 
> I prefer/recommend electronic delivery with digitally signed software, but
> you've got choices.
> 
> What am I still missing?
> 
Timothy,
Thanks for the brief explanation, I am guessing that you run an smpe job on the 
mainframe and somehow it asks the HMC if there is anything for him. Smpe 
creates all the libraries like the csi and the dlibs and the system libraries 
automagically and the spool and paging, catalog(s). I did not realize that smpe 
was that powerful, I will have to reread the book tonight as I skimmed it and 
didn’t see the magic it does. From your explanation it also does a receive and 
apply of all the necessary libraries. The is one smart SMPE, next time I run 
into Kurt Q. I will have to congratulate him !

Ed
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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 30, 2018, at 6:01 AM, Timothy Sipples  wrote:
> 
> I'm a little confused here. For those of you who would like:
> 
> * physical media delivery
> * of z/OS products
> * installed without any intermediate systems
> 
> I believe IBM has you covered, already. You simply order the DVDs, insert
> each DVD into the IBM Z machine's Hardware Management Console's DVD drive,
> and use the "Enable FTP Access to Mass Storage Media" task:
> 
> https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/HW11P_2.13.1/com.ibm.hwmca.kc_hmc.doc/enable/stepsenableftpaccesstomassstoragemedia.html
> 
> Then you move the contents of the DVD into your z/OS system using FTP
> across that very closed HMC network. (I'm quite sure z/OS supports FTP.)
> There's no intermediate PC or other system to worry about in the loop, the
> process is completely disconnected from any external or even internal
> networks (nothing beyond the IBM Z boundary), and you still have
> IBM-supplied physical media that you can track, log, audit, stare at,
> whatever -- read-only physical media that happens to be flatter, lighter,
> and easier to carry. You can place the HMC under armed guard, point a video
> surveillance camera at it, mount it in a caged rack, surround it with
> Mission Impossible-style laser and pressure sensors, or whatever, as you
> prefer.
> 
> I prefer/recommend the digitally signed and network delivered path, but
> you've got choices.
> 
> So what am I missing? Does that delivery path work?

Timothy:
I have heard about this method and I have read on here varying degrees of 
success(or not). Has this method ever been done for CBPDO/CBIPO/ or you other 
offerings?Would it even fit on a mod54?
I am open to it as long as it is extremely secure and doesn’t take 5 days (or 
more). IMNO this might work for a PTF or two but several DVD’s worth??
I am still puzzled on how you get  this from the PC to the mainframe. Also, 
while I am at it you would need enough disk specie on the PC to hold all this 
data, I don’t think they make a big enough HD for the PC, do they?
Our computer room is very secure. I am not even allowed to touch the HMC 
without a VP looking over my shoulder and asking everything I do, while he 
dictates into a recorder, I am not sure how they would take me putting in and 
out dvd’s that certainly will cause a ripple. While there is no video cam (at 
least that I am aware of that points to the HMC) there are at least 20 camera’s 
recording everything at or near a console, several in the tape vault 
enter/exit/inside and one looking in at the elevator and a few others that I 
don’t remember. If there are any on here that have done a offering through the 
HMC I would love to hear your success/failures.

Ed

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Re: JCL "diagramming"?

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 29, 2018, at 2:57 PM, Mike Schwab  wrote:
> 
> CA (Computer Associates) still sells JCLFLOW.
> 
 Forget even mentioned it. I had no idea it was a CA product. I apologize to 
the group.

Ed


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Re: JCL "diagramming"?

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 29, 2018, at 10:22 AM, John McKown  
> wrote:
> 
> This is a weird idea that is floating around in my head. I am wondering if
> there is any software which can create a "picture", "diagram", or
> "flowchart" of JCL? I'm not too sure if this is even a useful thought. It's
> just a scratch that I must itch (or something like that).
> 
> What this may eventually morph into is a scheduling diagram showing our
> production job flow.
> 
> -- 
> I have a theory that it's impossible to prove anything, but I can't prove
> it.
> 
> Maranatha! <><
> John McKown

John,

There used to be (NO idea if it still exists) a product named JCLFLOW, For a 
while (long ago albeit) it was required during production turnover.
The production support really liked it .
Not sure if it is still around.

