z/OS concepts
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What is TSO?

z/OS concepts

Time Sharing Option/Extensions (TSO/E) allows users to create an interactive session with the z/OS® system. TSO provides a single-user logon capability and a basic command prompt interface to z/OS.

Most users work with TSO through its menu-driven interface, Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF). This collection of menus and panels offers a wide range of functions to assist users in working with data files on the system. ISPF users include system programmers, application programmers, administrators, and others who access z/OS. In general, TSO and ISPF make it easier for people with varying levels of experience to interact with the z/OS system.

In a z/OS system, each user is granted a user ID and a password authorized for TSO logon. Logging on to TSO requires a 3270 display device or, more commonly, a TN3270 emulator running on a PC.

During TSO logon, the system displays the TSO logon screen on the user's 3270 display device or TN3270 emulator. The logon screen serves the same purpose as a Windows® logon panel.

z/OS system programmers often modify the particular text layout and information of the TSO logon panel to better suit the needs of the system's users. Therefore, the screen captures used in examples will likely differ from what you might see on an actual production system.

Figure 1 shows a typical example of a TSO logon screen.

Many of the screen capture examples also show program function (PF) key settings. Because it is common practice for z/OS sites to customize the PF key assignments to suit their needs, the key assignments shown in examples might not match the PF key settings in use at your site.

Figure 1. Typical TSO/E logon screen
------------------------------- TSO/E LOGON-----------------------------------


Enter LOGON parameters below:                   RACF LOGON parameters:

Userid    ===> ZUSER
Password  ===>                                  New Password  ===>

Procedure ===> IKJACCNT                         Group Ident   ===>

Acct Nmbr ===> ACCNT#

Size      ===> 860000

Perform   ===>

Command   ===>

Enter an 'S' before each option desired below:
-Nomail         -Nonotice        -Reconnect        -OIDcard

PF1/PF13 ==> Help    PF3/PF15 ==> Logoff    PA1 ==>
Attention    PA2 ==> Reshow
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