Is there a way to force the DSEXJNL1 job to be submitted by Dispatch without having to wait for a journal file to fill up?

Products

• Dispatch Output Mgmt

Issue/Introduction

Perhaps you’ve recently upgraded Dispatch or have had some other type of problem with the DSEXJNL1 journal offload job that caused it not to run successfully. You’ve corrected whatever the problem was and now want to verify that the DSEXJNL1 job will run successfully after the changes you have made.

Is there a way to force the DSEXJNL1 job to be submitted by Dispatch without having to wait for a journal file to fill up?

 

Environment

z/OS

Resolution

The answer is yes. You can force Dispatch to submit the DSEXJNL1 job by issuing a VARY JOURNAL command at the ENTER NEXT TASK CODE prompt while you are logged on to Dispatch.

Prior to issuing the “VARY” command, consider issuing a DCMT D J command (Display Journals) first so that you can verify that none of the journal files are full and which particular journal is the ACTIVE journal file. The display will look similar to the following:


JRNL FILE NAME   SEGNO  LORBN  HIRBN NXRBN   FUL    ACT
CAIJRNL1                   69        10  10000  *****    NO     NO
CAIJRNL2                   70          9  10000   170       NO    YES
CAIJRNL3                   67          9  10000  *****    NO     NO
CAIJRNL4                   68          9  10000  *****    NO     NO


In the above example, the value of 'NO' in the FUL column tells us that none of the journal files are currently full. The value of 'YES' in the ACT column showing on the CAIJRNL2 file tells us that this is the ACTIVE journal currently being written to.

Varying a journal file tricks Dispatch into thinking the journal is full and consequently, forces Dispatch to switch to the next journal and submit the DSEXJNL1 journal offload job.

To VARY the active journal file, simply issue a DCMT V J command right there on the same screen.
After issuing the VARY command, your screen display will then show something similar to the following. Notice that the FUL column for the CAIJRNL2 file now shows a value of YES:

 
JRNL FILE NAME   SEGNO  LORBN  HIRBN NXRBN   FUL     ACT
CAIJRNL2                   70         09   170   ******  YES     NO


Go outside of Dispatch and verify that the DSEXJNL1 job was submitted by Dispatch. And, that the job ran successfully (RC=00). This would confirm that whatever changes you made to resolve the original problem with the journal offload job were successful.

A subsequent DCMT D J display command should then show the CAIJRNL2 file as no longer being full and should also show that the CAIJRNL3 file is now the active journal file being written to.