Submitting documentation on tape

Whenever possible, submit documentation electronically. If, after talking to the IBM® Support Center representative about a problem, you need to submit documentation to the VTAM® service team and electronic submission is not possible, you can submit documentation on a tape. Documentation on tape can be handled most efficiently by the IBM Support Center if it conforms to the following guidelines.

Tapes that are submitted to the VTAM service team can be standard label (SL) or nonlabel (NL) cartridge (3480). Improved data recording capability (a feature on 3480, standard on 3490) (IDRC) can be used. Each tape should contain an external label to identify the tape and its contents in some way. If an APAR has been taken, put the APAR number on the label. Otherwise, put the PMR number on the label. If you use multiple tapes or multiple files on one tape, include a separate explanation itemizing the contents of each tape.

With each tape, include the output from the job used to create the tape. To verify that the tape was created correctly and that the job completed normally, the VTAM service team must have the output from the job that created the tape (not just the job control statements that were used).

Note: The information in this topic is from APAR OY17061. See that APAR for additional information.

To submit dumps, traces, and other information to the VTAM service team, take the following steps:

For dumps
Do not format data in any way before or during the transfer of the dump to tape. Dumps can be transferred to tape using IPCS or IEBGENER. See Table 1 to determine the document that describes how to use the IPCS and IEBGENER utilities.
Do not change the data control block (DCB) parameters of the dump data set. Define the DCB parameters as follows:
```
LRECL=4160, BLKSIZE=4160, RECFM=F
```
For GTF traces
Move the GTF trace data from the trace data set (which is usually SYS1.TRACE) to tape using IEBGENER only. The DCB parameters for a GTF trace should be one of the following values:
```
LRECL=4092, BLKSIZE=4096, RECFM=VBA
LRECL=4092, BLKSIZE=32760, RECFM=VBA
```
For both traces and dumps, do not reblock the data (that is, use a different BLKSIZE) when moving it to tape. Use only the DCB parameters shown in the preceding example.

Restriction: Using any other utility (IBM or non-IBM) to transfer dump or trace data to tape might result in a processing delay and result in the APAR being returned to you (closed "RET") because the IBM service team is unable to process the tape.
For other types of information
Other types of information (for example, VTAM definitions, NCP stage one input, and console logs) can be submitted on paper or tape. If you submit the data on tape, it should be written to tape using IEBGENER only. The DCB parameters used when writing this type of data to tape should be the same as the input data set (that is, the same DCB parameters as the source of the data).