Ed
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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 28, 2018, at 9:06 AM, R.S.  wrote:
> 
> Now it's a matter of belief.
> I simply do not believe in some statements which I (roughly) collected below:
> 
> 
> > No DVD's are allowed.
> ServerPac delivery box contain a lot of DVDs and CDs. What about them?
I got my boss’s OK and got a servpac box out and went through it. I did not see 
a singe dvd/cd in the box and did not see it marked in the inventory. So maybe 
Europe is getting different deliveries that the US
> 
> PTFs are not distributed on tape for some time. _ How it is adressed?
> > That issue is open and it is being discussed at high levels and honestly I
> > don’t know if they have been given both sides, all I know is that I was 
> > told to
> > stay out of the discussion.
> That's evasion, not answer.
No its not as I can’t remember getting a single ptf on a tape for a couple of 
years, I think the number is two years ago but my mind could be wrong. I asked 
my boss about getting PTF’s in . What I ddid not know was that there is some 
service center that has done it for us in the past at a cost. 
> 
> Company decided to migrate to Windows just because installation tapes are no 
> longer distributed.
> Great reason, especially Microsoft does not distribute tapes.
> It's really hard to believe it.
> 
> 
> Auditor is calling IBM to "authenticate" the delivery - a box with tapes, 
> books, leaflets ancd DVDs.
> What can he hear? What information can be got by the phone? A confirmation 
> the ServerPac was really sent?
> I can do that using Internet access (Shopsz + DHL). IMHO it's much more 
> reliable than calling to more or less anonymous outsider.
They are happy with this situation what can I say? 
> 
> ...armed carrier truck pick the tape up at IBM - in the same message you say 
> it's FEDEX, and in other message > The person checked
> the ID of the delivery agent.
> It is contradictory and senseless.

Not quite fun an armored car there is a guard there all the time and yes it is 
slow. As far as senseless each culture does something their unique way, I have 
been brought up to accept other peoples culture and help- them enrich it even 
further if that is what they want. If they don’t then we accept them as they 
are.
> 
> 
> 
> > I think the 43xx box was the death of IBM, thats my opinion. No longer can 
> > you talk to an IBM person
> >  directly unless you have a signed contract in hand and in the other hand a 
> > certified check.
> What???
That is what happened in the US starting around 1995+-1 You no longer bought 
CPU’s from IBM you bought them from third parties. These third parties were 
made up of mostly ex IBMers. I asked a question of one of the third party 
people and was told I could no longer talk to IBM directly unless I had a 
contract in one hand  and a check in the other hand I could not talk directly 
to a IBM with a technical question. This happened to me at two different 
customers, so I guessing its close to the truth. I get around these idiotic 
demands by calling IBM friends directly and yes it costs me a dinner every so 
often when he/she is in my city to I am their city. Its the price of dealing 
with IBM now days. 
> 
> > I have heard rumors of departments that undergo lie detector tests on an 
> > irregular basis.
> And you write about it? Are you allowed to disclose it?

I talked with my boss today and heard the real story (according to him) there 
was a department that had disclosed some information they shouldn’t have, the 
number of lie detector test was around 10 people out of 70, so it was not the 
hole department, I apologize for saying incorrect information,
> Not to mention how it is related to delivery media…
This was the auditing department and they are the ones that open all the boxes 
from IBM and OEM and go through them. Now I have no idea about what the issue 
was and why they were given lie detector tests.
> 
> 
> > I am only able to “chat” on IBM-Main as i do not disclose company info.
> > I am essentially retired and not working.
> > That is beyond my (free) pay grade.
> 
> In my believe the company and the rules exist only in some imagined world.
> Of course it is only my belief.
> 
> 
> Regards
> -- 
> Radoslaw Skorupka
> Lodz, Poland
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ==
> 
> 
>   --
> Treść tej wiadomości może zawierać informacje prawnie chronione Banku 
> przeznaczone wyłącznie do użytku służbowego adresata. Odbiorcą może być 
> jedynie jej adresat z wyłączeniem dostępu osób trzecich. Jeżeli nie jesteś 
> adresatem niniejszej wiadomości lub pracownikiem upoważnionym do jej 
> przekazania adresatowi, informujemy, że jej rozpowszechnianie, kopiowanie, 
> rozprowadzanie lub inne działanie o podobnym charakterze jest prawnie 
> zabronione i może być karalne. Jeżeli otrzymałeś tę wiadomość omyłkowo, 
> prosimy niezwłocznie zawiadomić nadawcę wysyłając odpowiedź oraz trwale 
> usunąć tę wiadomość włączając w to 

Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 28, 2018, at 12:43 PM, Jesse 1 Robinson  
> wrote:
> 
> Long before IBM talked about the end of tape delivery, we stopped accepting 
> any physical media whatever--even doc. The reason was rooted in legal 
> classification of software for tax purposes. In order to be extra careful, we 
> eschewed not only tape/DVD for software itself, but also for any supporting 
> function as well. The cost of getting levied with ordinary sales tax would 
> have been significant. 
> 
> .
Skip:
I think it was either last summer or autumn I did an informal survey of DC’s in 
the Chicago area. 
1. would not except tapes
2. received sent 10 a month
3 received 50 a month
4 Sent;/received over 100

Ed
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IMAGINE what would happen if IBM had done this

[Edward Gould]

Some of the Windows updates released by Microsoft to mitigate the Meltdown 
vulnerability introduce an even more severe security hole, a researcher has 
warned.

