Submitting TCP/IP for z/VM Problem Documentation

On occasion, customers working with the TCP/IP support group on active problems may be asked to provide problem documentation that cannot be e-mailed directly to the members of this group. If this need arises, specific information for submitting such documentation to the IBM Technical Support site will be provided so it can be obtained and then reviewed by support personnel.

For reference, additional information about using the IBM Technical Support site (testcase.software.ibm.com) is presented here.

Note!
Directory and file names used in conjunction with the IBM Technical Support site are case sensitive.

   General Site Information

  • As of October 5, 2020, IBM no longer allows anonymous FTP to site testcase.boulder.ibm.com. To FTP files to z/VM Service, in addition to an IBM id, you will need to obtain an IBM Support File Transfer ID to allow you to authenticate. This id will enable you to securely FTP files to IBM from your z/VM system. Secure FTP is the only method available on z/VM to accomplish this. You can obtain this userid by clicking here.

    For information on how to configure your z/VM system for Secure FTP, please click here

  • Depending on whether you are providing files to, or receiving files from the TCP/IP support group, you will need to change the working directory (via the FTP cd command) to one of the following directories:

    • /fromibm/vm, if obtaining files
    • /toibm/vm, if providing files

  • Note!

    If you need to verify whether your file(s) have been successfully transferred, you can use either the size or dir command to obtain information about files in question. For example, if you PUT a file named mydump.dmp to the site, one of the following commands can be used to determine the size of the mydump.dmp file that resides on the server:

    • quote size mydump.fil
    • dir mydump.fil

   Transfer Notes for Specific Types of Files

In general, for EXECs and other files for which CMS record structure is not on issue, ascii stream transfer mode will often suffice.

However, it is recommended that all files that are submitted to the IBM Technical Support site be packed (compressed) and transferred as noted below. Doing so will help ensure the integrity of all such files.

Specific transfer actions for structured files.

  • MODULE and DUMP files

    MODULEs, and other files that are similarly sensitive with respect to record/file structure, must be packed using the PACK option of the CMS COPYFILE command prior to any file transfer.

    (This will be the case for any testfix MODULEs supplied at the site by the TCP/IP support group).

    Note that CP dump files need not be packed, as they are already fixed-format binary files.

  • All packed files (MODULE files or other such files) that you might retrieve or VMDUMP files that you provide must be handled and transmitted as binary files until they again reside on a VM host.

    This is especially true for cases when an intermediate PC or Unix host is used to access the IBM Technical Support site, possibly due to the use of a firewall on your local system.

    Before a MODULE file is transferred to a VM host, you need to issue the following commands:

    1. the FTP BINary subcommand
    2. the appropriate locsite or site command:

      For a GET from VM: locsite fixrecfm 1024
      For a PUT to VM: quote site fixrecfm 1024

    You then can PUT/GET the file to a VM minidisk or SFS directory. The preceding locsite or site command will cause the VM FTP client or server to create a Fixed 1024 format file; this file then can be unpacked using the UNPACK option of the CMS COPYFILE command, to create a useable MODULE file.

  • VMARC Files

    VMARC files are similar to ZIP files used in the PC world. A VMARC file is one file that contains multiple, compressed files. Thus, a VMARC file needs to be handled as binary files in the same manner as a MODULE or dump file. However, when the "end" file is created on the VM host, it should be a Fixed 80 format file, so these commands are required:

    1. the FTP BINary subcommand
    2. the appropriate locsite or site command:

      For a GET from VM: locsite fixrecfm 80
      For a PUT to VM: quote site fixrecfm 80

    You then can PUT/GET the file to a VM disk or SFS directory, and use the VMARC command to "unarchive" various files for use.

   File Naming Conventions

When you supply files into the IBM Technical Support site, please observe the naming conventions that follow. Doing so will help expedite the location and retrieval of the files you submit.

Files should be named so that your Problem Management Record (PMR) number is incorporated as part of each file name.

For example, for a TCPIP server trace file, the file on your system might have a name of TCPIP TRACE.

When you submit your your file to the IBM Technical Support site, it should be named as:

    nnnnn.bbb.ccc.tcpip.trace

    where:

      nnnnn is your 5-digit PMR number
      bbb is your 3-digit IBM Branch number
      ccc is your 3-digit Country Code

    Thus for this example, your PUT command would be:

      put tcpip.trace nnnnn.bbb.ccc.tcpip.trace

For cases where a fair number of files are supplied, it then would be helpful to provide a list of pertinent files to the TCP/IP support group (via e-mail or a PMR update).

Note!
Do not include any (US) "Dollar" symbols ($) in the remote host file names of the files you supply. Attempts to PUT files with such names likely will result in rejection of the PUT attempt, with this (or a similar) error: 

  ...
  Command:
  put $ftptest.file.a 00000.000.000.$ftptest.file
  >>>PORT 9,56,230,45,4,79
  200 PORT command successful.
  >>>STOR 00000.000.000.$ftptest.file
  553 00000.000.000.$ftptest.file: Permission denied. (upload).
  ...