Wait, is that redundant? If it's obscure, that's why you're not using it, right? Anyway, allow me to make them a little less obscure.
There's been a lot of talk about IBM Ported Tools lately, and there's likely to be even more, so I started thinking about
z/OS tools and some of the obscure ones that I like the most. When I tried to format this info into a blog, of course I
decided on the 'Top n list' format, because I have a fondness for lists. Lists are extremely popular on blogs, but for me,
this is not an aberration, it's normality.
Now, you may argue that some of these are not obscure. And you can argue that in the comments below. But the great thing about a blog is that you get to say what you think! So here we go!
5) Parallel Sysplex Inject Error tool
A tool to inject errors into coupling facility structures to help in testing recovery from coupling facility problems.
//PILOT PROC STRNAME=IEFAUTOS
// EXEC PGM=INJERROR,PARM='&STRNAME'
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
You can find it at:
http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/services/platformtest/servers/injerror.html
4) DISP Command
I guess you could call this shareware, but the only place I could find it was on the IBMMain listserv. You add DISP in front of any command and it puts the output of the command in a dataset for you to peruse. Great for netstat and help commands, and any command with large output where you may want to scroll forward and backward.
TSO DISP NETSTAT CONN
http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Comp/bit.listserv.ibm-main/2006-05/msg01735.html
Or Lionel Dyck's variation at http://www.tsotimes.com/quicktips/su95qt1.html
and yet another version at http://www.jmit.com/os390/systools/rexx/FULL.txt
3) Mark Zelden's IPLINFO Rexx
Displays IPL and other system information on your terminal. Some of the things displayed are the IPL address and volser, the IPL date and time, the IPL LOADPARM, IODF information, the master catalog name, etc etc. If nothing else, this over-3000 line exec is a great source for all kinds of rexx code examples and CVT locations, and it's very well documented.
http://www.mzelden.com/mvsutilr.html#tso
2) Lookat
Lookat is free IBM Message lookup. It's nice that you can lookat several different z/os versions and z/vm too. You can use it on their site or download it and run it on your own. There's even a mobile version!
http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/os/zos/bkserv/lookat/index.html
1) Vols
Vols is a TSO command to list free space on all or selected online dasd devices. Volume selection includes devicetype,
attribute, volume and ucb. Vols is part of CBTTAPE file 360, from State of Wisconsin. I use this command just about every day, and I'm not even a storage administrator. They use it many times a day and in several production batch jobs.
http://www.cbttape.org/ftp/cbt/CBT360.zip
So what do you say? Do you use any of these regularly? Are there any that I missed?
Your link for today, is to LookAt on Twitter. https://twitter.com/LookAtMessages
Till Next Time....
Mary Anne
z/OSsyGirl