Michael, the reason for going offline  is that Ben CP TRANSFERs the spool
file to  LISTSERV while LISTSERV  is running, and  he doesn't want  it to
start  reading it.  Another solution  is to  CP CHANGE  the file  to HOLD
before the CP TRANSFER; then LISTSERV  won't touch it, and you don't need
the offline.
 
However,  for the  sake  of  integrity I  recommend  putting  an exec  on
LISTSERV's A-disk  which, basically,  erases the backup,  renames BITEARN
NODES to the  backup fileid, and does the RECEIVE;  otherwise a job could
come in  between your commands  and be upset  not to find  BITEARN NODES.
Having a single exec also makes it less likely that you forget a command.
 
Finally, there  is a NODEUPD  PACKAGE available from  LISTSERV@CEARN that
allows you to have LISTSERV take care of the UPDNODES and GENROUTS stuff.
The only problem is that GENROUTS  requires a lot of virtual storage, and
sometimes it abends CMS for some unknown reason; you can of course remove
the GENROUTS step if you don't need or want it.
 
  Eric