Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

[Tim Hare]

The BUFNO= is only needed if you did _not_ increase the block size of your TMC 
(available in latest releases, along with other improvements to the TMC 
including uptime improvements like allowing online extension of a TMC in use by 
multiple systems.. Thanks, CA! - I'm retired and only 'consulting' now but 
those were great changes when I used them).

Also - to the original poster - be sure to check the ACCODE/RETPD in the JCL,  
and whether or not you have an RPGDG parameter coded in  TMOOPTxx.   It sounds 
like you're not expiring the datasets in CA-1 when they roll off the GDG.

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Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

[Mike Schwab]

Until the tape is overwritten the scratched tapes will still be in the database.

On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 5:17 AM, Hardee, Chuck
 wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I have posted this to the IBM Mainframe and IBM Assembler lists.
>
> I was wondering if anyone has ever written a program to read the CA-1 Tape 
> Catalog for a generic name?
> In a nutshell, what I am wanting to do is look up in the catalog all entries 
> for a GDG base name.
>
> Currently my program issues a call to the IBM Catalog Search Interface (CSI) 
> program, IGGCSI00, passing the GDG name and I get back all entries that are 
> currently cataloged. However, if I go to CA-1's TSO Inquiry panel and put in 
> the GDG name modified to have a low level qualifier of "-" (CA-1's equivalent 
> of "*"), I get back 621 entries. Since the GDG is defined to have 150 
> entries, that's all I'll ever get, via MVS services. However, as can be seen, 
> there are more tapes available.
>
> I have read thru the CA-1 Tape Management Programming Guide, and there appear 
> to be numerous macros that can be used to access the catalog, but the 
> narratives for the macros leave something to be desired in the name of 
> clarity when one isn't a CA-1 expert. And, before you ask, yes, I have asked 
> CA-1 support for help but I am getting the run around from them. For whatever 
> reason, they just don't want to seem to help. It may be a level 1 protecting 
> level 2 situation, or it may just be they don't want to take the time to 
> educate the user community. Whatever the reason, I need to look for 
> alternative assistance.
>
> So, if anyone has a snippet or three of code to OPEN, READ and CLOSE the CA-1 
> catalog looking for a dataset name, I would appreciate it if you would be 
> willing to share.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Chuck
>
>
> Charles (Chuck) Hardee
> Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration
> EAS Information Technology
>
> Thermo Fisher Scientific
> 300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275
> Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 | Mobile +1 (412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230
> chuck.har...@thermofisher.com  | 
> www.thermofisher.com
>
> WORLDWIDE CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Dissemination, distribution or copying of 
> this e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended 
> recipient, or an employee or agent of a system responsible for delivering the 
> message to the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you are not the intended 
> recipient, please inform the sender and delete all copies.
>
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN



-- 
Mike A Schwab, Springfield IL USA
Where do Forest Rangers go to get away from it all?

--
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Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

[Rugen, Len]

Here's the obligatory vendor plug, see mxg.com, at least if you have the SAS 
software available.  I used it to consolidate SMF, RACF, CA-1 and many other 
information for research and reporting.  

At least before we killed the mainframe and went back to reproducing the 
problems from the 1980's in servers  


-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Hardee, Chuck
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 7:58 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Thanks Russell, I'll go re-read the documentation in the programming guide.


Charles (Chuck) Hardee
Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration EAS Information Technology

Thermo Fisher Scientific
300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275 Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 | Mobile +1 
(412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230 chuck.har...@thermofisher.com  | 
www.thermofisher.com

WORLDWIDE CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Dissemination, distribution or copying of this 
e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient, 
or an employee or agent of a system responsible for delivering the message to 
the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, 
please inform the sender and delete all copies.

