When defining consoles for a sysplex, names are required for MCS, HMCS, SMCS, and subsystem-allocatable consoles. A good way to specify unique names and establish a consistent naming convention for all the consoles in a sysplex is to use system symbols in console definitions, as described in Sharing a single CONSOLxx member for all systems.
In a sysplex, the console name and console ID uniquely identify the console to the sysplex for the life of the sysplex or the removal of the console by SETCON DELETE, IEARELCN or IEARELEC. When a console is removed, the binding of the console name to the console ID is broken. If the console ID is re-used by MVS™, it may be bound to a different console name and represent a different console. A console name will always represent the same console in CONSOLxx; a console ID may not. Programs that need to communicate with specific consoles should always use console names to avoid communicating with an unintended console.
You can also define the same console to different systems in the sysplex by using the console name. In the following example, a console named CONB is defined in CONSOLxx for three systems in a sysplex (SYA, SYB, and SYC). A channel switching device allows an operator to switch the console from system to system:
CONSOLxx for each system contains the following statements:
CONSOLE DEVNUM(3F5) NAME(CONB)CONSOLE DEVNUM(3D0) NAME(CONB)CONSOLE DEVNUM(3E0) NAME(CONB)CONB can be active on only one system in the sysplex at a time. If CONB is active on SYA and SYA fails, the operator can switch CONB to SYB or SYC and activate the console using the console name on the VARY CN command. In shared mode, the attributes assigned to CONB before SYA failed are inherited by the newly activated CONB console on either SYB or SYC; in distributed mode, the newly activated CONB console uses the definition on its current system