Spooler Plus Programmer's Guide

Introduction to the Spooler Plus Subsystem
Spooler Plus Programmer’s Guide—522293-003
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Unit Size
The meanings of the collector states are as follows:
You can declare, initialize, and delete collectors whenever the spooler is in either the
cold or the warm state or whenever the collector is in the dormant state. At other
times, these operations are rejected.
When you issue a SPOOLER START or COLLECT START command, any collector
attributes that have not been specified take their default values. You must specify the
data file, however, because it has no default attributes. If you issue the SPOOLER
START command and the collector has no data file specified, the collector will
abnormally terminate.
Unit Size
The Spoolcom COLLECT UNIT command is used to specify a unit size for the
collector. The unit size specifies the number of 512-word blocks the collector allocates
from its data file each time it needs more space for a job. The maximum number of
units is limited only by the size of the file.
The larger the unit size, the less often the collector must allocate a new unit. For this
reason, you should specify a relatively large unit size if you expect that most spooled
jobs will be large. You should also use a large extent size if you are using large block
sizes.
A smaller unit size provides more efficient use of disk space, because once the
controller reserves space for a job, that space cannot be used by any other job. If the
unit size is 10 and a spooled job requires only 1 block, the other 9 blocks are wasted. It
is best to use a unit size that is a whole multiple of the buffer size.
DORMANT A collector in the dormant state cannot accept new jobs for spooling,
and no jobs are currently being spooled. You can set and modify
collector attributes while it is in the dormant state. The Spoolcom
command COLLECT START puts a dormant collector in the active
state.
ACTIVE A collector in the active state can accept new jobs for spooling. You
cannot change a collector’s attributes while it is in the active state.
The Spoolcom command COLLECT DRAIN puts an active collector in
the drain state.
DRAIN A collector in the drain state will not accept new jobs for spooling, but
jobs currently being spooled will continue until completion. When all
open jobs have been completed, the collector enters the dormant
state. You cannot change a collector's attributes while it is in the drain
state.
ERROR A collector in the error state cannot function. The Spoolcom
COLLECT STATUS command tells you whether the collector is in an
error state. The octal error number is either %1000 plus a Guardian
file-system error number or %100000 plus a NEWPROCESS error
number.