Mistakes in defining the file characteristics or DCB (Data Control Block) characteristics of the transport file to the operating system at the time of file transfer to MVS are an important cause of the following error messages:

   WARNING: Truncated record.
   ERROR: Internal error from getting data.

or

   ERROR: Given transport file is bad.

A transport file is placed on the destination machine by file transfer software such as FTP, communication/emulation software such as EXTRA for Windows, and networking software. Any of these methods must do the transfer as a binary or image transfer. If you have used a file transfer or communication/emulation software to place the file on MVS, you need to declare to that software the the transfer is to be binary or image transfer. Some software products will attempt to detect what transfer method should be used. These software products are likely to make the wrong decision; that is ASCII, instead of binary or image. Thus, corrupting the file in transit. EXPLICIT SPECIFICATION OF BINARY OR IMAGE TRANSFER IS BEST.

Often, these programs in addition to doing the file transfer can tell MVS what file characteristics to use to create/place the file on MVS.

On MVS or TSO the transport file must have the following DCB (Data Control Block) characteristics to be used by MVS SAS to unpack the transport file:

LRECL=80 BLKSIZE=8000 RECFM=FB DSORG=PS

As part of the transfer process, you will have to declare to MVS what the DCB characteristics are for this file. Sometimes, users have difficulty telling these software products to transfer and set the DCB characteristics at the time of upload. If this is the case for you, users have found the following helpful:

1. Create a transport file on MVS.
2. Upload the file to the same physical filename created in Step 1. You will be overwriting the file with the transferred file on the upload but you will be getting the right DCB characteristics.

If you are using Extra for Windows by Attachmate Corporation, select translation NONE. The File Transfer dialog box for that software might contain the following:

   send a:sascat.dat trans.cat6 lrecl(80) blksize(8000) recfm(f) space(10,10)

Check your current documentation for your emulation/communication software for more information.

If you are using FTP, the following FTP commands may be helpful to get the correct file charcteristics:

   /* Logged onto MVS/TSO getting transport file from other host */
   > open otherhost
   > binary
   > locsite recfm=fb blocksize=8000 lrecl=80
   > get hostfile_tranfile new_mvs_file
   > close
   > quit
   /* Logged onto other host putting transport file on MVS/TSO */
   > open otherhost
   > binary
   > site recfm=fb blocksize=8000 lrecl=80
   > put hostfile_tranfile new_mvs_file
   > close
   > quit

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