Parameters for Facilities › OSF Parameters › OSFCHAR Parameter

OSFCHAR Parameter

The OSFCHAR parameter defines the one- to three-character string that you use to prefix commands that are to be issued from a console directly to an OSF TSO server. For example, if the value of the OSFCHAR parameter were OSF, the following commands issued at an MCS console would be routed to the OSF:

OSFTIME
OSFLISTD 'SYS1.PROCLIB'
OSFOI PROGRAMA ARG1

The OSFALLOWED parameter determines whether a source other than an MCS console can use the OSF command prefix to send a command to the OSF server for execution.

For information about how CA OPS/MVS defines OSFCHAR to the z/OS Command Prefix Facility (CPF), see the Administration Guide. You should also see OSFSYSPLEXCMD Parameter in this chapter. For general rules for defining CPF strings, see Characters That Can Be Used in z/OS Commands in the chapter “Using This Reference.”

Note: CA OPS/MVS automatically defines the command prefix to the CPF during product initialization and attempts to delete the prefix from the CPF during termination. If some other subsystem is already using this prefix, then the prefix is not defined to the CPF and the following message is issued during product initialization:

OPS0100W CPF DEFINE OF OSFCHAR FAILED, RC=X'00000008', REASON CODE=X'00000008'

Reason codes of X'0000000C' and X'00000010' are also indicators of this type of problem since the prefix specified may be either a subset or superset of a prefix that is already defined.

If you change the value of OSFCHAR while CA OPS/MVS is active, then the CPF prefixes will not be updated and the following message will be issued during product termination. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you do not modify OSFCHAR after product initialization.

Note: In a future release, OSFCHAR may change so that it can be set only during product initialization.

OPS0100W CPF DELETE OF OSFCHAR FAILED, RC=X'00000008', REASON CODE=X'00000004'

Important! The OSFCHAR parameter can only contain characters from the table shown in Characters That Can Be Used In z/OS Commands in the chapter “Using This Reference.”

Default value

The exclamation point (!)

Other possible values

Any unique, 1- to 3-character string

Change the value of OSFCHAR if you already use the ! character for something else, or if you want to allow the operator to talk to a test version of the server.

Set or modify this parameter...

Anytime

Important! We strongly recommend that you do not modify OSFCHAR after product initialization.

Example: OSFCHAR

This function changes the OSF command prefix to OSF.

OPSPRM('SET','OSFCHAR','OSF')