CA-7

HISTORY..
1st 2nd

name of the currant CA7 is SASS

name was UCC-7 by Universal Computing Company In 1987, Computer Associates bought UCC-7 and named as CA-7

What is CA7

CA-7 is the production control tool. Used to scheduling and monitoring of the job. Using for Batch Process As Well as Online Process. It automatically controls, schedules, and initiates work according to time-driven and event-driven activities.

Job triggering feature a series of production jobs can be submitted based on the successful completion of one single job.

CA7 QUEUES?

Request queue Ready Queue Active Queue

List queue

Request queue

Time: Wait for the scheduled time. Dataset (Internal / External ): Waits for the data set to became free.

Internal Job: Checks for job dependency.

Held : Job is held due to clients requirement and also because of user requirement. User Requirement: Here they can write about job

A job has to wait in the CA-7 REQ(Request) Queue, until all of the

requirements it has are satisfied. Requirements are like additional

promises, which must be fulfilled, before a job is allowed to run. Requirements could be anything like, Completion of another job, Arrival(creation) of a file(Dataset), Submit Time, User Hold or a Negative Dependency. Its only when all the Requirements, of a job are fulfilled or posted, the job is brought to the Ready Queue(RDY).

Ready Queue..

- Request queue requirements were done before job come into this
Initiators : It checks for is it enough initiator to pick up the job. Region Parameter: It checks for the is it enough memory to run the job. Resource ( Dataset / DB2 Subsystem): it again check for the data set is free or not.

Active queue..
- Once the ready queue requirements are done job will come into active queue. Which Jobs are running in the MVS currently that jobs are called active job. => If job is successfully completes then its moved to the prior run queue. => If job get abends its moved to the list queue as well as request queue.

List Queue..

- Failed / abended jobs will be in list queue. - Also will be in request queue

- Hence list queue is a part of request queue.

Jobs with Timings Prior Run Queue

6 List Queue 5 Active Queue 4 Ready Queue 3 Request Queue

Production JCL Library

Q. What is CA-7 scheduler? Where did CA-7 come from? Think of jobs as, Flights taking off from an Airport. On a busy airport, when the clock strikes 09:00 AM, all jobs that were scheduled to depart at 09:00 AM take-off. CA-7 Scheduler manages and oversees all of this. In the Production Environment(where things are running live), you dont type SUB on a Production Job and give it to the Mainframe Computer for Processing. Production Jobs are generally scheduled they auto-start at a given time. The CA-7 Scheduler on Mainframes maintains a periodic Time-table, a database or chart of which jobs run when? A company had made CA-7 in the United States for their own internal use, under the name SASS. You would still see programs like SASSBSTR and SASS Messages today. Universal Computing Company(UCC) bought the product SASS and renamed it UCC-7. In 1987, Computer Associates(CA) bought UCC, and it was their policy to name all their products with CA Prefix, so UCC-7 became CA-7.

What is the CA-7 Queueing System?

CA-7 has different staging areas called Queues, where jobs could be. The CA-7 Queues are the (1) Request Queue (2) Ready Queue and (3) Active Queue. These queues are like traffic signals on a road. First the job has got to wait in the Request Queue(Red Signal). Next, the job has to wait in the Ready Queue(Orange Signal) this means the job is almost ready to run. When the job is currently running, we say its in the Active Queue(Green Signal).
(1)

(2)

The Database holds the Timetable of when the jobs run. CA-7 periodically scans the database(timetable) for which jobs are likely to run in the next few minutes. When the clock strikes 09:00 HRS, the Job A enters into the Request Queue. The JCL of the Job is picked up from the JCL Library and added to the Trailer of the CA-7 Request. Each Job in the Request Queue, waits for certain requirements to met.

(3) When all conditions and requirements are met, the job progresses ahead to the WLB(Workload Balancing). (4) When there are enough initiators to pick up the Job from the Queue, the job is sent to the JES2. While a job is on WLB or JES2, its shown on the Ready Queue. (5) An SMF Type 20 or 30 record(job initialization) is received by CA-7, and the job is moved to the Active Queue, and will start execution in an address space. (6) The job will remain on the Active Queue, until an SMF Type 5 or 30(job completion) is received by CA-7. On receipt of the job completion, if the job is successful, the Prior Run Queue(PRRN) Queue will be updated with the details of the execution. This serves as a last run-time record for the job. However, if the job fails, it will be returned to the Request Queue(REQ).

Q. How a job enters into the Request(REQ) Queue?

There are 3 ways, a job can enter into the Request Queue[REQ]. A job can be Scheduled, triggered or demanded out. (1) Scheduled(SSCN) Jobs can be scheduled to run at a fixed time for example, Reporting job runs every month-end at 08:00 PM, Load jobs run every-day at 05:00 AM and so on. (2) Triggered(AUTO) A parent job X, when it runs to successful completion, can TRIGGER another child job Y. A TRIGGER automatically brings Job Y into the REQ Queue. (3) Demanded(DEMD) A Job X can programmatically Demand out another Job Y. For example, Job X has the following code :

If Input File contains DATA Demand Job Y Else Continue End-if Here, Job Y is brought into the Request Queue[REQ], only if the Input-file has data records. If the Input file is empty; if theres no data to process, the job is not demanded out. So, in this fashion, you can exercise more control, over how the job kicks off.