IBM mainframes make up over 50% of the mainframes used in the United
States. These systems are traditionally used in industries such as insurance,
banking, universities and so on. For some reason, IBM systems as a whole have
not been very popular with hackers. This may be due to the complexity of the
Operating Systems run on IBM systems compared to others such as UNIX or VMS.
Another reason may be that there is much variety from shop to shop. IBM
systems
are more commonly modified and customized to fit an individual corporations
need and the lack of "universality" for commands, files, programs and other
procedures makes it difficult to attempt to use without any type of specific
documentation. The lack of detailed on-line help also hinders the hacker. I
believe that the VM/CMS Operating System is by far the best and easily
learned
of the IBM systems. But compared to other Operating Systems like UNIX or VMS,
VM/CMS is cumbersome and harder to learn.
ACRONYMS:
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Before I even attempt to start this article, I will list the
IBM-specific
acronyms used in this article and some others that you may find on various
IBM
systems. I list them here so I will not have to do it throughout this
article.
If you don't know what one of them means later, just refer back to this list.
VM/SP: Virtual Machine/System Product
CP: Control Program
CMS: Conversational Monitoring System
HPO: High Performance Option
VSE: Virtual Storage Extended
MVS: Multiple Virutal Storage
TSO: Time Sharing Option
JES: Job Entry System
CICS: Customer Information Control System
VSAM: Virtual Storage Access Method
VTAM: Virtual Telecommunications Access Method
IX: Interactive Executive
IPL: Initial Program Load
IVP: Istallation Verification Program
RSCS: Remote Spooling Communications Subsystem
DASD: Direct Access Storage Device
EREP: Environmental Recording Editing and Printing
SNA: Systems Network Architecture
NCCF: Network Communications Control Facility
REXX: Restructured Extended Executer Language
VTOC: Volume Table Of Contents
DOCS: Display Operator Console System
JCL: Job Control Language
ACF: Advanced Communications Functions
SQL/DS: Structured Query Language/Data System
DBA: Data Base Administrator
GCS: Group Control System
SCP: System Control Program
FDP: Field Development Program
CNA: Communications Network Application
POF: Programmable Operator Facility
PSW: Program Status Word
SSCP: Subsystem Services Control Point
IPCS: Interactive Problem Control System
DCSS: Discontiguous Shared Segments
VMCF: Virtual Machine Communications Facility
FIFO: First In First Out
LIFO: Last In First Out
AP: Attached Processor
MP: Multi-Processor
R/O: Read/Only
R/W: Read/Write
LOGGING IN:
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Typically, when you come across a CMS system, it will respond with:
