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Vishwa310
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Joined: 21 May 2012
Posts: 16
Location: India
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Hi folks,
First of all, thanks to everyone who has contributed and is continuing the good job in this forum. You guys have taught me a good deal!!.. OK that said, here is my question.
I have a PDS with a lot of members under a high level qualifier which can be edited by a bunch of people. I would like to keep track of what's being changed here in this PDS. Say, if a particular member XXX is edited by 3 different persons at 3 different times of a day, I want to know who edited when; may be I could store these info in a file and check it by EOD. I was also wondering if it's possible to display a small alert to the user who intends to edit the member. Perhaps some small message to notify the component owner before editing.
I have no idea how to trigger that event when someone tries to edit a member under the PDS. How do I acquire such a handle on a PDS? A CLIST code, perhaps? .. and most importantly, I also wanted to know if I have to rope in my Security Admin to accomplish this.
P.S: I tried searching here but couldn't get hold of anything. If this has already been discussed, kindly redirect me to that post and close this.
Thanks,
Vishwa. |
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PeterHolland
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Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 2481
Location: Netherlands, Amstelveen
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| Use a software configuration management tool. |
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vasanthz
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Joined: 28 Aug 2007
Posts: 1742
Location: Tirupur, India
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| Quote: |
| Say, if a particular member XXX is edited by 3 different persons at 3 different times of a day, I want to know who edited when; may be I could store these info in a file and check it by EOD. |
For this part, look at this topic from last week, it has some useful information
www.ibmmainframes.com/viewtopic.php?t=58368&highlight= |
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Vishwa310
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Joined: 21 May 2012
Posts: 16
Location: India
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Peter, we do use RMS to maintain data but on a daily basis we normally don't upload components. While the component is still being built there are chances that one of our team member might end up changing few lines for his/her code to work. This change may not affect me but however it remains unnoticed by me unless he/she tells that something has been changed. So basically, I was wondering if we could display a small alert to the "editing" user to notify the group in case something is being changed. I know the protocol dictates a mail should be sent but in practice, no one does!  |
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Vishwa310
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Joined: 21 May 2012
Posts: 16
Location: India
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Vasanth, I did go through your JCL to pull some information from SMF but I need some help from you to understand the JCL better.
//SORTIN DD DISP=SHR,DSN=SMF DUMP DATASET
I really don't know where exactly this information is being dumped. I am just an application programmer and I am not sure if I have access to view/browse these information... but if you could help me locate the PDS I sure can give this a try..  |
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vasanthz
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Joined: 28 Aug 2007
Posts: 1742
Location: Tirupur, India
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Hi,
If you do not know the SMF dataset names then I guess you would not have security rights to access to them. Generally application programmers are not given access to SMF. So im afraid the JCL will be of no use to you. ): |
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Vishwa310
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Joined: 21 May 2012
Posts: 16
Location: India
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@Vasanth
Oh drat! I thought so.. but anyway, thanks for that JCL.. I hope it'll be useful someday. I am going to have to wait to hear from other experts.. .. If storing the entire information is complicated then a simple alert to the user would suffice(I know it sounds simple but it isn't).. |
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dbzTHEdinosauer
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Joined: 20 Oct 2006
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| Vishwa310 wrote: |
| I am going to have to wait to hear from other experts.. |
Vishwa310,
why don't you search the forum for this same topic
(seems everybody wants to control everything, even though they have no understanding of what is going on in a computer)
and think real hard if any of the "other experts" want to waste their time on this often asked question? |
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dbzTHEdinosauer
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Joined: 20 Oct 2006
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| Vishwa310 wrote: |
| I am going to have to wait to hear from other experts.. |
Vishwa310,
why don't you search the forum for this same topic
(seems everybody wants to control everything, even though they have no understanding of what is going on in a computer)
and think real hard if any of the "other experts" want to waste their time on this often asked question?
