journal

name

journal

description

Manage and inspect IBM i journals, journal receivers, journaled objects, journal entries, remote journals, and audit journal data marts. Use when user asks about: (1) listing journals or journal receivers, (2) which objects are journaled, (3) reading journal entries, (4) remote journal configuration and lag, (5) journal receiver sizes or chains, (6) SMAPP access path protection, (7) audit journal data marts, (8) journal storage consumption, or (9) replacing WRKJRN, DSPJRN, WRKJRNA command output.

IBM i Journal Management

Manage and inspect journals, journal receivers, journaled objects, journal entries, remote journals, and audit data marts using QSYS2 SQL services.

Available Tools

The ibmi CLI is the primary tool for journal queries. Set SKILL_DIR to this skill's installed location (the directory containing this SKILL.md file):

# SKILL_DIR = directory containing this SKILL.md
# Examples: ./skills/journal, ~/.claude/skills/journal

ibmi tools --tools "$SKILL_DIR/tools/" --toolset journal_default
ibmi tool list_journals --tools "$SKILL_DIR/tools/"
ibmi sql "SELECT JOURNAL_NAME, JOURNAL_LIBRARY, JOURNAL_TYPE FROM QSYS2.JOURNAL_INFO"

Service Selection Guide

Journal Configuration

• QSYS2.JOURNAL_INFO -- Journal properties, receiver counts, object counts
• QSYS2.JOURNAL_RECEIVER_INFO -- Receiver timestamps, sizes, entry counts, chain
• QSYS2.JOURNALED_OBJECTS -- Objects being journaled and their options

Journal Entries

• QSYS2.DISPLAY_JOURNAL -- Read journal entries with filtering by time
• SYSTOOLS.AUDIT_JOURNAL_xx -- Typed audit journal entry readers (AD, AF, PW, etc.)
• QSYS2.AUDIT_JOURNAL_DATA_MART_INFO -- Audit data mart build status

Remote & Access Paths

• QSYS2.REMOTE_JOURNAL_INFO -- Remote journal state, delivery mode, lag metrics
• QSYS2.SMAPP_ACCESS_PATHS -- System-managed access path protection

Key Capabilities

Journal Inventory

• List Journals -- Show all journals with type, state, and receiver info
• Receiver Chain -- Navigate the chain of receivers for a journal
• Large Receivers -- Find receivers consuming excessive storage
• Detailed Config -- Review journal settings including ESD and cache

Entry Analysis

• Display Entries -- Read journal entries filtered by time range
• Entry Metadata -- Journal code, type, object, user, program info
• Audit Trails -- Track security-relevant events via audit journal

Journaled Objects

• Object Inventory -- List all objects journaled by a specific journal
• Journaling Options -- Image settings and omit configurations
• Remote Journals -- Monitor remote journal lag and delivery mode

Common Use Cases

1. Journal inventory -- List all journals and their current state
2. Receiver management -- Check receiver sizes and chain sequence
3. Storage analysis -- Find largest receivers consuming disk space
4. Read entries -- View recent journal entries for a journal
5. Remote journal monitoring -- Check replication lag
6. Audit trail -- Review audit journal data mart status
7. SMAPP review -- Check access path protection status

Quick Examples

List all journals

ibmi tool list_journals --tools "$SKILL_DIR/tools/"

List receivers for a specific journal

ibmi tool list_journal_receiver_chain --tools "$SKILL_DIR/tools/" --journal-library QSYS --journal-name QAUDJRN

Read recent journal entries

ibmi tool display_journal_entries --tools "$SKILL_DIR/tools/" --journal-library QSYS --journal-name QAUDJRN --minutes-ago 30

Find largest receivers

ibmi tool list_large_journal_receivers --tools "$SKILL_DIR/tools/" --min-size-mb 100

Pre-built Tools

The tools/journal.yaml file provides 13 ready-to-use tools:

Tool	Description
list_journals	List journals with type, state, and receiver info
list_journal_receivers	Receivers with timestamps, status, and sizes
list_journaled_objects	Objects journaled by a specific journal
display_journal_entries	Read journal entries filtered by time
list_remote_journals	Remote journal config and lag metrics
list_journal_receiver_chain	Receiver chain for a specific journal
list_large_journal_receivers	Find largest receivers by size
get_journal_detail	Detailed journal configuration
list_smapp_access_paths	SMAPP access path protection status
get_audit_journal_data_mart_info	Audit data mart build status
audit_security_events	Security-relevant audit journal entries (SYSTOOLS.AUDIT_JOURNAL_AF)
audit_object_changes	Object create/delete/change entries (SYSTOOLS.AUDIT_JOURNAL_CO)
audit_system_changes	System value / auditing change entries (SYSTOOLS.AUDIT_JOURNAL_SV)

ibmi tool <tool_name> --tools "$SKILL_DIR/tools/"          # Execute
ibmi tool <tool_name> --tools "$SKILL_DIR/tools/" --dry-run # Preview SQL
ibmi tools show <tool_name> --tools "$SKILL_DIR/tools/"     # View details

Reference Documentation

• Journal Services Catalog -- Available SQL services
• Example SQL Patterns -- Working query examples
• IBM JOURNAL_INFO -- View documentation
• IBM DISPLAY_JOURNAL -- Table function documentation