Defining values for utility programs

If you want to use utility programs other than the defaults, or if you want to specify different parameters for the default utility programs, you need to identify the programs to SMP/E by defining UTILITY entries and OPTIONS entries. For example, the installation information for a particular product you are about to install may direct you to use a specific link-edit utility and may indicate that the maximum successful return code from the utility is 4, not 8.

Figure 1 shows how OPTIONS entries, UTILITY entries, zone definition entries, and the SET command are related.

Figure 1. Relationships of OPTIONS, UTILITY, zone definition entries and the SET command

How the OPTIONS, UTILITY, zone definition entries, and the SET commands are interrelated.

These are the basic steps to follow:

1

Define the desired utility name and parameters in a UTILITY entry.

2

Define an OPTIONS entry that points to that UTILITY entry.

3

Put the OPTIONS entry into effect by doing one of the following:

A: If the information should be the default for processing a particular zone, update the associated zone definition entry to point to the desired OPTIONS entry. The default OPTIONS ENTRY is always used for processing that zone, unless you override the OPTIONS entry with the SET command.
B: Otherwise, use the SET command to indicate which OPTIONS entry to use when processing the zone specified on the SET command. The information in the specified OPTIONS entry overrides the default OPTIONS entry defined for the zone.

For examples of these steps, see Example: How to request the desired utility processing. For more detailed information, see the topic on OPTIONS Entry. UTILITY Entry, GLOBALZONE Entry, DLIBZONE Entry,, and TARGETZONE Entry in SMP/E for z/OS Reference. Also see SMP/E for z/OS Commands for information about the SET command.

Note: You can specify which utility programs SMP/E can call by using the PROGRAM class of the z/OS® Security Server (RACF®). Refer to z/OS Security Server RACF Security Administrator's Guide for more information about how to use this function.