Technical Notes

The following Technical Notes apply to the NIH Computer Center and the software and hardware available via MVS on the IBM 370 system at NIH and may not necessarily reflect similar implementations at other installations. For additional technical details or clarification, consult the Computer Center User's Guide, or contact TASC. Information presented in the publication supersedes all documentation with earlier publication dates. To contact any of the groups mentioned in these articles, please refer to the telephone listing at the back of this INTERFACE.

MVS

Simplified Sign-On for WYLBUR and TSO Coming October 21

Effective October 21, you will only be prompted for INITIALS, ACCOUNT, and PASSWORD when signing on to WYLBUR or TSO. The new sign-on (user responses appear in bold letters) will thus become:

INITIALS? iii

ACCOUNT? aaaa

PASSWORD? ppppppp

This simplified sign-on means that you will no longer be prompted for TERMINAL when signing onto WYLBUR or TSO—or for BOX when signing onto TSO. You will also not need to specify 3270 when signing onto VTAM TSO. You may still specify terminal and box in the long form of the TSO LOGON command, for example:

LOGON aaaaiii/d22/111

Modify Scripts Now to be Ready for the Change

If you use the default scripts for KERMIT supplied by the Computing Facilities Branch, no change will be necessary. If you have used other terminal emulators (e.g., PROCOMM PLUS), you may need to change your scripts. Since it is not possible to allow for a transition period, we urge you to modify scripts now. If you have written scripts that look for the "TERMINAL?" prompt or the "BOX?" prompt, you should modify them so that they continue processing, even if they do not detect these prompts. That way you will be able to use the script right now, yet be prepared for the new sign-on prompts. However, if your scripting language does not allow this, be sure to change your scripts just before the new sign-on becomes operational, cold turkey, on October 21.

While you are modifying scripts, you might want to take the opportunity to include the 301 area code in any dialing string that now uses a seven digit number—even if connecting to the NIH Computer Center involves only a local call. After May 1, 1997, Bell Atlantic plans to split 301 into two area codes. Current telephone numbers will not change after that date, but use of an area code will be mandatory.

A New TSO SETBOX Command is Available

When the simplified logon takes effect, users will need to use the TSO SETBOX command to set their default output box number dynamically. This command may be placed in your TSO.PROFILE.CLIST and @DB2.PROFILE.CLIST to ensure that the proper box number is set regardless of what was set at sign-on. For example:

READY

SETBOX 111

Interface 196 (June 15, 1996)

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