/var/Printsrv directory

The /var/Printsrv directory contains the Printer Inventory and other Infoprint Server files. You can change the name of this directory in the base-directory attribute in the Infoprint Server configuration file (aopd.conf).

Tip: The aopsetup shell script creates the /var/Printsrv directory (or the directory that is named in the base-directory attribute) and sets the appropriate permissions for it. For information about how to run aopsetup in a later step, see Setting permissions for directories and executable files -- aopsetup.

Guidelines:

• Mount a separate file system at the /var/Printsrv mount point because some subdirectories can become large. If your system is part of a sysplex, the /var/Printsrv file system must be system-specific and designated NOAUTOMOVE in the BPXPRMxx parmlib member.

  Example: This example shows a sample BPXPRMxx member in SYS1.PARMLIB:

  MOUNT FILESYSTEM('my.var.printsrv.filesystem')
        TYPE(ZFS) 
        MODE(RDWR) 
        NOAUTOMOVE 
        MOUNTPOINT('/&SYSNAME./var/Printsrv') 

  If you specify a zFS, it must be HFS-compatible. For information about zFS, see z/OS Distributed File Service zFS Administration.

• Make sure that the file system that contains the /var/Printsrv directory has enough space. For information about how much space is required, see Calculating DASD space requirements for the /var/Printsrv directory.
• Do not change the owner or permissions of the /var/Printsrv directory after it is created. For a secure environment, this directory should be:
  • Owned by UID of 0
  • Readable and writeable only by users with an effective UID of 0 or members of the AOPADMIN group
  • Executable by everyone

Infoprint Server creates the Printer Inventory files automatically the first time the administrator uses the Infoprint Server ISPF panels or the Printer Inventory Definition Utility (PIDU) to create objects in the Printer Inventory, such as printer definitions. The Printer Inventory files also contain objects that the administrator does not create. For example, Print Interface creates objects for each job processed. These job objects are deleted when the data sets to which they correspond are deleted from the JES spool.

The Printer Inventory consists of files in the /var/Printsrv directory with file extension .v2db. For example, these Printer Inventory files reside in the /var/Printsrv directory:

• master.v2db
• jestoken.v2db
• pwjestoken.v2db

Other Printer Inventory files with the .v2db extension reside in /var/Printsrv subdirectories.

Calculating DASD space requirements for the /var/Printsrv directory

The amount of space that is required for the file system at the /var/Printsrv mount point depends on various factors, such as the number of printers you have, the size of data sets you process, whether you use data-stream transforms, the number of days worth of historical information you keep, and (if you do not use the MVS™ system logger for messages) the number of days worth of messages you keep. Use the information in this section to estimate how much space you need to allocate for the file system. Also, other factors can influence how much space is required.

Tip: The Printer Inventory, Historical Inventory, search database, and message log database are optimized for rapid direct access to objects. As you add objects to these databases, files in the databases increase in size. When you remove objects, the files do not decrease in size because the Printer Inventory Manager designates as available the space that had been occupied by the removed objects. When you add objects in the future, the Printer Inventory Manager uses available space in the files. The files increase in size only when they do not contain sufficient available storage. So, the size of files can be characterized as a high-water mark.

Guideline: Allocate at least 750 MB of DASD space for the file system that is mounted at the /var/Printsrv mount point. If you do not run IP PrintWay™ extended mode or use data stream transforms, you might need less space. If you print large files or if you want to keep many days worth of messages and historical information, you might need more space.

The /var/Printsrv directory and its subdirectories contain these types of files:

• /var/Printsrv: This directory contains:
  • Printer Inventory files master.v2db, jestoken.v2db, and pwjestoken.v2db.
  • Temporary files that the Print Interface LPD creates as it receives data from clients that send the control file after sending data files. By default, most clients send the control file after sending data files. The Infoprint Port Monitor, however, always sends the control file first. Commands such as ls do not display these files because the LPD unlinks them after it opens them. When the LPD closes the files, they are deleted.
  • Language Environment® dumps (CEEDUMPs)

  Tip: To save space in this directory:

  • Configure clients that send data to the Print Interface LPD to send the control file first. Not all clients can be configured to do so.
  • Delete Language Environment dumps in this directory that begin with "CEEDUMP" after you provide them to IBM® support if necessary. These dumps can be large.
• /var/Printsrv/printway: This directory contains temporary files that IP PrintWay extended mode writes before transmitting data to printers. IP PrintWay extended mode always writes temporary files when it uses the LPR transmission protocol. It also writes temporary files when it uses the IPP or direct-socket transmission protocol but only if more than one copy is requested. IP PrintWay basic mode never writes temporary files in this directory. Instead, IP PrintWay basic mode writes temporary files in hiperspace.

  To calculate the maximum size of this directory, multiply the size of the largest possible output data set by the number of output data sets in a job. Multiply the result by the number of printers that can be printing at the same time. Add 10 MB.

  Tip: To save space in this directory, print very large data sets (such as 4 GB or larger) on one or two printers so that large data sets do not print at the same time.

• /var/Printsrv/logs and /var/Printsrv/logdb: These directories contain message logs and the common message log database.

  The number of days that are specified in the log-retention attribute indirectly determines the size of these directories. For every 1000 data sets processed in the specified number of days, allow 3 MB in the logs directory and 2 MB in the logdb directory.

  Note:

  If you use the MVS system logger for the common message log, messages are not stored in the logs subdirectory. However, data is still stored in the logdb subdirectory.

  Tips:

  • Because the common message log can contain a large amount of data, start with a value of 1 day in the log-retention attribute. Increase the number of days only if there is enough space in the file system to keep more historical print job information and messages.
  • If the size of the message files grows too large, you can decrease the size. However, if you do this, Infoprint Central cannot display messages that were written to the log before you decreased its size. For more information, see Reducing the size of the common message log in the z/OS UNIX file system.
• /var/Printsrv/hinv: This directory contains the Historical Inventory. The default maximum size is 10 MB. To change the maximum size, specify the max-historical-inventory-size attribute.
• /var/Printsrv/searchdb: This directory contains the search database. Allow five times the amount of space as the maximum for the /var/Printsrv/hinv directory. Also, allow an extra 12 K for each IP PrintWay and PSF printer.
• /var/Printsrv/trace: This directory contains trace information when you activate tracing with the AOPTRACEON environment variable. IP PrintWay basic mode does not write trace information to this directory.

  Tip: To save space in this directory:

  • Specify an alternate trace directory in the AOPTRACEDIR environment variable before you activate tracing.
  • Erase trace files after the problem is solved.
• /var/Printsrv/xfd and /var/Printsrv/xf_sockets: These directories and their subdirectories contain:
  • Temporary files and messages for Infoprint transform products.
  • Language Environment dumps (CEEDUMPs). When you stop and restart the Transform Manager, these CEEDUMPs are moved to the /var/Printsrv directory.
  Allow enough space to contain all data sets that can be transformed at the same time.