z/OS System Programmers Self Test

MVS System Programmers Self Test

I would estimate a systems programmer with 6 - 12 months of experience should be able to answer all the questions.

Answers may vary by the policy of your data center

There 100 questions in this self test. Jobs / JCL listed are not complete, just because the JOBCARD is missing, do not assume an error. There are no "trick" questions.

   1. What is the purpose of PTFs?
   2. What are the steps to install a product on a MVS system using SMP/E?
   3. What does this parameter usually mean, VOL(******)?
   4. What is meant by the term VTAPE?
   5. What is meant by the term DASD?
   6. Where is the parameter, SPOOLDEF, defined in a JES2 data center?
   7. In reference to SMP/E, what is a SYSMOD?
   8. What is the HMC used for?
   9.What product messages usually start with $HASPnnn?
10. In what system data set and member are the systems' page data sets listed?
11. In a JES2 data center, what member are DASD volser’s defined for spool files?
12. What is the IBM product, IPCS used for?
13. What is meant when you "open" an APAR?
14. What is the difference between a "master catalog" and a "user catalog"?
15. What is the new term for what IBM used to call "OpenEdtion"?
16. What did z/OS replace?
17. What kind of members are most likely in this data set, MIKE.ZOS.ALMKLOAD?
18. What can you tell me about this number string; 9672-R26-12345?
19. What does this command do?
      Z NET,QUICK
20. What does the proc CAS9 do?
21. What products does CICS usually interface with?
22. What is SYS1.HASPACE used for in a JES2 data center?
23. After converting to OS/390 2.5, the LOGREC data set is filling up much more frequently. Is it possible to stop LOGREC recording and then re-allocate the data set, then start recording?
24. What is the purpose of VLF?
25. When should you apply system maintenance?
26. You are looking for a group of data sets that start with SYS5.USER.*
      What ISPF panel would you use?
27. People are calling you stating they can not logon to TSO. What are "some" of the things you should look at?
28. Which SREL matches which product?
      Z038
      C150
      P115
      P004