Microsoft has released patches 
 
for the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities every month since their disclosure 
in January. While at this point the updates should prevent these attacks, a 
researcher claims some of the fixes create a bigger problem.

According to Ulf Frisk, the updates released by Microsoft in January and 
February for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 patch Meltdown, but they 
allow an attacker to easily read from and write to memory.

He noted that while Meltdown allows an attacker to read megabytes of data per 
second, the new vulnerability can be exploited to read gigabytes of data per 
second – in one of the tests he conducted, the expert managed to access the 
memory at speeds of over 4 Gbps. Moreover, the flaw also makes it possible to 
write to memory.

Frisk says exploitation does not require any sophisticated exploits – standard 
read and write instructions will get the job done – as Windows 7 has already 
mapped the memory for each active process.

“In short - the User/Supervisor permission bit was set to User in the PML4 
self-referencing entry. This made the page tables available to user mode code 
in every process. The page tables should normally only be accessible by the 
kernel itself,” the researcher explained 
. “The PML4 is the base of 
the 4-level in-memory page table hierarchy that the CPU Memory Management Unit 
(MMU) uses to translate the virtual addresses of a process into physical memory 
addresses in RAM.”

“Once read/write access has been gained to the page tables it will be trivially 
easy to gain access to the complete physical memory, unless it is additionally 
protected by Extended Page Tables (EPTs) used for Virtualization. All one have 
to do is to write their own Page Table Entries (PTEs) into the page tables to 
access arbitrary physical memory,” he said.

The researcher says anyone can reproduce the vulnerability using a direct 
memory access (DMA) attack tool  he 
developed a few years ago. The attack works against devices running Windows 7 
x64 or Windows Server 2008 R2 with the Microsoft patches from January or 
February installed. The issue did not exist before January and it appears to 
have been addressed by Microsoft with the March updates. Windows 10 and Windows 
8.1 are not affected, Frisk said.

A Microsoft spokesperson told SecurityWeek that the company is aware of the 
report and is looking into it.

Frisk previously discovered a macOS vulnerability 
 that 
could have been exploited to obtain FileVault passwords, and demonstrated some 
UEFI attacks .

*Updated with statement from Microsoft
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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 27, 2018, at 6:17 AM, Richards, Robert B.  
> wrote:
> 
> Is your upper management watching the movies "The Net" or "War Games" on a 
> loop? Paranoid much?
> 
> Do the words "SECURE TRANSMISSION" mean anything to them?
> Consider that the world's wealth is running on IBM's z/OS operating systems. 
> Virtually all of them get their OS upgrades electronically. But your company 
> is "special"?
> How many other posters on this forum have ever said "me too" to the paranoia 
> expressed in your posts?

I can’t get into much detail here other than to say NO to your first question. 
I will say this much this “company” is extremely sensitive on anything going or 
coming from the several floors the company owns and They regularly have sweeps 
for any incoming/outgoing transmissions (this includes telephone monitoring and 
an occasional searching of personal property coming in or going out. I have 
heard rumors of departments that undergo lie detector tests on an irregular 
basis. I am only able to “chat” on IBM-Main as i do not disclose company info. 
Like I said before I am getting to the edge and I will have to stop answering 
the questions because I can’t go into any detail. As to your last couple of 
sentences Up until recently we got everything on tape. Our company is something 
unique (I have been told) by IBMers and that is all I can say to that.
In am freely able to converse (but not name) companies I have worked for in the 
past. Which leaves me as my boss puts it anything That I have learned or did 
during my time here is strictly off limits on any job resumes/applications or 
for that matter credit applications. I am essentially retired and not working. 
When I have an possible APAR and I need to go over dumps I get a special number 
at IBM to call and they take care of everything and make sure there are no way 
the company name gets into the apar under any circumstances. Two times I have 
been called in after making the phone call to make sure nothing sensitive has 
been given out. They by now know that I do not give out any information and 
semi listen to the calls.

