Using system symbols in ROUTE commands

You can specify system symbols in commands that are routed to one or more systems in a sysplex. This topic explains special considerations for using system symbols in routed commands. Before you read this topic, see Sharing system commands for information about how to use system symbols in commands and lists of system symbols that the system provides.

When you enter a ROUTE command, the system views the command in two parts:

The actual ROUTE command, which indicates where and how the command is to be routed. The system on which the ROUTE command is entered processes the system symbols in this part of the command.
The command that is to be processed on one or more other systems. The system to which the command is routed processes the system symbols in this part of the command.

Because several systems can be involved in processing a ROUTE command, IBM® recommends that you enter a DISPLAY SYMBOLS command on each system that is to process parts of the ROUTE command containing system symbols.

DISPLAY SYMBOLS shows the current static system symbols and their associated substitution texts. See the description of the DISPLAY SYMBOLS command for more information.

For example, suppose that the following values are defined for system symbols on systems SYS1 and SYS2:

System	System Symbol	Value
SYS1	&T1	999
SYS1	&SYSNAME2	SYS2
SYS1	&SYSCLONE	S1
SYS2	&T1	0
SYS2	&SYSNAME	SYS2
SYS2	&SYSCLONE	S2

Then suppose you enter the following ROUTE command on system SYS1:

RO T=&T1,&SYSNAME2,F JOB&SYSCLONE,parameters
___________________ _________________________
Processed by SYS1   Processed by SYS2

The systems process the command in the following way:

The system on which the ROUTE command is entered, SYS1, substitutes text for the &T1 and &SYSNAME2 system symbols in the first part of the command.
The system to which the command is to be routed, SYS2, substitutes text for the &SYSCLONE system symbol in the second part of the command.

The result of the substitution is:

RO  T=999,SYS2,F JOBS2,parameters

If a system group had been specified in place of a system name in the ROUTE command, the MODIFY command would have been routed to all systems in that group. Each system would have substituted text for system symbols in the instance of the command that was routed to that system.