What is the System Display and Search Facility (SDSF)?

System Display and Search Facility (SDSF) is a utility that allows you to monitor, control, and view the output of jobs in the system.

After submitting a job, it is common to use System Display and Search Facility (SDSF) to review the output for successful completion or to review and correct JCL errors. SDSF allows you to display printed output held in the JES spool area. Much of the printed output sent to JES by batch jobs (and other jobs) is never actually printed. Instead it is inspected using SDSF and deleted or used as needed.

SDSF provides a number of additional functions, including:

Viewing the system log and searching for any literal string
Entering system commands (in earlier versions of the operating system, only the operator could enter commands)
Controlling job processing (hold, release, cancel, and purge jobs)
Monitoring jobs while they are being processed
Displaying job output before deciding to print it
Controlling the order in which jobs are processed
Controlling the order in which output is printed
Controlling printers and initiators

Figure 1 shows the SDSF primary option menu.

Figure 1. SDSF primary option menu

   Display  Filter  View  Print  Options  Help
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ISPFCU41                          SDSF Primary Option Menu
COMMAND INPUT  ===> _                                      SCROLL ===> PAGE

DA    Active users                             INIT  Initiators
I     Input queue                              PR    Printers
O     Output queue                             PUN   Punches
H     Held output queue                        RDR   Readers
ST    Status of jobs                           LINE  Lines
                                               NODE  Nodes
LOG   System log                               SO    Spool offload
SR    System requests                          SP    Spool volumes
MAS   Members in the MAS
JC    Job classes                              ULOG  User session log
SE    Scheduling environments    
RES   WLM resources
ENC   Enclaves
PS    Processes

END   Exit SDSF

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US Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication or 
disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.   
 
 F1=HELP      F2=SPLIT     F3=EXIT      F4=RETURN    F5=IFIND     F6=BOOK
 F7=UP        F8=DOWN      F9=SWAP      F10=LEFT    F11=RIGHT    F12=RETRIEVE

SDSF uses a hierarchy of online panels to guide users through its functions, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. SDSF panel hierarchy

You can see the JES output data sets created during the execution of your batch job. They are saved on the JES spool data set.

You can see the JES data sets in any of the following queues:

I: Input queue
DA: Execution queue
O: Output queue
H: Held queue
ST: Status queue

For output and held queues, you cannot see those JES data sets that you requested to be automatically purged (by setting a MSGCLASS sysout class that has been defined to not save output). Also, depending on the MSGCLASS you chose on the JOB card, the sysouts can be either in the output queue or in the held queue.

Figure 3. SDSF viewing the JES2 Output files

Screen 1

   Display  Filter  View  Print  Options  Help
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SDSF HELD OUTPUT DISPLAY ALL CLASSES   LINES 44
COMMAND INPUT  ===> _                                   SCROLL ===> PAGE
PREFIX=*  DEST=(ALL)   OWNER=*  SYSNAME=
NP   JOBNAME   JobID    Owner    Prty C ODisp  Dest               Tot-Rec  Tot-
?_   MIRIAM2   JOB26044 MIRIAM    144 T HOLD   LOCAL                   44

Screen 2

   Display  Filter  View  Print  Options  Help
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SDSF JOB DATA SET  DISPLAY  - JOB MIRIAM2 (JOB26044)   LINE 1-3 (3)
COMMAND INPUT  ===> _                                   SCROLL ===> PAGE
PREFIX=*  DEST=(ALL)   OWNER=*  SYSNAME=
NP   DDNAME   StepName  ProcStep DSID  Owner   C Dest              Rec-Cnt  Page
     JESMSGLG JES2                  2  MIRIAM  T LOCAL                  20 
     JESJCL   JES2                  3  MIRIAM  T LOCAL                  12 
     JESYSMSG JES2                  4  MIRIAM  T LOCAL                  12

Screen 1 in Figure 3 displays a list of jobs that submitted, with output directed to the held (Class T) queue, as identified in the MSGCLASS=T parameter on the job card. In this case, only one job has been submitted and executed. Therefore, only one job is on the held queue. To display the output files generated by job 7359, you would enter a ? command in the NP column.

