Re: MIDRANGE-L Digest V1 #720

Folks,

In a message dated 97-10-18 13:31:56 EDT, you write:

> Use a data area. Load a value into this data area at the start of your job
and 
> clear it out at the end. Any job can then check this value to see if your
job 
> is running.

I've seen at least two responses on this, and have to disagree with actually
placing a value in the data area.  If the system goes down or the program
falls over, the value is left and the jobs looking for it don't run -- even
though the program isn't running.  For this reason, I prefer the allocation
method.

The BPCS software package does this all over the place.  We once went a week
without anyone noticing that automated transactions weren't posting due to an
"orphaned" data area -- seems "Systems Engineering" shut the machine down
early for backup, causing the program that normally resets the area on
weekends to not run.  If you allocate it and check for same, the object will
free itself up if a program fails...

JMHO,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-Mail:  DAsmussen@AOL.COM

"Sleep, riches, and health, to be truly enjoyed, must be interrupted." --
Jean Paul Richter
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