MY SMP/E NOTES

SMP/E is a tool designed to manage the installation of software products on your z/OS system
and to track the modifications.

What is a SYSMOD?

Any software, whether it is a product or service, is formed by a group of elements such as

macros, modules, source, and other types of data (such as CLISTs or sample procedures). it must
include control information for the elements. This information describes the elements and any
relationships that the software has with other products. The combination of elements and control
information is called a system modification.

Libraries, zones, and data set allocation

The consolidated software inventory (CSI), also known as the SMPCSI, data sets contain all
the information SMP/E needs to track the distribution and target libraries. The CSI contains an
entry for each element in its libraries and each one of the entries enclose the element name, type,
history, how the element was introduced into the system, and a pointer to the element in the
distribution and target libraries.
 Distribution libraries (DLIBs) contain the master copy of each element for a system. They are
used as input to the system generation process to build target libraries for a new system. They are
also used by SMP/E for backup when elements in the target libraries have to be replaced or
updated.

Target libraries (TLIBs) contain the executable code needed to run your system.
 Exception data (SYSMOD HOLDDATA)

In SMP/E, when we speak of exception data, we are usually referring to HOLDDATA.

HOLDDATA is often supplied for a product to indicate a specific SYSMOD should be held
from installation. Reasons for holding a SYSMOD can be:

 A PTF is in error, normally known as PE, and should not be installed until the error is
corrected (ERROR HOLD).
 Certain system actions might be required before SYSMOD installation (SYSTEM
HOLD).
 The user might want to perform some actions before installing the SYSMOD (USER
HOLD).

This HOLDDATA is also an entry in the Global Zone, created during the reception. The
HOLDDATA is deleted when all the conditions for each HOLD are met.