Re: Newbie Question

["Stephen Cochran" <stephen.a.cochran.lists@xxxxxxxxx>]

The problem is that I can't always assume  system operator will be logged
in.

I looked at Robot, Byteware, and JobWatch from Bradly Stone IIRC. JobWatch
did well and wasn't too expensive. After figuring out how I could get the
output from wrkactjob into a file and onto a linux box, I realized that
might be much more useful in the future since it could be used for getting
the status of MQs and such as well.

I had found Bruce's article and something on Code400; neither of  which I
felt knowledgeable enough with RPG to install on our production box and
"learn" with.

I hadn't hear about a nagios plugin. Thanks for that hint, I'll be Googling
that.


On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 2:35 PM, Charles Wilt <charles.wilt@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> Steve,
>
> The system includes a built in ability to interrupt a system
> operator's 5250 session with certain messages, for instance the fact
> that an error has occurred that in a batch program and the program is
> waiting on a response.
>
> Remember, the system's roots go back before networks were common.
>
> Now-a-days, there's plenty of third party tools out there that provide
> for monitoring and email/pager noticfication.  Bytware's Messenger
> Plus is one I've used at multiple shops:
> http://www.bytware.com/products/mc/index.html
>
> In addition, the IBM provided APIs allow you to roll-you-own monitoring.
>
> You can probably find freeware/open source basic monitoring on the
> web.  In addition, I believe that Nagios offers an iSeries plugin.
>
> HTH,
> Charles
>
> On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 1:25 PM, Stephen Cochran
> <stephen.a.cochran.lists@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > I understand the risks, and this is somewhat a temporary solution (the
> old
> > way was having an over-dedicated person without sysadmin experience who
> just
> > manually monitored everything).
> >
> > Since the output is moving to a linux box, I'm not relying on the exact
> > position of any particular string, just grepping for keys (MSGW, PROG1,
> > etc). If those are found/not found as each warrants, then we send an
> email
> > to warn us to check into things.
> >
> > I'm sure it's my own ignorance, but I find it very surprising that a
> system
> > heralded for it's stability lacks the built-in ability to monitor/notify
> on
> > conditions like MSGW which can completely block functionality.
> >
> > Steve
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 1:09 PM, Scott Klement
> > <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> >
> > > Stephen,
> > >
> > > Spooled output (e.g. OUTPUT(*PRINT)) is not designed for a program to
> > > consume.  It's designed to be printed output for a human being to read.
> > >  IBM is perfectly able to change the layout of WRKACTJOB's
> > > OUTPUT(*PRINT) at any release, or even PTF, without providing any sort
> > > of notification to people.  They can change it around as much as they
> > > like, because it's intended to be read by a human-being, and that won't
> > > hurt a human being!  People can adapt easily to text being in a
> > > different place on a page.
> > >
> > > Therefore I advise caution in your project.  If your goal is simply to
> > > take the spooled output and display it (without modification) to the
> > > user, then WRKACTJOB OUTPUT(*PRINT) is okay.
> > >
> > > But, if you plan to parse the output and use it programatically, PLEASE
> > > think twice before using OUTPUT(*PRINT).  Use an API, that's what
> > > they're for.  The API will perform better, and it will give you data
> > > that's not going to break when releases change, PTFs are applied, or
> > > anything like that.
> > >
> > > Or, in the very very very unusual event that compatibility is broken in
> > > an API, they'll provide notice of this in the Memo To Users and you will
> > > be aware of the problem and can fix it before it causes grief.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Stephen Cochran wrote:
> > > > Preface to say that I'm very new to the as400, stronger unix
> background.
> > > > I'm trying to write a small CL program that puts the output of
> WRKACTJOB
> > > > into a PC file so that it can be FTPed off the as400, ideally having
> the
> > > CL
> > > > program executed by the FTP script using RMCD. I have the basics down
> as
> > > > shown below:
> > > >
> > > > WRKACTJOB OUTPUT(*PRINT)
> > > >
> > > > /* Delay for 2 seconds for output to finish */
> > > > DLYJOB     DLY(3)
> > > >
> > > > /* Copy spool output to file KAF/WAJFILE */
> > > > CPYSPLF    FILE(QPDSPAJB) TOFILE(KAF/WAJFILE) +
> > > >              JOB(419900/USER/QPRTJOB) SPLNBR(*LAST)
> > > >
> > > > DLTSPLF FILE(QPDSPAJB) JOB(419900/USER/QPRTJOB)
> > > >
> > > > This will sometimes work, and sometimes not ending with a CPF3343
> > > message. I
> > > > have tried ending a MONMSG line to catch those, but even putting a
> > > DLTSPLF
> > > > command in the MONMSG ends with the same error.
> > > >
> > > > At this point I've tried just about every combination of options
> (using
> > > the
> > > > job name for JOB parameter, using SMBJOB for the WRKACTJOB command,
> etc)
> > > but
> > > > always run into some problem.
> > > >
> > > > So my question is, what's the correct way to accomplish this? Being
> > > somewhat
> > > > new, code examples are always welcome. Thanks.
> > >
> > > --
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