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GQSCAN

PostPosted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:54 am
by JPVRoff
Hi,

I'm new to this forum, but my usual outlet for questions seems to have shut-up shop recently (mvsHelp.net), so I thought I'd try here.

We've got a multiple LPAR system and I've been trying to work out if there is any way to determine who is using a dataset when they are not on the same LPAR that I or my job is running on. GQSCAN works fine for when I'm on the same system, but doesn't give me anything when I'm on a different LPAR.

We do have CA-MIM to handle resource sharing, but that only really seems to handle the actual allocation. It doesn't seem to be able to be interrogated in the same way that the local enqueues can be. It's probably a pipe-dream, but I'd like to be able to run a job to tell me who has my files allocated at 4 in the morning.

Any pointers or hints will be very welcome.

Re: GQSCAN

PostPosted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 12:44 pm
by dick scherrer
Hello and welcome to the forum,

Yup, quite a few have lamented the departure of mvshelp. . .

Does your system have a common scheduling package? Might there be a way to declare these "problem datasets" as special recources and when one job has the resource, another cannot allocate it?

I'm not a scheduling expert, but thought this might be worth looking into. . .

Re: GQSCAN

PostPosted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:37 am
by JPVRoff
Hi Dick,

We have no problem with the actual allocation. CA-MIM handles these quite well, taking an enqueue from the requesting job and holding it until the dataset is released on the other LPAR. I believe it also sends out messages every couple of minutes as well. So, when it comes to dataset allocation and enqueue, it all works fine, I can easily work out if a dataset is allocated. I just cannot find out who has it allocated - which is what I'm looking for.

You see, we write tools for our local use and these have been picked up and used by people in our sites around the world. And, of course, they have to allocate the datasets to their SYSEXEC, ISPLLIB, etc to be able to use them effectively. I can see who has our various files allocated on the local system by simply running a WHOHAS (our local implementation of GQSCAN). But, if I submit a batch job to run WHOHAS, because our jobs are load-shared when we submit them, it is difficult to force them to run on other LPARs. Even more so as I'm not sure what names of all of the LPARs are.

I'd prefer not to alter our code to inform us who is using our stuff (and when). But I would like to be able to work out who actually has the libraries assigned at any stage. All these big machines with their multiple LPARs - the world was much simpler 30 years ago.

Re: GQSCAN

PostPosted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:59 am
by JPVRoff
I can't seem to find an 'edit' button, so I'll post another reply - is there a way to edit a post once it's been submitted?

I forgot to mention that, yes, we use CA-7 across all US/China LPARs (and I work on one fo the US systems), except that I don't actually have access to it (and no real justification for my work at this point).

It seems that this is another of those little pecadillos that you find in some products. Like the inability to access the JCL variables (that you 'SET' and use in JCL) from any subsequent program executed by the JCL. They're simply compiled by JES2 (probably 3 also, but I haven't used that in decades) and then discarded before the program execution actually starts.

Re: GQSCAN

PostPosted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 9:24 am
by dick scherrer
Hi Jonathan,

I believe you can edit a post here for 10 minutes or so. As a moderator, i can edit mine and other posts so i've not learned how this works. The idea (i believe) is to prevent "history" from being changed by just everyone.

If you want something you've posted changed, post a reply to that topic and let me know what you'd like to have changed. This isn't something we do wholesale, but once in a while is no big deal 8-)

d

Re: GQSCAN

PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 6:52 am
by JPVRoff
Thanks, Dick.

Now that I know the limits, I can work with them. It wasn't important - I was just going to add a couple of sentences to the original post.

Re: GQSCAN

PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 8:34 am
by steve-myers
JPVRoff wrote:We've got a multiple LPAR system and I've been trying to work out if there is any way to determine who is using a dataset when they are not on the same LPAR that I or my job is running on. GQSCAN works fine for when I'm on the same system, but doesn't give me anything when I'm on a different LPAR.
  • Use the MAS command entered in SDSF to find the names of the systems sharing the SPOOL in your local system.
  • You should be able to run a job in any other system in the shared SPOOL by inserting /*JOBPARM S=system-name (where system-name is one of the names you just determined). Use /*JOBPARM S=* to run the job on the system where the job was submitted.
If it turns out the other system is another node in a JESx network other methods apply.

Re: GQSCAN

PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 8:02 pm
by Ed Goodman
My version of WHOHAS seems to find the enqueues on the other "boxes." We have a common catalog between the systems though, so maybe it's checking that?

Re: GQSCAN

PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 12:21 pm
by enrico-sorichetti
please do not double post
http://www.ibmmainframes.com/viewtopic.php?t=56734
which was locked and deleted
the people answering are mostly the same, so double posting will not get You more answers

anyway the cbt tape at http://www.cbttape.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; has quite a few examples of GQSCAN usage
GQSCAN was found 789 times in 92 files
( in the cbt sources I downloaded, since they are not the latest ones, there might be more occurrences )

Re: GQSCAN

PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 2:23 pm
by enrico-sorichetti
Follow on...
please disregard the previous link to the duplicate post, topic has been deleted