***********************NEWSLETTER SIXTY-TWO*****************************
MXG NEWSLETTER NUMBER SIXTY-TWO, SEP 1, 2013
Technical Newsletter for Users of MXG : Merrill's Expanded Guide to CPE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. MXG Software Version.
II. MXG Technical Notes
III. MVS, aka z/OS, Technical Notes
IV. DB2 Technical Notes.
V. IMS Technical Notes.
VI. SAS Technical Notes.
VI.A. WPS Technical Notes.
VII. CICS Technical Notes.
VIII. Windows NT Technical Notes.
IX. z/VM Technical Notes.
X. Email notes.
XI. Incompatibilities and Installation of MXG.
See member CHANGES and member INSTALL.
XII. Online Documentation of MXG Software.
See member DOCUMENT.
XIII. Changes Log
Alphabetical list of important changes
Highlights of Changes - See Member CHANGES.
COPYRIGHT (C) 1984,2013 MERRILL CONSULTANTS DALLAS TEXAS USA
I. The 2013 Annual Version MXG 30.30 was dated Jan 21, 2013.
1. The current version is MXG 31.07, dated Sep 20, 2013.
You can always use this form
http://www.mxg.com/Software_Download_Request
to request the ftp download instructions for the current version.
See CHANGES member of MXG Source, or http://www.mxg.com/changes.
II. MXG Technical Notes
1. Sending data to ftp.mxg.com.
Merrill Consultant's Secure FTP server supports SSL, TLS, and SSH,
and SFTP for sending data
III. MVS, a/k/a z/OS, Technical Notes.
8. TRSMAIN PARM SPACK creates a much smaller file than PACK in this
comparison of compressing SMF data with both options, but SPACK
takes about three times as long:
Method --CPU-- ----IN---- ---OUT---
PACK 1.4 sec 38,055,864 6,951,936 18%
SPACK 3.4 sec 38,055,864 3,459,072 9%
IBM supports only version 2 of TRSMAIN, shipped in 1993, and later
versions. Further, support is limited to the SPACK option.
7. SMF bytes counted in ANALID may be compressed or uncompressed size.
When MXG executes under z/OS:
a. With %LET SMFEXIT=CICS to use the CICSIFUE Infile exit, the SMF
record has been decompressed before the MXG code in _SMF runs,
so the LENGTH reported is always the uncompressed length.
b. If you do NOT enable the use of the CICSIFUE Infile exit, the
SMF records are still compressed when _SMF is executed, so the
LENGTH reported is always the compressed length.
To compare the size of your SMF data before/after enabling
compression of CICS and DB2 data, run ANALID once with the
INFILE exit enabled, and once without to see the total size
reduction.
One snapshot of daily volume before/after:
DB2 and CICS compressed - 17,663,216,116 bytes
DB2 and CICS uncompressed - 45,403,944,137 bytes
Savings of - 27,740,728,021 bytes
Compressed data is about 39% the size of uncompressed.
When MXG executes under ASCII:
a. There is no CICSIFUE exit for ASCII, so the LENGTH seen in _SMF
is the compressed length.
6. APAR OA40596 reports errors in these SMF 42 Subtype 19 fields
SMF42JNE SMF42JNF SMF42JPE SMF42JPF
SMF2AJNE SMF2AJNF SMF2AJPE SMF2AJPF
were corrected, but RMF III uses those fields and APAR OA41815 is
needed to correct RMF III data.
5. Sites with ATAM, Tivoli's Automated Tape Allocation management, who
use MXG's Tape Mount Monitor MXGTMNT/ASMTAPEE program, will have
problems allocating tapes and ATAM error messages ATH016W, if the
ATAM guru did not specify EXITCOMPAT=Y in the ATAM startup parms.
Member ADOCTMS5 has complete details from pages 121-123 of the ATAM
User's Guide.
4. SMF70NSW and SMF70NCA can both be zero on z/EC12 due to a hardware
issue. Both are created in ERBMFDCP based on data returned from the
hardware Diagnose 204 instruction, and there is a Hardware Fix to
correct: "Setting of WLM capping is missing on Diag 204 from 2827"
in MCL H09168-002 from bundle 24.
3. The RMF Monitor I TYPE78VS CSA/SQA Virtual Storage data won't match
RMF Monitor III CSA/SQA Measurements because those data are based on
different sources:
The MI VSTOR report shows the virtual storage allocation.
The RMF Monitor III shows the real central storage occupation.
For example, DREF pages are not backed by central storage frames
until they are referenced, so they will be counted in VSTOR data,
may not (yet) be counted in the RMF III data.
