Using System Operations Commands for Programming

SA z/OS supplies commands that provide your automation procedures with a simple, standard way of interfacing with the automation control file, the automation status file, and the NetView log file.

It is strongly recommended that you use these commands wherever possible in your own code.

These commands are provided either as building blocks that you must incorporate into your script, or as complete routines that you can call from Network Communications Control Facility (NCCF), the NetView automation table (AT), from timers, or from other automation procedures without further programming. If a command can be used as a complete routine, this is specified in the usage notes.

Using these commands in automation procedures provides you with the following advantages:

• Reduced development time: Less code has to be written.
• Portable code: Automation policy information that is unique to an enterprise can be kept in the automation control file rather than distributed among many automation procedures. The automation procedures implement a number of different rules for handling a situation and the automation control file is used to select which rules are applicable to the current situation.
• A consistent, documented interface.

The commands that are described here may be used while automating any SA z/OS application. In the context of SA z/OS, an application is defined as:

• An MVS subsystem
• An MVS job
• A non-MVS resource, that is, a resource that is not a z/OS address space, or that does not respond to the usual MVS startup and shutdown commands
• Your own applications

Occasionally, you may see the term subsystem used to refer to applications in general.