Sharing the same CONSOLxx for all systems in the sysplex provides
a single, consistent set of console definitions, as if you are defining
all your consoles for a single system.
In Figure 1, systems SYA and SYB share
the same CONSOLxx member. SYA has three physically attached consoles
(CON1, CON2, and CON3); SYB has two physically attached consoles (CON3
and CON4).
Figure 1. Console Configuration in a Sysplex with Two
Systems and Four MCS Consoles
The following are statements from a CONSOLxx parmlib member that
is shared by both SYA and SYB:
In this example:
- Values for INIT, DEFAULT, and HARDCOPY are the same across systems,
and the order in which systems join the sysplex does not affect the
sysplex environment.
- A console can be active on only one system at a time. In Figure 1, CON3 is physically attached to both
SYA and SYB. Without specifying SYSTEM(SYB) for CON3, CON3 would become
active on either SYA or SYB, whichever system joins the sysplex first.
Specifying SYSTEM(SYB) ensures that CON3 is activated only on SYB.
- Because CON4 is not physically attached to SYA, it becomes active
only when SYB joins the sysplex.
When two or more systems require unique values in a shared CONSOLxx
member, you can use system symbols to represent
those values. When each system processes CONSOLxx, the system replaces
the system symbols with
the substitution texts that it has defined to the system symbols.
For example, suppose you want to define names for two consoles
on two different systems, and that the consoles are both at address
X'3E0'. If both consoles are to be active at the same time, they require
different names. If you plan to use one CONSOLxx member for both
systems, you can use
system symbols to generate
unique console names while retaining the same device number, as follows:
CONSOLE DEVNUM(3E0)
NAME(C3E0S&SYSCLONE.) /* CONSOLE NAME "C3E0Snn" */
... /* Remaining CONSOLE keywords */
The console definition can then specify different names on different
systems: For example, if your installation accepts the default substitution
text for &SYSCLONE (the last two characters of the system name),
the following console names result:
- C3E0SS1 on system SYS1
- C3E0SS2 on system SYS2
- C3E0SS3 on system SYS3
For more information about using system symbols in parmlib
members, including lists of valid system symbols, see the topic on sharing
parmlib members in z/OS MVS Initialization and Tuning Reference.