Printing services

This section describes the two different types of printing services provided with BMC ThruPut Manager and the different considerations associated with each one.

Introduction

Your installation, through JAL, may instruct the following BMC ThruPut Manager components to generate "small reports":

• You can direct DCS to generate ALERTs whenever a particular type of work cannot access a data set after an installation defined time.

For the purpose of discussing Printing Services and ALERTs will be referred to as listings or output.

BMC ThruPut Manager provides two different mechanisms to print these listings:

1.  Console Printing Services (CPS) uses writers and the BMC ThruPut Manager SPOOL file to print on hard-copy console devices.
2.  SYSOUT Printing Services (SPS) uses standard JES2 SYSOUT facilities to print on JES2 managed printers.

We do not recommend one method over the other. From a definition and management point of view, the SPS mechanism is simpler because it uses standard JES2 facilities. However, if you do not "isolate" your SYSOUT listings they may get lost among other JES2 listings because they are small.

The two different methods are described below.

Console Printing Services (CPS)

CPS provides printing services using hard-copy console devices. There are two facilities to support CPS:

• The CPS SPOOL File.
• The CPS Writer. They are explained below.

The SPOOL File

The CPS SPOOL File, as its name indicates, is used to spool BMC ThruPut Manager generated listings. In this way, they do not have to be printed directly. Spooling provides several advantages; however, its most obvious use is in multisystem environments. Without the spooling facility, one CPS hard-copy console device would be required per system. We strongly recommend that you do not attempt to use CPS without using the SPOOL File.

The structure of the SPOOL is shown below:

CPS Writers

After a listing has been created and spooled you want it printed. CPS Writers provide that function.

CPS Writers are defined using TMSS initialization statements. They can be automatically started at TMSS startup time or any time after with operator commands. You can have more than one CPS Writer.

The relationship between a listing, a Writer, and the physical hard-copy console where the listing is actually printed is as follows:

• When a listing is requested in JAL, you assign a DESTINATION. It can be from 1 to 8 characters and represents a "name" chosen by your installation.
• All the listings that are assigned a particular destination are placed in the same queue in chronological order.
• When a CPS Writer is started, it is given one or more destinations from which to select listings for printing.
• The CPS Writer is also assigned a physical console, normally a hard-copy device. To assign the device you can use its UCMID, a route code, or a console name.

CPS Implementation Summary

Before you can take any specific action to implement the facilities offered by CPS you must determine the kind of printing and system sharing requirements for the listings. Your implementation process may take these steps:

• Determine the number of CPS Writers needed. In most situations only one is needed. BMC ThruPut Manager supports up to 64 concurrent CPS Writers.
• If multiple Writers are needed, determine the characteristics of each Writer. For each CPS Writer, add a CPS WRITER statement to the TMSS initialization statements:

If a duplicate Writer name is specified in the same system, TMSS issues an error message and terminates.

If the duplication is detected across systems TMSS issues a warning message, suppresses the duplicate Writer, and continues processing.

• Activate the Spooling mechanism:
  • Allocate the SPOOL File as documented in File Definition Services (FDS) Function. One SPOOL File serves all the CPS Writers.
  • Add the FILE SPOOL statement to the TMSS initialization statements.
  • The first time a newly defined CPS SPOOL File is used, the file is automatically formatted (after operator confirmation) by the first system that starts TMSS.

CPS Dependencies

Hardware

To print using CPS you need a hard-copy device such as an IBM 3287, or its equivalent. The console could be shared with other tasks if necessary, but this is not recommended.

SPOOL File

If CPS Spooling is desired the SPOOL File must be available. For a description of this file refer to File Definition Services (FDS) Function.

Page Length Considerations

The printing format is controlled by the CPS WRITER keywords PAGELENGTH, TOPMARGIN, and BOTTOMMARGIN. The values for these keywords are expressed in units of lines. For example, for an 11 inch page printing 6 lines per inch, PAGELENGTH is 66.

The combination of keywords required is determined by the type of forms on which the output is printed:

• Continuous roll (no perforations).
• Fanfold sheets or a roll with perforations.

Normally you use continuous roll mode when you want a variable length listing to tear from the printer. In that case, you want to leave space at the top and the bottom so no line of text is partially "cut". Use the TOPMARGIN and BOTTOMMARGIN keywords in this case. You do not have to specify the PAGELENGTH keyword.

