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VSAM SYSTEM-TIMESTAMP information

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Avihu Gershoni

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Dec 29, 2016, 1:44:17 AM12/29/16
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Hi,

 

Is there a tool (apart from CA-MASTERCAT) that can give the last time VSAM cluster closed after being opened for update?

This information is  currently available in the field  SYSTEM-TIMESTAMP in LISTCAT ALL listing. But running LISTCAT on a multi volume (30 disks) catalog takes a very, very long time and produce hundreds of unnecessary lines.

 

Thanks,

 

Avihu Gershoni

Mainframe System Department Manager

Hilan Limited

8 Meitav Street

Tel Aviv

Israel

 

Herczeg, Zoltan

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Dec 29, 2016, 8:10:51 AM12/29/16
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If you have Doctor D you can get a condensed listing showing the SYSTEM-TIMESTAMP. Let me know if you need sample jcl.

 

Zoltan

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Avihu Gershoni

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Dec 29, 2016, 8:28:59 AM12/29/16
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Hello Zoltan,


Unfortunately, I do not have Doctor D. I have FAVER2, which rely on MASTERCAT (which I do not have).

 

Thanks,

Avihu

 

 

Kevin Corkery

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Dec 29, 2016, 8:50:03 AM12/29/16
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LISTCAT+ from McKinney will show a column for date last updated.  It’s really cheap and produces a very condensed listing of you catalogs.  That being said, it’s not fast since it relies on IDCAMS to create a report so it can condense it.  DoctorD processes the catalog directly and is like lightning in comparison.

 

From: VSE-L [mailto:vse-l-bounces+kcorkery=live...@lists.lehigh.edu] On Behalf Of Avihu Gershoni


Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2016 8:29 AM
To: Vse-L (vs...@Lehigh.EDU)

Ken and Mary Meyer

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Dec 29, 2016, 12:43:01 PM12/29/16
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If you have CSI-FAQS/ASO, you could use the VSAM
feature to get information related to files. It has
been awhile, but I believe the LISTCAT portion will
provide such information.

Ken


snip..

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Gustavo Torres

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Dec 29, 2016, 1:41:56 PM12/29/16
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I wrote a simple cobol program to make a condensed listing that includes the time stamp, 3 catalogs with a total of 10 volumes and 1715 clusters are processed in 12 seconds. 

Gustavo Torres

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Dec 29, 2016, 1:56:51 PM12/29/16
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​My version modified of the REXX sample from Rich Smrcina​ lasts 6 minutes with the same catalogs but it provides much more information than my cobol program :)

On Thu, Dec 29, 2016 at 2:47 PM, Stuart, David <David....@ventura.org> wrote:

On the z/VSE Web site, on the Downloads page under Customer and Vendor REXX samples, there is a ‘package’ from Rich Smrcina that includes a List Cat report. That could probably be used as a base, and modified to just give the last updated time for each file. Don’t know what the performance would be, if it calls IDCAMS ‘under the covers’, etc.  

 

 

Dave

Rich Smrcina

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Dec 29, 2016, 2:06:55 PM12/29/16
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I am gratified to hear that code is still being put to good use after so much time.

Happy New Year everyone!

Sent from my iPhone

Avihu Gershoni

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Jan 1, 2017, 2:29:46 AM1/1/17
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Hi,

 

I appreciate the replies I got, but most of them missed the point. I do not need a tool that will execute IDCAMS LISTCAT and then produce a condensed listing, or just extract the SYSTEM-TIMESTAMP information from it. I can (and did) write one myself using REXX. The problem is that LISTCAT that produce SYSTEM-TIMESTAMP for a multivolume (more than 30) catalog use a huge number of EXCPS and takes forever (hours). So I need something else that just extract this field.

 

In the past we had a product called QUICAT, which was part of FAVER (the predecessor to FAVER2), a report generator on VSAM catalog that was very fast. But that product was discontinued and morphed into separate product (MASTERCAT).

 

Avihu

Ron Schmiedge

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Jan 2, 2017, 10:47:04 PM1/2/17
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Have you looked at CBLVCAT, a utility from CBL in Wales? Used it since the 80's. Not on a system as big as yours, but always very fast when I used it. They are at cbl.com.

Frank M. Ramaekers

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Jan 3, 2017, 8:37:54 AM1/3/17
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SHOWCB?

 

STMST

System time stamp; the time and day (in microseconds) when the data or

index component was last closed. Bits 52 through 63 of the field are

unused.

 

Frank M. Ramaekers Jr.

