What Is JAL ?

JAL is a ThruPut Manager Action Language that allows your installation to define rules that automate the process of managing your batch load. Because JAL is applied at the job level, it is invoked once per job.

The rules defined with JAL direct ThruPut Manager to take actions, such as:

• Classing jobs.
• Establishing job priorities.
• Cancelling a job.
• Setting a job's HOLD status.
• Setting a job's CPU limit.
• Recalling HSM data sets.
• Issuing informative messages to the job log.

If you have other ThruPut Manager optional components in your system, you also have additional JAL functions such as:

• Inserting BIND statements on behalf of a job (JBS).
• Associating a job with a Limiting Agent (JBS).
• Alerting a job owner that the job has encountered data set contention (DCS).
• Nagging TSO users who are holding data sets needed by other jobs (DCS).

ThruPut Manager analyzes jobs as soon as they enter the system. For each job, it creates a Job Profile. A Job Profile is a comprehensive set of read-only variables, called Job Descriptors. Job Descriptors are the "input" to your JAL.

In your JAL statements, you see to the Job Descriptors that are important to your installation and use them to define Properties. A Property is a user-defined logic variable to which you assign a name, and to which ThruPut Manager assigns a value of either TRUE or FALSE.

Properties are tested through JAL logic statements, so that ThruPut Manager can be instructed to take different actions through JAL action statements. JAL action statements let you specify the job's execution class, initial queue priority, hold status, CPU limit, whether volume lists are to be created, and where they should be printed.

Job Descriptors, Properties, and the JAL statements used to manipulate them are discussed in more detail later in this section.