Retrieve Job log information from SQL - IBM i

Job log

Job log provides information about the job including any errors and is extremely helpful to analyze what has happened. 

Sometimes, it becomes difficult to check all the messages in the job log (especially when the job is running for longer or if there are many messages in the job log) just by using DSPJOB/WRKJOB. 

SQL table function JOBLOG_INFO provides another way of accessing job log from SQL session. Each message from the job log is returned in a new row. This gives the flexibility to query and select the messages as required (E.g.: Requests, Diagnostic Informational etc). 

This table function requires one mandatory parameter Job name and one optional parameter Ignore errors. 

Job Name (JOB_NAME) - Qualified job name (job number/user/job name). For the job log of current job, '*' can be specified. 

Ignore Errors (IGNORE_ERRORS) - This parameter accepts either 'YES' or 'NO'. This determines what needs to be done in case of any error in Query execution. 

• NO (default) - An error is returned. 
• YES - A warning is returned. No rows are returned when an error is encountered. 

Let's have a quick look at a query to retrieve the job log of current session. 

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SELECT ORDINAL_POSITION,        MESSAGE_TYPE,         MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP,         FROM_LIBRARY,         FROM_PROGRAM,         MESSAGE_TEXT,         MESSAGE_SECOND_LEVEL_TEXT  FROM TABLE(QSYS2/JOBLOG_INFO(JOB_NAME => '*'))

In the above query, 

• Lines 1 - 7: Few columns from the table function JOBLOG_INFO. More info on each of these columns can be found below. 
• Line - 8: JOB_NAME parameter is being passed with '*' to retrieve the job log of current job. 

Below are the few columns used in the above query. 

ORDINAL_POSITION - A unique number of each row in the job log. First message in the job log would contain '1' and incremented by '1' for the next message. 

MESSAGE_TYPE - Type of message from the job log. Below are the valid values for this column. 

• COMMAND
• COMPLETION
• DIAGNOSTIC
• ESCAPE
• INFORMATIONAL
• INQUIRY
• NOTIFY
• REPLY
• REQUEST
• SCOPE
• SENDER

MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP - Timestamp when the message was written to Job log. 

FROM_LIBRARY - The library containing the program or service program that sent the message.

FROM_PROGRAM - The program or service program that sent the message.

MESSAGE_TEXT - First level of text message. 

MESSAGE_SECOND_LEVEL_TEXT - Second level of text message. 

There are many other useful columns present in this table function. Full list of columns can be found here.  

Above query returns all the messages in the job log. We can also select the records based on the message type or any other columns as required.

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SELECT ORDINAL_POSITION,        MESSAGE_TYPE,         MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP,         FROM_LIBRARY,         FROM_PROGRAM,         MESSAGE_TEXT,         MESSAGE_SECOND_LEVEL_TEXT  FROM TABLE(QSYS2/JOBLOG_INFO(JOB_NAME => '*')) WHERE  MESSAGE_TYPE = 'DIAGNOSTIC' ;

In the above query, 

• Line - 9: We are only retrieving the diagnostic messages by adding condition on MESSAGE_TYPE. 

This query would only return the diagnostic messages along with it's position in the job log (ORDINAL_POSITION) and timestamp the message was sent to job log (MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP).

In both the queries mentioned above, we are only retrieving the job log of the current job by passing '*' against the job name. 

Let's have a look at retrieving the job log of other job. 

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SELECT ORDINAL_POSITION,        MESSAGE_TYPE,         MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP,         FROM_LIBRARY,         FROM_PROGRAM,         MESSAGE_TEXT,         MESSAGE_SECOND_LEVEL_TEXT  FROM TABLE(QSYS2/JOBLOG_INFO(JOB_NAME => '730621/REDDYP/QPAD202846'))

In the above query, 

• Lines 1 - 7: Columns from the table function as required. 
• Line - 8: We are passing qualified job name with job number, user and job name. 

By adding condition on the columns we can extract the specific information required. 

E.g.: List of commands executed in an interactive session. 

This can be achieved by adding condition on MESSAGE_TYPE. 

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SELECT MESSAGE_TYPE,         MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP,         FROM_LIBRARY,         FROM_PROGRAM,         MESSAGE_TEXT,         MESSAGE_SECOND_LEVEL_TEXT  FROM TABLE(QSYS2/JOBLOG_INFO(JOB_NAME => '730621/REDDYP/QPAD202846')) WHERE  MESSAGE_TYPE = 'REQUEST'

Above query can be amended to fetch the first command or last command etc. 

For some reason, if the job doesn't present in the system or any other errors occurs while running the above query, an error is returned. This may cause an issue when running these query as part of procedures or function.

To avoid this, we could consider using optional parameter IGNORE_ERRORS (YES). By passing this parameter, JOBLOG_INFO would only return a warning and no records are returned. 

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SELECT MESSAGE_TYPE,         MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP,         FROM_LIBRARY,         FROM_PROGRAM,         MESSAGE_TEXT,         MESSAGE_SECOND_LEVEL_TEXT  FROM TABLE(QSYS2/JOBLOG_INFO(JOB_NAME => '730621/REDDYP/QPAD202846', IGNORE_ERRORS => 'YES')) WHERE  MESSAGE_TYPE = 'REQUEST'

If this parameter (IGNORE_ERRORS) is not passed, default value 'NO' is considered and an error is returned for any error while running the query. 

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