EXCEPT

The EXCEPT control statement defines a condition that RMF™ is to test for an exceptional value. The definition consists of a condition (which is a system indicator that RMF recognizes by name), a threshold value for the condition, and an operator that establishes the relation between the condition and the threshold value. RMF compares the threshold value for the condition with the contents of the appropriate SMF record field. If the condition exceeds the threshold, RMF recognizes that an exception has occurred. The conditions that RMF can recognize and test for exceptional values are listed in Overview and exception conditions.

An exception can consist of one or multiple conditions. If you group conditions into a single exception, all conditions must exceed their threshold values to let RMF recognize that the exception has occurred.

If you specify an OVERVIEW control statement (see OVERVIEW) together with EXCEPT control statements, RMF produces an Overview report based on the EXCEPT control statements, but no Exception report.

By supplying an EXRPTS control statement for the exception, you can also cause RMF to generate one or more interval reports when the exception occurs.

Only one condition and threshold can be specified in a single control statement, however, you can specify multiple EXCEPT control statements. The syntax of the EXCEPT statement is: 

                                                             {LE}
EXCEPT([control-statement-name](condition-name[(qualifier)] ,{GE} ,threshold-value))
control-statement-name
Specifies a one to eight-character name, starting with an alphabetic character, that has three uses:
  • First, it provides a means of grouping multiple conditions to form a single exception. You group conditions by coding the same control-statement-name on each separate EXCEPT statement that defines each one of the conditions that form the exception. When conditions are grouped, all conditions must be satisfied in order for RMF to recognize the exception.
  • Second, the control-statement-name associates the exception with the interval reports, if any, that RMF is to generate when the exception occurs. The EXRPTS statement defines these reports. For more information, see the EXRPTS control statement.

    When Exception reports are generated, exceptions are listed in chronological order by control-statement-name. The control-statement-names are listed in alphabetical order. Choosing a meaningful control-statement-name makes it easier to recognize an exception.

  • Third, the control-statement-name is used in an Overview report as the header for the column with the corresponding exception data. In this case, the control-statement-name is mandatory, and must be unique for each exception.
condition-name
Specifies the name of the condition that RMF is to test for an exceptional value. All valid condition names are listed in the tables in Overview and exception conditions, which also show the record types that contain the data that RMF compares with the threshold for each condition. RMF performs the test by comparing the contents of the appropriate field in an SMF record with the threshold value. Thus, RMF can recognize an exception only when the required SMF record was produced during the reporting period.
qualifier
Specifies an optional qualifier that can limit the scope of the condition identified by condition-name. The tables in Overview and exception conditions also list the available qualifiers.
LE or GE
Specifies the operator RMF is to use to determine if the exception has occurred.

LE indicates that any value in the SMF record that is less than or equal to the threshold value causes an exception.

GE indicates that any value in the SMF record that is greater than or equal to the threshold value causes an exception.

threshold-value
Specifies the value that RMF compares to a computed value from the appropriate SMF record fields. You can specify the value as:
  • a whole number – where the value can be a one to six digit integer.
  • a fraction – up to six digits can appear before and up to three digits can appear after the decimal point. However, the total number of digits specified cannot exceed nine, including the decimal point.
  • percentage – where the maximum percentage that can be specified is 100 percent. The value can be expressed as a whole integer or as a fraction. You can specify a percentage only with those conditions that indicate a percent value.

When the SMF record exceeds the threshold value, as indicated by the LE or GE operand, RMF flags the condition for reporting. For each interval, only one line is printed for each exception regardless of the number of times the threshold is exceeded.

Note: For information on exception/overview duration reporting, refer to DINTV.
Examples:
  • The Postprocessor is to generate a line in the Exception report for each interval when the total busy percent value for channel path 1 is greater than or equal to ten percent. Use the following control statement: 
    EXCEPT((CHTBSY(01),GE,10))

    The absence of a control-statement-name indicates that this is a single condition exception and that no interval reports are generated.

  • The Postprocessor is to generate a Channel Path Activity report for each interval when the I/O service rate for service class TSO is higher than or equal to 100 service units per second, and the device percent utilized value for device 06D8 is greater than or equal to 3. Use the following control statements: 
    EXCEPT(EXCP1(IOSRV(S.TSO),GE,100))
EXCEPT(EXCP1(DVUTL(06D8),GE,3))

    Note that the control-statement-name EXCP1 is used to group the two conditions into one exception. When RMF recognizes both conditions, RMF writes a line for each condition in the Exception report.

Parent topic: How to use control statements