Job Logs, Job Dumps, and Service Dumps No Longer in QEZJOBLOG or QEZDEBUG Output Queue after Operating System Installation or Upgrade

Resolving The Problem

After installing or upgrading the operating system, job logs, service dumps, job dumps, trace output and backup detailed or summary reports may print to the system printer or appear on the user's output queue, rather than going to the QEZJOGLOG or QEZDEBUG output queues as expected.

When the operating system is installed, reinstalled, or upgraded, all IBM-supplied printer files are overwritten and are, therefore, returned to the default settings. Any changes made to these printer files prior to installing the operating system are lost. As a result, job logs and other system output may appear on unexpected output queues. This occurs because the installation resets the Device (DEV) parameter to *JOB and the Spooled output queue (OUTQ) parameter to *JOB in all of the system-supplied printer files. This causes these parameters to use the default printer device and output queue for the job that may, in many cases, point to the system printer (such as PRT01) or to another printer configured on the system.

Note: This document talks specifically about changing the following system-supplied printer files:

QPJOBLOG
QPSRVDMP
QPDSPJOB
QPCSMPRT
QPSAVOBJ

However, there are other system-supplied printer files that you might consider changing to have them go to a specific output queue (such as QEZJOBLOG, QEZDEBUG, or another output queue of your choosing) or to have the resulting spooled files generated in HLD (Held) status. For example:

Library-name/Printer-file	Description
QSYS/QPDSPJOB	Printer file for DSPJOB, WRKJOB
QSYS/QPDSPJRN	Printer file for display journal
QSYS/QPDSPLOG	Printer file for display log
QSYS/QPPGMDMP	Printer file for Program Dump
QSYS/QPSAVOBJ	Printer File for Save Commands

Changing the QPJOBLOG, QPSRVDMP, QPDSPJOB and QPCSMPRT Printer Files to Refer to a Specific Output Queue

The issue can be resolved by changing certain IBM-supplied printer files (including QPJOBLOG, QPSRVDMP, QPDSPJOB, QPCSMPRT and QPSAVOBJ) to point to the QEZJOBLOG or QEZDEBUG output queues. This can be done using the following Change Printer File (CHGPRTF) commands:

CHGPRTF FILE(QSYS/QPJOBLOG) OUTQ(QUSRSYS/QEZJOBLOG)

CHGPRTF FILE(QSYS/QPSRVDMP) OUTQ(QUSRSYS/QEZDEBUG)

CHGPRTF FILE(QSYS/QPDSPJOB) OUTQ(QUSRSYS/QEZDEBUG)

CHGPRTF FILE(QSYS/QPCSMPRT) OUTQ(QUSRSYS/QEZDEBUG)

CHGPRTF FILE(QSYS/QPPGMDMP) OUTQ(QUSRSYS/QEZDEBUG)

CHGPRTF FILE(QSYS/QPSAVOBJ) OUTQ(QUSRSYS/QEZJOBLOG)

With this change, job logs are routed to the QEZJOBLOG output queue, and system service dumps, job dumps and trace output are routed to QEZDEBUG output queue. All of the spooled files are then subject to the system clean up program, if it is activated.

The backup detailed or summary reports could be placed on a different output queue, as desired. If placed on the QEZJOBLOG or QEZDEBUG output queues, then the reports will be cleaned up by the system cleanup program like joblogs and other system output.

Note: This change must be made each time the operating system is upgraded to a new release and any time the current release is re-installed (including slip installations and scratch installations).


Generating the QPJOBLOG, QPSRVDMP, QPDSPJOB and QPCSMPRT Spooled Files in HLD (Held) Status

The Hold spooled file (HOLD) parameter can be set to *YES. Therefore, even if the output goes to an output queue associated with a started writer the spooled file will still not be printed unless explicitly released. This can be done using the following CHGPRTF commands:

CHGPRTF FILE(QSYS/QPJOBLOG) OUTQ(QUSRSYS/QEZJOBLOG) HOLD(*YES)

CHGPRTF FILE(QSYS/QPSRVDMP) OUTQ(QUSRSYS/QEZDEBUG) HOLD(*YES)

CHGPRTF FILE(QSYS/QPDSPJOB) OUTQ(QUSRSYS/QEZDEBUG) HOLD(*YES)

CHGPRTF FILE(QSYS/QPCSMPRT) OUTQ(QUSRSYS/QEZDEBUG) HOLD(*YES)

CHGPRTF FILE(QSYS/QPPGMDMP) OUTQ(QUSRSYS/QEZDEBUG) HOLD(*YES)

CHGPRTF FILE(QSYS/QPSAVOBJ) OUTQ(QUSRSYS/QEZJOBLOG) HOLD(*YES)