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Russell Witt
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 8:42 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Chuck,

As Level-1 has indicated, you will have to read the entire TMC and do your 
executed compare (length of the DSN computed up to the .GV00) on every 
entry within the TMC. There are two ways to access the TMC (both documented in 
the Programming Guide); one is a sequential access method and one is a 
direct-read method that reads one specific record at a time. For performance 
reasons, you will want to read the entire TMC of course in the sequential 
access method. I know that other products read the TMC quite often (MXG of 
course comes to mind) mining it for information. And there is nothing that says 
you must use the CA 1 access methods (after all, the TMC is a simple flat-file 
that any program using QSAM can read). The CA 1 macros for sequential access 
will require an OPEN, a GET and a CLOSE. 

One nice reason to use the CA 1 macro's for the sequential access is that the 
OPEN can specify if you want the active TMC used all the time (in which case we 
will dynamically allocate it and a DD statement is NOT allowed), optionally (in 
which case we will dynamically allocate the TMC if there is no DD statement) or 
none of the time (in which case a DD statement is required). So, if you only 
want to look at the active TMC you can eliminate the DD statement from your JCL 
and simply have the CA 1 OPEN macro dynamically allocate the ACTIVE TMC for you.

Russell Witt
CA 1

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Hardee, Chuck
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 5:17 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Hello Everyone,

I have posted this to the IBM Mainframe and IBM Assembler lists.

I was wondering if anyone has ever written a program to read the CA-1 Tape 
Catalog for a generic name?
In a nutshell, what I am wanting to do is look up in the catalog all entries 
for a GDG base name.

Currently my program issues a call to the IBM Catalog Search Interface (CSI) 
program, IGGCSI00, passing the GDG name and I get back all entries that are 
currently cataloged. However, if I go to CA-1's TSO Inquiry panel and put in 
the GDG name modified to have a low level qualifier of "-" (CA-1's equivalent 
of "*"), I get back 621 entries. Since the GDG is defined to have
150 entries, that's all I'll ever get, via MVS services. However, as can be 
seen, there are more tapes available.

I have read thru the CA-1 Tape Management Programming Guide, and there appear 
to be numerous macros that can be used to access the catalog, but the 
narratives for the macros leave something to be desired in the name of clarity 
when one isn't a CA-1 expert. And, before you ask, yes, I have asked
CA-1 support for help but I am getting the run around from them. For whatever 
reason, they just don't want to seem to help. It may be a level 1 protecting 
level 2 situation, or it may just be they don't want to take the time to 
educate the user community. Whatever the reason, I need to look for alternative 
assistance.

So, if anyone has a snippet or three of code to OPEN, READ and CLOSE the
CA-1 catalog looking for a dataset name, I would appreciate it if you would be 
willing to share.

Thanks in advance,
Chuck


Charles (Chuck) Hardee<mailto:chuck.har...@thermofisher.com>
Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration EAS Information Technology

Thermo Fisher Scientific
300 Industry Drive | Pittsbur

Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

[Hardee, Chuck]

Yes, I know, that is EXACTLY why I want to read the CA-1 tape library.
I'm already getting the active cataloged tapes from the CSI call. I then use 
the VOLSER from those results to get more information from CA-1. What I'm 
looking for is how to read the CA-1 library and find all the tapes that match 
the GDG name I've been given. From there, I can get the information I need. 
I've read thru the CA-1 programming manual and, not being familiar with some of 
the terminology and concepts behind CA-1, things didn't quite gel with me. 
Since I posted my query this morning, I have had someone reply with information 
that has made some things come together with what I have read, but I now have 
other questions that I need to ask.

Thanks for the feedback Mike.

Chuck

Charles (Chuck) Hardee
Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration
EAS Information Technology

Thermo Fisher Scientific
300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275
Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 | Mobile +1 (412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230
chuck.har...@thermofisher.com  | www.thermofisher.com

WORLDWIDE CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Dissemination, distribution or copying of this 
e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient, 
or an employee or agent of a system responsible for delivering the message to 
the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, 
please inform the sender and delete all copies.


-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Mike Schwab
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 9:13 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Until the tape is overwritten the scratched tapes will still be in the database.

