Read this document carefully before installing and using Entire Net-Work CTC Option version 6.3. It covers the following topics:
For complete information about the installation media for Entire Net-Work 6.3 and about new and changed features for Entire Net-Work 6.3, read Entire Net-Work 6.3 Release Information.
This section summarizes the changes made to the Entire Net-Work CTC Option in this release:
Changes have been made to the FCTC line driver in 6.3 SP1 to support defining both the read unit and write unit in the same link.
Support for the UNIT, CHREAD, and TOKEN LINK parameters have been dropped.
New LINK parameters UNITREAD and UNITWRT have been added and are required for FCTC links. UNITREAD identifies the address of the unit that should be used for reading data; UNITWRT specifies the address of the unit that should be used for sending data.
These enhancements also allow a link to function in impaired mode; if one unit is unavailable, the other unit can function as both the read and write unit, similar to a CTCA link. Note, however, that both UNITREAD and UNITWRT must be specified.
Note:
The 6.3 FCTC line driver is incompatible with previous releases of
FCTC. For complete information about this, read FCTC Line Driver
Compatibility.
For complete information about FCTC LINKs, read CTCA and FCTC LINK Statements.
For the FCTC DRIVER in version 6.3 SP1, the channel programs have been enhanced so that each read and write in a command chain is preceded by a prepare command. This further reduces the overhead of attention interrupts.
For complete information about FCTC DRIVER statements, read CTCA and FCTC DRIVER Statements.
The FCTC LINK in version 6.3 SP1 has been enhanced to allow a link to function even if only one unit is active; this is referred to as operating in impaired mode. In this case, the active unit reverts to bidirectional communication similar to a CTCA link. For complete information about running in impaired mode, read FCTC LINKS Operating in Impaired Mode.
The DISPLAY LINKS and FCTC STATUS operator commands have also been updated also to show the status of each unit. For more information (including the syntax of the commands), read DISPLAY Command and CTCA and FCTC Operator Commands.
Effective with version 6.3 SP2, zEnterprise Data Compression (zEDC) is supported on z/OS systems. This support comes in the form of two new LINK parameters for both the CTCA and FCTC line drivers: ZEDC and ZEDCLOG. The ZEDC parameter indicates whether zEDC compression can occur for the link; the ZEDCLOG parameter identifies the level of trace data that should be logged for zEDC compression processing. For more information, read CTCA and FCTC LINK Statements.
The following table summarizes the new Entire Net-Work CTC Option DRIVER and LINK parameters introduced in Entire Net-Work 6.3:
| Parameter | DRIVER or LINK Statement? | New or Changed? | Description | Introduced in Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZEDC | LINK | New | This new parameter indicates whether zEnterprise Data Compression (zEDC) compression can occur for the link. | 6.3 SP2 |
| ZEDCLOG | LINK | New | This new parameter indicates what level of trace data will be logged for zEDC compression processing. | 6.3 SP2 |
The CTCA line driver supports connections with CTCA line drivers from all prior versions of Entire Net-Work.
The 6.3 FCTC line driver is incompatible with previous releases of FCTC. To address this in version 6.3 SP1, an Entire Net-Work CTC Option L001 library was made available to you that enabled compatible FCTC connections between 6.3 and 6.2 SP2 nodes. This L001 library provided code that allowed a 6.3 node to detect a connection to a prior version of FCTC and automatically convert that connection to a compatible 6.2 SP2 connection.
This FCTC compatibility processing has been automatically included in Entire Net-Work CTC Option 6.3 SP2. You no longer need the L001 library. Activation of compatibility mode is controlled using a new FCTC DRIVER parameter called COMPAT. For complete information about the COMPAT parameter, read FCTC Line Driver Compatibility and CTCA and FCTC DRIVER Statements.