When trying to take an SVC dump (SDUMP), if you do not have enough space for the dump areas, you could receive one or both of these messages:
IEA043I SVC DUMP REACHED MAXSPACE LIMIT - MAXSPACE=xxxxxxxx MEG
IEA611I {COMPLETE|PARTIAL} DUMP ON dsname. MAXSPACE LIMIT REACHED WHILE CAPTURING DUMP
How can I determine what my settings are and how do I increase my space?
If you have received one of the messages shown above, you need to look at your system to determine your current settings, and what you need to do before increasing the maximum space used for SVC dumps. Bear in mind that the objective is to not cause an outage due to creating a dump, and to capture the diagnostic data quickly enough without causing much of a performance disruption.
This information is extracted from SHARE Anaheim 2014, Session 14254, with the title, "Common z/OS Problems You Can Avoid."
The MAXSPACE parameter acts as a throttle to limit the maximum amount of virtual storage that SDUMP can “capture” at any given time.
Here are some steps to help you set MAXSPACE:
Keep these things in mind as you consider your dump management practices:
There are several other factors involved in dump creation successes or failures. For example, even with a properly set MAXSPACE, SDUMP can still trigger an AUX storage condition if the overall system is using a sizeable amount of AUX storage. The AUXMGMT parameter offers additional system protection and acts as a safety net for systems exceeding recommended AUX utilization (=30%). With this parameter, SDUMPs are prevented or stopped when AUX storage is not sufficient.
If set correctly, MAXSPACE and AUXMGMT work hand in hand to protect the system and allow you to create the dumps needed to diagnose your problems.
For more information on dump processing and the different dump options available, please refer to Knowledge Base article 30191, titled "IBM MVS dump options for a complete dump."