On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 5:17 AM, Hardee, Chuck
<chuck.har...@thermofisher.com> wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I have posted this to the IBM Mainframe and IBM Assembler lists.
>
> I was wondering if anyone has ever written a program to read the CA-1 Tape 
> Catalog for a generic name?
> In a nutshell, what I am wanting to do is look up in the catalog all entries 
> for a GDG base name.
>
> Currently my program issues a call to the IBM Catalog Search Interface (CSI) 
> program, IGGCSI00, passing the GDG name and I get back all entries that are 
> currently cataloged. However, if I go to CA-1's TSO Inquiry panel and put in 
> the GDG name modified to have a low level qualifier of "-" (CA-1's equivalent 
> of "*"), I get back 621 entries. Since the GDG is defined to have 150 
> entries, that's all I'll ever get, via MVS services. However, as can be seen, 
> there are more tapes available.
>
> I have read thru the CA-1 Tape Management Programming Guide, and there appear 
> to be numerous macros that can be used to access the catalog, but the 
> narratives for the macros leave something to be desired in the name of 
> clarity when one isn't a CA-1 expert. And, before you ask, yes, I have asked 
> CA-1 support for help but I am getting the run around from them. For whatever 
> reason, they just don't want to seem to help. It may be a level 1 protecting 
> level 2 situation, or it may just be they don't want to take the time to 
> educate the user community. Whatever the reason, I need to look for 
> alternative assistance.
>
> So, if anyone has a snippet or three of code to OPEN, READ and CLOSE the CA-1 
> catalog looking for a dataset name, I would appreciate it if you would be 
> willing to share.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Chuck
>
>
> Charles (Chuck) Hardee<mailto:chuck.har...@thermofisher.com>
> Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration
> EAS Information Technology
>
> Thermo Fisher Scientific
> 300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275
> Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 | Mobile +1 (412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230
> chuck.har...@thermofisher.com<mailto:chuck.har...@thermofisher.com>  | 
> www.thermofisher.com
>
> WORLDWIDE CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Dissemination, distribution or copying of 
> this e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended 
> recipient, or an employee or agent of a system responsible for delivering the 
> message to the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you are not the intended 
> recipient, please inform the sender and delete all copies.
>
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN



-- 
Mike A Schwab, Springfield IL USA
Where do Forest Rangers go to get away from it all?

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

[Hardee, Chuck]

Thanks Russell, I'll go re-read the documentation in the programming guide.


Charles (Chuck) Hardee
Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration
EAS Information Technology

Thermo Fisher Scientific
300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275
Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 | Mobile +1 (412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230
chuck.har...@thermofisher.com  | www.thermofisher.com

WORLDWIDE CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Dissemination, distribution or copying of this 
e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient, 
or an employee or agent of a system responsible for delivering the message to 
the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, 
please inform the sender and delete all copies.

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Russell Witt
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 8:42 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Chuck,

As Level-1 has indicated, you will have to read the entire TMC and do your
executed compare (length of the DSN computed up to the .GV00) on every
entry within the TMC. There are two ways to access the TMC (both documented
in the Programming Guide); one is a sequential access method and one is a
direct-read method that reads one specific record at a time. For performance
reasons, you will want to read the entire TMC of course in the sequential
access method. I know that other products read the TMC quite often (MXG of
course comes to mind) mining it for information. And there is nothing that
says you must use the CA 1 access methods (after all, the TMC is a simple
flat-file that any program using QSAM can read). The CA 1 macros for
sequential access will require an OPEN, a GET and a CLOSE. 

One nice reason to use the CA 1 macro's for the sequential access is that
the OPEN can specify if you want the active TMC used all the time (in which
case we will dynamically allocate it and a DD statement is NOT allowed),
optionally (in which case we will dynamically allocate the TMC if there is
no DD statement) or none of the time (in which case a DD statement is
required). So, if you only want to look at the active TMC you can eliminate
the DD statement from your JCL and simply have the CA 1 OPEN macro
dynamically allocate the ACTIVE TMC for you.

