XCOM for z/OS task hangs when STOPing

Products

• XCOM Data Transport - z/OS

Issue/Introduction

XCOM tasks are recycled every week at the same time.

One of the XCOM tasks got stuck/hung when being brought down with the STOP command. It was necessary to issue a CANCEL command against the task to end it.

Environment

Release : 12.0

Component : CA XCOM Data Transport for z/OS

Cause

Here is the message received that caused XCOM not to end normally:

IEC146I 513-04,IFG0194A,XCOM0xx,XCOM,SYS48612,04C1,EN5373, DDD.SSSSSSS.NNNNN.GDG

The tape dataset got a 513-04 abend during OPEN processing. The following is IBM's explanation:

An OPEN macro instruction was issued for a magnetic tape data set  
allocated to a device that already has an open data set on it. Make
sure that the first data set is closed before the second is opened,
or allocate the second data set to a different device. This error  
may be due to a previous abnormal end associated with the same unit
in the same step. If so, correct the error causing the previous    
abnormal end.

Resolution

In this specific case, the system chose a tape device that already had an open tape file on it. XCOM is not responsible for the handling or choosing a tape device. Please check with the System Programmer as to what may have caused the system to chose a tape drive that was already in use.