IBM Support

Saving an Output Queue with SPLFDTA(*ALL) to Send Spooled Files to Software Support

Troubleshooting


Problem

This document provides information on saving an output queue with spooled file data for the purpose of providing Software Support with spooled files that they can use to re-create a problem.

Resolving The Problem

This document provides information on saving an output queue with spooled file data for the purpose of providing Software Support with spooled files that they can use to re-create a problem. The GETSPLF utility was used previously to send spooled files to the Rochester Support Center, but this utility is no longer needed as of operating system V5R4M0 (R540) because there is now an option to save spooled file data when saving an output queueIf saving spooled files from a system running operating system R540, then follow the instructions in this document; otherwise, refer to the following Rochester Support Center knowledgebase document instead:

This document was last updated on 31 December 2013.


Saving an Output Queue to a Save File

To save an output queue to a save file, do the following:
1. Use the Create Output Queue (CRTOUTQ) command to create a NEW output queue for all of the spooled files that need to be sent to the Rochester Support Center.

This is to prevent having extra spooled files saved in the SAVF (for example, if using QEZJOBLOG or QPRINT output queues).
2. Identify all of the spooled files that must be sent to the Rochester Support Center and move them all to the output queue created in Step 1 above.

Note: The spooled files can typically be found by using the Work with Spooled Files (WRKSPLF) comnmand, the Work with Output Queue (WRKOUTQ) command, or using the Work with Job (WRKJOB) command and selecting Option 4 (Work with spooled files). Once a spooled file has been identified, it can be moved by selecting Option 2 (Change) and setting the Output queue (OUTQ) parameter to the name of the output queue created in Step 1.
3. Create a save file by typing the following Create Save File (CRTSAVF) command:

CRTSAVF  FILE(library/save_file_name)
         TEXT('Save file for sending SPLFs to SW Support')

This save file will later be downloaded to the PC in binary format using FTP, so the resulting PC file can be sent to Software Support by attaching the file to an e-mail message.
4. Save the output queue to the save file by typing the following Save Object (SAVOBJ) command:

SAVOBJ  OBJ(output-queue)  LIB(library)  DEV(*SAVF)  OBJTYPE(*OUTQ)
        SAVF(library/save_file_name)  SPLFDTA(*ALL)  DTACPR(*YES)

The Data compression (DTACPR) parameter should be set to *YES so the save file, and the resulting e-mail attachment, will be as small as possible.

Note: The Spooled file data (SPLFDTA) parameter can be specified when saving an entire library using the Save Library (SAVLIB) command or when saving the entire system. However, in every case the SPLFDTA parameter defaults to *NONE, so no spooled file data will be saved unless this parameter is changed to *ALL.

Using FTP to Copy the Save File to a PC

After the output queue has been saved to a save file, that save file can be downloaded to a PC, attached to an email and sent to Software Support using the following instructions:
1. Bring up a Microsoft Windows command prompt and use the CD command to connect to the directory that you want to contain the file.
2. Type FTP <system_name> to connect to the sending system.
3. Type CD <library-name> to change the working directory to the library where the save file was created.

Note: If this fails with an error that says the library was not found, it could be caused by the FTP attributes on the sending system being setup with the Initial name format (NAMEFMT) parameter set to *PATH rather than *LIB, or in other words, FTP may be setup to connect to the Integrated File System rather than to the library structure. Use the Change FTP Attributes (CHGFTPA) command to check on this or to change the setting, or you can try typing CD /QSYS.LIB/<library-name>.LIB instead. Another option is to try typing QUOTE SITE NAMEFMT 0 and then typing CD <library-name>.
4. Type BIN to switch to BINARY mode.
5. Use the RECV <save_file_name> <pc_file_name> command to download the file to the PC.
6. Attach the PC file to e-mail and send.

  • - Sending the Save File to the IBM Rochester Support Center Using E-Mail



    After the save file has been downloaded to a PC, it can be sent to the IBM Rochester Support Center using the IBM Enhanced Customer Data Repository (ECuRep) Mail Gateway, provided that total of all attachments is no larger than 20 MB.

    To send the save file using the IBM Enhanced Customer Data Repository (ECuRep) Mail Gateway, do the following:

    1. Create an e-mail message to the following e-mail address:

    ibmi_support@ecurep.ibm.com
    2. Set the subject line to "PMR xxxxx bbb ccc , where xxxxx is the problem number, bbb is the branch number, and ccc is the country code (000 is USA).

