Power Up and Down System Values

The behavior of the system during power up and power down is controlled by a few system values:

• QCTLSBSD contains the qualified name of the controlling subsystem description. During IPL, the system starts the controlling subsystem and runs the start-up program. By default, this system value has the value QBASE. You should consider changing it to QCTL to better control the performance of your system. See Chapter 4 for more information about subsystems.

• QIPLDATTIM can contain a date and time when you want the system to automatically power on and IPL itself. For example, you can change this system value to ‘070105 053000’ and then power off the system. At 5:30 A.M. on July 1, 2005, the system will power on and IPL by itself.

• QPWRDWNLMT controls how long the system will wait for jobs to finish when executing a PWRDWNSYS OPTION(*IMMED). The default is 600 seconds (10 minutes). If jobs are still executing when this time interval expires, the system performs an abnormal system termination. This abnormal system termination is recorded in system value QABNORMSW. The next IPL will take much longer than usual.

• QSTRUPPGM contains the qualified name of a program. The system runs this program during IPL. When the system is shipped to you, this system value contains the name QSYS/QSTRUP. You can create your own start-up program (in CL, because you will need to run commands) and change QSTRUPPGM to contain the qualified name of your program.

Interactive Job System Values

When a user signs on, some of the attributes for the interactive job are drawn from a job description, from the user profile, or both. If any of these attributes is set to *SYSVAL, the appropriate system value is referenced.

• QASTLVL indicates how much assistance to provide the user in certain system-related commands such as Display Message (DSPMSG). QASTLVL can contain *BASIC (give the user as much assistance as possible), *INTERMED (minimal assistance), or *ADVANCED (no assistance).

At first, you should leave this system value to *BASIC. As you and your users gain experience, you can change it to *INTERMED or *ADVANCED. This attribute can be controlled at the user profile level using the ASTLVL parameter of the Create User Profile (CRTUSRPRF), Change User Profile (CHGUSRPRF), or Change Profile (CHGPRF) commands.

• QATNPGM contains the qualified name of a program. The system executes this program when the user presses the Attention (Attn) key. You can control this attribute at the user profile level, too. If you use the value *ASSIST, the Attention key displays Operational Assistant's main menu. A value of *NONE disables the Attention key (it does nothing).

• QPRTKEYFMT indicates what format to use for the printed output when the user presses the Print key. *PRTHDR prints a header that identifies the user who pressed the Print key. *PRTBDR prints a rectangular border around the screen facsimile, with scales and line numbers. *PRTALL prints both the header and the border. *NONE only prints the facsimile itself. You should consider using *PRTALL, or at least *PRTHDR. This attribute can be controlled at the job level.

• QSPCENV controls which environment the user's interactive job is run in. *NONE runs the job in native environment. *S36 runs the interactive job in the System/36 environment. When you select *S36, the user is taken to the S/36 environment at sign-on, and out of it when signing off. This attribute can be controlled at the user profile level.