Ed


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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 27, 2018, at 5:52 AM, R.S.  wrote:
> 
> Well, it was easy to predict: There are no more tapes!
> 
> What media could you order?
> CST, ECCST (3480, 3490E) - not marketed for years, no native connectivity 
> (ESCON)
> MAGSTAR - also out of market for years. And no compatible products from othe 
> vendors. Connectivity is ESCON or FICON, but no direct connection is possible 
> (16Gbps FICON can talk on 8Gbps or 4 Gbps).
> JAGUAR - the last drive natively attachable to z/OS is TS1140. Is it still 
> marketed? Nowadays we have TS1150 and TS1155. TS1140 is 1,5 generation back.
> 
> Last, but not least - other tape vendors do not produce anything compatible 
> with media delivered by IBM. Actually I should say "vendor" not "vendorS", 
> because only STK/Sun/Oracle produce real tapes for z/OS.
> 
> 
> BTW: When I read about "strict procedures" allowing tapes but not DVD, 
> auditors checking foil sealings or threats  regarding migration to Windows...
> Is it IBM-MAIN or elementary school ?
I am not defending their position at all. I am also not saying it is right or 
wrong. I am not allowed to talk about the company at all. I am pressing the 
envelope on IBM-MAIN as it is.
Upper management has made the decision, rightly or wrongly, I have to live in 
their world. That comes with NDA’s and other legal paperwork.
You can scold do whatever you want it doesn’t make a difference to me.
> 
> Of course some shops do have strict rules, mostly it is stupidity not 
> security, but they had to manage tape carts in the past. Now they have to 
> establish process for DVDs (or other methods). BTW: How they get PTFs? AFAIK 
> tape delivery for PTFs is not available for years - so they HAVE some process 
> to put PTFs to z/OS or they do not apply any PTFs (???) or ...the story is 
> simply unreal.
That issue is open and it is being discussed at high levels and honestly I 
don’t know if they have been given both sides, all I know is that I was told to 
stay out of the discussion.

> 
> That remains me the discussion about HMC call home functionality when modem 
> was dropped and replaced with VPN.
> 
> Oh, I prefer tapes fo ServerPac installation. I will miss them. Now I'm going 
> to prepare huge ZFS for ServerPac. Easy, I have a lot of time for that.
Radoslaw:
I am kind of curious as to if IBM has updated the basic I/O that is need to 
bring up a system and how it will have to be changed to accommodate this IBM 
commandment.
I, unlike you do NOT like SERVPAC installations, I was in it since day 5 and 
hated it then and I hate it still today. I prefer either CBIPO or CBPDO. I have 
done many servpac installations and they get harder each time (and longer). The 
amount of DASD is outrageous and I expect to be turned down if it grows, I am 
not sure what will happen when I get turned down. Maybe the windows guys will 
have better luck than me.

Ed
> 
> Regards
> -- 
> Radoslaw Skorupka
> Lodz, Poland
> 
> 


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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 26, 2018, at 9:08 PM, Mike Schwab <mike.a.sch...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Internal cloud?  Or external (internet) cloud?

No to both.

Ed
> 
> On Mon, Mar 26, 2018 at 8:58 PM, Doug <dsh...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>> We all missed it, they are running in the cloud..Grins
>> 
>> .
>> 
>> On Mar 26, 2018, at 21:31, Paul Gilmartin 
>> <000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
>> 
>> On Mon, 26 Mar 2018 15:52:57 -0500, John McKown  wrote:
>> 
>>>> On Mon, Mar 26, 2018 at 3:40 PM, Edward Gould wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Between the Auditor and the CEO they are of one voice. No outside data
>>>> (include DVD’s) are allowed. They have been quite vocal in this and insists
>>>> it be their way or noway.
>>>> 
>>> So, how will Windows be installed without using the Internet or a CD or a
>>> DVD? And, wasn't the tape "outside data"?
>>> 
>> Tell Ed again, how your employer's conversion to Windows (Linux?) went.
>> 
>> -- gil
>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Mike A Schwab, Springfield IL USA
> Where do Forest Rangers go to get away from it all?
> 
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Re: Ignoring TIME= specification in JCL

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 27, 2018, at 6:28 AM, Peter Hunkeler  wrote:
> 
> I've got the requirement to limit who is allowed to specify TIME= on either 
> JOB or EXEC statement. This is for z/OS V2.2 (and up) and JES2.
> 
> 
> There is JES2 exit 4 to scan and modify the JCL statements. Is there an 
> alternative?
> 
> 
> Would TWS (aka IWS) be able to do this for jobs it submits?
> 
> 
> --
> Peter Hunkeler
> 

Peter,
I looked at this 20+ years ago and found 3 ways.
IIRC (this is 20 years ago) the SMF exit UJV(?) and 2 exits in JES 4 & 6 (I 
could be wrong)
The only fool proof I think is UJV. The problem is with UJV was that it takes 
an IPL to change it (the JES exits only take a warm start). My memory is 
probably off on this, but IIRC I did it in a JES2 exit but I had a back end so 
I could override it with a password that changed daily. I never had to use the 
backend though.
Ed
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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 26, 2018, at 8:31 PM, Paul Gilmartin 
> <000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 26 Mar 2018 15:52:57 -0500, John McKown  wrote:
> 
>> On Mon, Mar 26, 2018 at 3:40 PM, Edward Gould wrote:
>> 
>>> Between the Auditor and the CEO they are of one voice. No outside data
>>> (include DVD’s) are allowed. They have been quite vocal in this and insists
>>> it be their way or noway.
>>> 
>> ​So, how will Windows be installed without using the Internet or a CD or a
>> DVD? And, wasn't the tape "outside data"? ​
>> 
> Tell Ed again, how your employer's conversion to Windows (Linux?) went.
> 
gil:

