z/OS Foundation Skills Boot Camp - Advanced

What you will learn

On successful completion of this course you will be able to:

• identify the principal components of IBM z Systems
• describe how data is stored, the different data codes and types, and the devices used
• explain the concepts of operating systems
• use basic TSO commands
• use and customise ISPF panel structures
• browse and edit datasets
• customise ISPF edit profiles
• use advanced edit functions
• submit and manage batch jobs
• use the ISPF utilities such as copy and list
• use search facilities
• state the purpose of each z/OS job control statement
• code JCL statements to access disk and cartridge files
• describe and use the commonly used parameters
• correct syntax errors in JCL statements
• code in-stream procedures and override, nullify and add parameters
• appreciate the implications of SMS when using z/OS JCL
• understand the concept of an ABEND
• analyze ABEND situations
• resolve ABEND situations
• understand and use the terminology associated with UNIX
• describe basic UNIX concepts
• issue UNIX shell commands
• identify and utilise key shell commands such as 'find', 'grep', etc.
• explain the changes that have been made to the MVS platform in order to support applications created for a UNIX environment
• identify the facilities and functions provided within USS
• utilise ISHELL.
• understand the concepts behind RACF and its terminology
• describe the principles of network security
• understand z/OS Management Facility.

Who Should Attend

All those who need a fast-track into the z/OS world.

Prerequisites

None

Duration

10 days

Fee (per attendee)

P.O.A.

This includes free online 24/7 access to course notes.

Hard copy course notes are available on request from rsmshop@rsm.co.uk

at £50.00 plus carriage per set.

Course Code

MFBCE

Contents

The IBM Z Systems Technical Environment

Origins; Types of computers; General purpose; Scientific; Scientific AND general purpose?; The PC; The Graphical User Interface (GUI); The application development backlog; The Local Area Network (LAN); Who runs the distributed data centre?; Total Cost of Ownership (TCO); Today's real world; What is a mainframe?; What can it do?; Hardware and software; Types of computing; Batch; Batch processing today; Interactive; On-line; Real time.

Enterprise Computing Hardware

Enterprise computing hardware; An IBM Z Systems data centre and its contents; The processor complex; Parallel sysplex; Channels; Controllers; I/O units; Addressing; Local and remote; Disk storage; Old technology; Storing data on a traditional disk; The cylinder concept; Sectors; Cache storage; RAID - a newer technology; Disk Mirroring (RAID-1); Data Striping (RAID 5/6); Remote Disk copy; Virtual disks; Optical disks; Why magnetic tape?; Reel to reel tape; Cartridges; High performance tapes; Automated Tape Libraries; Virtual Tape Server; Other Input/output peripherals; Terminals, Laser printers, Line printers, Micro film and microfiche; Magnetic Ink Character Recognition; Optical Character Recognition; Bar codes; Communications equipment.

Z Systems Software and Programs

What is software?; Types of software; System software; Exits; Application software; What does a program comprise?; Main module; Subroutines and procedures; Functions; Data; EBCDIC; ASCII; Building a program; Programming languages; Executing a program.

Practical Operations

Who runs the IT environment?: Operators, Help Desk Operatives, Security Administrators, Systems Programmers, Storage Administrators, Network Analysts, Application Developers/Support' Database Administrators.

z/OS Operating System

The z/OS operating system - MVS; Some important definitions; Address spaces; Common area; Private area; Main components of MVS; MVS processing environments; On-line; TSO; z/OS communications server; VTAM; TCP/IP; JES: JES2, Transaction Servers: CICS, IMS; Databases: Db2, IMS; UNIX System Services; WebSphere Application Server.

Introduction to TSO

What is TSO; main uses of TSO; using TSO; when the TSO screen fills; logging on to TSO; logging off.

Basic TSO Commands

SEND, LISTBC, LISTALC, HELP and PROFILE commands; command prompting; aborting a TSO command.

Introduction to ISPF

What is ISPF?; the ISPF panels; the pull-down menus; the Primary Option Menu; changing ISPF settings, function settings and log/list defaults; identifying error messages, entering TSO commands from ISPF, exiting from ISPF.

Browsing datasets in ISPF

Dataset naming rules and conventions; DASD dataset organisation; Partitioned Datasets; Partitioned Dataset Extended; specifying dataset names, PDS member list panel and shortcuts; browsing the data; scrolling; FIND command; finding picture strings; the LOCATE command; splitting the screen.

Basic Edit via ISPF

The editing process; the edit entry panel; member or dataset edit panel; scrolling during edit; edit line commands; manipulating lines; ending an edit session.

The ISPF Edit profile

Function of the Edit profile; displaying the Edit profile; profile options; creating new members; the insert and delete keys; CHANGE command; UNDO command; when you get locked up.

Advanced Edit with ISPF

Excluding and re-displaying lines; RESET command; switching between upper and lower case; column boundaries; text entry facilities; tab settings; manipulating data; submitting a batch job; nested edit sessions; saving data; cancelling an edit session.

Basic ISPF utilities

Utility selection menu; library utility; data set utility; move/copy utility; hardcopy utility; outlist utility.

