Question & Answer
Question
What are some ways to download a spool files to the PC. Is there an easy way to get ASCII .txt versus PDF? Is there any easy way to locate spool files for a specific job? My spool files are HUGE - what are my options to download this data?
Cause
Support may request joblogs, dumps, etc for debugging issues or you may have a joblog or report you simply need to share with a colleague. This TechNote will outline some ways to download small, medium, and large spool files to your PC.
Answer
Before we get started - you may or may not have the iACS client and need to download it. You could be still using the legacy Operations Navigator / iSeries Navigator. The following URLs will address both of these situations.
[ ] IBM i Access Client Solutions (Download)
==> https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1026805
If you cannot download the client for any reason - we still have you covered:
[ ] Legacy Operations Navigator or iSeries Navigator instructions
==> http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1018362
==> Transferring an Operating System Spooled File to a PC
I will provide a few examples of generating output, locating that output, and then downloading the data to the PC.
[ ] Small to Medium sized Spool files / joblogs / etc
From my interactive job I will issue the following commands - which are typical requests from support:
==> WRKPTFGRP, F6 to print
==> DSPPTF OUTPUT(*PRINT)
==> DSPJOBLOG OUTPUT(*PRINT)
To see the above information on the green screen you would type the following:
==> WRKJOB
==> 4. Work with spooled files
Job: QPADEV000H User: RHDIESER Number: 927097 Type options, press Enter. 1=Send 2=Change 3=Hold 4=Delete 5=Display 6=Release 7=Messages 8=Attributes 9=Work with printing status Device or Total Current Opt File Queue User Data Status Pages Page Copies QSYSPRT QPRINT RDY 1 1 QSYSPRT QPRINT RDY 110 1 QPJOBLOG QEZJOBLOG QPADEV000H RDY 1 1
Open "IBM i Access Client Solutions"
The default view may look a little intimidating, but this is where we will use the job information we already know to our advantage and set
some filtering to only display what we are looking for.
Filtering the display:
The following "Set Filter" dialog box will be displayed. Using my job information from above - I will set the appropriate filter information. ==> "Job: QPADEV000H User: RHDIESER Number: 927097"
Click "Ok" to set the filter - this display looks a lot better. I see the different spool files I created. Notice how they are not in the same OUTQ. The next question - how to download them and in what format?
Select "Edit" again and then "Preferences"
This screen is important - you can tell iACS where to download the data and in what format. In this case I have un-checked the "Use PDF format if available" in
order to get the plain / ASCII .txt that support typically needs.
Click "OK"
Now you can select individual spool files, shift & click the first and last, etc. to select as many or as few as you need.
==> Right click on the highlighted spool file(s)
==> Click on "Download Only"
==> Notice the highlighted path - this will tell you where the spool files are going on your PC.
When the download completes - your screen will look something like this:
In Windows Explorer - I navigate to where I download the spoolfiles:
==> C:\temp\SpoolFiles
I can see I have a directory by the name of my system "RCH730A" - within that directory I see the spool files.
Windows makes it easy to create a single zip file that contains all of the above spool files from the right click menu.
==> Right click your "system name" folder
==> Select "Send To"
==> Select "Compressed (zipped) folder
The result will be a "system name.zip" folder in the the same directory. This could be sent to the interested parties for further review.
[ ] Very Large spool files (VLOG data, huge joblogs, etc)
There may be times when the spool file data is too large and not very practical to download to your PC. In these situations you may consider creating an OUTQ for this data, moving the spool files to this new OUTQ, and then saving that OUTQ to a SAVF.
[ ] Create your OUTQ and SAVF files (I will use QIBMDATA as my library - CRTLIB QIBMDATA - if you do not have this library)
==> CRTOUTQ QIBMDATA/PMROUT
==> CRTSAVF QIBMDATA/PMRSAVF
This is what you should have so far:
==> WRKLIB QIBMDATA
==> Option 12
[ ] Locate your spool files that you want to save
==> WRKJOB
==> Option 4
==> Or - you could use WRKSPLF (F4) and specify the job information
[ ] Move the spool files into the new OUTQ: QIBMDATA/PMROUT
==> On the "Opt" line - place a "2" next to each spool file you want to move
==> Tab to the command line
==> Type your OUTQ: QIBMDATA/PMROUT
==> Press Enter
Once you hit enter - notice the "Device or Queue" column was updated to reflect the change:
[ ] Command used to save the PMROUT output queue (and its spool file contents)
SAVOBJ OBJ(PMROUT)
LIB(QIBMDATA)
DEV(*SAVF)
SAVF(QIBMDATA/PMRSAVF)
SPLFDTA(*ALL)
DTACPR(*MEDIUM)
Note:
The default value for SPLFDTA is *NONE . Setting this to to *ALL allows us to save the spool files that are contained in the OUTQ (otherwise, the OUTQ is empty).
[ ] Verify your SAVF contains data
==> DSPSAVF QIBMDATA/PMRSAVF
The above looks good - verify the OUTQ contains data by taking "5=Display" next to the OUTQ.
==> You can see each of the spool files
The following are options you can use to get the SAVF from your IBM i to support.
[ ] QMGTOOLS: FTP Data to IBM
==> http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1010370
[ ] Getting a *SAVF from Your Desktop to an IBM i System
==> http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1017842
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Modified date:
18 December 2019
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ibm10737945