Replying to the original post because of this statement: "I think maybe we bypassed some HOLDs back then too."
One the hardest lessons for an SMP/E newbie to grasp is when it's OK to bypass a HOLD condition and when it's not. First the nots. It's not (or virtually never) OK to bypass an error hold. If you bypass an error hold, you're telling SMP/E to apply PTF(s) that have been found to be and are declared in error. The nature of that error can vary widely. It may be that some additional action was not mentioned in a hold record. Or this PTF, if applied, may cause a new problem. In general, PTFs in error should (almost) never be applied unless you are very confident that the identified problem will not affect you, or Level 2 Support has advised you to forge ahead for the sake of fixing a more serious problem. These cases are rare, but they can occur. Most other hold conditions may--even should--be bypassed. See https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSLTBW_2.3.0/com.ibm.zos.v2r3.gim2000/namsys.htm for an exhaustive inventory of 'system' ids. You should read these hold records, take action if appropriate, but not bother bypassing them. Be prepared for CC 8. Look in the Causer Report to make sure nothing unexpected has popped up, and move on. Regular maintenance is time-consuming enough without spinning wheels on the tedium of bypassing hold records just for the sake of CC 0. The outcome will be the same anyway. As someone else said, rather than try to restore an iffy PTF, you're generally better off with APPLY REDO. It's possible that a new hold condition has emerged since the original apply, but you need to deal with that anyway. As a friend of mine likes to say, software maintenance is an art, not a science. The longer you do it, the better your nose gets. . . J.O.Skip Robinson Southern California Edison Company Electric Dragon Team Paddler SHARE MVS Program Co-Manager 323-715-0595 Mobile 626-543-6132 Office ⇐=== NEW robin...@sce.com -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Bob Bridges Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2019 8:07 AM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: (External):Newbie SMP/E questions I'm the Top-Secret admin for a client whose system programmer retired a couple years ago. The client tapped another employee to take his place, and she's learning the job with frantic haste but insists with some justification that she's not a system programmer yet. Me, I came into security through the applications-development side so I'm not even close. Together she and I are trying to learn SMP/E. The immediate purpose is so we can apply some TSS-related PTFs, but really, it's become clear to me that we need no excuses to make it a priority; SMP/E is kind of important. I have embarked on a serious reading of the SMP/E User's Guide, but I still need help. I'll limit myself to a handful of questions to start with: Question #1) We started by applying a PTF - call it A for simplicity - and its prerequisite B. We did that last August and then the project languished for the sake of other priorities. Now we're working on it again and we want to restore those two PTFs and do the APPLY again. Why? Well, partly because it was 'way back in August and we're uncertain about exactly how we did it back then. We know more now. Partly because we know more now and we want to practice it better. I dunno, partly because we just want to. I think maybe we bypassed some HOLDs back then too. Anyway, we attempted the RESTORE, but we got lots and lots of error messages saying we need to include other PTFs in the RESTORE. Some of these have an indirect connection to A and B; B superceded at least three of them, for example, which I can see were applied some years ago. Others have no relation to our PTFs that I can discern. I haven't yet found the place in the User's Guide that explains these relationship and their relevance. Can someone give a helpful explanation? Question #2) So far as we can tell by issuing LIST XREF commands, whoever ran this thing in the past never did any ACCEPT, ever, except for the original function code. I see at least 11 PTFs that were applied (including our two), but the distribution library shows no PTFs for any module I've yet LISTed. If true, does that mean that to do a RESTORE of our two PTFs we'll have to RESTORE everything back to the plain-vanilla base? Question #3) My partner the not-sysprog has in mind that maybe we need to set aside this CSI (which is dedicated to Top Secret) and create another one starting with the base software and build up from there. I didn't realize this could be done, but she thinks she can do it. If it'll work, I like it; we'll know in that case what we have, which we do not at present. Anyone have any thoughts on this plan? Question #4) This is a less-important add-on: In both the online documentation and the User's Guide, I read if I'm doing a RESTORE and name PTFs A and B, including the GROUP operand causes SMP/E to add whatever other PTFs are required for various reasons. It doesn't seem to, though; it names them and complains about them, but doesn't add them to the list. Have I misunderstood something? I'm loathe to believe the documentation is flat wrong. If you're getting ready to send rushed messages saying "DON'T DO ANYTHING UNTIL YOU'VE CHECKED...", relax; we're planning to go slow. --- Bob Bridges, cell 336 382-7313 robhbrid...@gmail.com rbrid...@infosecinc.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