They own the company, they make the payroll, they get to make the decisions, 
not I.
Ed

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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 26, 2018, at 5:28 PM, Charles Mills  wrote:
> 
>> No longer can you talk to an IBM person directly unless you have a signed 
>> contract in hand and in the other hand a certified check.
> 
> I certainly do, and all the time. As recently as week before last.
Was this in a business environment or friend. In my statement it was a 
business, I had a (general type question, like, how does one make a backup copy 
of..) There was no secret type of information I was asking. The IBMer said to 
me, I need a signed contract before I can answer that question. When I pressed 
he said the mininum charge was 10K (US). I tried the sales end and was shut 
down just as fast. I thought 20 years ago I would’ve gotten an answer no charge 
and maybe even gotten a free drink as there was a competitor and that is the 
difference.   
> 
>> the AUDITOR calling someone at IBM to make sure that the package came from 
>> IBM
> 
> I would guess that a certificate-signed distribution -- yes, even over the 
> dread Al Gore Googlenet -- is more secure than a phone call to IBM. Who knows 
> what evil lurks in the hearts of Federal Express. 2048 bit RSA keys, however, 
> do not lie.
I answered that a few emails back.
> 
> Charles

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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 26, 2018, at 8:00 PM, Clark Morris  wrote:
> 
> My response is that both are idiots and I would like to know the name
> of the company so I can short sell it.  They are going to convert to
> Windows which might supply a DVD but not keep it up to date.  All
> fixes are delivered via Internet.  What makes these people think that
> tape can't be subverted?  IBM should make a way for z/OS to read the
> DVDs but frankly unless the mainframe at this company only has hard
> wired connections to it and NO outside connection, it needs Internet
> delivery of fixes for time dependency reasons.
> 
> Given this mentality, I would be worried about security on that
> mainframe.
> 
> Clark Morris
> 
>> Ed

I signed a NDA when I was brought on board and cannot disclose to anyone. One 
of my colleagues got into some civil matter and when put on the stand and was 
asked his place of work, he declined to state the name. The company lawyer was 
brought in and the court and the other attorney stipulated that he was employed 
but no name of the company was mentioned other than employed or place of 
employment.

Like I said before the windows issues is not/will not be my responsibility, I 
have repeatedly been told to keep my nose out of that whole mess. It is now the 
company’s problem. My boss is well aware of the issues and he has chosen to 
stay out as he does not want to end up on the street with no job and no job 
history. I am pretty sure I know what kind of restrictions that are going to be 
placed on the outsourcing company and they will not like it, but they may or 
may not know these restrictions ahead of time and again that is their problem, 
not mine.

I don’t like burrowing my head in the sand either. The company is there to make 
those decisions, not me.

Ed 


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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 26, 2018, at 5:28 PM, Charles Mills  wrote:
> 
>> No longer can you talk to an IBM person directly unless you have a signed 
>> contract in hand and in the other hand a certified check.
> 
> I certainly do, and all the time. As recently as week before last.
> 
>> the AUDITOR calling someone at IBM to make sure that the package came from 
>> IBM
> 
> I would guess that a certificate-signed distribution -- yes, even over the 
> dread Al Gore Googlenet -- is more secure than a phone call to IBM. Who knows 
> what evil lurks in the hearts of Federal Express. 2048 bit RSA keys, however, 
> do not lie.
> 
> Charles
Charles:
That is beyond my (free) pay grade. The auditors are tight lipped and do not 
give us a clue. It would not be too surprising that they have a password system 
in effect but I do not know and any guessing is worthless .

Ed


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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 26, 2018, at 5:25 PM, Paul Gilmartin 
> <000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 26 Mar 2018 16:57:47 -0500, Edward Gould  wrote:
> 
>>> On Mar 26, 2018, at 3:47 PM, Charles Mills <charl...@mcn.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Goofiness.
>>> 
>>> Why didn't they convert to Windows when IBM stopped distribution on 9-track
>>> tape? Or when the 2540 card reader was discontinued? Or the 407?
>> 
>> You are missing the point. It is called the INTERNET. They do not want 
>> *anything* that a. Came through the internet. b. Does not come via FEDEX(or 
>> UPS) from IBM with signatures/id card 
>> 
> Think digital signatures transmitted via an independent channel.
>http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-turbo-fueled-carrier-pigeon-16116691.html
> 
> IBM products/service on DVD or Internet are digitally signed.  On tape?
> I remember 3480 cartridges coming from IBM in heat-sealed polyethylene
> sleves guaranteeing virus protection.