29. What are the 5 basic SMP/E steps to applying a PTF?
30. Why is this data set on my system?
      HLASM.V1R2M0.HMQ4120.F2
31. What is the purpose of SYSn.IPLPARM data set?
32. In a JES2 environment, what program product tools could you use to display the job queue?
33. How many digits is a 'device address' composed of?
34. In what data set(s) is the LOADxx member defined?
35. In this statement, A1 is the EDT, what does the EDT represent?
      IODF A2 SYS1 MIKEPROD A1
36. Where is the master catalog defined?
37. You have installed a product that has updated the LNKLST, How would you activate this new library?
38. How can I tell what IEASYSxx member the system is using?
39. What does this statement mean?
      SYMDEF(&SYSR2.='&SYSR1(1:5).B')
40. Where would you look up the parameter SYMDEF?
41. Where is the APF ADD statement defined?
42. What is the purpose of SYSCLONE?
43. At IPL time, if you enter SYSP=01 in the appropriate place What does this mean?
44. Where is this statement defined?
      SUBSYS SUBNAME(JES2) PRIMARY(YES) START(YES)
45. What does the above statement do?
46. Who is Cheryl Watson Walker?
47. What is the SQA used for?
48.In what data set is following statement defined?
      PRODUCT OWNER('IBM CORP')
      NAME(OS/390)
      ID(5647-A01)
      VERSION(*) RELEASE(*) MOD(*)
      FEATURENAME(DFSORT)
      STATE(ENABLED)
49. What is the difference between CA (Computer Associates) CA-1 and CA-7?
50. What is the purpose of "LE"?
51. What is the difference between SYS1.PARMLIB and SYS1.IBM.PARMLIB?
52. What is missing from this statement?
      APF ADD DSNAME(SPEC.IMS510.RESLIB)
53. At the system console, what is the command to display the systems machine type and serial number?
54. Where would you look up wait state codes at IPL time?
55. What is the blocksize that IBM has been recommending for LINKLST data sets ?
56. From SDSF, LOG, when you enter /D A,L what happens?
57. What IDCAMS statement list catalog entries?
58. What IDCAMS statement catalogs a PDS data set?
59. What is the purpose of the SYS1.STGINDEX?
60. What does this job step do?
      //COMPRESS EXEC PGM=IEBCOPY
      //SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
      //SYSUT1 DD DISP=SHR,DSN=PPPSPS.ZZZ.DATA
      //SYSUT2 DD DISP=SHR,DSN=PPPSPS.ZZZ.DATA
      //SYSIN DD DUMMY
61. What does the LLQ of SISP.ISPMLIB represent?
62. What is the purpose of DDDEFs in SMP/E?
63. What IBM program can be used to initialize DASD?
64. What does this job step do?
      //STEP1 EXEC SMPE
      //SMPLOG DD DUMMY
      //SMPLOGA DD DUMMY
      //SMPEIN DD *
      SET BDY (TSYSRYD) .
      LIST FORFMID( HMQ4120 ) .
65. Where is the NUCLSTxx located?
66. In what parmlib member are SVC's defined?
67. In SYS1.PARMLIB, member IEASYSxx, what function does this parameter preform?
      CON=(01,NOJES3)
68. Is SYS2.PARMLIB a required data set for IPL'ing a system?
69. What is the SMPLOGA data set and is it required?
70. How many logical parmlib statements in the LOADxx of SYS1.PARMLIB or SYSn.IPLPARM can there be?
71. How many logical consoles can be defined?
72. During IPL, the system looks for LOADxx member in what order?
73. What is the parmlib member CONSOLxx used for?
74. Must you specify a COUPLExx parmlib member for each system in a Sysplex?
75. In a multisystem environment, can you have only one SYS1.PARMLIB?
76. What is the LLA used for?
77. If you have both a PROGxx and LNKLSTxx member in PARMLIB, does the system use both or only one? If one, which one?
78. What does parmlib member IEASYMxx define?
79. In SMP/E, how many "target and dlib" zones can be associated with a global zone?
80. What is the command to display what spool volumes the system is using in a JES2 data center?
81. What does the TSO command, ACCOUNT SYNC do?
82. Can anybody issue the above command?
83. What ISPF panel is used to search a data set for a certain string of characters?
84. What does FMID HBB6604 represent?
85. Does this user have system special or group special?
      USER=TECHJS NAME=JOHN OWNER=TECH CREATED=99.159
      DEFAULT-GROUP=TECH PASSDATE=99.229 PASS-INTERVAL=30
      ATTRIBUTES=SPECIAL GRPACC
      REVOKE DATE=NONE RESUME DATE=NONE
      LAST-ACCESS=2099.264/08:23:10
      CLASS AUTHORIZATIONS=NONE
      NO-INSTALLATION-DATA
      MODEL-NAME=TECHMT
      LOGON ALLOWED (DAYS) (TIME)
86. What is the command to display a VTAM node called V11RDF?
87. What is the command to display the PROGxx APF data sets.
88. What is meant by the term VIO?
89. What do the following programs do?
      IEBCOPY
      IEBGENER
      IEBUPDTE
90. In DFSMShsm - Low-activity data is stored on migration level 1 (ML1) and migration level 2 (ML2) volumes. What is considered migration level 0 (ML0)?
91. When applying a PTF using SMP/E, name one SMP/E System Reason ID that you may encounter.
92. What is IBMLINK?
93. What do these APAR closing codes mean?
      APAR Codes (from a January, 1985 PSGIM)
      CAN
      DOC
      PER
      RET
      SUG
      USE
      FIN
94. PARMLIB member SMFPRMxx has a parameter "JWT (hhmm)" What does it do?
95. Why do you create an alias catalog entry for users?
96. What does an abend 913 usually indicate?
97. In what message manual would you look you message IDC3009I?
98. How do you define "dynamic dumping"?
99. What is Domino Webspere?
100. When referring to above / below "the line" in a MVS address space, what number is that line?