XLINK FORMAT

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram XLINK FOrmat vaddr volid

Purpose

Use the XLINK FORMAT utility to prepare a DASD for sharing under cross-system link protection. The utility initializes the CSE area on the specified DASD volume.

If a system is defined as a member of an SSI cluster, XLINK FORMAT is not allowed.

Operands

vaddr
specifies the virtual address of the device. This can be one of the following:
  • A full-pack minidisk that defines the entire real volume
  • The real volume attached to you at address vaddr
  • A minidisk defining the cylinder on the volume that contains the CSE area.
volid
specifies the volume identifier that must match the one on the device.

Usage Notes

  1. The cross system extensions (CSE) environment is not supported. However, the cross-system link (XLINK) function that was included in CSE is still supported for non-SSI systems, and CSE is still used in some function and object names, command responses, and messages related to XLINK.
  2. By default, the XLINK FORMAT utility is located on the system tools disk (MAINT 193).
  3. The volume label on the disk is checked and must match the volid you enter with the utility.
  4. You must have write access to device vaddr.
  5. If the volume is CP-owned, you should allocate it as PERM space with the CPFMTXA utility. Even if the volume is not CP-owned, it is recommended that you allocate the CSE area as PERM.
  6. If any system that will share this volume is not at release VM/ESA 1.1 or later, the CSE area must be reformatted, and the XLINK FORMAT command must be issued from a release earlier than VM/ESA 1.1. Otherwise, CP LINK commands to minidisks on this volume might fail.
  7. If the number of cylinders being mapped is large or the number of tracks per cylinder is small, then XLINK FORMAT will write the ECKD format of the CSE area on multiple cylinders. The user will be given the option of stopping XLINK FORMAT before any formatting occurs on multiple cylinders, in case there are minidisks whose location needs to be adjusted.

Responses

Response 1:

The normal responses to the XLINK FORMAT utility are:
HCPXXL2860I  WARNING!
             IMPROPER USE OF THE XLINK FORMAT COMMAND
             WILL CAUSE LOSS OF MINIDISK DATA. BE SURE
             THAT VOLSER volid IS NOT ON-LINE
             TO ANY ASSOCIATED SYSTEMS.
 
             CONTINUE?  ENTER YES OR NO:
 
HCPXXL2865I  VOLSER READ IS volid, FORMAT NOT DONE.
 
HCPXXL2867I  VOLSER volid NOT IN INCLUDE LIST,
             DEVTYPE CSE DEFAULTS WILL BE USED.
 
HCPXXL2868I  XLINK FORMAT volid - CYL=ccccc TRK=tt
             RECL=lllll RECS=rr SYSTEMS=ss
 
HCPXXL2896I  WARNING!  XLINK FORMAT COMMAND WILL
             FORMAT CYLINDERS ccccc-ccccc
 
             CONTINUE?  ENTER YES OR NO:
volid
is the volume identifier of the specified device.
ccccc
is the cylinder number where the CSE area is formatted.
tt
is the track number of the CSE area.
lllll
is the number of cylinders made available for XLINK use. For CKD devices it is also the length of the XLINK map records.
rr
is the number of XLINK records written on the CSE area.
ss
is the number of systems that can share this DASD volume.
HCPXXL2869I  CSE XLINK FORMAT COMPLETE.
 
HCPXXL2895I  WARNING!
             IF ALL SYSTEMS THAT WILL SHARE THIS volid
             ARE NOT AT RELEASE VM/ESA 1.1, ISSUE XLINK
             FORMAT FROM AN EARLIER RELEASE OF VM.
 
             CONTINUE?  ENTER YES OR NO.

Messages

  • HCP1667E THE XLINK UTILITY IS NOT ALLOWED BECAUSE THE SYSTEM IS A MEMBER OF AN SSI CLUSTER.
  • HCP2861E MISSING OR INVALID FUNCTION: subcommand
  • HCP2862E VOLSER volid IS NOT A CP FORMATTED VOLUME
  • HCP2863E DIAG-A8 I/O ERROR, CC=n R15=hhhhhhhh SCSW=hhhhhhhh SENSE=hhhhhhhh
  • HCP2864E DEVICE ADDRESS ccuu IS INVALID OR NOT OPERATIONAL
  • HCP2870E ERROR nnn ON CMSSTOR CALL
  • HCP2871E INVALID OPTION: option
  • HCP2872E COMMAND LINE TOO LONG FOR CP. CP CAN ACCEPT NO MORE THAN 240 CHARACTERS - YOUR COMMAND WAS nnn CHARACTERS IN LENGTH
  • HCP2873E MISSING OR INVALID PARAMETER OR OPTION
  • HCP2874E DEVICE vdev IS NOT A CKD OR ECKD DASD DEVICE.
  • HCP2877E EITHER NOT A CSE VOLUME, OR CSE DATA IS NOT ON CYL ccccc TRK tt
  • HCP2897E XLINK FORMAT CANNOT CREATE A CSE AREA STARTING AT CYLINDER ccccc FOR nnnnn CYLINDERS SINCE THIS IS BEYOND THE END OF THE VOLUME. XLINK FORMAT FUNCTION TERMINATED.