The sealed plastic envelope was a plus. But you did not read the rest of my 
entry. The tapes get sent directly to the auditing department. The box/envelope 
is unsealed there. The person checked the ID of the delivery agent. The person 
then calls somewhere within IBM to make sure that IBM sent the tape. The person 
after everything is checkout comes down to the department and the manager is 
the only one authorized to sign for it, I am his backup in case of 
illness/vacation etc. My boss or I must open the package in the presence of the 
auditor and verify everything is there (this is not fun)then sign the auditors 
receipt book. As per the auditor we must place the box into a locked room and 
the secretary has a sign in/out sheet which My boss or I can sign.

> 
> If I understood certs, I'd mention that.
> 
>> c. ... I have tried to bridge this a couple of times and was told to shut up 
>> and don’t say anything again.   
>>> 
> Did they pay you $130,000.00, the going rate for that?
il:
This is their business not mine. They get to make the rules.
> 
> 
> On Mon, 26 Mar 2018 21:26:48 +, J R wrote:
> 
>> Assuming the current tape delivery is "outside data", how do you get it into 
>> the building?  
>> 
> Great* Grandfather Clause?

Like I said above the delivery guy has to have an ID and the package must be 
from a recognized sender of material. BTW there is no squawk about this from 
anyone that I am aware of.
Once delivery is accepted then our auditing department takes over the next step 
of verification. This was all set up long time before I showed up on the scene.

> 
> -- gil
> 
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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 26, 2018, at 3:52 PM, John McKown <john.archie.mck...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> On Mon, Mar 26, 2018 at 3:40 PM, Edward Gould <edgould1...@comcast.net>
> wrote:
> 
>>> --
>> John:
>> Between the Auditor and the CEO they are of one voice. No outside data
>> (include DVD’s) are allowed. They have been quite vocal in this and insists
>> it be their way or noway.
>> Ed
>> 
>> 
> ​So, how will Windows be installed without using the Internet or a CD or a
> DVD? And, wasn't the tape "outside data”?

John, I was told to stay out of the process PERIOD. Like I said I will be in 
genuine retirement and no longer care about IBM.
just some good memories of now ex IBM people I have met over the years.

Ed
> ​
> 

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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 26, 2018, at 3:47 PM, Charles Mills <charl...@mcn.org> wrote:
> 
> Goofiness.
> 
> Why didn't they convert to Windows when IBM stopped distribution on 9-track
> tape? Or when the 2540 card reader was discontinued? Or the 407?

You are missing the point. It is called the INTERNET. They do not want 
*anything* that a. Came through the internet. b. Does not come via FEDEX(or 
UPS) from IBM with signatures/id card 
c. And 1 or two more things that I am not sure of. All tape must be delivered 
to the auditor and the department takes care of authenticating everything (not 
my responsibility nor authority to question) I have heard vague rumors of the 
AUDITOR calling someone at IBM to make sure that the package came from IBM (I 
cannot confirm this). I also heard that the company looked into having a armed 
carrier truck pick the tape up at IBM but again cannot confirm this. This 
company is beyond security conscious, I cannot explain it as the origins 
predate me by 20 or so years. I have tried to bridge this a couple of times and 
was told to shut up and don’t say anything again.   
> 
> If this is how your management makes business decisions I know what should
> be replaced, and it's not z/OS.

Management in a lot of areas is great and in others the stone age. The tape 
thing is stone age. I am sure we have a lot of overhead of people checking 
things like this out. 
Yes and it might be arcane but the company is thriving and management (at least 
mine) will not rock the boat. I am here as sort of advisor and I am not getting 
paid. If they want to be this way that is their decision not mine. I can’t even 
get a finger in to see what the decision process is in these types of matters. 
I tried one time to get a finger in and it was almost chopped off. This is fine 
with me, IBM as I suspected does not listen to its customers and really does 
not care. I have seen IBM go from a world class company to operating at the 
whims of people who have lost touch with its customers. I think the 43xx box 
was the death of IBM, thats my opinion. No longer can you talk to an IBM person 
directly unless you have a signed contract in hand and in the other hand a 
certified check.

