Frequently asked questions
Enhanced HOLDDATA for z/OS and OS/390

• I am unable to connect to service.boulder.ibm.com.
• I can no longer connect to ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com.
• The HOLDDATA is in 81 byte increments. This is causing a problem when uploading to my mainframe.
• The HOLDDATA text wraps as the alignment is out by one byte.
• Do I have to register to get z/OS Enhanced HOLDDATA?.
• It does not appear that HOLDDATA has been updated lately.
• My REPORT ERRSYSMODS does not appear the same as the sample.
• How do I get z/OS Enhanced HOLDDATA for products like IMS, CICS, or DB2?


Question: I tried to download OS/390 Enhanced HOLDDATA from ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com, but I am unable to connect.

Answer: FTP requires several steps for connectivity, and a failure in any one of those links will result in the inability to connect to the server. If you are able to connect with a browser, then the server is operational. If you are able to view the OS/390 Enhanced HOLDDATA web page and are unable to use FTP, validate any firewall/proxy addresses, userids and passwords that may be required to FTP data from outside your enterprise.
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Question: I have been using OS/390 Enhanced HOLDDATA, but I am no longer able to connect to ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com. Is the data still available?

Answer: In most cases, some link has gone down or the local firewall/proxy server address or expected parameters (userid/password, etc) have changed. Please check with your local connectivity resources for any changes to the local network or firewall/proxy.
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Question: The HOLDATA is in 81 byte increments. This is causing a problem when uploading to my mainframe.

Question: I've tried down loading the full & month OS/390 Enhanced HOLDDATA to my PC, then transferring the PC file to a FB-80 dataset on OS/390. Unfortunately, the data text wraps as the alignment is out by one byte. The data downloads correctly to an FB-81 file. I've tried turning CRLF on and off but the result is the same.

Answer: Problems of this type occur when using a workstation as a staging point for downloading OS/390 Enhanced HOLDDATA. The CRLF character present for ASCII data is not properly translated when moving to an OS/390 (EBCDIC) Host. In some cases, using a browser's 'file/save-as' and then transferring the resultant file to the host will resolve the problem. With the myriad of browsers and terminal emulators, there is no single answer. If FTP is available on the Host, direct FTP into a FB80 dataset will work.

Also, you can download the compressed binary files and use TRSMAIN on the host to de-compress the files. This will avoid any ASCII-EBCDIC translation problems as all the data transfer is handled as binary. See the download section on the Enhanced HOLDDATA page.
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Question: I tried to ftp from my browser to service.boulder.ibm.com to download OS/390 Enhanced HOLDDATA, but the download does not work. Do I have to register anywhere or what do I have to do to get it work?

Answer: There is no registration required. If you are unable to connect or download, there is a problem with the connection. To FTP using the browser, go to the OS/390 Enhanced HOLDDATA web page download section and click on the data file your need (or click on one of the following: month, quarter, year, or full.
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Question: It looks like the HOLDDATA hasn't been updated since 3/31. I do a lot of maintenance work and having this easily downloadable is terrific. Am I missing something or has there just not been an update in a while?

Answer: The data files are updated daily. If you are using a web browser to check for updates to the data files, be aware that most browsers and some servers will use a cache to hold pages and will display the cached page instead of the latest page. The 'refresh' or 'reload' function on the browser will usually force an update of the page.
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Question: My REPORT ERRSYSMODS seems to be lacking in some respects compared to your sample - I do not get any HOLD SYMPTOMS, all the HOLD CLASSes are set to SPCHIPR and RESOLVING SYSMODS are set to ***NONE unless the PTF is received, in which case it is listed as such. Am I missing some maintenance here?

Answer: Some customers have been using data delivered as Smart/MVS and a reporter tool named SMPEHRPT. OS/390 Enhanced HOLDDATA is a replacement for this program. The differences in the report are due to the differences in the structure of the data delivered by OS/390 Enhanced HOLDDATA and Smart/MVS. An SMP/E RECEIVE of a full 2 or 3 year history of OS/390 Enhanced HOLDDATA should replace almost all of the ++HOLDs previously provided by Smart/MVS. The report will then appear as in the sample.
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Question: How do I get OS/390 Enhanced HOLDDATA for IMS/CICS/DB2?

Answer: There is only one set z/OS Enhanced HOLDDATA and it includes all IBM products on the z/OS and OS/390 (MVS) platform that are serviced via SMP/E and supported through RETAIN. This includes IMS, CICS and DB2. In fact, the Enhanced HOLDDATA which is available on the web is the same Enhanced HOLDDATA delivered on ESOs and PDOs and with corrective service orders.
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