Q&R Integration Feature
The Q&R Integration feature writes MICF inquiry output that is generated from a production or user reporting job stream to a HFS/zFS directory structure compatible with the
MICS
Q&R Workstation.micsrm140cd
The Q&R Integration feature writes MICF inquiry output that is generated from a production or user reporting job stream to a HFS/zFS directory structure compatible with the
MICS
Q&R Workstation.This feature utilizes IBM's NFS (Network File System) and Microsoft Windows' CIFS (Common Internet File System) to share UNIX files between the two operating systems. These remote z/OS UNIX files are mounted from the mainframe to appear as local directories or files on the client system.
The NFS uses the communication services that are provided by TCP/IP, a suite of protocols that includes the remote procedure call (RPC) and External Data Representation (XDR) protocols. RPC allows a program on one machine to start a procedure on another machine, as if the procedure is local. XDR resolves the differences in data representation of different machines. The NFS, then, can be used for file sharing between platforms and file serving (as a data repository).
The Q&R directory structure, which is coupled with the ability to map the Q&R HFS/zFS directory as an extra drive to the Q&R distributed server, allows the RMWSLOAD utility to read directly from the HFS/zFS directory without moving the data to the distributed server for publication of chart and report output.
For more information about RMWSLOAD, see the Q&R Workstation Administration Guide.
More benefits include direct viewing of the directory from Q&R Output Retrieval. You do not have to run RMWSLOAD to access job stream output unless you are ready to publish to your web server. This lets you generate View Definition Files to perfect the look of the chart before publication.
Finally, sharing the HFS/zFS directory between your z/OS UNIX (USS) environment and Microsoft Windows lets you publish all your
MICS
output (either MWP or Q&R) to one web server, Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS).General Overview of the Job Stream Process
********************* * Execute reporting * * job stream * ********************* | +------------------+ | Deletes oldest | | cycles of PDS | | MWP if requested | +------------------+ | +------------------+ | MICF Inquiry | | executes | +------------------+ | /------------\ no +-------------+ < MWP active? >------->| do not write| \------------/ | CSV/log o/p,| | | write to PDS| | | only | | +-------------+ yes | +------------------+ | Create HFS/zFS | | directory, create| | HTML output | +------------------+ | /------------\ no +-------------+ < MWP CSV yes? >------->| do not write| \------------/ | CSV/log o/p | | | to HFS/zFS | | +-------------+ yes | | +-------------------+ | After inquiry ends| | write csv/micslog | | saslog | +-------------------+ | /----------------\ no +-------------+ < Q&R Integration?>-------->| Execute next| \----------------/ | inquiry | | +-------------+ yes | +-------------------+ | Write all output | | to Q&R directory | | structure | +-------------------+ | /----------------\ +--------------+ < hh-mm directory > no | Create dir, | < already exists? >-------->| write output | \----------------/ | files | | +--------------+ yes | +-----------------+ | Create new | | hh-mm dir with | | execution order | | appended to time| | dir: hh-mm(n) | +-----------------+ | /----------------\ no +---------------+ < More inquiries? >-------->| Return max CC,| \----------------/ | end job | | +---------------+ yes | | | +---------------------+ /------------------\ no | Execute next inquiry| <Initiate RMWSLOAD?>------->+------+ +---------------------+ \------------------/ | Done | | +------+ yes | +---------------------+ | Execute MQRNOTIF | | program as last step| +---------------------+
The MQRNOTIF program notifies the Q&R mainframe server that the job stream has completed. The mainframe server notifies the distributed server to begin executing the corresponding RMWSLOAD job.
- If you are using the Q&R directory structure, RMWSLOAD is scheduled and publishes the output to your web server.
- If you are using the DTF index as the interface to RMWSLOAD, RMWSLOAD downloads your reporting job stream output and then publishes the output to your web server.
Review all these topics before using this feature.
