IBM Mainframe Forum

Hello

I'd like to know how to use SMF and how i can retrieve the info i need.
I just started looking into it, i have no background knowledge of SMF. I assume i can collect info from SMF through REXX.
Can you provide me with educational material of SMF and the way it can be scanned via REXX ?

Is the exact creation time of a dataset present in SMF log anyway? Or even the deletion time and the user who deleted it?
Or SMF is not supposed to log all those events.

Please let me know.

Thanks,
David

Hello,

I assume i can collect info from SMF through REXX

Surely, not a good starting position. . .

I'd like to know how to use SMF and how i can retrieve the info i need.

Depending on exactly what you are looking for, it may already exist. Suggest you speak with your storage management, system suppoprt, or performance measurement people to learn what is already available.

There is the liklihood that you will not have access to the real smf data. The volume is huge. On the good side, nearly everything that happens on the system is recorded.

And also, SMF records are usually created as VBS, and REXX CAN NOT process VBS records.

As Dick has suggested, the information may already be readily available from your performance / capacity / storage / sysprogs (Site specific - Depends on who is responsible for SMF processing). So go talk to these people rather than waste time reinventing the wheel.

To read about SMF records click HERE

The manual for MVS System Management Facility (SMF) will describe the record types that record various activities. A report writer, like SAS, is a good tool because many of the records use OFFSET,LENGTH to point to sub-fields.

The records usually are written at the completion of an action (STEP end, dataset uncatalog, etc..) and have that timestamp. The JOB start time time is usually available in each record as well.

Hello all

Thanks for your reply.
It will take a while to get into it, but the info you provided is a good starting point

thanks very much
David

You're welcome - good luck

d

Just for .02$...

1. You find the SMF data set names by contacting your site support group. The names are specific to each site and only someone at your site could possibly tell you what they are called -- whether or not you have access to them.

2. There is a Summary Activity Report automatically created by the dump of the SMF live data file into the accumulation file. If this is what you need, you need to contact your site support group to find out the details. The time interval for dumping, the input file name, the output file name, and which specific SMF records are captured to be dumped are all things that are site specific and nobody outside of your site will be able to provide you with any information. This is not something you want to do yourself with your own JCL since you could affect any number of existing processes that depend upon the interval data.

3. If you have a product such a MXG or MICS, the SAS code which is processed should give you a very good idea of the records required. Once the required records are being collected, that in effect ends your involvement in the collection process.