2. APAR OA41459 corrects an IBM error that was discovered when SAS was
used to write compressed data files with tailored compression table.
1. An IBM-MAIN post noted that IBM has been using 36-core mainframe
modules in the zEC12, for a total of 120 usable PUs, of which, in
maximum configuration,16 are configured as SAPs, 2 are spares, 1 is
a reserve, and 101 are customer configurable as CPs, IFLs, zIIPs,
zAAPs, ICFs, or additional SAPs.
IV. DB2 Technical Notes.
1. Text
V. IMS Technical Notes.
1. Text
VI. SAS Technical Notes.
6. In a %MACRO definition, syntax for a comment can be either
/* comment text */
Or
%* comment text ;
BUT: If you INCORRECTLY use:
*%PUT text ;
the %PUT is executed as it is NOT seen as a comment; without that %
it would be seen as base code and then it would be a comment.
5. The AUTONAME option in PROC MEANS will truncate long variable names
to fit the suffix (_SUM _MAX _MIN etc) to be added to the variable
name. With similar variable names there will NOT be duplicate
names, but there will be names where the suffix added will have a
number appended to it. AUTONAME is rarely used in MXG (ANAL72GO
ANALINIT ANALHTML UGMTCHK) and it is safe in all of those cases.
But, it is an option in VMXGSUM and should be used cautiously to
avoid confusion.
In case 1 there will be multiple variables with the same name where
the suffix is _SUM _SUM1 and _MAX _MAX1. There will be a NOTE in the
SAS LOG telling you this was done.
CASE 1:
DATA VIPDLW;
VIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBS=5;
VIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBX=9;
PROC MEANS NOPRINT DATA=VIPDLW ;
VAR VIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBS
VIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBX ;
OUTPUT OUT=TEST ( DROP= _FREQ_ _TYPE_ )
MAX(VIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBS
VIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBX )=
SUM(VIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBS
VIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBX )=
/INHERIT KEEPLEN AUTONAME ;
RUN;
In case 2, there is no similarity in the names and they are simply
truncated with no NOTE in the log.
CASE 2:
PROC CONTENTS;
DATA VIPDLW;
VIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBS=5;
WIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBX=9;
PROC MEANS NOPRINT DATA=VIPDLW ;
VAR VIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBS
WIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBX ;
OUTPUT OUT=TEST ( DROP= _FREQ_ _TYPE_ )
MAX(VIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBS
WIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBX )=
SUM(VIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBS
WIP_DLC_WQ_QDEPTHAVG_OBS_HWM_OBX )=
/INHERIT KEEPLEN AUTONAME ;
RUN;
PROC CONTENTS;
4. For z/OS jobs using ODS GRAPHICS, SAS notes that "the region size of
a typical SAS job needs to be increased when features are used that
incorporate Java. The increase will vary depending upon the
application. At a minimum, regions for SAS jobs using Java require
256 MB. For a batch job, add either REGION=256M to the JOB card.
For a TSO session, specify SIZE(262144)." However, we see a MUCH
bigger region required for the new ODS version of GRAFWRKS that uses
PROC SGPLOT procedure, which required 677M.
Added: Companion for z/OS states 600MB MAXASSIZE is required for
the OMVS Segment Address Space size.
3. We have tested the Early Adopter release of SAS 9.4, on z/OS 1.13
and on ASCII (WIN7 and WIN8) with the MXG 31.02 QA job stream and
have found NO PROBLEMS and so far, COMPLETE COMPATIBILITY with 9.3.
An additional performance comparison was made reading an SMF file of
6334MB (6.2GB) with 3,715,924 records (6GB SMF 30 intervals, 334MB
SMF 70s, a FULL year's data!), with lots of sorts and reports, under
WIN7 on a notebook with i7-3840QM @ 2.80 GHz CPU, with input SMF on
a fast USB 3 drive, and with WORK and PDB outputs on separate
(FAST!) SSD drives, with no significant differences:
SAS 9.3 SAS 9.4
CPU Time Elapsed Time CPU Time Elapsed Time
mm:ss mm:ss mm:ss mm:ss
10:05 11:07 10:29 11:11
2. A site with SAS 9.2 had three datasets concatenated to //SOURCLIB
on z/OS, with the first DSN having BLKSIZE=32720 and the other two
with BLKSIZE=27920; when TYPE110 was run, 60 lines were completely
skipped causing a series of strange errors. 60*80=4800 which is
the delta between 32720 and 27920. Changing the first DSN BLKSIZE
to 27920 to match the other two DSNs resolved the problem for the
user, but SAS will now investigate why this was an error.