ISPF Data Set List Utility

Dataset list; wildcard characters; dataset list and member list line commands; using a TSO command; SHOWCMD command; VTOC list and information; freeing unused space; repeating commands.

SuperC and Search-For

SuperC utility; SuperCE utility; Search-For utility; Search-ForE utility.

z/OS: Structure and Components

MVS background and history; MVS main memory and virtual storage; MVS versions; Address space layout; Common area; Private area; Main components of MVS; MVS processing environments: On-line, TSO, ISPF, Batch; MVS spooling; Other program products and their functions.

Introduction to z/OS JCL

Basic job structure; Job stream processing; JCL output; JCL statement types; JCL statement format and coding rules; JES2 control statements; JES3 control statements; JCL error points.

The JOB Statement

The JOB statement overview; Accounting information - positional; Programmer's name - positional; Keyword parameters; Other keyword parameters; Example JOB statements.

The EXEC Statement

The EXEC statement; EXEC format - program; EXEC format - procedure; EXEC keyword parameters; Other EXEC keyword parameters; COND parameter; EVEN or ONLY; Example EXEC statements; EXEC statement summary.

Printing and In-stream Data

Print files & In-stream data; Printing: Examples, DEST, COPIES, DCB; Output statement; OUTPUT statement: Implicit, Explicit, Multiple output; Output statement parameters; Examples; OUTDISP parameter; In-stream data.

The DD Statement

The DD statement; DD parameters: DSN, DISP, UNIT and VOL; SMS considerations; DD statement summary: Existing catalogued dataset, Existing non-catalogued dataset.

he DD Statement - Working with Datasets

Dataset types; Sequential datasets; Partitioned Data Sets; VSAM datasets; BUFNO; Accessing existing datasets; Creating new non-VSAM datasets; Data Control Block parameters; SPACE parameter; Space allocation DSCBs; System Managed Storage: Disk datasets with SMS, Space allocation with SMS. DCB parameters with SMS; Creating VSAM datasets in JCL; Generation datasets; SMS GDG considerations; Stages in creating a generation dataset; Tape datasets; . LABEL parameter; DD statement summary; Creating a new dataset on disk - non-SMS; Creating a new tape dataset.

Further DD Considerations

Special ddnames; JOBLIB; STEPLIB; Dump datasets; Concatenated datasets; Temporary dataset names; Dummy datasets.

Catalogued Procedures

JCL procedures; In-stream procedures; What a catalogued procedure cannot contain; Cataloguing a procedure; INCLUDE statement; Calling a procedure; Symbolic parameters; Examples of symbolic translation; Default parameters; Resolving symbolic parameters; SET statement; Modifying EXEC statement parameters; Modifying DD parameters; Concatenated datasets; Adding DD statements; Substitution prefixes; Using a standard COBOL compile/link/go procedure.

Conditional JCL Statements

The general construct; Name field; Relational-expression field; Relational-expression keywords; Comparison operators; Logical operators; NOT operator; Order of priority of operators; Parentheses; THEN and ELSE clauses; Contents of THEN and ELSE clauses; IF/THEN/ELSE/ENDIF and COND.

Common MVS Abend Codes

Problem handling; Program abends; Common MVS completion codes.

ABEND Analysis

What is ABEND?; the MVS ABEND service; why ABEND?; allows for recovery routines ; task termination; tasks in an Address Space; how RTM is invoked; program checks; ABEND; how to trigger an ABEND; ABEND macro and SVC 13; CALLRTM macro; why not normal end?; application detected software errors; system detected software errors; all the system ABEND codes; where do you see the ABEND codes?; the NOTIFY message; the SYSLOG; the job log; the symptom dump; ABEND dumps; SVC dumps; Stand-Alone dumps; the symptom dump in the SYSLOG; the symptom dump in the job log; explanations of ABEND and reason codes; IBM z/OS manuals on the web; Quickref and similar tools; analysis approach; examples of ABEND code explanation; system messages - a good information source; system message prefix; message level; standard message types; alternative message types; message identifier and MVS components; examples of system messages; explanation of system messages; common system ABEND codes; system ABEND code numbers; common SVCs and their macros; the x22 codes - caused by outside events; the x13 codes - OPEN problems; other x13 codes; example of S013-18; 806 - Program not found; sequence of events; example of S806-04; 804, 80A, 878, 878 and DC2 - virtual storage problems; the Virtual Address Space; "above the bar"; traditional address space areas; the need for managing virtual storage; storage for the program code; storage obtained outside the program; Virtual Storage requests; limitations on Virtual Storage; ABEND and reason codes; requests for storage below 2 GB (GETMAIN and STORAGE OBTAIN); requests for storage above 2 GB (IAR64 GETSTOR); the REGION limit; the effects of different REGION values; example of ABEND S822; the MEMLIMIT parameter; example of ABEND SDC2; the 0Cx codes; the Program Check Interrupt; running RTM1; PC FLIH and ABENDs; the meaning of Program Checks; common ABENDs from Program Checks; ABEND S0C4; Storage Protect Keys; virtual address protection; reasons for translation exceptions; address truly invalid; address valid - new area; address valid - old area; other S0Cx ABENDs; PIC 0001 Operation Exception (ABEND S0C1); PIC 0002 Privileged Operation Exception (ABEND S0C2); PIC 0007 Data Exception (ABEND S0C7); the S0E0 and 0Dx codes; miscellaneous problems; problems with translations; Linkage Stack problems; the Sx37 and SB14 codes; Sx37; EOV processing; how disk data sets are allocated; Physical Sequential (PS) data sets; problems when allocating a PS data set; initial allocation; primary allocation failure; data set full; no secondary allocation (SD37-04); secondary allocations (SB37-04); example of unavailable primary allocation; example of SD37-04; message IEC031I; example of ABEND SB37-04; message IEC030I; Partitioned Data Sets (PDS); problems when allocating a PDS; initial allocation; data set full; no secondary allocation (SD37-04); secondary allocations (SE37-04); directory full (SB14-0C); example of ABEND SE37-04; message IEC032I; example of ABEND SB14; message IEC217I; Partitioned Data Sets Extended (PDSE); problems when allocating a PDSE; summary of common system ABEND codes; other ABEND codes; MVS system codes (Sxxx); user ABEND codes (Uxxxx).

