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How to Send an Email When Too Many Tapes Are Uncataloged

As a storage administrator, you are responsible for keeping the tape catalog up-to-date and monitoring the processing of the CA 1 daily utilities. This scenario describes how to create an alert and send an email when too many tape files are uncataloged in one run of TMSCLEAN. In this scenario, the storage administrator has specified 1,000 data sets being uncataloged as an uncommonly high number and indicative of a possible problem.

The following illustration shows how to send an email when too many tapes are uncataloged:

To send an email when too many tapes are uncataloged, do the following:

1. Verify the prerequisites.
2. Create an alert.
3. Define the recipient.
4. Create an email.
5. Activate the alert.

Verify the Prerequisites

To be able to monitor the number of uncataloged tapes and send an email notification when the number exceeds certain threshold, verify the following prerequisites:

• Verify that the VSAM Database is allocated and initialized.
• Verify that ISPF Panels are installed.
• Verify that SEND data set exists.
• Verify that some variables are set to define the email environment and Volume Pool Monitor (VPM) subtask parameters.

Note: For more information about these prerequisites, see the Installation Guide.

Create an Alert

To be notified when TMSCLEAN uncatalogs a high number of tape files in one run, define the alert named High_Uncatalog_Activity.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the CTS ISPF primary menu, and enter 3.

   The VPM Alert List Panel opens.

2. Enter ADD in the command line on the VPM Alert List Panel.

   The VPM Alert Add Panel opens.

3. Specify the alert parameters:
   • Type High_Uncatalog_Acitivity in the Alert ID field.
   • Leave the Pool ID field blank.
   • Type in TMSCLEAN_FILES_UNCATALOGED to have the alert monitor the number of files that TMSCLEAN uncatalogs every time that the utility runs.
   • Type GT in the Oper field.
   • Type 1,000 in the Value field.
   • Type UNCAT2HI in the Send field to identify the member of the SEND data set that you want to send.

     The member name must match the member name that you specify when creating the email.

   • Type 12 in the Interval field to have the email sent once in every 12 hours while the condition is still true.
4. Press Enter to save the settings.

Note: For complete information about the options for this panel, see the Administration Guide.

Define the Recipient

To define a recipient of an email notification that is sent by the alert, create a variable to use in the email. Using a variable also enables you to change the recipient of the email easily.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the CTS ISPF primary menu, and enter 1.

   The CTS Variable Type menu opens.

2. Enter 1 on the CTS Variable Type menu.
3. Enter the ADD command on the CTS User Variable List menu.
4. Type Lead_tape_librarian in the Name field on the CTS Variable Add Panel. On this panel, do not specify the ampersand (&) character that you normally include with variables.
5. Type the email address of the recipient in the Value field.
6. Press Enter to save the settings.

Create an Email

Create the contents of the email to send when the alert condition has been met.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the UNCAT2HI member of the SEND data set for editing.
2. Edit the member as follows:
   • Type EMAIL in the first line of data.
   • Type x-TO: &Lead_tape_librarian& in the second line.
   • Type x-TITLE: Investigate TMSCLEAN Uncatalog Activity in the third line.
   • Type the body of the email in the following lines.

     EDIT       SYS3.CA1.SEND(UNCAT2HI) - 01.00                   Columns 00001 00072
     Command ===>                                                  Scroll ===> CSR 
     

     ****** ***************************** Top of Data ******************************
     000001 EMAIL
     000002 x-TO: &Lead_tape_librarian&
     000003 x-TITLE: Investigate TMSCLEAN Uncatalog Activity
     000004 In the most recent run of TMSCLEAN on 
     000005 &TMSCLEAN_JOB_COMPLETION_DATE& run on System &SYSID& there
     000006 were &CTS_Alert_Variable_Value&
     000007 files UNCATALOGED in that run. TMSCLEAN does not normally
     000008 uncatalog that many files in a daily run.
     000009 &BL&
     000010 This condition should be investigated to insure that we don’t have
     000011 a problem.
     000012 &BL& 
     000013 Note - do not reply to this email.
     ****** **************************** Bottom of Data ****************************
     
     

3. Press PF3 or enter END in the command line to save the settings.

Note: You can extensively customize the emails. For more information, see the Administration Guide.

Activate the Alert

To add the new alert to the list of alerts that the VPM subtask monitors, activate the alert.

Follow these steps:

1. (Optional) If the Common Tape System (CTS) started task is not running, add the VPM subtask to the CTSSTART member in hlq.CTAPOPTN.
2. (Optional) Start CTS started task using the following command in the ENFCMDS member of CA Common Services hlq.PPOPTION:

   S CTS
   

3. (Optional) If the CTS started task is running but the VPM subtask is not running, start the VPM subtask using the modify command:

   F CTS,SET TASK(VPM) PGM(CTSVPM)
   F CTS,START VPM
   

4. Update the list of alerts by issuing the following command:

   F CTS,MSG,VPM,UPDATE
   

   The VPM reads the VDB and adds the new alert to the list of the alerts that the VPM monitors.

You have successfully set the notification threshold for uncataloged data sets. When the VPM subtask discovers that TMSCLEAN has uncataloged more than 1,000 tape files in one run, the lead tape librarian receives an email notification. The email is sent once every 12 hours while the condition is still true.

Note: The interval that the VPM subtask uses to check for activity in the CA 1 Audit file is controlled by the option variable OPT_VPM_TIMER. Review the default 30-minute setting for OPT_VPM_TIMER and insure that it is appropriate for your site.

If the interval is set to 30 minutes and TMSCLEAN completes after the last time that the interval expired, there can be up to a 30-minute delay until the interval expires again and the updated value for TMSCLEAN_JOB_FILES_UNCATALOGED is read from the CA 1 Audit file.