ABEND0C7 in Dump Process when SMF Type 7 records are present

Products

• JARS SMF Director

Issue/Introduction

During an SMF Dump Process in the product, if SMF Type 7 records are
present, it is possible for the records to be malformed.  The start
date field in the record, SMF7STD, does not contain a valid date
in packed decimal format leading to an ABEND0C7 in module SMFITYP7.
 
There is no way to predict when a malformed SMF Type 7 record is
produced by SMF, but they do appear on occasion.
 
This leads to an interruption in the Dump Process and can affect
SMF processing in data centers that see SMF Type 7 records
on a regular basis.

The dump process will terminate with an ABEND0C7 in the SMFITYP7
module. A symptom dump will be produced as well as any other dumps
requested in the JCL.

The SMF data that was in the process of being dumped is not dumped,
and the data is not indexed.  SMF Director does not clear out the
SMF MAN file being dumped as a result, so on systems where MAN
files are used for SMF recording, there is the possibility of
MAN files filling.
 
For log stream recording, SMF Director will not complete the dump
as well.
 
For sites that are using tape as the archival media for the SMF
data under SMF Director Control, a TAPEINIT for the affected
LPAR and/or log stream will be needed to resume dumping properly.

The SMFDLS Dump executions will also get a CAF2224I message (over and over).

Environment

Release : 12.7

Component : SMF Director

Cause

Malformed SMF Type 7 records

Resolution

SMF Director 12.7 PTF LU04791

Additional Information

CIRCUMVENTION:
If running SMF Director from a STEPLIB, place a copy of IEFBR14 into
the load library in the STEPLIB. Once the module is in place, rename
the SMFITYP7 module to another name, and rename the copy of IEFBR14
as SMFITYP7.  The dump can then be reattempted. Doing this does
cause the CAF2224I message to be blank as opposed to having the
information about the lost SMF Data.
 
If running SMF Director out of a library in the link list, perform
the same steps as if running out of a STEPLIB. After that is done,
an LLA Refresh will need to be performed.
 
Once the dump containing the Type 7 record has completed, the
original SMFITYP7 module can be named back to SMFITYP7.
 
Alternatively, the IBM utilities can be used to dump the SMF Data to
a separate dataset outside of SMF Director's control. This data can
then be added to the SMF Index using the ADDX control statement or
via a SOURCE dump process once the malformed Type 7 record has been
removed from the SMF Data.