CA Endevor® SCM RAM batch actions

Normally, CA Endevor® SCM actions such as “Generate Element” are executed “online”, in the CARMA server address space. This behavior causes problems if your CA Endevor® SCM procedures call TSO, because TSO is already active and that means that the required DDs such as SYSTSIN and SYSTSPRT are in use.

To resolve this problem, the CA Endevor® SCM RAM supports “batch actions”. When batch-actions is enabled, the CA Endevor® SCM RAM submits a customizable batch job to perform actions like “Generate Element”. Using a batch job results in the allocation of DDs such as SYSTSIN and SYSTSPRT by your CA Endevor® SCM procedures, because the submitted JCL does not require TSO to be active.

CA Endevor® SCM RAM batch-actions are the Developer for z/OS® equivalent of background CA Endevor® SCM actions.

When a request is issued to execute an action that is supported by batch-actions, the CA Endevor® SCM RAM checks for the existence of the CRABCFG DD, in CRASUBCA or crastart.endevor.conf, and checks that the setup behind this DD is valid. If CRABCFG exists and the setup is valid, the action is performed in batch. If CRABCFG does not exist, the action is performed online. Developer for z/OS clients have the facility to override this behavior.

For example:
//* uncomment CRABCFG and CRABSKEL to use batch actions
//*CRABCFG  DD DISP=SHR,DSN=FEL.#CUST.PARMLIB(CRABCFG)
//*CRABSKEL DD DISP=SHR,DSN=FEL.#CUST.CNTL
Note:
  • The TSO-free environment is available only for selected CA Endevor® SCM actions. Batch-actions does not support a TSO-free environment outside this scope.
  • The CRABCFG configuration file documents which CA Endevor® SCM actions are supported.
  • A functional sample job, FEL.#CUST.CNTL(CRABATCA), is provided to execute the batch actions, but the intent of batch-actions is that this sample is customized to start your current CA Endevor® SCM procedures.
  • Ensure that there are sufficient JES initiators available in the class used to submit the batch-action JCLs.
  • When using JES in a SYSPLEX environment, ensure that the job runs on the current system, or that the completion information is routed back to the system hosting Developer for z/OS, so that the CA Endevor® SCM RAM can check the status.
  • The Developer for z/OS client can provide a customized JOB card and additional JCL statements to the batch-action JCL before submission.
  • The batch-action JCL has access to the CRAPRM* variables through generated SET statements. This includes CRAPRM8, the variable reserved for site-specific data, which can be altered by the user exit referenced by the system.exit directive in CRASRV.properties.