Last week there was a question related to the the z/VSE STATUS command on VSE-L.

STATUS is an Attention Routine command. The output is displayed on the console. It provides the status of z/VSE partitions and tasks, addresses of control areas, device status, etc.

The STATUS command is described in the z/VSE System Control Statements. Some tips are in the z/VSE Hints & Tips book.

For experts: If you want to get more information about the displayed status and internal processes, you can look into the z/VSE Supervisor Diagnosis Reference Manual. 

A few words to the STATUS message discussed on VSE-L:

> STATUS Z1

AR 0015 M0035 Z1 NO NAME  73 WAITING FOR EXCLUSIVE SYSTEM USE  USED BY  P1     

• M0035 Z1 - M = maintask (S=subtask), 0035 = task id (maintask of partition Z1)
• NO NAME - VSE/AF job name
• 73 - bound condition (task status flag) = SEIZE bound. SEIZE is a system wide resource (gate), that is used e.g. by job control to lock a code sequence system-wide. Task status flags are described in a table in the z/VSE Supervisor Diagnosis Reference Manual.
• WAITING FOR EXCLUSIVE SYSTEM USE  USED BY  P1 - The SEIZE gate is occupied by partition P1 and partition Z1 is waiting for it to be freed. That is STATUS P1 may give the reason, why it's not freed. May be P1 is also waiting for a resource.

Another less complex example:

> STATUS BG

AR 0015 M0021 BG PAUSEBG  82 WAITING FOR OPERATORS RESPONSE

• M0021 BG - BG maintask, task is is 21
• PAUSEBG - job name
• 82 - bound condition (task status flag) = WAIT bound, waiting for an even to happen (timer, I/O, reply, ...)

The links to those books are in the z/VSE Knowledge Center (KC) here.

The links to 

• Hints & Tips is in the "Find Documentation" section
• z/VSE Supervisor Diagnosis Reference Manual on the "IBM z/VSE technical articles page"
• z/VSE System Control Statements in the "PDF Library" (links in the Look-Up section and on the upper right side of the KC page, if you are on the release page).