Prerequisites
Q&R Integration has the following requirements:
- Available space in a Hierarchical File System (HFS/zFS) directory on a hardware device that can be accessed by a Microsoft Windows distributed server. This UNIX directory must be mapped to a drive on the Q&R distributed server for direct access by the distributed server. This facilitates execution of RMWSLOAD to read the files directly in the HFS/zFS directory for subsequent publication.Sharing files between z/OS USS and a Windows client (Q&R Workstation) requires the use of IBM z/OS NFS (Network File System).The NFS server enables the client user, remote access to z/OS UNIX file files from a client workstation.
- Ability to start the distributed server with USS credentials that have the authority to access the HFS/zFS directory to read the reporting job stream output. This action is only necessary to access the MICF generated output directly from Q&R Query Output Retrieval.Note:Without the ability to share the drive with a Windows server, you cannot take advantage of any integration features.
- The ability to export the HFS/zFS USS directory and map it to the Windows server running the Q&R distributed server every time the server is restarted (persistent connection).
- The installation of the Q&R Workstation feature ofMICSRelease 12.9
Setup
The following checklist is used to enable the connection from MICF Reporting Job Stream output to Q&R Workstation.
- The root directory must be on a hardware device that supports sharing between your mainframe UNIX environment and a Windows environment, such as a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device.
- Create a USS File System to store the MICF generated output to be processed by the Q&R Workstation.Note:The FILESYSTYPE should be TYPE(NFS).With the z/OS NFS server, the client has remote access to z/OS UNIX files from a client workstation. Using the Network File System, the client can mount all or part of the file system and can make it appear as part of its local files system.See the IBM Unix System Services guide for documentation on creating and mounting a shared file system and the IBM NFS (Network File System) Guide and Reference for information about using, customizing, operating, tuning, and diagnosing the z/OS Network File System (z/OS NFS).
- Map this device to your Q&R distributed server. It can be mapped using Windows Explorer, Map Network Drive or by using the NET USE command. Either way, the drive must be allocated so it is available whenever the server is restarted.
- To view output that is created by a MICF Reporting Job Stream directory from Q&R Query Output Retrieval, start the Q&R distributed server using credentials that are authorized in the mainframe UNIX (USS) environment to access the files in the HFS/zFS directory. This action is not necessary for RMWSLOAD only access.
- Review the Shared MICF Options, Foreground Execution Parameters definitions to assign defaults to be used for defining reporting job streams and the MICF Web Publishing and Q&R Integration options.
- Review any existing reporting job streams and modify the MWP (MICF Web Publishing) and Q&R Integration execution options as needed.For example, you might want to have the Q&R Mainframe Server automatically notify the Q&R Distributed Server to schedule RMWSLOAD when the MICF Reporting Job Stream completes.
- Define the Q&R root directory to be used by the Q&R Integration feature. This can be the same directory that is used by MICF Web Publishing.For more information about the activation of USS and HFS/zFS support, see ActivatingMICSUSS and HFS Support.You can use this UNIX mkdir command to create the Q&R Integration root directory in your HFS/zFS:mkdir -p /u/users/CAMICS
Directory Structure
Q&R Integration stores all its information in an HFS/zFS directory and should not be used by other applications. This interface builds a specific directory structure that is required by the Q&R distributed server.
Note:
The inquiry name must not include the '#' character. The '#' character is interpreted by the UNIX environment as a command, which causes an error.HFS/zFS Q&R Integration Directory Structure
/Q&R root/+ | "Server"/+ | MF server name/+ | long catalog name/+ | jobstream_name/+ | query name - query title/+ | run date/+ (yyy-mm-dd) | run time/+ (hh-mm) MICSLOG.TXT SASLIST.TXT SASLOG.TXT csv title.CSV
Q&R root is the name of a directory where the Q&R Integration feature stores MICF inquiry output for access by the Q&R Workstation. The Q&R root can be the same as the MICF Web Publishing root directory as they write different directory structures. Typically you would not activate both MWP and Q&R Integration unless you are migrating from the use of MWP to Q&R to take advantage of the Q&R charting capabilities.
