Display of synchronous messages

Synchronous messages are WTO or WTOR messages that can be issued during initialization or recovery situations. When a synchronous WTOR is issued, message CNZ4215W is issued to all active MCS consoles on the system issuing the synchronous WTOR. The highlighted WTO will indicate:

the message id of the synchronous WTOR for which a reply is needed
on which console the synchronous WTOR is currently being displayed
if the message is being managed by the z/OS® auto-reply function.

You can define a full-capability MCS console, or the system console, as members of a console group in CNGRPxx to receive synchronous messages.

Use the following keyword on the DEFAULT statement of CONSOLxx, to handle the display of a synchronous message:

SYNCHDEST: Specifies the name of the console group whose members can receive a synchronous message.

If a reply is not provided within approximately 125 seconds, the synchronous WTOR is moved to the next console in the SYNCHDEST list.

MVS™ searches for an eligible console based on the order of the console names specified in the group. The moving of the WTOR to different consoles will continue until a reply is provided or until the SYNCHDEST list is exhausted. If all consoles in the SYNCHDEST list have been tried, the WTOR is displayed on the system console and will remain there until a reply is provided. You can specify valid MCS console names as members of the group. You can also specify *SYSCON*, the system console. To receive the synchronous message, the console must be attached to the system that issues the message.