    For more information on sending data to IBM Support via e-mail, refer to the Enhanced Customer Data Repository (ECuRep) Mail Gateway web page, which is available at:

    http://www-05.ibm.com/de/support/ecurep/secure_data_upload_mail.html

    For a list of valid country/region codes, refer to the Enhanced Customer Data Repository (ECuRep) Country/Region Codes web page, which is available at:

    http://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/739283
  • - Sending the Save File to the IBM Rochester Support Center Using the IBM Service Request Web Page



    After the save file has been downloaded to a PC, it can be sent to the IBM Rochester Support Center using the IBM Service Request web page, provided the save file is no larger than 2 GB.

    If you have an existing service request or call record, also known as a "PMR" or "Problem Maintenance Record", do the following:

    1. Sign on to the IBM Service Request web page, which is available at:

    http://www.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/open_service_request
    2. On the Welcome page, enter the PMR number in the Enter a report number field and click Go.
    3. Scroll down to the Attach Relevant File field.
    4. Click Browse to start adding files to your PMR.
    5. Click Submit to transfer your file to IBM Technical Support through FTP (ECuRep) and associated with this PMR.

    If you are opening a new service request or call record, also known as a "PMR" or "Problem Maintenance Record", do the following:
     
    1. Sign on to the IBM Service Request web page, which is available at:

    https://www-925.ibm.com/software/support/esr/
    2. Select Open a new service request.
    3. Follow the steps to create a Service Request until you have come to the final page prior to submitting your request.
    4. Scroll down to the Attach additional files section.
    5. Click Browse to start adding files to your PMR.
    6. Click Submit when you are done adding files and are ready to submit your PMR to IBM Service.
  • - Sending the Save File to the IBM Rochester Support Center Using the ECuRep FTP Site



    After the save file has been downloaded to a PC, it can be sent to the IBM Rochester Support Center using the ECuRep FTP site.

    To send the save file to the ECuRep FTP site, do the following:

    1. If you have not already opened a call record, or a Problem Management Record (PMR) as they are officially called, then open a call record by either calling the Rochester iSeries Support Center at 1-800-IBM-SERV (1-800-426-7378) or by using the IBM Service Request web page, which is available at:

    http://www.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/open_service_request

    Note: Discuss the issue with your support representative and get their concurrence before sending any files electronically through email or the Testcase FTP site.
    2. Use a data compression utility such as PKZIP, PKZIP for Microsoft Windows or WinZip to create a single binary file containing all of the data that needs to be sent to the Rochester Support Center.
    3. Once you have created the ZIP file, you can send it to your Rochester Support Center representative using FTP or e-mail.
    4. To send the ZIP file using e-mail, contact your Rochester Support Center representative and get their e-mail address. Then you will need to attach the file to a note and then send it to their e-mail address.
    5. To send it using FTP, use an FTP program to upload the file in binary format to testcase.boulder.ibm.com in folder toibm/os400 and login using the "anonymous" user ID and your e-mail address as the password, or bring up an Windows Command prompt and type the following commands:

    ftp ftp.ecurep.ibm.com
    user anonymous
    <password>
    cd toibm/os400
    bin
    put xxxxx.bbb.ccc.yyy.yyy
    quit

    where xxxxx is the PMR number in retain, bbb is the branch number, ccc is the country code (such as 12345.7TD.000) and yyy.yyy is a short description for the file type (such as 12345.ZIP or 12345.7TD.000.12345.ZIP for a zip file). Your email address can be used for the <password> when using anonymous for the user.

    NOTE: At some point, IBM will remove anonymous login. Please refer to this URL on how to obtain an IBM ID and password.

    http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1022576
    6. Once the file has been successfully sent or uploaded, notify your Support Center representative so they know to expect it.
    Note: The ECuRep FTP site can also be accessed through a its Secure ECuRep HTTPS upload page, which is available at:

    https://www.ecurep.ibm.com/app/upload

    For more information, refer to the following web page:

    http://www-05.ibm.com/de/support/ecurep/secure_data_upload_https.html
  • - Sending the Save File to the IBM Rochester Support Center Using the TESTCASE FTP Site



    After the save file has been downloaded to a PC, it can be sent to the IBM Rochester Support Center using the TESTCASE FTP site.

    To send the save file to the TESTCASE FTP site, do the following:

    1. If you have not already opened a call record, or a Problem Management Record (PMR) as they are officially called, then open a call record by either calling the Rochester iSeries Support Center at 1-800-IBM-SERV (1-800-426-7378) or by using the IBM Service Request Web page, which is available at:

    http://www.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/open_service_request