Ed

> 
> https://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/beauty-is-skin-deep-but-stupid
> -goes-right-to-the-bone-b1c28 
> 
> Charles
> 
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Edward Gould
> Sent: Monday, March 26, 2018 1:36 PM
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued
> 
>> On Mar 26, 2018, at 1:44 PM, Paul Gilmartin
> <000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
>> 
>> On Mon, 26 Mar 2018 13:33:23 -0500, Edward Gould wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> "IBM plans to discontinue delivery of z/OS platform products and service
> on magnetic tape on July 1, 2018.  ..."
>>> 
>>> Congratulations to IBM. This sounds the death nell for z/OS at this
> install. 
>>> 
>> What will you do instead?  Have you plans to convert to another supplier?
>> How long will it take?  Will you stumble along without support or
> upgrades?
>> Have you found a contractor who will convert optical media or network 
>> to tape for you?  Is that acceptable to your security people and to IBM
> OCC?
>> 
>> -- gil
> 
> Gil:
> 
> Told my manager this AM, he called IBM. They said yes it will be
> discontinued.
> My manager called his VP. The VP started calling companies that will be
> putting a bid in for conversion to Windows.
> He has called 4 companies and they are coming in the next 3 weeks and go
> over what is needed to convert everything off the MF to Windows.
> The wiff of going poof is in the air. 
> Well its not like I am getting paid, I will be in full time retirement and
> not being able to play in the sandbox anymore(:
> Hope everybody is able to find jobs.
> The only question now is timeframe.
> I heard several people on the phone talking to their head hunters.
> 
> Ed 
> 
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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 26, 2018, at 2:23 PM, John Eells <ee...@us.ibm.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Mon, 26 Mar 2018 13:33:23 -0500, Edward Gould wrote:
>>>> "IBM plans to discontinue delivery of z/OS platform products and service 
>>>> on magnetic tape on July 1, 2018.  ..."
>>> Congratulations to IBM. This sounds the death nell for z/OS at this install.
>>> What will you do instead?
> 
> (I'm not sure why I can't see Ed's post, so I copied the above from another.)
> 
> First, we are still delivering these things on DVD and have no current plans 
> to stop doing that.  So, if that was your concern, a connection to the 
> internet from z/OS is not required.
> 
> In addition to that, you can take a laptop outside your firewall, download 
> stuff*, bring the laptop back in, connect to your internal network, and 
> upload it to z/OS to be processed.  A connection from z/OS to the internet is 
> not required for this, either, and it's probably faster than waiting for a 
> DVD to arrive.  I don't have actual numbers handy, but the data volume for 
> most orders is probably less than you need to download for a Netflix movie in 
> SD.  If you are ordering the gorilla in the room (z/OS itself), it's about 
> what you need for a few Netflix HD movies.
> 
> Then, if you are willing to buy hardware as David Boyes outlined, you can 
> perhaps do it that way.  I have no knowledge about these products, and we 
> have not tested that approach, so I do not know whether or not it works.  If  
> someone has tried it, I'd be (academically, I'll admit) interesting in 
> knowing about the outcome.
> 
> * "Stuff" = Products, PTFs, HOLDDATA, etc.
> 
> -- 
John:
Between the Auditor and the CEO they are of one voice. No outside data (include 
DVD’s) are allowed. They have been quite vocal in this and insists it be their 
way or noway.
Ed

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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 26, 2018, at 1:44 PM, Paul Gilmartin 
> <000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 26 Mar 2018 13:33:23 -0500, Edward Gould wrote:
>>> 
>>> "IBM plans to discontinue delivery of z/OS platform products and service on 
>>> magnetic tape on July 1, 2018.  ..."
>> 
>> Congratulations to IBM. This sounds the death nell for z/OS at this install. 
>> 
> What will you do instead?  Have you plans to convert to another supplier?
> How long will it take?  Will you stumble along without support or upgrades?
> Have you found a contractor who will convert optical media or network to
> tape for you?  Is that acceptable to your security people and to IBM OCC?
> 
> -- gil

Gil:

Told my manager this AM, he called IBM. They said yes it will be discontinued.
My manager called his VP. The VP started calling companies that will be putting 
a bid in for conversion to Windows.
He has called 4 companies and they are coming in the next 3 weeks and go over 
what is needed to convert everything off the MF to Windows.
The wiff of going poof is in the air. 
Well its not like I am getting paid, I will be in full time retirement and not 
being able to play in the sandbox anymore(:
Hope everybody is able to find jobs.
The only question now is timeframe.
I heard several people on the phone talking to their head hunters.

Ed 

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Re: Software Delivery on Tape to be Discontinued

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 26, 2018, at 12:04 PM, John Eells  wrote:
> 
> Perhaps some of you recall this from last October.  If you missed it in the 
> announcement:
> 
> "IBM plans to discontinue delivery of z/OS platform products and service on 
> magnetic tape on July 1, 2018. This fulfills the statement of direction in 
> Software Announcement A17-0134, dated February 21, 2017. IBM recommends 
> downloading products and service over the internet. However, if you have a 
> requirement for physical media, products and service remain available on DVD."

Congratulations to IBM. This sounds the death nell for z/OS at this install. 

