Backup of VSAM RLS can cause AFCK abend in CICS Trx execution

Products

• Disk Backup and Restore - MVS

Issue/Introduction

When a DISK job is running to backup VSAM RLS datasets, it can happen that CICS transactions trying to access these VSAM datasets get AFCK abend. Is it possible to bypass this abend? 

Resolution

Based on the IBM documentation, to possibly prevent these abends, it is suggested to use the DISK BACKUPCC command for the VSAM RLS datasets backups. With BACKUPCC, updates will still be possible even while the backup is currently running. Following are the details for AFCK abend in the IBM documentation: 

AFCK

Explanation

The transaction issued a file update request (READ UPDATE, WRITE or DELETE) against an RLS mode data set for which a DFSMSdss non-BWO backup was in progress.

System action
The transaction is abnormally terminated with a CICS transaction dump. CICS processing continues.

User response

All new file update requests are prohibited when a non-BWO backup is in progress for an RLS mode data set. This restriction is automatically lifted when the backup completes. (A non-BWO backup is any type of backup operation other than a Backup While Open backup.) When the backup has completed, retry the transaction.