Forcing a system dump for CICS transaction abends

Products

• IPC
• Datacom
• Datacom/DB

Issue/Introduction

When a CICS transaction creates an abend, a transaction dump is normally produced. This transaction dump can be smaller and contain fewer data areas than are needed to identify and resolve the application problem. As a result, there needs to be a way to capture a system dump (SVC Dump) that can be processed with IPCS. 

Resolution

if you want to capture a more extensive dump, you need to first ensure that the RDO definition for the transactions to monitor have DUMP=YES, and that the CICS startup options (or SIT) also have DUMP=YES. 

Once dump capability has been set up, enter the CICS transaction

CEMT SET TRD(aaaa) SYS MAX(#) ADD

where aaaa is the abend code for which a system dump should be created, and # is the total number of dumps to produce (normally 1 higher than the current value).

This will cause a system dump (SVC dump) to be produced when a transaction abend of aaaa is experienced. Remember that the number you use should be at least one more than the current value (you can find the current value with CEMT INQ TRD...). Be sure you have enough storage to hold the system dump–IBM advises that the smallest dump will be at least 300 cylinders.

If there is no transaction abend, but instead there is a CICS message produced for a problem, you would use CEMT SET SYD(mmmmmm) SYS MAX(#) ADD, where mmmmmm is the CICS message ID, without the DFH prefix.

In order to provide the most benefit, the system dump should have the proper data areas defined. At the console, issue the command /D D,O and review the data areas for SDUMP to be sure they include the desired data areas. For example, you might need ALLNUC, CSA, GRSQ, LPA, LSQA, NUC, PSA, RGN, SQA, SUM, SWA, and TRT. If you need to change the settings for SDUMP, issue the CD SET,SDUMP=(...),ADD command with all the parameters for the SDUMP to use.

If the transaction abend has been issued and the dump has been created, review the SYSLOG for message IEA611I or IEA911E to get the filename for the dump and to learn if the dump is complete.

NOTE: Since the CEMT SET TRD... definition will not be maintained across every startup, you can also use RDO (CEDA) to add a DUMPCODE entry to a group installed in the CICS region. This is a more permanent means to control dumping activity for a certain transaction abend code. For more information about adding this to your CSD, please see the CICS Transaction Server documentation for DUMPCODE resources.

Additional Information

As always, please contact Broadcom support for your product if you have further questions.