Russell Witt
CA 1

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On
Behalf Of Hardee, Chuck
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 5:17 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Hello Everyone,

I have posted this to the IBM Mainframe and IBM Assembler lists.

I was wondering if anyone has ever written a program to read the CA-1 Tape
Catalog for a generic name?
In a nutshell, what I am wanting to do is look up in the catalog all entries
for a GDG base name.

Currently my program issues a call to the IBM Catalog Search Interface (CSI)
program, IGGCSI00, passing the GDG name and I get back all entries that are
currently cataloged. However, if I go to CA-1's TSO Inquiry panel and put in
the GDG name modified to have a low level qualifier of "-" (CA-1's
equivalent of "*"), I get back 621 entries. Since the GDG is defined to have
150 entries, that's all I'll ever get, via MVS services. However, as can be
seen, there are more tapes available.

I have read thru the CA-1 Tape Management Programming Guide, and there
appear to be numerous macros that can be used to access the catalog, but the
narratives for the macros leave something to be desired in the name of
clarity when one isn't a CA-1 expert. And, before you ask, yes, I have asked
CA-1 support for help but I am getting the run around from them. For
whatever reason, they just don't want to seem to help. It may be a level 1
protecting level 2 situation, or it may just be they don't want to take the
time to educate the user community. Whatever the reason, I need to look for
alternative assistance.

So, if anyone has a snippet or three of code to OPEN, READ and CLOSE the
CA-1 catalog looking for a dataset name, I would appreciate it if you would
be willing to share.

Thanks in advance,
Chuck


Charles (Chuck) Hardee<mailto:chuck.har...@thermofisher.com>
Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration EAS Information Technology

Thermo Fisher Scientific
300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275 Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 | Mobile
+1 (412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230
chuck.har...@thermofisher.com<mailto:chuck.har...@thermofisher.com>  |
www.thermofisher.com

WORLDWIDE CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Dissemination, distribution or copying of
this e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended
recipient, or an employee or agent of a system responsible for delivering
the message to the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you are not the
intended recipient, please inform 

Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

[Scott Barry]

On Fri, 12 Feb 2016 11:17:26 +, Hardee, Chuck 
 wrote:

>Hello Everyone,
>
>I have posted this to the IBM Mainframe and IBM Assembler lists.
>
>I was wondering if anyone has ever written a program to read the CA-1 Tape 
>Catalog for a generic name?
>In a nutshell, what I am wanting to do is look up in the catalog all entries 
>for a GDG base name.
>
>Currently my program issues a call to the IBM Catalog Search Interface (CSI) 
>program, IGGCSI00, passing the GDG name and I get back all entries that are 
>currently cataloged. However, if I go to CA-1's TSO Inquiry panel and put in 
>the GDG name modified to have a low level qualifier of "-" (CA-1's equivalent 
>of "*"), I get back 621 entries. Since the GDG is defined to have 150 entries, 
>that's all I'll ever get, via MVS services. However, as can be seen, there are 
>more tapes available.
>
>I have read thru the CA-1 Tape Management Programming Guide, and there appear 
>to be numerous macros that can be used to access the catalog, but the 
>narratives for the macros leave something to be desired in the name of clarity 
>when one isn't a CA-1 expert. And, before you ask, yes, I have asked CA-1 
>support for help but I am getting the run around from them. For whatever 
>reason, they just don't want to seem to help. It may be a level 1 protecting 
>level 2 situation, or it may just be they don't want to take the time to 
>educate the user community. Whatever the reason, I need to look for 
>alternative assistance.
>
>So, if anyone has a snippet or three of code to OPEN, READ and CLOSE the CA-1 
>catalog looking for a dataset name, I would appreciate it if you would be 
>willing to share.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Chuck
>
>
>Charles (Chuck) Hardee
>Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration
>EAS Information Technology
>
>Thermo Fisher Scientific
>300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275
>Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 | Mobile +1 (412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230
>chuck.har...@thermofisher.com  | 
>www.thermofisher.com
>

Suggest the OP look to using the CA-1 supplied utilities (e.g., EARL-based, 
TMSGRW), especially given the complexity of the CA-1 TMC itself what with 
DSNB-type entries representing stacked-dataset instances, also multi-volume 
datasets as well.  The product documentation is available from CA SUPPORT 
ONLINE (Internet searchable as well -- sample argument: docops tmc report 
site:ca.com).

