In this course, we will be using the mainframe computer system at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. The operating system involved is z/OS, the latest version of MVS.

We will need to submit jobs, verify that they have been run, retrieve the output and print it. We will need to create data sets on the Marist system, make use of them and delete them.

Software tools

• QWS3270

  This is a terminal emulator program. It should be available in the labs. If you would like to have a copy of your own, you can download it from the CSCI department web site: select "Resources and Publications" and then "Computing Resources".

• mar_ftp

  This program, written by John Berezinski of our department, can be used to submit jobs, check on their completion, and retrieve the output. It does not do everything we need to do involving the Marist site, but it may be very useful. It can also be downloaded from the CSCI department web site, along with its instructions. You will probably need mar_ftp at least to fetch the output from your jobs.

• other ftp programs

  There are other ftp programs available. Not all of them work equally well for our purposes. You may want to try the command-line ftp program built into Windows, which is documented in the Windows help system.

• text editors

  As we are writing code, we will need a text editor. Many are available, and programmers usually have their own favorites. You can probably survive using the Windows Notepad editor, or you can use the ISPF system at Marist. In any case, you should create plain ASCII text files. (Do not use TAB characters.)

• TSO and ISPF

  These are the actual utilities IBM provides for our use. TSO appears to give us the ability to interact with the mainframe. (It is probably more accurate to say we interact with a server-side program.) Inside TSO, we use ISPF as a working environment in which we can create, edit, delete, and copy files, as well as many other tasks. ISPF includes an editor which may be somewhat different from other editors you have examined.

How do we get started?

When you log in to the Marist site, you use QWS3270. Click on "Connect". A box pops up. The "host" name is zos.kctr.marist.edu and the "port" is 1023. When you connect, type L to indicate you want to log in.

You will be asked (on another screen) for your logon ID (provided to you by your instructor) and your password. The "Procedure name" should be "IKJACCNT". For the first login, the default password is your logon ID) and you will then be asked to change it. Passwords should be at least 6 and no more than 8 characters long, composed of letters A-Z and digits 0-9, not case-sensitive.

As with other login systems, if you provide an incorrect password enough times, you will be locked out until your password can be reset. You will need to contact your instructor or John Berezinski to ask him to arrange for this. You will be required to change your password from time to time; passwords expire every 60 days, and Marist is not especially good at providing warnings in advance.

Assuming all this has worked thus far, you will have a welcome screen with a large 'Z' on it. Press Enter twice. You now have the ISPF "Primary Option Menu". When you first do this, type "ISPFINIT" (without the quotation marks) to set up your profile, etc.

When you are done, choose option X. This takes you to a screen asking what to do with some of your various data sets. Often 3 is a good choice here. Now press Enter, and you leave ISPF. You are still inside QWS3270; you need to select Close and then Exit.

How do we use mar_ftp?

Read the instructions for mar_ftp. You will need to create a mar_ftp directory (or folder) and copy mar_ftp into it.

Create your job file using a text editor. In general, a job file will have the extension "JCL". Copy it into the mar_ftp directory. Run mar_ftp. Option 1 allows you to submit a job; you will be asked for its name. (If it is not in the mar_ftp directory, you can supply the path as well.) Option 2 will list the jobs on the job queue. Usually one of these has a number of the form TSUnnnnn; this is the TSO session itself. Other jobs have numbers of the form JOB0nnnn. Notice the job number. Option 3 will allow you to fetch the output from the job; you will be asked for the job number.

When you fetch the job's output, two files will now appear in the mar_ftp directory: one named for the job number with no extension another with the same name but with extension "txt". The "txt" file is the job's output but with the carriage-control characters interpreted.

You can now print either of these files using Notepad or some other text editor or word processor. Print it in landscape format using a monospaced font such as Courier New. Set margins so the lines will not be wrapped.

Why do we need TSO and ISPF?

While the mar_ftp program can do a number of things for us, it is not able to delete the output files from the Marist system. To do so:

On the ISPF Primary Option Menu, select option 13, "SDSF". The first time you do this, type "OWNER logonid" where it says "COMMAND INPUT", using your own KC number where it says "logonid". (Do not type the quotation marks.)

SDSF does a number of useful tasks. Use command O to look at the output queue. This gives you a list of the files you have in the queue. To delete a file, type C or P in the column labeled "NP" next to the file's name (which will look like "TSUnnnnn" where "nnnnnn" is the job number). Press Enter. A box pops up asking if you want to process that command (option 1 of the options listed in that box). Press Enter to confirm. The file should now disappear from the list.

Also, if you need to change your password, you cannot do this using mar_ftp, and you will have to use the TSO system.

As TSO and ISPF are the industry standard, available at every mainframe site, it is an excellent idea to learn how to use them.