Set up jobs in Robot/SCHEDULE to get rid of excess records regularly

All Robot products create history records as they run. You should delete excess history files and certain other records regularly to help your system run more efficiently. Excess records can cause a number of problems, such as:

* Slower processing in the product

* Increased backup times

* Deterioration in system performance

You can create Robot/SCHEDULE jobs to help maintain all of your Robot products.

After the LODRUN process
After using the LODRUN process to install, update, or convert any Help/Systems product, several libraries remain on your system. You can delete the following libraries from your system after you have finished all of your product installs, updates, or conversions: HLPUPDATE, RBTCDRLIB, HSSAVF, and HSBOOT.

Keeping Robot/SCHEDULE clean
Robot/SCHEDULE’s Job Completion History gives you instant information on all batch jobs currently running or completed. You can track all jobs, including jobs not submitted by Robot/SCHEDULE.

In the green-screen version of Robot/SCHEDULE, set up Robot/SCHEDULE to clean up its history automatically. Go to the Main Menu, select option 4 to display the System Setup Menu. Then, select option 1 to display the General System Defaults panel. Enter a value in the Number of runs to retain for Job History.

Robot/SCHEDULE can purge runs beyond this number automatically if you enter a Y in the next field (Do you want ROBOT to automatically delete Job History). When using automatic cleanup, Robot/SCHEDULE tracks the number of C and T completion codes for the number of runs to track. For example, if there are 50 W statuses, the W statuses are not cleared until the number of runs with C or T statuses have exceeded the value you entered. This is one of the automatic cleanup tasks that occurs at midnight each night. To prevent interference with this process, it’s best to avoid scheduling jobs between 11:55 p.m. and 12:05 a.m.

For certain jobs, you might want to retain a greater number of runs than defined in the system defaults. You can define the number of runs of history to be maintained at the individual job level. Any value specified at the job level overrides the system defaults value. Select option 5 on the job from the Job Schedule List (JSL) to display the Control Options panel. Enter the a value in the Number of runs to track for Job History field.

Another way to delete completion history in Robot/SCHEDULE is to create a Robot/SCHEDULE job to delete job completion messages automatically. You can specify a date range to delete the messages, as follows:

* Beginning date: Six digits in system date format (or use 000000 for no beginning date).

* Ending date: Six digits in system date format (or use 000000 for no ending date).

Assuming the system date format is mmddyy, the following command deletes all messages dated before January 1, 2008:

CALL PGM(RBT655) PARM(’ 000000010108′)

Note: If you’re using the Robot/SCHEDULE 10 GUI, see the Robot/SCHEDULE User Guide for complete information on defining history purge defaults and setting up Robot/SCHEDULE jobs. If you haven’t converted to Robot/SCHEDULE 10 yet, we recommend you run a job history cleanup before converting. Clean files make the conversion process faster.

History for group jobs works a little differently than it does for other types of jobs. The group control job determines the run history retained for group member jobs when they run as part of the group. If the job also runs independently, the number of runs retained for the independent job is determined by your selection on the General System Defaults panel or at the job level.

Purge programs/commands for the Robot products
Help/Systems products generally provide a purge program that you can call, or a command that you can enter, to purge excess records. You can schedule these in a Robot/SCHEDULE job to automate the process. You may need to pass parameters to specify how much history to purge. Some products also have a menu option to delete history. For specific information on each product, download the Help/FACTS, Housekeeping for Help/Systems Products, at www.helpsystems.com/uploads/multhousekeep.pdf. Or, consult the User Guide for the product.

* Robot/ALERT’s RBA905 program deletes transmission history; the RBA906 program deletes message history.

* Robot/CLIENT’s RCLCLEANUP command deletes records of completed tasks.

* Robot/CPA’s PURGESTATS command deletes both detail and summary statistical records.

* Robot/CONSOLE’s RBC596 program deletes message history.

* Robot/NETWORK’s RBNPURGE command purges packet history; its RBNDLTSTS command deletes status/event records.

* The Robot/REPORTS REPCLRHIST command purges processing and/or access history; its REPARCHIVE command moves reports to the next archive stage.

* Robot/TRANSFORM’s TRNPURGE command purges history records.

* The Robot/UPS RBUDLTHST command purges history records

* The EASY VIEW CLREZVIEW command clears EASY VIEW work files.

Contributed by Jeanne Thiesfeld, Technical Consultant

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 9:18 am and is filed under Robot/SCHEDULE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.