Re: WRKACTJOB

Dan Rasch wrote:
>WRKACTJOB is a resource hog.  It runs continually once executed until the
>session is ended.  That is why when entered a second time after exiting,
>the elapsed time keeps incerementing. . . .

Martin Rowe wrote:
>I was always told that it kept processes running collecting statistics,
>even when you F3 out of it, until you logged off or ended the command
>with SysRq 2. Don't know how much truth was in that, but it does appear
>to keep track of how long it's been since starting the command for the
>first time in a session. . . .

I agree that WRKUSRJOB seems to be a better (faster) choice if it provides
the information you are looking for.

Over the years there have been changes to the way WRKACTJOB works. What was
once true for DSPACTJOB on System/38 is no longer true for WRKACTJOB.
Unfortunately people still pass on the old recommendations. In the
following paragraphs I will attempt to provide an up to date description of
WRKACTJOB.

When you exit WRKACTJOB by using Enter, F3, or F12 you have totally ended
WRKACTJOB. The statistics reported by WRKACTJOB are not collected by
WRKACTJOB. The collection of those statistics is always done for every job
in the system by LIC. This collection occurs even when WRKACTJOB has never
been used on the system.

WRKACTJOB does keep an internal space somewhere to save the current
statistics so that it can report the changes the next time it is used
within the same job. You can reset those statistics by using F13=Reset
statistics or by using the RESET(*YES) parameter on the command. Using
System Request followed by option 2 will cause WRKACTJOB to destroy the
internal space it uses to save its statistics. It will then create another
space the next time it is run. The space is also destroyed at the end of
the job, so there is no advantage to using System Request followed by
option 2 to end WRKACTJOB. The only WRKACTJOB resource you release when you
sign off is the internal space object used to store the statistics. The
size of this space varies based on the number of active jobs in the system.
By signing off and then on again after each use of WRKACTJOB you are
forcing it to recreate that space in the new job. This will waste more
resources than it saves. Since WRKUSRJOB does not report any job statistics
it does not need to use a space to save them.

In the past, the reason for the recommendation to not use WRKACTJOB (or
DSPACTJOB on System/38) was because of the resources that it used while it
was building the data to be displayed. In the past WRKACTJOB searched all
work control blocks on the system looking for active jobs. When the system
had lots of jobs with a status of JOBQ or OUTQ it could take WRKACTJOB a
relatively long time to find just the active jobs. This was changed several
releases ago. Now WRKACTJOB uses a much faster LIC interface to materialize
the list of active jobs.

I hope this helps.

Ed Fishel,
edfishel@xxxxxxxxxx