Re: Basic iSeries operations (was: Probably very easy, Newbie question)

[MacWheel99@xxxxxxx]

I am cross-posting this to BPCS_L because in this series on Midrange_L of
Basic iSeries operations that perhaps belong in a FAQ but all Newbies might
like to know, this is something that BPCS Newbies might also like to know.

We are on BPCS 405 CD which tracks unfinished user batches based on part of
the naming of the work station address used to do the job.  Fri Dec 21 my
boss told me that a batch was hung related to labor posting from remote site
LAWRENCEVILLE & no one answering phone there, so they probably all gone home
not realizing this problem exists ... I had previously told him that when
batches not gone to conclusion, the contents of the data would not be into
files he uses for end-of-week reports, plus I had shown him how to run jobs
to inspect status of batch work areas to find out if there were any batches
in the job stream not yet gone to a conclusion.

Well we resolved this small crisis & when I doing so, it occurred to me that
this HOW TO might also be constructive to share here.

The scenario is ... the software has no idea where the hardware is located,
it only knows that this batch belongs to some work station address.  The
reason we cannot use that work station could be the scenario described above,
it could be related to comm line down, it could be hardware failure.  All
kinds of possibilities.

1. What work station address is the batch hung at?
    LAWDSPL2 normally used by remote site user (name not given here)
2. What work station are we going to use to solve this problem?
    CMAC5 normally used by Al in computer room
3. Identify some other name that can be used by a work station that none is
using right now.
    WHATEVER
4. Sign off the two work stations involved, if they are not already signed off
    LAWDSPL2 CMAC5

    Work stations ought to be signed off before manipulating info about them.
    Saves any hassle with additional error messages.

5. Vary off the two work stations involved.
    LAWDSPL2 CMAC5

    This can be done via GO CMDVRY or GO CMDDEV or WRKCFGSTS *DEV then
position to the work station addresses.  Security for our IT personnel
normally sufficient to get this done. (option 2 if WRKCFGSTS used)

    Work stations need to be varied off before manipulating info about them.
    I guarantee hassle with additional error messages otherwise.

6. Change name of work station that has the hung batch
    LAWDSPL2
    to the arbitrary available name
    WHATEVER

    This probably needs Master Security Authority.
    There are several places it can be done.
    I use WRKCFGSTS *DEV & enter then F14 then position to the address
    7 is for changing name of work station

7. Change name of work station that will be fixing the problem
    CMAC5
    to the name of the work station that owns the hung batch
    LAWDSPL2

    Only one physical hardware can own a work station address name at a time
    except when some PC defaults are screwing things up

8. Vary on the work station that will be fixing the problem
    LAWDSPL2 which is now assigned to Al at corporate HQ
    I use WRKCFGSTS *DEV position to this guy & 1

9. Sign onto the work station that will fix the problem
    LAWDSPL2

10. Inspect the evidence ... what KIND of batch is it that is hung
    In our case it was labeled LAWDSPL2 space S
    which meant it was an SFC600 batch as opposed to a JIT600 batch

11. Run the jobs associated with taking that kind of batch to a conclusion.
    Inspect job evidence to verify the work got to a satisfactory conclusion.
    This includes rerunning the hung batch report to make sure no more
cleanup is needed.  (This is a report we added to BPCS ... it is not an
OS/400 report.)

12. Sign off the work station that cleaned up the problem.
    LAWDSPL2 at corporate HQ

13. Vary off the work station that cleaned up the problem.
    LAWDSPL2 at corporate HQ

14. Rename the work station that cleaned up the problem back to its original
name.
    CMAC5 (C for Computer Department ... Al has several sessions CMAC3 etc.)
    instead of LAWDSPL2

15. Rename the work station with the original problem back to its original
name.
    from WHATEVER to LAWDSPL2
    (last 2 characters = what it used to be called on old S/36 ... all our
work stations have names so you can tell from the name where it is in the
enterprise & we also change WRKCFGSTS *DEV enter F14 text to be extremely
descriptive)

16. Vary them both back on again.
17. End task.

MacWheel99@aol.com (Alister Wm Macintyre) (Al Mac)