OA60955: HSIZCAT SUPPORT FOR UNZIPPED AND EMPTY DATA SETS

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• 1. HSIZCAT should be able to process unzipped data sets.
  
  2. HSIZCAT unnecessarily raises CC=4 when an empty data set is
     discovered by a catalog search.
  
  3. When there is a problem with processing the ZCAT0001 DD,
     HSIZCAT does not indicate which data set in the
     concatenation caused the problem.
  

Local fix

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED: All IBM Z Software Asset Management V8.1     *
  *                 customers using ZCAT.                        *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: 1. HSIZCAT cannot process data sets     *
  *                      containing Usage Monitor data if they   *
  *                      have not been zipped. Unzipped data     *
  *                      sets should be processable by ZCAT.     *
  *                                                              *
  *                      2. When a catalog search discovers a    *
  *                      data set which happens to be empty,     *
  *                      ZCAT issues a warning and raises the    *
  *                      completion code to 4. However, an       *
  *                      empty data set in a ZCAT0001 DD         *
  *                      concatenation does not raise an         *
  *                      exception. This is inconsistent.        *
  *                      The exception also means that ZCAT      *
  *                      will not rename or delete the empty     *
  *                      data set, and so CC=4 will always       *
  *                      occur on reruns until it is manually    *
  *                      cleared.                                *
  *                                                              *
  *                      3. ZCAT treats ZCAT0001 as a single     *
  *                      file, but it can be a sequential        *
  *                      concatenation of many data sets, and    *
  *                      if a problem is encountered it can be   *
  *                      difficult to determine which data set   *
  *                      caused the problem.                     *
  ****************************************************************
  1. HSIZCAT verifies that input data sets are zip archives and
  makes no provision for reading unzipped data sets.
  
  2. When vetting the contents of data sets discovered by catalog
  search, empty data sets are considered to be invalid and not
  suitable for automated handling, even though automated handling
  would be the most efficient outcome, considering that these
  data sets contain no data that can be examined.
  
  3. The HSIZCAT program treats the ZCAT0001 DD as a single
  sequential file and is not aware of its constituent data sets.
  

Problem conclusion

• This fix retrofits some ZCAT improvements delivered in V8R2 and
  in the V8R2 PTF UJ04944 to the V8R1 ZCAT program:
  
  1. When vetting the contents of input data sets, as well as a
  zip header signature, the Usage Monitor header record will be
  deemed valid, and if the latter then the data set will be read
  directly without any unzip processing. The only restriction is
  that ZCAT0001 contain a mixture of zipped and unzipped data.
  
  2. When a dynamically discovered input data set is empty, the
  message issued is now changed from
  ** WARNING: Ignoring empty file
  to
  ** NOTICE: Empty data set detected
  and the associated CC adjustment logic has been removed. These
  data sets will be be skipped during the read phase, but will be
  eligible for DELETE or RENAME processing.
  
  3. Each time a record comes from a different data set in the
  ZCAT0001 DD sequential concatenation, the relevant data set
  name will be logged to SYSPRINT which will assist with
  finding the source data set of logged error conditions.
  
  
  Product documentation is updated as follows:
  
  +--- Tivoli Asset Discovery for z/OS Version 8 Release 1 -----+
  |                                                             |
  |PROGRAM NUMBER: 5698-AA4                                     |
  |                                                             |
  |TITLE: Tivoli Asset Discovery for z/OS SC22-5474-00          |
  |       Administration Guide and Reference                    |
  |                                                             |
  +-------------------------------------------------------------+
  |Chapter 8: Running the utilities provided with Tivoli        |
  |           Asset Discovery for z/OS                          |
  |                                                             |
  |Section  : Condensing usage data with the ZCAT utility       |
  |                                                             |
  |Heading  : DD statements                                     |
  |                                                             |
  |Replace the description of ZCAT0001 with the following:      |
  |                                                             |
  | If the ZCAT0001 DD is allocated, it specifies one or more   |
  | usage data sets to be processed by ZCAT. ZCAT0001 is        |
  | processed after any data sets located by searching the      |
  | catalog, and allows administrators to manually process      |
  | specific data sets which may have fallen outside the usual  |
  | processing regime, or may not fit any convenient data set   |
  | name mask. Like dynamically allocated input data sets,      |
  | data set(s) allocated to ZCAT0001 may be zip archives or    |
  | may contain unzipped data. However, ZCAT0001 is treated by  |
  | ZCAT as a single file, and a concatenation containing both  |
  | zipped and unzipped data is not allowed.                    |
  |                                                             |
  +-------------------------------------------------------------+
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

  UJ04970

Modules/Macros

• HSIZCAT
  

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  TIV ASSET DISC

• Fixed component ID

  5698B39TD

Applicable component levels