    Note: Discuss the issue with your support representative and get their concurrence before sending any files electronically through email or the Testcase FTP site.
    2. Use a data compression utility such as PKZIP, PKZIP for Microsoft Windows or WinZip to create a single binary file containing all of the data that needs to be sent to the Rochester Support Center.
    3. Once you have created the ZIP file, you can send it to your Rochester Support Center representative using FTP or e-mail.
    4. To send the ZIP file using e-mail, contact your Rochester Support Center representative and get their e-mail address. Then you will need to attach the file to a note and then send it to their e-mail address.
    5. To send it using FTP, use an FTP program to upload the file in binary format to testcase.boulder.ibm.com in folder toibm/os400 and login using the "anonymous" user ID and your e-mail address as the password, or bring up an Windows Command prompt and type the following commands:

    ftp testcase.boulder.ibm.com
    user anonymous
    <password>
    cd toibm/os400
    bin
    put xxxxx.bbb.ccc.yyy.yyy
    quit

    where xxxxx is the PMR number in retain, bbb is the branch number, ccc is the country code (such as 12345.7TD.000) and yyy.yyy is a short description for the file type (such as 12345.ZIP or 12345.7TD.000.12345.ZIP for a zip file). Your email address can be used for the <password> when using anonymous for the user.

    NOTE: At some point IBM will remove anonymous login. Refer to this URL on how to obtain an IBM ID and password.

    http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1022576

    The testcase.boulder.ibm.com FTP site can also be accessed through a Web browser at ftp://testcase.boulder.ibm.com/ or https://testcase.boulder.ibm.com/.
    6. Once the file has been successfully sent or uploaded, notify your Support Center representative so they know to expect it.
    Note: The TESTCASE FTP site can also be accessed through a its Secure File Transfer web page, which is available at:

    https://testcase.boulder.ibm.com/
  • - Using FTP to Copy the Save File to an IBM System i Running V5R4M0 (R540) i5/OS or Higher



    After the save file has been sent to Software Support, the Software Support Rep can upload the save file and restore the output queue and spooled files to an iSeries system running V5R4M0 (R540) i5/OS or higher. The customer can also go through these steps, using on another IBM System i or LPAR, prior to sending the save file to the IBM Rochester Support Center to ensure that the save file can successfully be used to restore the spooled files to another system.

    To restore the spooled files to another IBM System i running V5R4M0 (R540) i5/OS or higher, do the following:

    1. Receive the e-mail and detach the PC file to a temporary folder.
    2. Create a save file on the operating system by typing the following command:

    CRTSAVF  FILE(library/save_file_name)
             TEXT('Example SPLFs for PMR XXXXX,YYY,ZZZ')
    3. Bring up a Windows Command Prompt and use the CD command to connect to the directory that contains the detached file.
    4. Type FTP <system_name> to connect to the receiving eServer i5 family.
    5. Type CD <library-name> to change the working directory to the library where the save file was generated.

    Note: If this fails with an error that says the library was not found, it could be caused by the FTP attributes on the iSeries System being setup with the Initial name format (NAMEFMT) parameter set to *PATH instead of *LIB, or in other words FTP may be setup to connect to the Integrated File System (IFS) rather than to the library structure. Use the Change FTP Attributes (CHGFTPA) command to check on this or even change the setting, or you can try typing CD /QSYS.LIB/<library-name>.LIB instead. Another option would be to try typing QUOTE SITE NAMEFMT 0 and then typing CD <library-name>.
    6. Type BIN to switch to BINARY mode.
    7. Use the SEND <pc_file_name> <save_file_name> command to upload the PC file into the i5/OS save file.
    8. Check the save file to see what the original library was, using the following i5/OS command:

    DSPSAVF FILE(library/save_file_name)
    9. Restore the database file from the save file by typing the following i5/OS command:

    RSTOBJ  OBJ(output_queue_name)  SAVLIB(save_library)  DEV(*SAVF)
            OBJTYPE(*OUTQ)  SAVF(library/save_file_name)  SPLFDTA(*NEW)
             RSTLIB(restore_library)

    Note: Setting the spooled file data (SPLFDTA) parameter to *NEW will cause the spooled file data that was saved with each output queue to be restored, if the spooled file data does not already exist on the system. This parameter is new for V5R4M0 (R540) i5/OS and it defaults to *NEW, so specifying this parameter is not necessary unless the command defaults for the RSTOBJ command have been changed.


For more information on sending data to IBM i, please refer to the following documents:

N1019224: MustGather: Instructions for Sending Data to IBM i Support Database 'DCF Technotes (IBM i)', View 'Products', Document 'MustGather: Instructions for Sending Data to IBM i Support'
N1010370: QMGTOOLS: FTP Data to IBM Database 'DCF Technotes (IBM i)', View 'Products', Document 'QMGTOOLS: FTP Data to IBM'
N1011297: MustGather: How To Obtain and Install QMGTOOLS Database 'DCF Technotes (IBM i)', View 'Products', Document 'MustGather: How To Obtain and Install QMGTOOLS'

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Historical Number

410194453

Document Information

Modified date:
04 July 2021

UID

nas8N1015044

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