1. SAS Note 46767 reports MXGNAMES/CONFIMXG can't have a //SOURCLIB DD
until SAS 9.4 corrects a defect. One is not needed with MXGNAMES
because the //SOURCLIB and //LIBRARY (required) DDs are dynamically
allocated; the correction in 9.4 is to NOT loop and instead simply
ignore the static DD allocation if it exists in the JCL.
VI.A. WPS Technical Notes.
1. MXG Support for WPS Software - Newsletter 62, Sept 1, 2013:
a. The Current MXG Version and the Current WPS Version are required
for any problem to be considered.
Note that your MXG Software License Agreement states legally:
Merrill agrees to provide continuous product support for MXG in
the following areas:
When error conditions
(i.e., the SAS execution of MXG code produces either a
return code or an ABEND)
are the results of errors in MXG Code, they will be corrected.
If you encounter an error testing MXG under WPS:
You should report the error to WPS Technical Support for
initial investigation.
If WPS support believes the error is an MXG problem, they can
contact MXG, or may choose to refer you to MXG Support.
MXG Support may then request you to send data to MXG:
- the raw data file that caused the error
- your site's USERID.SOURCLIB (tailoring) source library
- your program
If the error can be replicated under the SAS System, it will
be corrected per the above license terms.
b. You should be aware of multiple legal issues between SAS Institute
and World Programming Limited, including a lawsuit entitled
"SAS Institute Inc. v. World Programming Limited, Case No.
5:10-CV-25-FL (U.S.D.C., E.D._NC), in which the Court entered
judgement in favor of SAS, and Case No.LACV 18-00603-VAP (PjWx)
(U.S.D.C.)(C.D. Cal), an Assignment Order regarding payments to
World Programming Limited. This paragraph added Oct 2018.
WPL Requested the below court cases also be listed, Aug 2019.
https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/
cases/EWHC/Ch/2010/1829.html&query=(sas)+AND+(institute)
https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/eu/
cases/EUECJ/2011/C40610_O.html&query=(sas)+AND+(institute)
https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/
cases/EWHC/Ch/2013/69.html&query=(sas)+AND+(institute)
https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/
cases/EWCA/Civ/2013/1482.html&query=(sas)+AND+(institute)
https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/
cases/EWHC/Comm/2018/3452.html&query=(sas)+AND+(institute)
VII. CICS Technical Notes.
1. Text
VIII. Windows NT Technical Notes.
1. Text
IX. z/VM Technical Notes.
1. APAR VM64961 is needed for the CPU Measurement Facility (SMF 113)
data in z/VM 5.4 or later to be valid and completed; Change 29.172
added support and created VXPRCMFC dataset that has the same counter
variable names as existing SMF 113 records.
X. Email notes.
1. Text
XI. Incompatibilities and Installation of MXG vv.yy.
1. Incompatibilities introduced in MXG 31.03 (since MXG 30.30):
See CHANGES.
2. Installation and re-installation procedures are described in detail
in member INSTALL (separate sections for each platform, z/OS, WIN,
or *nix), with examples of common Errors/Warnings messages a new MXG
user might encounter, and in member JCLINSTT for SAS V9.2 or member
JCLINSTW for WPS. INSTALL also shows how to read SMF data on PCs/nix
using the FTP ACCESS METHOD.
XII. Online Documentation of MXG Software.
MXG Documentation is now described in member DOCUMENT.
XIIV. Changes Log
--------------------------Changes Log---------------------------------
You MUST read each Change description to determine if a Change will
impact your site. All changes have been made in this MXG Library.
Member CHANGES always identifies the actual version and release of
MXG Software that is contained in that library.
The CHANGES selection on our homepage at http://www.MXG.com
is always the most current information on MXG Software status,
and is frequently updated.
Important changes are also posted to the MXG-L ListServer, which is
also described by a selection on the homepage. Please subscribe.
The actual code implementation of some changes in MXG SOURCLIB may be
different than described in the change text (which might have printed
only the critical part of the correction that need be made by users).
Scan each source member named in any impacting change for any comments
at the beginning of the member for additional documentation, since the
documentation of new datasets, variables, validation status, and notes,
are often found in comments in the source members.
Alphabetical list of important changes after MXG VV.RR in MXG VV.RR+1:
Dataset/
Member Change Description
See Member CHANGES or CHANGESS in your MXG Source Library, or
on the homepage www.mxg.com.
Inverse chronological list of all Changes:
Changes 31.yyy thru 31.001 are contained in member CHANGES.