The Q&R root directory must be created before activating this feature and executing your reporting job stream.
Each "query name query title" directory contains a subdirectory of run date and run time, using the format yyyy-dd-mm/hh-mm.
Each time directory (hh-mm) contains the inquiry output generated during execution. HH-MM is the time of the job stream execution and might not represent the actual time the inquiry itself executed.
- MICSLOG.txt
- SASLIST.txt (if no report was generated, it will be empty)
- SASLOG.txt
- csv title.CSV
Multiple CSVs can be created in the same MICF inquiry, but must have different titles.
If a job stream contains multiple instances of the same inquiry, for example, an inquiry executed multiple times for different units, the nth execution is stored under the hh-mm time with the execution order appended to the directory name. This action allows you to differentiate one inquiry output from another by the order in which they executed. For example:
. . . ./RMFED1 - MVS CPU and ASID Activity (.csv) /2011-09-01 /10-19 MICSLOG.txt SASLIST.txt SASLOG.txt Daily - MVS ASID Activty by System.csv Daily Percent CPU busy by System.csv /10-19 (4) MICSLOG.txt SASLIST.txt SASLOG.txt Daily - MVS ASID Activty by System.csv Daily - Percent CPU busy by System.csv
Usage Notes
The intent of creating the Q&R compatible directory structure is to facilitate access by the Q&R Workstation. It is assumed that this directory is accessible from your Microsoft Windows Q&R distributed server.
Although you can delete reports on-demand using the Reporting Jobstream Administration option on the MICF menu, no automatic aging or deletion exists on the mainframe side. It is expected that the Q&R utility RMWSPARE is used as needed to remove output from the Q&R directory structure that is written to the HFS/zFS. If you are unable to map this HFS/zFS directory to a Windows server, do not deploy this feature.
As was previously mentioned, MICF supports deleting output in this directory structure in addition to the MWP directory structure that previously existed. However, because the job stream name is not the highest level within the Q&R directory structure, it is possible that, after executing a delete request, some directories might remain. The delete program can only delete non-empty directories. Use the Q&R RMWSPARE utility to remove unwanted output.
Q&R RMWSLOAD
Regardless of whether you select to write the reporting job stream output as zFS files (Q&R compatible directory structure) or you use the DTF Index method to make the output available to the Q&R RMWSLOAD utility, you can automate notification to Q&R when the output is available.
From your reporting job stream Execution Options panel, modify the following options to enable automatic notification from the Q&R Mainframe Server to the Q&R Distributed Server that the job stream has completed and the output is ready to be published.
Q&R Mainframe Svr (MQRMSN)===> ________
(Optional) The application name of the
MICS
Q&R Mainframe Server. This name is defined in the Q&R Mainframe Server parameter file (sharedprefix.MICS.PARMS member MQRPARMS) as the MQRMSN parameter. If "Use Q&R Compatible Directory Structure" is Y, the MQRMSN value is used as the first directory level after "Server" when building the Q&R directory structure.If "Initiate RMWSLOAD" is Y, this is the Q&R Mainframe Server that is notified when the job stream completes. It does not have to be executing on the same system as the job stream.
Required only when "Initiate RMWSLOAD" is Y, or "Use Q&R Compatible Directory Structure" is Y.
Initiate RMWSLOAD ===> N (Y/N)
(Required) Specify Y (Yes) to notify the Q&R Mainframe Server when the job stream has completed to execute the related RMWSLOAD job. Defaults to N. You do not have to use the Q&R directory structure to use this feature.
RMWSLOAD Job Name ===>
(Optional) The job name that is defined in Q&R Workstation that corresponds to the job stream output you want to publish. See the Q&R Workstation Administration Guide for more information about the RMWSLOAD utility. Required only when "Initiate RMWSLOAD" is set to Y. Defaults to the name of this job stream.