Using the Storage Toolkit

This section describes the general process of using the Storage Toolkit and a typical scenario for use of the toolkit.

Scenario for using the Storage Toolkit

The Storage Toolkit enables the following scenario:

Phase One: You create a situation that monitors available free space in your storage groups. Whenever the situation is triggered, you want to find the affected resources and take action. Specifically, you want to find and take action on the data sets with the most unused space.
Phase Two: You work in the Tivoli® Enterprise Portal, instead of accessing the z/OS® system and performing a manual process on each resource:
  1. Navigate to an appropriate workspace for the product, such as the Largest Datasets in SMS Class, and sort on Unused Tracks.
  2. Select data sets that can be migrated.
    Note: In addition to the migration command, the Storage Toolkit offers a range of commands that is listed in the Storage Toolkit menus and dialog boxes topic. You can also submit user-defined JCL streams, and you can issue mainframe commands that are not already available in the dialog boxes that the product provides.
  3. Right-click the selected data sets and choose Dataset Actions > Migrate in the pop-up menu.
  4. Use the Storage Toolkit dialog boxes (accessed through a right-click menu) to issue DFSMShsm migrate commands for all selected data sets. The DFSMShsm migrate command you selected from a single dialog box is issued against each data set that you selected.
  5. View the results of the migration commands in one of the Storage Toolkit workspaces.

Process for using actions in the Storage Toolkit

The following steps describe the general process of using the actions provided by the Storage Toolkit. The options that are displayed in the context menus change, depending on what resources you select in a workspace view in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal. For example, if you have selected data sets in a workspace view, you see the Dataset Actions option in the context menu.

  1. Select one or more rows from a view in a workspace. The rows correspond to resources such as volumes and data sets on z/OS systems.
  2. Right-click within the rows. A context menu is displayed where you can select an appropriate option. The following example steps describe how to invoke the appropriate Storage Toolkit dialog box when you select data sets in a workspace view and right-click within the rows:
    1. Select Dataset Actions from the context menu to access the submenu.
    2. Select an appropriate data set action in the submenu, such as Backup. The corresponding dialog box is displayed.
    The menu displays different options if you are working with other types of resources, such as volumes. In most cases, the action can simultaneously target multiple resources that you select in Step 1.
  3. Make selections in the dialog box to configure the command that you want to issue. These selections are automatically transformed to command syntax that is valid for the mainframe environment. See Storage Toolkit menus and dialog boxes for links to descriptions of all available dialog boxes.

Reusing action requests

The Storage Toolkit provides three methods for you to reuse an action. Consider whether you want to rerun the action using the same or different resources before you choose the method.

When you reuse an action, the new execution is processed under your security context on the z/OS system. In the following descriptions, it is assumed that you are authorized to the resources and command associated with the reuse action.
Method 1: Reusing an existing action using the same resources
  1. Navigate to the Storage Toolkit Action Requests workspace (available from the Storage Toolkit Navigator node).
  2. Right-click the action in the Action Requests view that you want to reuse, and select Submit Request from the context menu. The dialog box corresponding to the selected action is displayed.
  3. Modify the settings that control how the request runs, as appropriate.
  4. Click OK. The selected action request is submitted on the z/OS system to which you are connected and the same set of resources is affected by the action. If the selected action request is associated with groups, then the current volume or data set resources in that same set of groups are affected by the action.
Method 2: Reusing an existing action using the same or different resources
  1. Select one or more rows from a view in a workspace.
  2. Right-click within the rows, and select Submit Command or Job from the context menu. From the Submit Command or Job dialog box, select the action you want to reuse. The dialog box corresponding to the selected action is displayed.
  3. Modify settings as appropriate. If you want to reuse the action using the rows you selected in step 1, ensure that the Use request's default data option in the General tab is not selected. If you want to reuse the action using the resources that were used when the action initially ran, select the Use request's default data option.
  4. Click OK. The action request is submitted on the z/OS system to which you are connected. The resources that are affected depends on the setting of Use request's default data. Additionally, if the Use request's default data option is selected and the action initially ran against a set of groups, then the current volume or data set resources in that same set of groups are affected by the action.
Method 3: Reusing a specific execution of an action
When you rerun a specific execution of an action, the resources that are used are the same as those associated with the selected execution.
  1. Navigate to the Storage Toolkit Action Requests workspace (available through the Storage Toolkit Navigator node).
  2. Find the action that you want to reuse, and link to the Storage Toolkit Result Summary workspace.
  3. Right-click the specific result in the Action Results Summary view that you want to reuse, and select Submit Request from the context menu. The dialog box that corresponds to the selected action is displayed.
  4. Modify settings as appropriate.
  5. Click OK. The selected action request is submitted on the z/OS system to which you are connected. The same set of resources used by the selected execution are affected by the action. If the selected execution is associated with groups, then the current volume or data set resources in that same set of groups are affected by the action.

