Overview

This page describes how to configure Universal Automation Center Agent (UAG) to reliably process JES SYSOUT data sets. If UAG is not used, this information can be skipped.

The batch jobs that UAG submits create JES SYSOUT data sets. UAG processes the following SYSOUT data sets produced by the jobs:

UAGRERUN report produced by the first step of every batch job UAG submits. The SYSOUT data set is written by step name OPSSTP00 to ddname SYSPRINT.
JES system data sets produced by every batch job. The JES system data sets include the JESMSGLG, JESJCL and JESYSMSG ddnames.

UAG processes the SYSOUT data sets for the following purposes:

Retrieving the UAGRERUN report for storage in the Universal Controller.
Analyzing JCL errors that occur during JCL conversion or at run-time.
Optionally, retrieving the JES system data sets for storage in the Universal Controller.

JES SYSOUT data sets cannot be processed by more than one application at time. Applications, such as spool archivers and JES offloaders, must process SYSOUT data sets one at a time. If multiple applications process SYSOUT data sets simultaneously, some SYSOUT data sets potentially will not be processed.

For UAG to reliably process SYSOUT data sets, a JES held class must be dedicated exclusively to UAG. A JES class is defined as held with a JES JOBCLASS statement with an OUTDISP parameter value of HOLD,HOLD.

Configuration

UAG provides a flexible SYSOUT processing configuration to accommodate a variety of environments. The best configuration depends on your existing SYSOUT management practices and processes.

There are three UAG configuration options for SYSOUT processing:

JES_SYSOUT_CLASS specifies the JES held class dedicated to UAG SYSOUT processing.
JES_SYSOUT_DISP specifies the disposition of the SYSOUT data sets once UAG has completed SYSOUT processing.
JES_SYSOUT_RETENTION specifies the number of hours that job SYSOUT files are retained in the UAG cache directory.

The following sections discuss some possible UAG SYSOUT configurations. The SYSOUT options allow UAG SYSOUT processing to be customized to meet almost any SYSOUT management requirement. The following configurations are the most common.

Multiple SYSOUT Applications

This configuration addresses environments that have existing SYSOUT applications that process job SYSOUT data sets. These applications are often called - for example - spool archivers, output management systems, or job log archivers. They typically read all SYSOUT data sets from one or more JES held classes and archive the SYSOUT in a database. Once they have finished processing the SYSOUT in the JES spool, the SYSOUT is typically deleted from the spool.

UAG must be properly configured to work with other SYSOUT processing applications. Since SYSOUT data sets cannot be processed simultaneously by multiple SYSOUT applications, each application must process the SYSOUT data sets one at a time.

The first step is to select a JES held class to dedicate to UAG. The class cannot be shared with any other SYSOUT application. Specify the class with the UAG JES_SYSOUT_CLASS configuration option. By specifying a JES_SYSOUT_CLASS value, UAG will modify the JOB statement of the jobs it submits to JES. The JOB statement MSGCLASS parameter is changed to the JES_SYSOUT_CLASS value. If no MSGCLASS parameter is present on the JOB statement, it will be added. The JOB statement MSGCLASS parameter specifies the JES class where the job's JES system data sets are spooled.

Once UAG has completed processing the SYSOUT data sets, it performs final disposition on them as specified by the UAG JES_SYSOUT_DISP configuration option. The SYSOUT data sets must be moved to the JES class or classes used by the next SYSOUT application to process them.

There are two ways to specify the JES class to which to move the SYSOUT data sets:

If the original JOB statement MSGCLASS value correctly specified the class, then a JES_SYSOUT_DISP value of KEEP,* will keep the SYSOUT data sets and move them to the original MSGCLASS class. This configuration requires no JCL changes nor changes to the other SYSOUT application.
The class can be specified directly. For example, a JES_SYSOUT_DISP value of KEEP,H will keep the SYSOUT data sets and move them to held class H.

UAG SYSOUT Management

UAG z/OS task definitions may be defined to retrieve the job log (that is the job's JES system data sets) once the job completes processing. The job logs are transmitted to the Controller and stored in the database. The job logs can be viewed from the Universal Controller web interface. In this configuration, once UAG has completed retrieving the job log, the SYSOUT data sets can be deleted from the JES spool. It is assumed that there are no other SYSOUT applications processing the SYSOUT data sets other then UAG.

The JES_SYSOUT_CLASS option is not required in this configuration. By default, UAG will process a job's SYSOUT data sets from any JES class in which it finds them.

Once UAG has completed processing the SYSOUT data sets, it performs final disposition on them as specified by the UAG JES_SYSOUT_DISP option. Since UAG is the one and only SYSOUT application, the SYSOUT data sets can be deleted. A JES_SYSOUT_DISP value of DELETE will remove the SYSOUT data sets from the JES spool.

Default Configuration

The UAG default configuration is backwardly compatible with previous UAG releases. By default UAG will process SYSOUT data sets in the JES spool regardless of their disposition (held or not) or class. Consequentially, if the SYSOUT data sets are processed by another application, the results are unreliable. Once UAG completes processing of the SYSOUT data sets, it leaves them in the JES spool without changing their disposition or class.

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