OTMA naming conventions

The names of OTMA clients and transaction pipes must follow a convention defined by IMS.

Names for OTMA clients and transaction pipes must adhere to the following conventions:
  • Must be character type A (A-Z, 0-9, @, $)
  • Must begin with a non-blank character
  • Must be padded with blanks if shorter than the maximum length (16 for a client name, 8 for a transaction-pipe name)
  • Cannot contain embedded blanks
  • Cannot be a reserved word (for example, TO or SECURITY)
  • Cannot begin with DFS or DBCDM
  • Cannot be an IMS keyword (for example, LINE or NODE)
In addition, transaction-pipe names cannot:
  • Duplicate an IMS transaction name.
  • Have the same name as the z/OS® system console (for example, WTOR), IMS MTO, or secondary MTO.

IMS does not perform uppercase translation. If lowercase characters are used, the client receives a negative acknowledgment (NAK) response from the server.