Screen 2 in Figure 3 displays three ddnames: the JES2 messages log file, the JES2 JCL file, and the JES2 system messages file. This option is useful when you are seeing jobs with many files directed to SYSOUT and you want to display one associated with a specific step. To see all output files, you would enter an S in the NP column. The JES2 job log is displayed similar to the one shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Sample JES2 job log

J E S 2  J O B  L O G  --  S Y S T E M  S C 6 4  --  N O D E

13.19.24 JOB26044 ---- WEDNESDAY, 27 AUG 2003 ----
13.19.24 JOB26044  IRR010I  USERID MIRIAM   IS ASSIGNED TO THIS JOB.
13.19.24 JOB26044  ICH70001I MIRIAM   LAST ACCESS AT 13:18:53 ON WEDNESDAY, 
AUGUST 2003
13.19.24 JOB26044  $HASP373 MIRIAM2  STARTED - INIT 1    - CLASS A- SYS SC64
13.19.24 JOB26044  IEF403I MIRIAM2 - STARTED - ASID=0027 - SC64
13.19.24 JOB26044  -                                        --TIMINGS (MINS.)--
13.19.24 JOB26044  -JOBNAME  STEPNAME PROCSTEP    RC   EXCP    CPU  SRB  CLOCK
13.19.24 JOB26044  -MIRIAM2           STEP1       00      9    .00  .00  .00
13.19.24 JOB26044  IEF404I MIRIAM2 - ENDED - ASID=0027 - SC64
13.19.24 JOB26044  -MIRIAM2  ENDED.  NAME-MIRIAM              
TOTAL CPU TIME=
13.19.24 JOB26044  $HASP395 MIRIAM2  ENDED
------ JES2 JOB STATISTICS ------
27 AUG 2003 JOB EXECUTION DATE
11 CARDS READ
44 SYSOUT PRINT RECORDS
0 SYSOUT PUNCH RECORDS
3 SYSOUT SPOOL KBYTES
0.00 MINUTES EXECUTION TIME
1 //MIRIAM2 JOB 19,MIRIAM,NOTIFY=&SYSUID,MSGCLASS=T,
  // MSGLEVEL=(1,1),CLASS=A
  IEFC653I SUBSTITUTION JCL -
  19,MIRIAM,NOTIFY=MIRIAM,MSGCLASS=T,MSGLEVE
2 //STEP1 EXEC PGM=IEFBR14
  //*-------------------------------------------------*
  //* THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A NEW DATA SET ALLOCATION
  //*-------------------------------------------------*
3 //NEWDD DD   DSN=MIRIAM.IEFBR14.TEST1.NEWDD,
  //           DISP=(NEW,CATLG,DELETE),UNIT=SYSDA,
  //           SPACE=(CYL,(10,10,45)),LRECL=80,BLKSIZE=3120
4 //SYSPRINT  DD  SYSOUT=T
  /*
ICH70001I MIRIAM   LAST ACCESS AT 13:18:53 ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2003
IEF236I ALLOC. FOR MIRIAM2 STEP1
IGD100I 390D ALLOCATED TO DDNAME NEWDD    DATACLAS (        )
IEF237I JES2 ALLOCATED TO SYSPRINT
IEF142I MIRIAM2 STEP1 - STEP WAS EXECUTED - COND CODE 0000
IEF285I   MIRIAM.IEFBR14.TEST1.NEWDD                   CATALOGED
IEF285I   VOL SER NOS= SBOX38.
IEF285I   MIRIAM.MIRIAM2.JOB26044.D0000101.?           SYSOUT
IEF373I STEP/STEP1   /START 2003239.1319
IEF374I STEP/STEP1   /STOP  2003239.1319 CPU    0MIN 00.00SEC SRB 0MIN 00.00S
IEF375I  JOB/MIRIAM2 /START 2003239.1319
IEF376I  JOB/MIRIAM2 /STOP  2003239.1319 CPU    0MIN 00.00SEC SRB 0MIN 00.00S