Only recently, I learned that staying current with PTF's for the Advanced Job Scheduler (AJS) is not as easy as it seems to be. My thought was that staying current with SF99741 for IBM i 7.4, SF99731 for IBM i 7.3 and of course the periodic cumulative PTF package did the magic. That is not entirely true, I discovered. The AJS PTF's are no longer part of the cumulative PTF package since May 2016. The procedure to find the latest PTF's for AJS is as follows:
For IBM i 7.4 go to the 740 - FIX SUMMARY LISTING FOR VERSION 7 RELEASE 4.0 and for IBM i 7.3 to 730 - FIX SUMMARY LISTING FOR VERSION 7 RELEASE 3.0.
Scan for the string “5770JS1” and you will see that for both these releases, 5770JS version is V7R2.0 and that the latest PTF available is SI74495. This PTF is titled: “Logging for record lock in Job Monitor part 2”. I think it is good to know that AJS has a policy in which the latest PTF replaces all the previous one's. So when you order this PTF and apply it, you are current with AJS.
When reading the cover letter, I think it is wise to realize that new functionality has been added to AJS. According to the cover letter there are special instructions to follow to apply this PTF.
Below is an example of how to implement this functionality using an SQL script, which looks as shown below:
Begin
-- Order the latest 5770JS1 PTF
CL:SNDPTFORD PTFID((SI74495)) CHKPTF(*YES);
-- When installing this PTF, End the AJS job monitor
-- (ENDJS) before loading and applying the PTF and
-- start (STRJS) afterwards
-- Stop any AJS monitor which is active
SELECT QSYS2.QCMDEXC('ENDJS DTALIB(' CONCAT DLNAME CONCAT ')'), DLNAME, DLMONJOB
FROM qusrijs.qaijsdl a, LATERAL (
SELECT *
FROM TABLE (
QSYS2.ACTIVE_JOB_INFO(job_name_filter => DLMONJOB)
) b
);
-- install the PTF
CL:INSPTF LICPGM(5770JS1) INSTYP(*IMMONLY);
-- Start AJS Monitor which were stopped
SELECT QSYS2.QCMDEXC('STRJS DTALIB(' CONCAT SUBSTRING(A.MESSAGE_TOKENS, 5, 10)
CONCAT ')')
FROM TABLE (
QSYS2.JOBLOG_INFO('*')
) A
WHERE A.MESSAGE_ID = 'IJS6015';
end;
In order to make use of the new functionality offered by this PTF you also need to execute the commands shown below. They do include an immediate test to check it. Again, this is done by using an SQL script.
-- Implement the functionality offered by this PTF
-- Please Enter in the command the recipient of your choice replacing the value "SUPPORT"
CL:CHGDTAARA DTAARA(QUSRIJS/QIJSPM (510 10)) VALUE('SUPPORT ');
CL:CHGDTAARA DTAARA(QUSRIJS/QIJSPM (254 1)) VALUE('1');
When your test is successful you will get a mail with looks similar to this:
Please accept my apologies on behalf of IBM for the typo in the word which should have been “notification” of course!
The script above requires that you are current with the latest TR for IBM i 7.3 and 7.4. Please be aware of that.
Now that you are current with AJS again, it is nice to see that some things being asked for as a Request For Enhancement (RFE) to be added in the WRKJOBSCDE is already there in AJS.
Below a list of some of the RFE's I found asking for adding functionality AJS already has:
Add *YEARLY Option to Job Scheduler
Improved Auditing the Basic IBM i Job Scheduler
The i5/OS Scheduler always starts at each IPL, unless you start up in a restricted state
add repeat every x minutes to OS400/IBMi integrated scheduler
Although I do understand that asking for this functionality does help to improve the WRKJOBSCDE functionality. I do think that the Advanced Job Scheduler needs so more time to stand in the spotlights, as must be seen as a serious option to replace WRKJOBSCDE, just because, and let us be honest, IBM will not be able to deliver what is asked for in the RFE's above by the end of the day. It has been said many times before, application modernization in the better option, so my plea is for replacing WRKJOBSCDE by the 5770JS1 - IBM Advanced Job Scheduler for i License Program. This offers so much more, just talk to the people who are using it today.