Ed
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Re: VIO SDWA logrec records

[Edward Gould]

> On Mar 26, 2018, at 11:22 AM, Pew, Curtis G  
> wrote:
> 
> Ever since our last IPL my daily logrec reports have contained hundreds of 
> SDWA records that seem to point to a problem with VIO. There’s always a pair 
> of records, and the first has a recordable extension that starts with 
> “SC1CWASM - VIO CONTROL” and the second starts with “DF102VIO-JOURN”. I 
> googled these strings but didn’t find anything useful. Has anyone seen 
> anything like this, or have any idea where I might look for more information? 
> These records are the only symptoms I’ve been able to discern that anything 
> might be wrong; otherwise everything seems to be running normally.
> 
> I should mention that the operator performing the IPL forgot to shut anything 
> down before going to the HMC and starting the IPL, so lots of things were 
> running and didn’t get a chance to end gracefully.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Are you doing CVIO at each IPL?
Ed
> 
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Re: Two summer time change questions

[Edward Gould]

> On Feb 22, 2018, at 4:01 PM, Jesse 1 Robinson  > wrote:
> 
> The most important question is whether your LPAR(s) are running with true 
> GMT/UTC. It was once customary for shops to set both GMT and Local time to a 
> nearby wall clock and specify zero Local offset. Over time most shops have 
> hopped on to the straight and narrow path by defining GMT as UTC with a Local 
> offset that either varies (or does not) by season. If you using a true offset 
> value, you can use 'some timer facility' to adjust the offset twice a year. 
> For us that was once the external sysplex timer (9037). Now it's built-in STP 
> (Server Time Protocol) that performs the time change operation--automatically 
> if desired. An IPL is not necessary for z/OS.
> 
> Otherwise you can issue the SET CLOCK command. However, that changes only the 
> running system. Any desired change to 'parm' fields would have to be done 
> manually. Again, an IPL is not necessary for z/OS.
> 
> As others have said, most modern software like CICS and DB2 logs in UTC, so 
> changes to Local time don't matter except to Bioware. The one-hour overlap 
> when 'falling back' is not a problem except for people reading syslog or 
> operlog, where duplicate time stamps will appear. I'm quite sure that a 
> multiplex requires some kind of hardware timer because XCF cannot handle 
> differing time stamps among members.

That is a Fair statement "most modern software like CICS and DB2 logs in UTC” 
The problem we ran into is there are several old versions of CICS out there. We 
ran into on that was circa 1995 or there about. There are vendors that also 
depend on the old version. We cannot force the users to upgrade, the politics 
are astounding, we tried to push one to upgrade and you would have thought we 
were asking for several million dollars. Needless to say we lost the argument. 
When you run into politics there is little chance of winning. Our CIO was 
amazed at the resistance and refusal He only has just so much power.

Ed


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Re: Syntax check for JES2 INIT deck

[Edward Gould]

> On Jan 30, 2018, at 5:51 PM, Jesse 1 Robinson  wrote:
> 
> (It must be JES2zday). There used to a trick to get a JES2 INIT deck syntax 
> check. You would 'S JES2' with the system running. JES2 would eventually say 
> 'SUBSYSTEM NOT DORMANT' and quit, but along the way read the INIT deck and 
> flag any syntax errors. We tried that today with a deliberate syntax error, 
> but no complaints during startup. Did this trick stop working somewhere along 
> the way?
> 
> .
> .Skip:
Along the way I have heard of a product that did this. I am beating my brains 
for the name but it isn’t coming up. Having said that JES2 seems to go through 
a complete rewrite every few years and it may not be feasible anymore so they 
may have dropped this feature. IIRC it was not expensive but I think the last 
time I looked and this was 10+ years ago they (the product) snuck things in and 
if you didn’t stop the use of it, the product had you hook line and sinker it 
was just impossible to get out of production as there was no equivalency out 
there.

Ed



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Re: RFE For ISRDDN/DDLIST to further protect system integrity

[Edward Gould]

> On Jan 27, 2018, at 9:05 AM, Peter Relson  wrote:
> 
> As Rob Scott pointed out, the information displayed is available to any 
> program. There is no system integrity issue with displaying any of this 
> information. 
> Changing that data to be fetch protected (which is the only way to protect 
> it) would be unacceptably incompatible and would break existing tooling.
> 
> If  a customer does not have their APF or PARMLIB or LNKLST or LPA 
> libraries properly protected, that is a different matter entirely, and is 
> one of the reasons why there is a RACF health check related to APF.
> Restricting DISASM would not gain anything practical, since it is already 
> only displaying data that the user is permitted to access; restricting it 
> would just cost an interested party a little bit of extra time.
> 
> The information itself cannot be "exploited". Customer security gaps can 
> be exploited.
> 
> Security by obscurity (which is what you'd get to a small extent if what 
> was asked for was implemented) is often only a little better than nothing. 
> 
> 
> I'm quite sure that the request will be declined.
> 
> Peter Relson
> z/OS Core Technology Design
Peter,
I agree with what you are saying completely. However there is a large group of 
companies out there lying to the Senior Execs and this is one of their angles 
to get involved in security. I have seen at least two companies that actually 
lie and then it takes my days/weeks of talking to stop these people from coming 
in. I am not sure what the answer is but please somebody figure out how to stop 
these people.
Ed


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