And has was mentioned, if your site has SAS and MXG (or CA MICS), then you have 
the opportunity to let those tools decode the fairly complex CA-1 TMC for you, 
while focusing on the analysis aspect.

Scott Barry
SBBWorks, Inc.

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For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
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Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

[Hardee, Chuck]

Thanks for the idea Len, but for what I'm doing another vendor level is not 
what I want.
I am already calling IBM's CSI interface for datasets in the catalog and CA-1 
to look up volsers, now I need to gather other information from within my 
program to augment processing.


Charles (Chuck) Hardee
Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration
EAS Information Technology

Thermo Fisher Scientific
300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275
Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 | Mobile +1 (412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230
chuck.har...@thermofisher.com  | www.thermofisher.com

WORLDWIDE CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Dissemination, distribution or copying of this 
e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient, 
or an employee or agent of a system responsible for delivering the message to 
the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, 
please inform the sender and delete all copies.


-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Rugen, Len
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 9:15 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Here's the obligatory vendor plug, see mxg.com, at least if you have the SAS 
software available.  I used it to consolidate SMF, RACF, CA-1 and many other 
information for research and reporting.  

At least before we killed the mainframe and went back to reproducing the 
problems from the 1980's in servers  


-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Hardee, Chuck
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 7:58 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Thanks Russell, I'll go re-read the documentation in the programming guide.


Charles (Chuck) Hardee
Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration EAS Information Technology

Thermo Fisher Scientific
300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275 Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 | Mobile +1 
(412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230 chuck.har...@thermofisher.com  | 
www.thermofisher.com

WORLDWIDE CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Dissemination, distribution or copying of this 
e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient, 
or an employee or agent of a system responsible for delivering the message to 
the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, 
please inform the sender and delete all copies.

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Russell Witt
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 8:42 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Chuck,

As Level-1 has indicated, you will have to read the entire TMC and do your 
executed compare (length of the DSN computed up to the .GV00) on every 
entry within the TMC. There are two ways to access the TMC (both documented in 
the Programming Guide); one is a sequential access method and one is a 
direct-read method that reads one specific record at a time. For performance 
reasons, you will want to read the entire TMC of course in the sequential 
access method. I know that other products read the TMC quite often (MXG of 
course comes to mind) mining it for information. And there is nothing that says 
you must use the CA 1 access methods (after all, the TMC is a simple flat-file 
that any program using QSAM can read). The CA 1 macros for sequential access 
will require an OPEN, a GET and a CLOSE. 

One nice reason to use the CA 1 macro's for the sequential access is that the 
OPEN can specify if you want the active TMC used all the time (in which case we 
will dynamically allocate it and a DD statement is NOT allowed), optionally (in 
which case we will dynamically allocate the TMC if there is no DD statement) or 
none of the time (in which case a DD statement is required). So, if you only 
want to look at the active TMC you can eliminate the DD statement from your JCL 
and simply have the CA 1 OPEN macro dynamically allocate the ACTIVE TMC for you.

Russell Witt
CA 1

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Hardee, Chuck
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 5:17 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Hello Everyone,

I have posted this to the IBM Mainframe and IBM Assembler lists.

I was wondering if anyone has ever written a program to read the CA-1 Tape 
Catalog for a generic name?
In a nutshell, what I am wanting to do is look up in the catalog all entries 
for a GDG base name.