and what makes you think Vasanth is not qualified to answer this rookie question? |
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Robert Sample
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Joined: 06 Jun 2008
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Location: Dubuque, Iowa, USA
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| Personally, my expert opinion is that the question is hogwash. There should NEVER be a need for something like this in a properly designed system. The mere fact you're asking for something like this indicates your site is not properly applying existing controls already, so why complicate things by adding another layer that won't be used? |
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Pedro
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Joined: 01 Sep 2006
Posts: 2547
Location: Silicon Valley
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| Run a SUPERC batch job several times a day. The second job step should be to notify you if there are changes. |
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Vishwa310
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Joined: 21 May 2012
Posts: 16
Location: India
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Dear dbzTHEdinosauer,
By *other* experts, I mean an alternate or perhaps a second opinion from some *other* expert. By all means, I agree that Vasanth is more than qualified to answer such 2nd grade questions.
..and I posted here just because my search was futile. I just can't figure out the correct "keyword".. and as was told, if it's already asked then please redirect me and close this thread.
Robert, my intention is not to have a control over the user's edit access but to just know which member is he/she wanting to edit. |
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dbzTHEdinosauer
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| Keyword is Respository. |
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don.leahy
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Joined: 06 Jul 2010
Posts: 765
Location: Whitby, ON, Canada
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| My "expert" advice is not to over think the problem. Take regular backups; when there is a question about the code, compare the new version to the backup. Use baseball bat (or cricket bat if that is more convenient) to educate your programmers about the importance of communicating with their colleagues. |
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Vishwa310
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Joined: 21 May 2012
Posts: 16
Location: India
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Alright, so this is not possible without SMF data, is it? .. and as I asked earlier, even if there are any other means, do I have to bring my security team into this picture to get things done?
Occasionally, due to some network latency, I will be kicked out of the emulator. When I re-login and try to open the PDS I will receive a small alert notifying that I was in the middle of an "edit" task the last time I was here. I am thinking if we could override that function and reuse it to display a similar warning message whenever someone accesses that PDS. |
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Vishwa310
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Joined: 21 May 2012
Posts: 16
Location: India
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| don.leahy wrote: |
| Use baseball bat (or cricket bat if that is more convenient) to educate your programmers about the importance of communicating with their colleagues. |
ha ha, I wish I could do that. Well, we end up digging deep into a dozen of modules to zero in on the "problem" and when we report, what we often hear is simple - "oh, my bad. I forgot to notify you guys".
OK If this is going to be complicated and not a bit worthy accomplishing, I guess I have to live with the current practice - backups and compare. |
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daveporcelan
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Joined: 01 Dec 2006
Posts: 792
Location: Pennsylvania
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Vishwa310,
You a thinking very progressively. This is good.
What you propose can not be done however (without some serious ISPF system programming).
What you could do if you really 'need' this to be done.
Write a Rexx exec that runs periodically. This exec would use LMMLIST with the SAVE and STATS options.
It would then check which members have been saved since the last run and report them. This is provided that the member was actually updated using ispf.
You would need your scheduling package to submit a job to perform this process on a schedule of your choosing.
This is one approach if you really 'need' this. |
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daveporcelan
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Joined: 01 Dec 2006
Posts: 792
Location: Pennsylvania
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Even easier,
Use an ibm utility (can't remember which) to create an pds index listing with statistics.
Use Superce to compare this to the previous listing.
If you get a cc=1 then you have chages, and send the report to those who care. |
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Pedro
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Joined: 01 Sep 2006
Posts: 2547
Location: Silicon Valley
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| Quote: |
| "oh, my bad. I forgot to notify you guys". |
I found myself editing from ISPF option 2, rather than in ISPF option 10.2, so I made it harder for myself by disallowing it.
1. local version of panel ISREDM01, it sets a value for the initial macro:
2. my $chekit macro checks the dataset name and cancels right away when a particular dataset is found:
| Code: |
/* rexx */
Address ISREDIT
"MACRO"
"(dsn) = DATASET"
Select
When (dsn = 'DEPTX.IMPORT.ANT') Then
Do
Say 'do not edit this file'
"CANCEL"
End
Otherwise
Nop
End |
It prevents me from editing without SCLM's blessing. Perhaps you can do something similar... you can change the rexx to send you a message for example.
