Enabling Exit Routines – Without the Obligatory Assembler Resource

Jul 28, 2020

Organizations such as Fortune 500 companies, healthcare providers, and governments all have vastly different needs, but they often rely on the same operating system for their highly secure, mega-powered processing needs—IBM® z/OS®. Despite its age, z/OS remains ubiquitous because of its inherent flexibility, allowing users to customize the ways in which data is processed to best accomplish their specific goals. While PARMLIB members and control statements offer a certain degree of flexibility on their own, Exit Routines are one of the most powerful customization tools available on z/OS. Despite the wealth of customization options they offer, however, Exit Routines are far from perfect.

Planning an Exit

Exit Routines are powerful, but extensive capabilities that frequently create expensive complications. It can be at times impossible to find a developer fluent in assembler, and you’ll also need a comprehensive understanding of system control blocks, data structures, and the complex processing modes that sophisticated Exit Routines require. In other words, while Exit Routines can almost certainly accomplish your organization’s goals, finding the experienced resources to do them can be so expensive and time-consuming that it negates any operational benefits.

Without in-house assembler expertise, DTS Software sought to implement a better system. The result is our Easy-Exit product that relies on Policy Rules. Policy Rules allow for a similar degree of flexibility you find in Exit Routines, but they don’t require you to revise, recompile, and retest each time you make a programming change.

Easy-Exits are available for almost every subsystem, including DFSMShsm and DFSMSdss, TSO and ISPF, FTP Clients and Servers, and JES2. In many cases, they can replace existing Exit Routines that are complex and difficult to maintain with modern, easy-to-understand, pre-built alternatives. Not sure where to start? DTS Software can convert your Exit Routines into the Policy Rules language equivalent at no charge.

Founded in 1991, DTS is a worldwide leader in storage management and systems programming. For more information on Easy-Exit, download our in-depth whitepaper. To obtain a free, no-obligation trial of Easy-Exit or any of the other well-known DTS Software products, contact DTS Software at [email protected] or call us at 1-919-833-8426.