Overview: JCL Timeouts

On a Z/OS system, both runaway and looping batch jobs can be controlled by the use of the TIME= parameter. This can operate on the JOB card. The TIME= parameter takes the form of: TIME=(x,y) where x is a time value in CPU minutes, and y is a time value in CPU seconds.

The Enterprise Server environment does not recognize the concept of CPU seconds. To allow for this, Enterprise Server includes a mechanism that enables you to configure a value in real seconds to equate to the CPU seconds that are coded in your JCL. Using this mechanism, you can configure a JCL job to abend long running jobs if they take longer than the boundaries you set.

A timeout can only be applied to a job when you have defined a class-specific timeout multiplier and/or a Default multiplier. If no class-specific or Default multiplier has been defined, a multiplier of 1 (one) is used. If multiple initiators are active, and a job is started, and then held awaiting the completion of another job of the same name, the time spent waiting is included in the job's elapsed time, when determining if the job has exceeded it's allotted time span.