Yes, this process can be easily circumvented. But it might deter the casual "oh, my bad" editor. |
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Pandora-Box
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Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Posts: 1592
Location: Andromeda Galaxy
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| daveporcelan wrote: |
Even easier,
Use an ibm utility (can't remember which) to create an pds index listing with statistics.
Use Superce to compare this to the previous listing.
If you get a cc=1 then you have chages, and send the report to those who care. |
IEHLIST + LISTPDS???? |
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PeterHolland
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Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 2481
Location: Netherlands, Amstelveen
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| Vishwa310 wrote: |
| Peter, we do use RMS to maintain data but on a daily basis we normally don't upload components. While the component is still being built there are chances that one of our team member might end up changing few lines for his/her code to work. This change may not affect me but however it remains unnoticed by me unless he/she tells that something has been changed. So basically, I was wondering if we could display a small alert to the "editing" user to notify the group in case something is being changed. I know the protocol dictates a mail should be sent but in practice, no one does! |
Utterly a load of BS. |
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Akatsukami
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Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Posts: 1788
Location: Bloomington, IL
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| PeterHolland wrote: |
| Vishwa310 wrote: |
| Peter, we do use RMS to maintain data but on a daily basis we normally don't upload components. While the component is still being built there are chances that one of our team member might end up changing few lines for his/her code to work. This change may not affect me but however it remains unnoticed by me unless he/she tells that something has been changed. So basically, I was wondering if we could display a small alert to the "editing" user to notify the group in case something is being changed. I know the protocol dictates a mail should be sent but in practice, no one does! |
Utterly a load of BS. |
Unfortunately, this sounds too much like the way things are done in my shop. I recently wrote some simple tools for others to use to detect unauthorized updates to staging libraries.
(And yes, I did ask, "Wouldn't be better to 'lock down' the staging libraries?" I was told, in effect, that it would be too demoralizing for the developers if they weren't allowed to do whatever they want  ) |
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Nic Clouston
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Joined: 10 May 2007
Posts: 2455
Location: Hampshire, UK
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| once again I missed page 2! |
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Vishwa310
New User
Joined: 21 May 2012
Posts: 16
Location: India
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| daveporcelan wrote: |
Vishwa310,
You a thinking very progressively. This is good.
What you propose can not be done however (without some serious ISPF system programming).
What you could do if you really 'need' this to be done.
Write a Rexx exec that runs periodically. This exec would use LMMLIST with the SAVE and STATS options.
It would then check which members have been saved since the last run and report them. This is provided that the member was actually updated using ispf.
You would need your scheduling package to submit a job to perform this process on a schedule of your choosing.
This is one approach if you really 'need' this. |
Dave, the only "drawback" I see here is the reactive approach. I mean, between two successive runs there could be a chance that same member will be updated at different places by different users but this report thingy would catch hold of the last edited user. Nevertheless, thank you so much for your suggestion.. I will certainly give this a try.. |
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Vishwa310
New User
Joined: 21 May 2012
Posts: 16
Location: India
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| Pedro wrote: |
| Quote: |
| "oh, my bad. I forgot to notify you guys". |
I found myself editing from ISPF option 2, rather than in ISPF option 10.2, so I made it harder for myself by disallowing it.
1. local version of panel ISREDM01, it sets a value for the initial macro:
2. my $chekit macro checks the dataset name and cancels right away when a particular dataset is found:
| Code: |
/* rexx */
Address ISREDIT
"MACRO"
"(dsn) = DATASET"
Select
When (dsn = 'DEPTX.IMPORT.ANT') Then
Do
Say 'do not edit this file'
"CANCEL"
End
Otherwise
Nop
End |
It prevents me from editing without SCLM's blessing. Perhaps you can do something similar... you can change the rexx to send you a message for example.
Yes, this process can be easily circumvented. But it might deter the casual "oh, my bad" editor. |
Pedro, this is simple and brilliant idea. One more humble attempt to let the programmer know that he/she should let others know what he is upto. Just one greedy question though, is there a way I can set this macro to stick to that PDS globally rather than with just my profile? In other words, can I achieve this without having to ask my dear programmers to set their edit profiles with this macro? |
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