IBM Mainframe Forum

[arashm]

hi everybody
i m new in mainframe world and i 'm going to develop a tiny application to communicate with mainframe.
i look in google and don't found any resource to start.
somebody can help me that how can i start .
i need some references to code in windows or Linux.
at all i m looking for check some status in machine and report on a application on my PC .
my application run on PC and connect to mainframe machine and so on

regards

[enrico-sorichetti]

almost a duplicate of
all-other-mainframe-topics/topic9759.html#p48608

[Robert Sample]

How are you planning on communicating with the mainframe?
Do you have an existing mainframe you work on to communicate with?
Does your application run in batch or CICS or IMS or what?
What, precisely, do you think you want to monitor?
Why, precisely, do you think that existing monitor tools won't do what you want?
Are you wanting periodic monitoring or continuous monitoring?
Most mainframe security packages will disallow what you want to do unless specifically authorized in advance -- have you talked to your site security group about what you want to do?

As I said in the post Enrico referenced -- unless you have many years of experience on the mainframe, you should not even THINK of doing what you posted. It is NOT a good way to learn anything about a mainframe, and merely duplicates existing tools. Please remember that mainframes have been around for over 50 years now and there is a VAST library of tools and processes in place at most sites.

[arashm]

hi
thanks for your reply
as i mentioned , i m looking for a tool that i can customise my needs .
i m going to start develope a tiny program that run on my pc not on mainframe . i test this on a hercules machine .
i just want to check some status of some process , services and majores node .
i have low authhority and controlled access . this is university project . trust me
as my reaserchs , i found that you are right . no documents availible . please tel me where can i start .
regards

[Robert Sample]

no documents availible

This is merely because you don't know where to look. The current documentation for mainframes probably exceeds 3 MILLION pages of information. Hercules is a mainframe hardware emulator that requires you to install and use an operating system. IBM did not copyright MVS so version 3.8 is readily available on Hercules and can be customized to do pretty much whatever you want -- there's plenty of material on it. However, IBM has a copyright on subsequent operating systems, including z/OS, and it is a violation of copyright (not to mention the license agreement) to install and run z/OS on a Hercules platform.

Google IBM knowledge center for a start. Then go to http://www.redbooks.ibm.com for some excellent material. Sometimes the university will have access to more material than the general public, although you typically have to sign some form of non-disclosure agreement to be able to read it. However, there is plenty in the Knowledge Center and Redbooks to help you learn (even overview manuals on the z/Architecture and z/OS) even for a rank beginner.

[enrico-sorichetti]

this is university project

did You choose it Yourself ? ... pretty inconsiderate choice
was it assigned by Your professor, without any further detail ? ... < any derogatory adjective of Your choice >

i test this on a hercules machine .

the environment where it is tested is irrelevant

i 'm going to develop a tiny application to communicate with mainframe.

You do not communicate with the mainframe ...
You communicate with the operating system running on it.
what operating system will run on the mainframe ???
and it will not certainly be tiny

You did/will not find anything because Your requirement is too generic

remember... any conversation needs two parties which agree on a communication protocol
meditate a bit, meditate ...

[Robert Sample]

i m going to start develope a tiny program that run on my pc not on mainframe . i test this on a hercules machine .
i just want to check some status of some process , services and majores node .

Your statements are so vague and mis-informed as to be meaningless. Mainframes, with the exception of Unix System Services, don't have processes and services -- mainframes execute programs in address spaces. An address space can execute batch jobs submitted in the background, started tasks (programs usually started at IPL that continue to run until the system is shut down), TSO (which may include foreground programs but also allows background jobs to be submitted), and transaction servers such as CICS or IMS. And terminology is critical in IT, where similar terms may mean very different things. And "node" or "major node" on a mainframe refers to a specific VTAM construct used in the network. If VTAM nodes are what you want to check on, be aware that this usually requires some form of console command and hence may run into security issues. Furthermore, you have not told us how you plan to communicate with the mainframe -- APPC is one choice, but it has a well-defined interface and you cannot really write a "tiny program" using APPC to do anything meaningful In fact, mainframe communications are generally well-defined using different APIs and in some cases which you use is determined by what you want to do.

The best recommendation you can heed at this point is to go to the web sites and read at least 2 or 3 manuals on z/OS and z/Architecture before you do anything else. At this point, you don't really have enough knowledge to know what you are asking is ludicrous -- you need to acquire enough knowledge to at least learn how to ask good questions.