Using the Automatic Restart Management Function of XCF

In a sysplex environment, a program can enhance its recovery potential by registering as an element of automatic restart management. An automatic restart management element represents a program or an application that:

Is submitted as a job.
Is submitted as a started task.
Is an abstract resource. An abstract resource is a program or a set of programs that is only associated with (or has a bind to) the system on which it is running. See Understanding Abstract Resources.

Automatic restart management can reduce the impact of an unexpected error to an element because MVS™ can restart it automatically, without operator intervention. In general, MVS restarts an element when:

The element itself fails. In this case, MVS restarts the element on the same system.
The system on which the element was running unexpectedly fails or leaves the sysplex. In this case, MVS restarts the element on another system in the sysplex; this is called a cross-system restart.

In general, your installation may use automatic restart management in two ways:

To control the restarts of applications (such as CICS®) that already use automatic restart management as part of their recovery.
To write or modify installation applications to use automatic restart management as part of recovery.

To provide program recovery through automatic restart management, your installation has to activate a policy through the SETXCF START command. This can be an installation-written policy or the IBM-supplied policy defaults. Because an installation-written policy may have an effect on your program, you need to understand how your installation uses automatic restart managment for recovery in a sysplex, and code the program with these factors in mind.