Action requests in workspaces that you create

If you create a workspace view, the Storage Toolkit action menus are available in the new view when the following conditions are true:
  • Your workspace uses one of the queries that come with the product.

    AND

  • The query originally had a Storage Toolkit action menu associated with it. These menu options are listed in Storage Toolkit menus and dialog boxes.

About results for action requests

The result for action requests can contain output from one or more steps or locations. For this reason, the Step Name and Dataset or DD Name attributes identify the source of the details.
  • When you run a command from a command dialog or issue a command from the Issue Command dialog, the values for the Step Name and Dataset or DD Name are predefined by the Storage Toolkit.
    Command type Step Name Dataset or DD Name
    DFSMSdss KS3DSS1 SYSPRINT
    DFSMShsm KS3HSM1 KS3OUT
    IDCAMS KS3AMS1 SYSPRINT
    ICKDSF KS3DSF1 SYSPRINT
    DFSMSrmm KS3RMM1 KS3OUT
    TSO KS3TSO1 KS3OUT
  • When you create JCL using the Create Batch Job dialog box, the values for the Step Name and Dataset or DD Name reflect the values that you specified in the Files whose contents should be copied for later viewing fields on the Options tab.
  • When you select Copy JCL and JES logs for later viewing on the JCL tab, the Step Name values are predefined by the Storage Toolkit. The Dataset or DD Name values are blank.
    Step Name Description
    *JCL The JCL that was submitted
    *JESMSGLG The contents of the JESMSGLG log
    *JESJCL The contents of the JESJCL log
    *JESYSMSG The contents of the JESYSMSG log
No output from Mainframe commands is returned, because execution of the command is not synchronized with the execution of the batch job. Other reasons why you might not receive output include the following:
  • The command that you are running might not return output.
  • A file or log to be copied for later viewing is empty.
  • You specified 0 as the value for the Maximum output lines option.
  • The output is not available or the Storage Toolkit cannot capture it.
In some cases, you might find that command output can be captured using a different technique to run the command. For example, if you use the Issue Command dialog box to run the DFSMShsm LIST command, the Storage Toolkit is not able to capture the output. However, you can write JCL that uses HSENDCMD WAIT to issue the LIST command and route the output to a data set. Using the Create Batch Job dialog box, you can then run this JCL and request the data set be copied for later viewing.

Checking for the completion of action requests

You might need to check the status of the toolkit action request between the time you click OK in the toolkit dialog box and the time that the job completes in the mainframe environment. In some cases, it can be unclear whether a job is taking a long time to run or has failed. The status of the job might be EXECUTING in both cases. You can respond to these possible conditions as described in this scenario:
Conditions of the scenario, in sequential order Your response options
You notice a request on the Tivoli Enterprise Portal that remains in EXECUTING state without completing. Check the status of the batch job in the z/OS system.
Problem scenario 1: The batch job has failed due to a JCL error. Cancel the request on the Tivoli Enterprise Portal. This action releases the thread and the resources that have been invoked.

(Optional) Attempt to fix the JCL error and run the request again.
Problem scenario 2: The batch job requires more time to complete.
  • Consider raising the priority of the job.
  • Consider adjusting the times when the job is allowed to run, if the job has been scheduled to run at off-peak hours.
Parent topic: Storage Toolkit
Related information:
Overview of common action commands
Storage Toolkit menus and dialog boxes
Standard tabs in the dialog boxes of the Storage Toolkit
Create Batch Job dialog box
Storage Toolkit limitations and hints
Storage Toolkit Result Detail