 

From: VSE-L [mailto:vse-l-bounces+framaekers=ailif...@lists.lehigh.edu] On Behalf Of Avihu Gershoni
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2017 1:30 AM
To: Vse-L (vs...@Lehigh.EDU)
Subject: Re: VSAM SYSTEM-TIMESTAMP information

 

Hi,

Gustavo Torres

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Jan 3, 2017, 10:02:36 AM1/3/17
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If you want to give my old cobol program a try, I can send it to you for free. This not execute IDCAMS and does the work, then you tell us if this is efficient with your catalog :).

Avihu Gershoni

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Jan 4, 2017, 2:17:30 AM1/4/17
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Hi all,

 

In the last couple of days I got tips and code from Jeffrey Barnard (Thanks Jeff) how to read the VSAM catalog directly using VSAM macros.

We have written a program that retrieve the SYSTEM-TIMESTAMP for all the files in the catalog and does it in a fraction of time it takes an equivalent IDCAMS LISTCAT .

 

Regarding the last replies I got:

 

Ron,

Looking at CBL site it looks very much like LISTCAT PLUS, so the question is do the product reads the catalog directly or do the product execute IDCAMS under the covers. Anyway, as I wrote above, we already have an answer  written by ourselves. Thanks for the tip. We might look at the product in the future. BTW we once tried their other product (SELCOPY), a very nice product, but as I remember the current SORT products can do most of functions of this product.

 

Frank,

Yes, we already knew about SHOWCB and STMST, but you can use SHOWCB to get the STMST only on an open ACB. It means that I have to:

1) Run LISTCAT to get a list of all the file names in a catalog

2) Analyze the output from the LISTCAT and creates DLBLs for all the files:

3) Open each and every file in the catalog

That will certainly takes much longer than just a LISTCAT, not to mention a possible collision with other jobs that might try to do an OPEN REUSE on this file.

 

Avihu

 

 

Ken and Mary Meyer

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Jan 4, 2017, 10:42:49 AM1/4/17
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Just for clarification, as I mentioned, the VSAM function of CSI(BIM)
FAQS/ASO will do such things online or via the VSAM function in very
short amount of time and resources, using direct access to the catalog.
I think an old VSAM product (long since bundled) from BIM would also
be able to fulfill your original request.

Ken

snip..

Frank M. Ramaekers

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Jan 4, 2017, 11:45:07 AM1/4/17
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You do not need DLBLs for ACB to access a catalog entry (see DSNAME).

Also, I believe you can access the catalog and retrieve the name of all of the clusters within.

 

No LISTCAT required.

 

Frank

 

From: VSE-L [mailto:vse-l-bounces+framaekers=ailif...@lists.lehigh.edu] On Behalf Of Avihu Gershoni
Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2017 1:17 AM
To: Vse-L (vs...@Lehigh.EDU)
Subject: Re: VSAM SYSTEM-TIMESTAMP information

 

Hi all,


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Ken and Mary Meyer

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Jan 4, 2017, 1:33:19 PM1/4/17
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Yes, the catalog is just another file with records in it. :)

Very interesting records...

Kevin Corkery

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Jan 4, 2017, 1:38:17 PM1/4/17
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Any idea where their layout is documented?

-----Original Message-----
From: VSE-L [mailto:vse-l-bounces+kcorkery=live...@lists.lehigh.edu] On
Behalf Of Ken and Mary Meyer
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2017 1:33 PM
To: VSE Discussion List
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Subject: Re: VSAM SYSTEM-TIMESTAMP information

Gustavo Torres

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Jan 4, 2017, 1:48:15 PM1/4/17
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Look "VSE Central Functions V6R3 VSE/VSAM Logic DRM" at 5.5.4 Data and Index Catalog Record:

http://publibz.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr_OS390/BOOKS/IESLOE02/5.5.4?SHELF=IESVSE42&DT=19980415143738

Gustavo Torres

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Jan 4, 2017, 2:01:57 PM1/4/17
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This old assembler program (I do not remember where I got it) illustrates how to get almost all the information in the VSAM catalog. (see the attached file Vrecord.txt)  
Vrecord.txt

Avihu Gershoni

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Jan 5, 2017, 1:15:36 AM1/5/17
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Ken,

Thanks for the tip, but we are a LOGOUT/VSE installation.

 

Frank,

Thanks, I did not know about DSNAME, but I am afraid that it does not change the basic problem.

You have to open each and every file. It takes time, will issue error for every cluster defined but never did initial loading (open error 110), and might collide other jobs that might try to do an OPEN REUSE on this file.

We still need a LISTCAT to get the names, and instead of building DLBLs, we would put the names as input to the program.

It is true that we can read the catalog and get the names from there, but if we do that why settle with just the names? If I know how the catalog is built I could also get the timestamp.

That is exactly what we did with the generous help from Jeffrey Barnard.

 

Avihu

 

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