For fanfold paper or a roll with perforations, you define PAGELENGTH to be the total number of lines that can be printed in a page. In addition to PAGELENGTH, TOPMARGIN is all that is required. CPS prints the number of lines indicated with the keyword TOPMARGIN before starting a new listing, and then uses PAGELENGTH to determine the number of blank lines needed to get to the top of the next available sheet.

The number of text lines that are printed on each page is:

Spacing to a new page is automatic as soon as the number of lines specified in PAGELENGTH is reached.

SYSOUT Printing Services (SPS)

SPS provides the services needed to use JES2 SYSOUT to print Volume Lists and ALERTs. Since Listings produced using SPS are simply JES2 SYSOUT data sets, you can manage them accordingly.

SPS Implementation Considerations

The characteristics of the SYSOUT output are defined using the SPS DEFINE initialization statement. For a detailed description of the syntax of this statement, refer to TMSS-initialization-statements.

SPS DEFINE statements assign a name to a set of JES2 SYSOUT characteristics. The link between this name and the JAL generated listing is the destination name. The characteristics that can be specified include:

• SYSOUT class.
• The forms to be used.
• Whether the output is to be held.
• The JES2 destination.
• The top, bottom, and left margins.
• The page length.

Because JES2 facilities are used to handle spooling and printing, the implementation considerations for SPS are simple:

• Sharing is dictated by the way in which JES2 MAS is configured.
• Printing is a function of the SYSOUT characteristics assigned to each destination name. Listings, via the Destination, can be directed to different SYSOUT classes, different JES2 destinations, request different forms, or any combination that suits your needs.

For each unique set of requirements, add a corresponding SPS DEFINE statement to the TMSS initialization statements.

SPS Operational Considerations

The SYSOUT characteristics defined with an SPS DEFINE statement can be changed or completely removed through operator commands:

• SPS REMOVE removes the SYSOUT definition completely.
• SPS DEFINE can add a new definition. If a SYSOUT definition has unwanted individual characteristics, you can remove its definition, then define it as desired.

The relationship between a listing and the physical printer where it is actually printed is as follows:

• The DESTINATION assigned to a listing is its link to a set of SYSOUT characteristics defined by the 'SPS DEFINE name' initialization statement or by an 'SPS DEFINE name' operator command.
• All the listings using the same BMC ThruPut Manager destination name are processed in chronological order.
• With the SPS DEFINE you assign a JES2 class and a JES2 destination to the JAL generated listings.
• These listings are selected and printed in the same way any other SYSOUT file is handled. Any printer associated with the JES2 destination and the class assigned by the SPS definition can print the output.

Other operational considerations for managing the printing output produced by SPS are identical to those for any JES2 SYSOUT data sets.

CPS Versus SPS

• Whether a JAL generated listing is handled by CPS or SPS is determined by the destination associated with the listing. Both methods can co-exist. However, if you intend to use both methods then you should understand how the destination "link" works in a mixed environment:
• ALERTs have a destination assigned in JAL.
• Printing Services, based on the destination, has to decide to which service to direct the ALERT: is it CPS or SPS?:
  • If there is an SPS definition statement that matches the destination name, then clearly it belongs to SPS.
  • If no matching definition name is found then:
    • If the SPOOL File is available, it is placed in the CPS SPOOL. If no CPS WRITER is active with that destination, the Volume List or ALERT simply stays in the SPOOL waiting to be printed.
    • If the SPOOL File is not defined, it is passed to SPS. Since no definition is available to provide its JES2 characteristics, it is assigned the default destination $DEFAULT, which has the characteristics of class A, and placed in hold status. It is then directed to JES2 like any other SYSOUT file.

TMSS Initialization Statements

For Console Printing Services (CPS)

There are two initialization statements:

• CPS WRITER defines and activates CPS Writers. You must code one statement per Writer.
• FILE SPOOL defines the file used to spool output written using CPS Writers.

These statements are documented in TMSS-initialization-statements.

For SYSOUT Printing Services (SPS)

There is one initialization statement:

• SPS DEFINE specifies the characteristics of the SYSOUT output.

This statement is documented in TMSS-initialization-statements.

Facilities Summary For CPS

Facilities Summary For SPS