The operands on the BUILD definition statement are primarily used by the NCP generation process. The SUBAREA operand identifies the subarea address of the NCP to VTAM®. The subarea address number specified must be within a subarea address range that is acceptable to VTAM; this depends on whether the network contains nonextended network addressing nodes, extended network addressing nodes, or extended subarea addressing nodes.

Sample BUILD definition statement

Following is a sample BUILD definition statement:

BUILD    BUILD BFRS=240,           SIZE OF NCP BUFFERS
               MEMSIZE=4M,         3745 MEMORY SIZE
               MODEL=3745-210,     CONTROLLER IS AN IBM 3745
               VERSION=V5R2.1,     NCP VERSION
               USGTIER=4,          USAGE TIER 4
               ⋮
               LOCALTO=1.5,        (NTRI) LOCAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TIMER
               MXRLINE=2,          (NTRI) 2 TICS ATTACHED
               MXVLINE=16,         (NTRI) 16 PUS MAXIMUM
               REMOTTO=1.5,        (NTRI) REMOTE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TIMER
               ⋮
               NETID=CSSNET,       NETWORK ID
               SUBAREA=111,        NCP SUBAREA NUMBER
               SALIMIT=255,        MAXIMUM SUBAREA ADDRESS LIMIT
               ERLIMIT=8,          USE ONLY 8 EXPLICIT ROUTES
               NEWNAME=N111A2,     NCP LOAD MODULE NAME-NCP 111, MONTH 10, CYCLE 2
               PUNAME=NCP111,      NCP PU NAME
               LOADLIB=NCPLOAD     LOAD MODS IN NCPLOAD LIB

Subarea addressing

In the preceding sample, the MAXSUBA operand is not coded, which means that the network does not contain nonextended network addressing nodes. The SALIMIT operand, which is used in an extended subarea addressing node, limits the subarea address range for the sample NCP to 255 subareas. This subarea address range is the same as for an extended network addressing environment. The maximum subarea address range for an attached VTAM can be greater than 255; however, because SALIMIT=255 for the NCP, its subarea address must be less than or equal to that limit.

You can limit the number of explicit routes that can be used in an extended subarea network by coding the ERLIMIT operand on the NCP BUILD definition statement. Although VTAM supports up to 16 explicit routes, if the number of explicit routes in the NCP is limited to eight, VTAM must use explicit route numbers 0 through 7 to communicate with that NCP.

For a single-domain network, the NETID operand on the BUILD definition statement must be the same as the network identifier used to start VTAM. For information about coding the BUILD definition statement, see the NCP, SSP, and EP Resource Definition Reference.

Identifying the NCP load module

To identify the NCP load module, perform the following steps:

1. Code the LOADLIB operand on the BUILD definition statement to identify the file in which the NCP load module is stored.
2. Code the NEWNAME operand on the BUILD definition statement to identify the name of the load module. This is also the name used to file the NCP in VTAMLST.
3. If multiple copies of an NCP must be maintained at a single host, alter the load module name by changing the value of the NEWNAME operand.
4. You can see the NCP using the same physical unit name by coding the same value on the PUNAME operand for each different NCP load module.
5. Activate the NCP by specifying ID=puname and LOADMOD=newname. If you specify ID=puname on the VARY ACT command, a DISPLAY command for the NCP is issued specifying ID=puname.

If the NCP is to be automatically activated using a VTAM configuration list (CONFIG start option), the NCP major node name must be the same as the load module name specified on the NEWNAME, because it is filed in VTAMLST using that name. For example, in the preceding BUILD definition statement, you can always see the NCP by its physical unit name (PUNAME) of NCP111. The load module name specified on the NEWNAME operand can contain other information, such as the month (October is 10 or X'A') and the cycle number of the NCP generation for that month.

You can also maintain different load modules for the same NCP by filing the NCPs under different temporary names. Before activating one of them as a VTAM major node, rename the member to match the load module name (NEWNAME) on the BUILD definition statement.