Specific allocation assistance enablement considerations

The installation steps below must be followed to prevent job failures from occurring.

  1. Ensure that all systems in the JES3plex are at z/OS V2R1 (this is needed because pre-execution and job execution can occur on different systems in the JES3plex). JES3 itself, however, can be at a lower release level.
  2. Make JES3 INISH deck changes as described in INISH deck example. The INISH deck changes define the library-specific distributed names associated with the distributed libraries "clusters" in a TS7000 Virtualization Engine. All TS7700 Virtualization Engines being used by JES3 (with devices connected to the host) should have the new esoteric names defined, regardless of whether the TS7700 Virtualization Engine is part of a single or a multi-cluster grid.
  3. Roll-out the JES3 INISH deck changes to all systems in the JES3plex (this roll-out can occur one system at a time). The new esoteric names will not be passed to JES3 until the support is enabled through DEVSUPxx.
  4. By default, the device allocation assist function is enabled at the library for all specific allocations. However, starting with Release 1.7 of the TS7700 Virtualization Engine, this support can be disabled either by a tape hardware specialist (PFE) dialing into the library or starting with Release 2.0 of the TS7700, through the MVS LIBRARY REQUEST command. Verify that the DAA function is enabled at the library by using the LIBRARY REQUEST,composite-library-name,SETTING command.
  5. Lastly, enable the support to the host through the DEVSUPxx PARMLIB member using the JES3_ALLOC_ASSIST=YES keyword (either at IPL or through the SET DEVSUP=xx operator command). The SET DEVSUP=xx operator command can be used to enable this support by routing the command to all systems in the JES3plex. Once this support is enabled, the new library-specific distributed names can be returned to JES3. Ensure that steps 2 and 3 are completed before enabling this support; otherwise, job failures can occur if JES3 does not understand the new esoteric names being passed (because they were not defined in the JES3 INISH deck).

    If one of the systems in the JES3plex lags behind (in enablement of this support), all that might occur is that the device allocation assist preferred cluster list might not be honored. JES3 and MVS allocation will still see the same list of eligible devices.