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Tips for Success with Datacom/AD Version 15.1 and CA 7

  • 1.  Tips for Success with Datacom/AD Version 15.1 and CA 7

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Oct 05, 2021 11:41 AM
    Edited by Don Johnson Oct 07, 2021 01:30 PM

    Welcome to the Datacom/AD family! Most likely, you are here because you need to install Datacom/AD for use with your CA 7 Workload Automation product.

    First, you are in good company here, as many of your peers from other firms around the world have been where you are, and they probably have had the same questions that you have. Next, Datacom/AD is a strategic direction for data management and is used with a number of Broadcom mainframe products. Additionally, the Datacom products are some of the best performing and most robust database management products available on the planet today to help you reach your business goals! Finally, since other companies have made this transition to Datacom/AD Version 15.1 successfully, we wanted to let you share in the things that our customers have learned along the way.

    Ready to dive in and get started?

    Installing the software and applying maintenance

    We would recommend first that you review the README file for Datacom/AD Version 15.1. This contains current information about the latest release level, and any other special points you should know as you get started. This link will open a webpage into the Datacom/AD Version 15.1 documentation which you will use for the installation process below.

    Once you have finished the README file, you should download and apply the latest maintenance for the product, so that your software will be at its best operating level. The current level for Datacom/AD is Version 15.1 at Service Update S2101, which was made available on 23 August 2021. This service update contains many fixes and enhancements that were released since the Version 15.1 software was published.

    The process for downloading the base software and additional maintenance is explained for you in the Datacom/AD documentation section "Installing" and is also explained here. To download the most current version of Datacom/AD Version 15.1, please start with the Datacom Downloads page. From the Product Download tab, select the link for CA Datacom/AD MVS Release 15.1, which will take you to the Datacom/AD Downloads page for S2101, where you can download the product Pax file. After you have downloaded the product package, you should follow your normal process for downloading and applying maintenance (we recommend using the Receive Order processing as documented in the Common Services documentation section "Configure SMP/E Internet Service Retrieval").

    Use an Existing MUF or a New MUF?

    If this is your first adventure with Datacom/AD, then skip ahead to the next section (Customizing Your New MUF) while we address a question from users of Datacom/AD for other Broadcom products who now are implementing Datacom/AD for CA 7.

    A common question to ask is, "Should I use a separate Multi-User Facility (called MUF) for my CA 7 application, or can I add CA 7 to an existing MUF?" It is common for applications doing related business processing to reside together in the same MUF. For example, many customers who use the CA 11 restart product can easily add the CA 7 product to the same MUF. However, those customers running Common Services/ENF should not add CA 7 to that MUF, because a CA 7 application problem could affect the system-level ENF operation, or a problem in ENF could disrupt CA 7 schedule processing.

    When in doubt, there is no problem in creating a separate MUF for each application; you can always contact the support team for the products involved to be sure. If you will create a new MUF for CA 7, please continue with the "Customizing Your New MUF" section; otherwise, skip ahead to the "Setting Up the MUF for CA 7."

    Customizing Your New MUF

    After installing the Datacom/AD software and updating it with the solutions, you are ready to begin the process to configure your new Multi-User Facility (called MUF) to support your CA 7 package. There are only a few jobs to run to set up your MUF, and the steps to follow are in the Installing section of the documentation, in the subsections starting with the "CA Datacom/AD Environment Configuration."

    Once you have completed the steps in the "Customization and Environment Steps" and the "New Installation Phase," you should have an operational MUF that is ready to be tailored for CA 7 needs.

    Some customers find that they will be using a single CA 7 application on multiple LPARs within a Sysplex. The Datacom/AD product can support this multi-LPAR configuration quite easily using the Basic Sysplex configuration with XCF. For information on setting your MUF up to run with XCF, please review Knowledge Base article 38170, titled "How to configure CA Datacom MUF for XCF use."

    There is also some helpful information about Datacom/AD and about other Broadcom products that use it in the documentation section "Implementing." A number of customers have found this background very useful to understand Datacom/AD concepts, and you can review that information now or at any future point.

    Setting Up the MUF for CA 7

    Once this has been completed, you will return to the CA 7 documentation section "Installing and Upgrading," and the subsection "Configure CA Datacom/AD for Use with CA WA CA 7 Edition." These steps are needed for your CA 7 software to use the Datacom/AD database properly.

    Logging and Recovery

    Here is one last item that has been asked often. Because the CA 7 database has a lot of maintenance activity with new schedule information added, and updates from all the running workloads, how do we use the log file (we call it the LXX) for recovery?

    First, you will want to be sure that you have made the documented changes to your MUF Startup Options, and in particular, that you are using LOGRCV NO as specified.

    Next, you will need to offload the logging transactions from the LXX to a recovery file (called the RXX). We have a Knowledge Base article that will help you set this up with your Automated Operations tool: Knowledge Base article 26465, titled "Using automation (Automated Operations) routines to manage CA Datacom Log file (LXX) spills."

    It is recommended that you size your LXX so that you will automatically spill around 4 times each day, and if you take "hot" backups as recommended in the CA 7 documentation sections "Backup Options" and "Database Backup, Recovery, and Tuning," you will want to run a manual Spill of the LXX before you run the backup.

    Then, if you need to recover your database due to a hardware or system failure, you can follow the process as noted in Knowledge Base article 18722, titled "An overview of CA Datacom Forward and Backward Recovery processing."

    A Last Word

    With this process, we hope that you will have a successful installation, implementation, and integration of Datacom/AD Version 15.1 for use with your CA 7 Workload Automation product. If you have any problems or questions along the way, please open a support case, and we would be happy to help you resolve them!



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