A scheduling environment is a list of resource names along with their required states. It allows you to manage the scheduling of work in an asymmetric sysplex where the systems differ in installed applications, or installed hardware facilities. If an MVS™ image satisfies all of the requirements in the scheduling environment associated with a given unit of work, then that unit of work can be assigned to that MVS image. If any of the resource requirements are not satisfied, then that unit of work cannot be assigned to that MVS image.
Scheduling environments and resource names reside in the service definition and apply across the entire sysplex. They are sysplex-oriented. Resource states have a different setting in each system in the sysplex and are, therefore, system-oriented.
In theory, each resource name represents the potential availability of a resource on an MVS system. That resource can be an actual physical entity such as a data base or a peripheral device, or it can be an intangible quality such as a certain time of day or a certain day of the week. The resource names are abstract, and have no inherent meaning.
For instance, you could define a resource name to be XXXX with a required state of ON. If on system SYS1 the corresponding XXXX resource state is set to ON, then the requirement is satisfied. WLM does not care what “XXXX” means, or whether the ON setting really does signify the existence of some real resource. (You could use XXXX as nothing more than an arbitrary toggle switch, setting it ON for whatever reason you wish.) As long as the settings match, the requirement is satisfied.
This information shows how to define the scheduling environments, the resource names, and their required states. It also shows how to set the resource states on each individual MVS system, and how to associate a scheduling environment name with incoming work.