Currently my program issues a call to the IBM Catalog Search Interface (CSI) 
program, IGGCSI00, passing the GDG name and I get back all entries that are 
currently cataloged. However, if I go to CA-1's TSO Inquiry panel and put in 
the GDG name modified to have a low level qualifier of "-" (CA-1's equivalent 
of "*"), I get back 621 en

Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

[Russell Witt]

Chuck,

As Level-1 has indicated, you will have to read the entire TMC and do your
executed compare (length of the DSN computed up to the .GV00) on every
entry within the TMC. There are two ways to access the TMC (both documented
in the Programming Guide); one is a sequential access method and one is a
direct-read method that reads one specific record at a time. For performance
reasons, you will want to read the entire TMC of course in the sequential
access method. I know that other products read the TMC quite often (MXG of
course comes to mind) mining it for information. And there is nothing that
says you must use the CA 1 access methods (after all, the TMC is a simple
flat-file that any program using QSAM can read). The CA 1 macros for
sequential access will require an OPEN, a GET and a CLOSE. 

One nice reason to use the CA 1 macro's for the sequential access is that
the OPEN can specify if you want the active TMC used all the time (in which
case we will dynamically allocate it and a DD statement is NOT allowed),
optionally (in which case we will dynamically allocate the TMC if there is
no DD statement) or none of the time (in which case a DD statement is
required). So, if you only want to look at the active TMC you can eliminate
the DD statement from your JCL and simply have the CA 1 OPEN macro
dynamically allocate the ACTIVE TMC for you.

Russell Witt
CA 1

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On
Behalf Of Hardee, Chuck
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 5:17 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Hello Everyone,

I have posted this to the IBM Mainframe and IBM Assembler lists.

I was wondering if anyone has ever written a program to read the CA-1 Tape
Catalog for a generic name?
In a nutshell, what I am wanting to do is look up in the catalog all entries
for a GDG base name.

Currently my program issues a call to the IBM Catalog Search Interface (CSI)
program, IGGCSI00, passing the GDG name and I get back all entries that are
currently cataloged. However, if I go to CA-1's TSO Inquiry panel and put in
the GDG name modified to have a low level qualifier of "-" (CA-1's
equivalent of "*"), I get back 621 entries. Since the GDG is defined to have
150 entries, that's all I'll ever get, via MVS services. However, as can be
seen, there are more tapes available.

I have read thru the CA-1 Tape Management Programming Guide, and there
appear to be numerous macros that can be used to access the catalog, but the
narratives for the macros leave something to be desired in the name of
clarity when one isn't a CA-1 expert. And, before you ask, yes, I have asked
CA-1 support for help but I am getting the run around from them. For
whatever reason, they just don't want to seem to help. It may be a level 1
protecting level 2 situation, or it may just be they don't want to take the
time to educate the user community. Whatever the reason, I need to look for
alternative assistance.

So, if anyone has a snippet or three of code to OPEN, READ and CLOSE the
CA-1 catalog looking for a dataset name, I would appreciate it if you would
be willing to share.

Thanks in advance,
Chuck


Charles (Chuck) Hardee<mailto:chuck.har...@thermofisher.com>
Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration EAS Information Technology

Thermo Fisher Scientific
300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275 Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 | Mobile
+1 (412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230
chuck.har...@thermofisher.com<mailto:chuck.har...@thermofisher.com>  |
www.thermofisher.com

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this e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended
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Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

[McCabe, Ron]

Chuck,

If you're familiar with COBOL you can write a COBOL program that will do what 
you want.  We wrote a couple of COBOL programs that read the TMS dataset and 
provides reports for DR purposes.

Thanks,
Ron McCabe
Mutual of Enumclaw

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Hardee, Chuck
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 6:19 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Yes, I know, that is EXACTLY why I want to read the CA-1 tape library.
I'm already getting the active cataloged tapes from the CSI call. I then use 
the VOLSER from those results to get more information from CA-1. What I'm 
looking for is how to read the CA-1 library and find all the tapes that match 
the GDG name I've been given. From there, I can get the information I need. 
I've read thru the CA-1 programming manual and, not being familiar with some of 
the terminology and concepts behind CA-1, things didn't quite gel with me. 
Since I posted my query this morning, I have had someone reply with information 
that has made some things come together with what I have read, but I now have 
other questions that I need to ask.