MVS Error Reporting & Dumps

System error reporting; MVS dumps; Stand-Alone Dump (SADUMP); SVC dumps; user ABEND dumps; SYSUDUMP; SYSABEND; SYSMDUMP; CEEDUMP; generating a user ABEND dump; system generated ABEND dump; snap dumps; symptom dumps; review questions.

Introduction to UNIX & Open Systems

Where did UNIX come from?; Modern UNIX history; The UNIX 'culture'; Commercial UNIX systems; What is 'Open Systems'?; Some 'official' definitions; Open platforms; Portable Operating System Interface - POSIX; The POSIX standards; Open Group branding; What is DCE?

UNIX System Overview

UNIX internals overview; The Kernel; System calls; Processes and programs; The shell; Tools; UNIX shells; The UNIX file system; The system files - /etc, /dev, /bin and others; UNIX security basics; UNIX User ids (uids); User attributes; Access control in UNIX; File access control attributes; Meaning of permissions; Changing user and file attributes; Changing user information; Changing file information; File permission and user mask; Additional permission bits; User account information; User-determined information; The root username - the superuser.

The Kernel & the Shell

The Kernel; The Shell; Main shell functions; Basic command syntax; Input and Output redirection; Examples of redirecting Input and Output; Piping input between commands; Environment variables; Special shell variables; Shell variables; Local and environment variables; Special keyboard operations; Online help; UNIX multitasking; Placing a command in background; Monitoring background commands;; Controlling background commands; Moving processes between foreground and background; File wild card searches; Shell programming; Shell programming commands and features; Passing arguments to shell programs; Shells and shell commands; Overview of commands; Command history.

The UNIX File System Concept

UNIX file types; Directory structure; Paths and file names; zFS and HFS; Recommended file structure; Lengths of path and file names; Specifying UNIX files in z/OS; Creating, listing and viewing files; Positioning current work directory; Path and file name lengths; Working with directories; File system protection; Assigning file attributes; Permission attributes (r, w, x); Assigning permission attributes to a file; Setting file permissions - chmod; File attributes; Default file permissions - umask; Links - file name 'alias'; Hard links; Hard links and i-node numbers; Hard link - listing; Symbolic links; Additional list options; Listing files - pattern matching; Locating files - find; The find command; Additional search qualifiers; Copying files - cp; Moving and removing files; Controlling Input and Output; Passing files between programs - pipes; Regular expressions; Searching for strings in files - grep; grep - a science in its own right; grep and regular expressions; Sorting text files - sort; Formatting files with pr; Printing to hardcopy - lp; Example of files and directories.

Interactive USS

Invoking USS; Running USS interactively; Login to USS; TSO terminal support - Pseudo TTY; TSO or asynchronous, OCS or direct?; 1003.1 Compliant communication functions; The shell; The OMVS command; Default PF keys in OMVS; OMVS subcommands; Shell commands; TSO/E commands and ISPF panels; ISPF panel for file management - ISHELL; Directory list; File - drop down menu; The ISPF edit panel; Directory - drop down menu; OEDIT and OBROWSE.

Introduction to RACF

What is required of a security system?; IBM's Resource Access Control Facility (RACF); Main RACF/MVS components; How does RACF work?; RACF Profiles; RACF classes; Controlling access; RACF commands.

Understanding RACF Network Security

Why secure the TCP/IP network; What is required of a security system?; IBM's Resource Access Control Facility (RACF); Main RACF - z/OS components; How does RACF work?; RACF profiles: Group profiles, User profiles, Dataset profiles, General resource profiles; Resource classes; RACF commands.

Understanding the z/OS Management Facility

Objectives; The reason for z/OSMF; z/OSMF user interface; z/OSMF as a Server/Client application; z/OSMF - other interfaces; The use of ZIIPs; z/OSMF available tasks; z/OSMF tasks in detail Logging on to z/OSMF; Desktop vs Classic Style; Cloud provisioning and management.