There is more than one way to have Dispatch archive MSGCLASS data. This article outlines the two available methods and the difference between them.
z/OS, Dispatch, archive, MSGCLASS
There are essentially two methods that can be used for automatic archival of MSGCLASS data in Dispatch.
- Traditional method - Archiving MSGCLASS Data Automatically
While running the batch Online Viewing Purge job (DSEXVIEW or DSEXPSVW), you may designate that all MSGCLASS data that has been sent to OLV since the last time the job ran, be spooled out to be archived. This occurs regardless of the OLV retention defined for the MSGCLASS data and is invoked by specifying the ARCH extension on the VIEW control parameter. For more information, see the topic Purging Online Viewing Records in the chapter "Reporting on Report Production". Also see Article Id: 91938 Title: Automatic archiving of CA Dispatch MSGCLASS data in Online Viewing.
- Optional method - Archiving MSGCLASS Data Directly
The function of the SAPI ARCHIVE task (SAPIARCH) is to collect data from the JES queue, that matches it's defined processing criteria, and write that data into the LDS files. Once the data is in the LDS files, it is then available to the Dispatch ARCHn subtask to process, and write/archive that data to an external media. Considering this, you can bypass the traditional way of archiving MSGCLASS data by having your application job write the MSGCLASS data out to JES directly, and specifying the designated Dispatch archival "CLASS" on that output. The MSGCLASS data would then get collected by SAPIARCH and archived by the ARCHn subtask of Dispatch.
- The difference between the traditional method of archiving MSGCLASS data and directly archiving MSGCLASS data will be the REPORT NAME that gets assigned by Dispatch when the data is archived.
Archiving MSGCLASS data directly could be useful for sites that want the ability to have their Operations or Production Control personnel review a jobs MSGCLASS output while it is still in the JES queue, before it gets picked up by Dispatch. The MSGCLASS data could initially be written out to JES with a NON-Dispatch designated CLASS, reviewed, and then manually changed to either the SAPIARCH or SAPIMSG designated collection class.