Welcome to RestartPlus

RestartPlus is an Automic Automation component that the processes of restarting or rerunning JOBs in an z/OS environment. Manually effecting these processes can be tedious and time-consuming. For example, datasets created in a JOB must be identified, uncataloged, and deleted. Tape datasets must be manually expired. JCL may have to be modified to reflect GDG biases. Often, the many details involved can lead to unintended errors, wasted resources, and hours of lost production time. Productivity and resource costs can be considerable.

To reduce the need for such manual intervention, RestartPlus collects and saves the details of each JOB under its control as the JOB executes. It can then use this information to delete datasets, adjust GDG biases, and expire tape datasets so that JOBs can be restarted or rerun automatically. Placing a job under RestartPlus control simply requires inserting an initial JOB step that executes the Run Time Module.

Product Overview

RestartPlus, illustrated below, consists of four main components:

• RestartPlus Journal, the repository for JOB restart information.
• RestartPlus Supervisor, a started task that maintains the Journal.
• RestartPlus Run Time Module, a module that collects JOB information.

RestartPlus Agent, a facility for browsing, updating and reporting on Journal data.

RestartPlus Journal

The RestartPlus Journal is a repository for information for each JOB under RestartPlus control. All information required to rerun or restart a JOB is saved in the Journal.

Instructions for allocating and initializing the Journal can be found in "Installation".

RestartPlus Supervisor

The RestartPlus Supervisor is a continuously running started task that is normally started at system IPL time. It is solely responsible for maintaining the RestartPlus Journal. Any RestartPlus component that needs to update the Journal must communicate the data to be added, modified, or deleted to the RestartPlus Supervisor. The Supervisor then performs the requested Journal updates. Because of this communication structure, none of the other RestartPlus components can function if the RestartPlus Supervisor is not running.

RestartPlusRun Time Module

The RestartPlus Run Time module collects information about a JOB when it runs and passes it to the RestartPlus Supervisor. The Supervisor records and maintains this information in its Journal for later use.

When executed in standard or production mode, the RestartPlus Run Time Module examines all datasets that are created in the JCL of JOBs under its control. It then uncatalogs and deletes any existing versions of those datasets to prevent z/OS allocation errors as the JOB executes.

When executed in rerun or restart mode, the RestartPlus Run Time Module determines either from its execution parameters or from data retrieved from the Journal which JOB steps are to be re-executed. It then performs all dataset and catalog operations required to re-execute the specified steps.

RestartPlusAgent

The Restart Agent is a facility to control and maintain the Journal. It provides an ISPF and batch interface. With the RestartPlus Agent, JOB data in the Journal can be viewed, reported on, or modified. It also allows you to delete JOBs from the Journal.

System Requirements

RestartPlus will run on all MVS/ESA and MVS z/OS systems.

RestartPlus requires that all systems on which it operates produce SMF TYPE 30 records, subtypes 4 and 5.