What is the difference between an CYC and ECJ Task type in Control-M?

Question

I searched the user manual and user guide for z/OS and could not find any explanation of what exactly is an ECJ - Emergency Cyclic Job and what is the difference to a CYC job.

Thank you

Answer 1

I've found this in Control-M for z/OS V6.2 User's Guide, page 680, topic Emergency Jobs and Started Tasks:

Note: Emergency jobs and started tasks are supported for backward compatibility, but BMC Software recommends redefining them as regular jobs and started tasks that are activated by DO FORCEJOB statements. CONTROL-M/Restart users can also use a DO IFRERUN statement. The DO FORCEJOB statement is described in “DO FORCEJOB: Post–Processing Parameter” on page 463, and the DO IFRERUN statement in “§Restart§DO IFRERUN: Post–Processing Parameter” on page 467.

An emergency job or emergency started task can be used to overcome any irregularities in normal execution. The job remains in the Active Jobs file, waiting to be scheduled, until all regular jobs of the same GROUP finish executing OK and are checked by CONTROL-M. Then, when the emergency job is no longer needed, the job is automatically removed from the Active Jobs file. For additional information, see “MAXWAIT: Basic Scheduling Parameter” on page 539.

Version 6.2 is from 2014 or earlier. You might want to look for the manual of an even earlier release when Emergeny Jobs/STC were standard usage.

But the wording of above text seems to indicate that you do not want to define an Emergency Cyclic Job. It seems to be an outdated feature.

I'm retired and no longer have access to a system with Control-M, and I can't rememer to ever have seen an Emergency type job or STC (cyclic or not). I found that V6.2 manual on my PC as a left over.