MAINFRAME TEST 2 QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS WITH SOLUTIONS 2024
What are the three basic JCL statements? Describe briefly the purpose of each of them. - ANSWER JOB,
EXEC, and DD
A JOB statement identifies the job and the user who submits the JCL.
A EXEC EXEC statement identifies the program to be executed.
The DD statement are coded after the EXEC statement and it describes the dataset used by the EXEC
statement program.
Tell what the JCL statement means? - ANSWER //C332100S JOB 1
The job statement has name C332100S and the number 1 is an accounting field supplied for the job.
In JCL, what is a JOB statement? Give a very short (one sentence) description for each of the parameters
of a JOB statement such as REGION, NOTIFY, MSGLEVEL, MSGCLASS. - ANSWER A JOB statement
identifies the job and the user who submit the JCL.
Commonly used parameters are:
MSGCLASS to specify a single-character output class to be used for the job's message output.
NOTIFY to specify the user-id of the TSO/E user to be notified when the job completes
REGION to specify the memory resources to be allocated to the job.
MSGLEVEL controls which JCL statement and system messages are produced by the job.
In JCL, what is an EXEC statement? Give a very short (one sentence) description for each of the
parameters of a EXEC statement such as PARM, COND, TIME - ANSWER In a JCL and EXEC statement is
used to identify the program to be executed by each step, if there are more than one step.
PGM specifies the name of the program to be executed for the job step
PARM specifies the information that is passed to the program
COND a Boolean logic controlling the execution of job steps.
TIME controls the amount of the time the processor can use for the step in minutes and seconds.
, In JCL, what is a DD statement? Give a very short (one sentence) description of each of the parameters of
a DD statement such as DSN, DISP, SPACE, SYSOUT. - ANSWER The DD statement are coded after the
EXEC statement and describes the dataset used by the exec statement program.
DSN specifies the datasets names to be used.Some of them can be temporary or new dataset needed.
DISP specifies the dataset status and normal and abnormal disposition.
SPACE specifies the amount of storage required for a new dataset.
VOL=SER specifies the six character volume serial number and volume that contains the dataset.
SYSOUT defines the print location.
We have three DD statements:
//DD1 DD UNIT=3480,...
//DD2 DD UNIT=0560,...
//DD3 DD UNIT=560,...
What do these numbers mean? How do we know this? - ANSWER A specific 3480 tape drive of unit 560
or 0560. A unit can refer to any device in a device type or group, or it can allocate a specific device unit
address.
JCL can be submitted or started. What is the difference? - ANSWER To start a job means the system
operator pressed the 'start' button. In the early days of mainframes, the command meant the system
operator took a deck of card
containing a job's data, placed the cards into the card reader, and pressed its start button.
To submit a job means the programmer has issued a SUBMIT (SUB) command, which causes the JES to
read the job stream from the DASD file and copy it into a job queue.
Explain the relationship between a data set name, a DD name, and the file
name within a program.
For example:
//SYSTSIN DD DSN=C332100.FOOD,DISP=SHR - ANSWER Here SYSTSIN is the symbolic name used
program and DSN= specifies the file that the program will read data from. This kind of associating a
symbolic name with an
actual file name allows programmers to use the same program to execute with different input files,
assuming the program can handle them.
ANSWERS WITH SOLUTIONS 2024
What are the three basic JCL statements? Describe briefly the purpose of each of them. - ANSWER JOB,
EXEC, and DD
A JOB statement identifies the job and the user who submits the JCL.
A EXEC EXEC statement identifies the program to be executed.
The DD statement are coded after the EXEC statement and it describes the dataset used by the EXEC
statement program.
Tell what the JCL statement means? - ANSWER //C332100S JOB 1
The job statement has name C332100S and the number 1 is an accounting field supplied for the job.
In JCL, what is a JOB statement? Give a very short (one sentence) description for each of the parameters
of a JOB statement such as REGION, NOTIFY, MSGLEVEL, MSGCLASS. - ANSWER A JOB statement
identifies the job and the user who submit the JCL.
Commonly used parameters are:
MSGCLASS to specify a single-character output class to be used for the job's message output.
NOTIFY to specify the user-id of the TSO/E user to be notified when the job completes
REGION to specify the memory resources to be allocated to the job.
MSGLEVEL controls which JCL statement and system messages are produced by the job.
In JCL, what is an EXEC statement? Give a very short (one sentence) description for each of the
parameters of a EXEC statement such as PARM, COND, TIME - ANSWER In a JCL and EXEC statement is
used to identify the program to be executed by each step, if there are more than one step.
PGM specifies the name of the program to be executed for the job step
PARM specifies the information that is passed to the program
COND a Boolean logic controlling the execution of job steps.
TIME controls the amount of the time the processor can use for the step in minutes and seconds.
, In JCL, what is a DD statement? Give a very short (one sentence) description of each of the parameters of
a DD statement such as DSN, DISP, SPACE, SYSOUT. - ANSWER The DD statement are coded after the
EXEC statement and describes the dataset used by the exec statement program.
DSN specifies the datasets names to be used.Some of them can be temporary or new dataset needed.
DISP specifies the dataset status and normal and abnormal disposition.
SPACE specifies the amount of storage required for a new dataset.
VOL=SER specifies the six character volume serial number and volume that contains the dataset.
SYSOUT defines the print location.
We have three DD statements:
//DD1 DD UNIT=3480,...
//DD2 DD UNIT=0560,...
//DD3 DD UNIT=560,...
What do these numbers mean? How do we know this? - ANSWER A specific 3480 tape drive of unit 560
or 0560. A unit can refer to any device in a device type or group, or it can allocate a specific device unit
address.
JCL can be submitted or started. What is the difference? - ANSWER To start a job means the system
operator pressed the 'start' button. In the early days of mainframes, the command meant the system
operator took a deck of card
containing a job's data, placed the cards into the card reader, and pressed its start button.
To submit a job means the programmer has issued a SUBMIT (SUB) command, which causes the JES to
read the job stream from the DASD file and copy it into a job queue.
Explain the relationship between a data set name, a DD name, and the file
name within a program.
For example:
//SYSTSIN DD DSN=C332100.FOOD,DISP=SHR - ANSWER Here SYSTSIN is the symbolic name used
program and DSN= specifies the file that the program will read data from. This kind of associating a
symbolic name with an
actual file name allows programmers to use the same program to execute with different input files,
assuming the program can handle them.