Thanks for the feedback Mike.

Chuck

Charles (Chuck) Hardee
Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration EAS Information Technology

Thermo Fisher Scientific
300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275 Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 | Mobile +1 
(412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230 chuck.har...@thermofisher.com  | 
www.thermofisher.com

WORLDWIDE CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Dissemination, distribution or copying of this 
e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient, 
or an employee or agent of a system responsible for delivering the message to 
the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, 
please inform the sender and delete all copies.


-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Mike Schwab
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 9:13 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Until the tape is overwritten the scratched tapes will still be in the database.

On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 5:17 AM, Hardee, Chuck <chuck.har...@thermofisher.com> 
wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I have posted this to the IBM Mainframe and IBM Assembler lists.
>
> I was wondering if anyone has ever written a program to read the CA-1 Tape 
> Catalog for a generic name?
> In a nutshell, what I am wanting to do is look up in the catalog all entries 
> for a GDG base name.
>
> Currently my program issues a call to the IBM Catalog Search Interface (CSI) 
> program, IGGCSI00, passing the GDG name and I get back all entries that are 
> currently cataloged. However, if I go to CA-1's TSO Inquiry panel and put in 
> the GDG name modified to have a low level qualifier of "-" (CA-1's equivalent 
> of "*"), I get back 621 entries. Since the GDG is defined to have 150 
> entries, that's all I'll ever get, via MVS services. However, as can be seen, 
> there are more tapes available.
>
> I have read thru the CA-1 Tape Management Programming Guide, and there appear 
> to be numerous macros that can be used to access the catalog, but the 
> narratives for the macros leave something to be desired in the name of 
> clarity when one isn't a CA-1 expert. And, before you ask, yes, I have asked 
> CA-1 support for help but I am getting the run around from them. For whatever 
> reason, they just don't want to seem to help. It may be a level 1 protecting 
> level 2 situation, or it may just be they don't want to take the time to 
> educate the user community. Whatever the reason, I need to look for 
> alternative assistance.
>
> So, if anyone has a snippet or three of code to OPEN, READ and CLOSE the CA-1 
> catalog looking for a dataset name, I would appreciate it if you would be 
> willing to share.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Chuck
>
>
> Charles (Chuck) Hardee<mailto:chuck.har...@thermofisher.com>
> Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration EAS Information
> Technology
>
> Thermo Fisher Scientific
> 300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275 Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 |
> Mobile +1 (412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230
> chuck.har...@thermofisher.com<mailto:chuck.har...@thermofisher.com>  |
> www.thermofisher.com
>
> WORLDWIDE CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Dissemination, distribution or copying of 
> this e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended 
> recipient, or an employee or agent of a system responsible for delivering the 
> message to the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you are not the intended 
> recipient, please inform the sender and delete all copies.
>
>
> 

Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

[Hardee, Chuck]

Thanks Ron,
I am familiar with COBOL, but the program to which I want to add this 
processing to is written in assembler.

C-


Charles (Chuck) Hardee
Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration
EAS Information Technology

Thermo Fisher Scientific
300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275
Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 | Mobile +1 (412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230
chuck.har...@thermofisher.com  | www.thermofisher.com

WORLDWIDE CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Dissemination, distribution or copying of this 
e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient, 
or an employee or agent of a system responsible for delivering the message to 
the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, 
please inform the sender and delete all copies.


-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of McCabe, Ron
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 12:26 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Chuck,

If you're familiar with COBOL you can write a COBOL program that will do what 
you want.  We wrote a couple of COBOL programs that read the TMS dataset and 
provides reports for DR purposes.

