ECB

Format of an ECB
The ECB is 12 KB long and is referred to in three 4-KB page segments. ECB page 1 is primarily used by applications and is the link between the z/TPF system and the application program (ECB-controlled program). It contains: o Fixed application work areas, which are used by the application program This is work space for use by application programs in any way it is required. The work areas are unformatted and of fixed sizes. However, if an application requires additional work area beyond what is provided by the ECB, it can be requested from the z/TPF system. o Fixed system work areas Resource interface area, which is used by both the application program and the control program This area contains the addresses of file records and working storage blocks that the application program has requested from thez/TPF system. Entry management area, which is used by the control program This area contains status information and other data required for managing an entry. o User-definable area, which can be used by the application program The space is for use by application programs in any way it is required. ECB page 2 is used primarily by the control program It is used to hold data related to the Entry that might impact system availability if damaged by the application program, such as control information that is used to manage the ECB and working storage blocks. ECB page 2 also contains a field that points to the resource limit table (RLT), which contains the two levels of limits for each resource that is monitored (see ECB resource monitor for more information). There is also a user-definable area in ECB page 2. The difference between this user-definable area and the one in ECB page 1 is that this one offers an additional level of protection because its storage key is not the same as the storage key for the entry. Protection is achieved because the storage protection key must be explicitly changed in order to update this area. ECB page 3 contains a combination of application and system work areas and control fields. There also is a field in ECB page 3 that points to the resource counter table (RCT), which contains the counter for each monitored resource (see ECB resource monitor for more information).

Accessing the ECB

The address of the ECB is in the ECB register, which is part of the interface when control is passed from the control program to the application. OPZERO initializes the ECB register when the ECB is created. By convention of the z/TPF system, the ECB register is register 9.

Creation of an ECB
An ECB is created for an Entry by OPZERO as described in Step 4b. OPZERO creates and initializes an ECB.

ECB resource monitor

The ECB resource monitor provides a centralized facility that monitors the use of selected system resources for each ECB. The ECB resource monitordetects and, optionally, stops an ECB that requests excessive amounts of monitored resources. Use the ZECBM command to turn on or off the ECB resource monitor. See the following references for more specific information: z/TPF Application Programming for more information about the ECB resource monitor z/TPF C/C++ Language Support User's Guide for more information about the tpf_ecbmc function z/TPF General Services for more information about the ECBMC macro z/TPF Operations for more information about the ZECBM command.