SDSF
| Company type | Software component |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mainframe operating systems |
| Predecessor | SPOOL Display and Search Facility |
| Founded | Late 1980s |
| Products | Interactive user interface for z/OS mainframe operations management |
| Parent | IBM |
| Website | www |
The System Display and Search Facility (SDSF) is an integral part of IBM's mainframe operating system, z/OS. It provides both users and system administrators with an interactive user interface to oversee and manage mainframe operations along with system resources. SDSF offers visibility into various elements including Batch job outputs, Unix processes, scheduling environments, the status of external hardware such as printers and network connections, as well as batch and system logs and dumps.
History
Initially created as a field program named the SPOOL Display and Search Facility, it was renamed System upon becoming a program product during the late 1980s.
The introduction of a REXX interface occurred with z/OS Release 1.9, enabling batch programs to utilize SDSF functions, including access to SDSF data through stem variables.
Prior to z/OS Release 1.10, SDSF functionality was limited to supporting only JES2. Comparable capabilities for JES3 were provided by independent software vendors such as Phoenix Software International and Tone Software. Starting with Release 1.10, SDSF extended full support to JES3, incorporating commands like JDS and ODS to display JES3 job data sets and output.
With the release of z/OS V1R13, enhancements included cursor-sensitive sorting features and improved access to open logs via Rexx and Java interfaces.
Features
SDSF presents information through panels that concentrate on distinct mainframe operational areas:
- LOG: Displays the active system activity log.
- DA: Lists current users, jobs, or running processes.
- I: Input Queue containing jobs pending execution.
- H: Jobs placed on HOLD—either waiting for input/output or stored job JCL.
- ST: Shows statuses of all jobs; supports filtering using the PRE command.
- PR: Printer devices.
- INIT: Initiators responsible for running jobs.
- O: Output Queue.
- LINE: Network Job Entry (NJE) communication lines.
- SR: System Requests.
- MAS: Members within Multiple Access Spool (MAS).
- JC: Job Classes.
- PS: Processes running in z/OS UNIX environment.
- RES: Resources managed by Workload Manager (WLM).
- ENC: Enclaves.
- SE: Scheduling Environments.
- PUN: Punch devices.
- RDR: Reader devices.
- NODE: NJE Nodes.
- SO: Spool offload operations.
- SP: Spool volume management.
- RM: Resource monitoring tools.
- CK: Health checking utilities.
- ULOG: Logs of user sessions.
Within the ST panel, SDSF supports various commands aligned with JES2 or JES3 batch job operations:
- C: Cancel a currently executing job
- S: Select a job for viewing only
- SE: Select a job for editing
- SJ: Display the original job JCL
- P: Purge a job completely from the system