Thanks,
Ron McCabe
Mutual of Enumclaw

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Hardee, Chuck
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 6:19 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Yes, I know, that is EXACTLY why I want to read the CA-1 tape library.
I'm already getting the active cataloged tapes from the CSI call. I then use 
the VOLSER from those results to get more information from CA-1. What I'm 
looking for is how to read the CA-1 library and find all the tapes that match 
the GDG name I've been given. From there, I can get the information I need. 
I've read thru the CA-1 programming manual and, not being familiar with some of 
the terminology and concepts behind CA-1, things didn't quite gel with me. 
Since I posted my query this morning, I have had someone reply with information 
that has made some things come together with what I have read, but I now have 
other questions that I need to ask.

Thanks for the feedback Mike.

Chuck

Charles (Chuck) Hardee
Senior Systems Engineer/Database Administration EAS Information Technology

Thermo Fisher Scientific
300 Industry Drive | Pittsburgh, PA 15275 Phone +1 (724) 517-2633 | Mobile +1 
(412) 877-2809 | FAX: +1 (412) 490-9230 chuck.har...@thermofisher.com  | 
www.thermofisher.com

WORLDWIDE CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: Dissemination, distribution or copying of this 
e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient, 
or an employee or agent of a system responsible for delivering the message to 
the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, 
please inform the sender and delete all copies.


-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf 
Of Mike Schwab
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 9:13 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

Until the tape is overwritten the scratched tapes will still be in the database.

On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 5:17 AM, Hardee, Chuck <chuck.har...@thermofisher.com> 
wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I have posted this to the IBM Mainframe and IBM Assembler lists.
>
> I was wondering if anyone has ever written a program to read the CA-1 Tape 
> Catalog for a generic name?
> In a nutshell, what I am wanting to do is look up in the catalog all entries 
> for a GDG base name.
>
> Currently my program issues a call to the IBM Catalog Search Interface (CSI) 
> program, IGGCSI00, passing the GDG name and I get back all entries that are 
> currently cataloged. However, if I go to CA-1's TSO Inquiry panel and put in 
> the GDG name modified to have a low level qualifier of "-" (CA-1's equivalent 
> of "*"), I get back 621 entries. Since the GDG is defined to have 150 
> entries, that's all I'll ever get, via MVS services. However, as can be seen, 
> there are more tapes available.
>
> I have read thru the CA-1 Tape Management Programming Guide, and there appear 
> to be numerous macros that can be used to access the catalog, but the 
> narratives for the macros leave something to be desired in the name of 
> clarity when one isn't a CA-1 expert. And, before you ask, yes, I have asked 
> CA-1 support for help but I am getting the run around from them. For whatever 
> reason, they just don't want to seem to help. It may be a level 1 protecting 
> level 2 situation, or it may just be they don't want to take the time to 
> educate the user community. Whatever the reason, I need to look for 
> alternative assistance.
>
> So, if anyone has a snippet or three of code to OPEN, READ and CLOSE the CA-

Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

[retired mainframer]

If you are going to use QSAM to read the TMC, remember that while the file
is FB with LRECL 340, there are at least three different internal record
formats: control records, volume records, and DSNB records (which are
actually 170 bytes and therefore "blocked" 2 per "QSAM record").

> -Original Message-
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Hardee, Chuck
> Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 5:58 AM
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog
> 
> Thanks Russell, I'll go re-read the documentation in the programming
guide.

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Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

[Barry Merrill]

And MXG's recommendation is 


4. DCB attributes of TMC records need large BUFNO.

 The TMC records are Fixed Length LRECL=340.  If reading under MVS, use
 very large BUFNO=220 to significantly reduce processing time.


-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On
Behalf Of retired mainframer
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 12:48 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog

If you are going to use QSAM to read the TMC, remember that while the file
is FB with LRECL 340, there are at least three different internal record
formats: control records, volume records, and DSNB records (which are
actually 170 bytes and therefore "blocked" 2 per "QSAM record").

> -Original Message-
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] 
> On Behalf Of Hardee, Chuck
> Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 5:58 AM
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Reading the CA-1 Tape Catalog
> 
> Thanks Russell, I'll go re-read the documentation in the programming
guide.

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For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email
to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

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