Other sources of diagnostic information on z/OS

This section describes some other files that you might find useful for problem determination on z/OS.

Files from a broker or User Name Server

A broker or User Name Server puts files into the HFS. If you do not know where the files are for the broker, look at the started task procedure or job output and locate COHFS. This is set to a value like /u/argo/VCP0BRK. Be careful to access the HFS on the correct system. If the HFS is not shared, there could be the same directory on each MVS image. To be sure, logon to the system where the broker is running and access the file system. You can use the TSO ISHell command, or go into OMVS itself. Go to the directory specified and select the output directory. In this directory might be the following files:
  • joberr
  • jobout
  • readlogerr
  • readlogout
  • stderr
  • stdout
  • traceodbc

Files in the home directory

Other files are stored in the home directory of the user ID of the started task. The MVS command D A, jobname displays the user ID of the job. The directory of the user ID is typically /u/userid but you should check this with your system programmer, or issue the TSO command LU userid OMVS. If you are authorized, this command displays text including the HOME statement.

There might be several different sorts of files in the home directory, such as core dump files.

z/OS UNIX System Services files

UNIX System Services (USS) files (for customization tasks) are located under /component_HFS/output, where component_HFS is the HFS directory where the component has been customized.

Problems accessing files in the HFS

If you cannot access an HFS file or directory, it might be that you do not have permission to do so. This might mean that you are not able to issue certain commands. You need to ask the owner of the file or directory to give you permission to use the file.

Related concepts
Trace