How can I track down the cause of S04C abends in the Alchemist started task?

Products

Alchemist TPX - Session Management Vman Session Management for z/OS

Issue/Introduction

Environment

Release:
Component: ALCMST

Resolution

This is most likely to occur in a PCL step that executes PGM=IKJEFT1A or IKJEFT1B.

The program needed to execute TSO/E commands from the background is a terminal monitor program (TMP), which may be one of the following: IKJEFT01, IKJEFT1A, or IKJEFT1B. The EXEC (execute) statement is used to execute program IKJEFT01 or the alternate programs IKJEFT1A and IKJEFT1B that provide additional return code and abend support.

If a command or program being processed by IKJEFT1A or IKJEFT1B ends with a system or user abend, IKJEFT1A or IKJEFT1B causes the job step to terminate with a X'04C' system completion code and also returns to the caller the completion code from the command or program in register 15.

Steps to Resolve:

Look for the unit of work immediately preceding the S04C symptom dump to indicate the Request and entity with the error. (Msg ZDE9600I)
Review the entity message log to see the step that encountered the 04C.
Review the entity listing for this step. This should point to the root cause of the problem.

Here is an example to step through. Let's say this is what you see in the Alchemist started task log:

         
 15.46.44 STC21937  ZDE9600I SR.RX{luname.request-id} PROCESSING 0502011848222-REFNO123.0001-MYPGM.POST-IMPLEMENTAT
 15.46.44 STC21937  IEA995I SYMPTOM DUMP OUTPUT  310
    310             SYSTEM COMPLETION CODE=04C
    310              TIME=15.46.44  SEQ=23258  CPU=0000  ASID=00B8
    310              PSW AT TIME OF ERROR  078C1000   8B8035D2  ILC 2  INTC 0D
    310                NO ACTIVE MODULE FOUND
    310                NAME=UNKNOWN
    310                DATA AT PSW  0B8035CC - 00181610  0A0D4100  00840A3C
    310                AR/GR 0: 00AFB01F/40000000   1: 00000000/4004C000
    310                      2: 00000000/00000080   3: 00000000/00000003
    310                      4: 00000000/8B803168   5: 00000000/00000000
    310                      6: 00000000/00000000   7: 00000000/26D23F80
    310                      8: 00000000/00AB8968   9: 00000000/0017E728
    310                      A: 00000000/8B802050   B: 00000000/0B80304F
    310                      C: 00000000/0017BC58   D: 00000000/0017BC58
    310                      E: 00000000/8B803478   F: 00000000/000C4000
    310              END OF SYMPTOM DUMP

So we want to find change request with reference number REFNO123, and look for entity MYPGM. Browsing the message log for this entity we see the step that resulted in S04C:

         
ZDE1000I: 2/DB2BND; STEP 'DB2EXEC' EXECUTED PGM 'IKJEFT1B' - ABENDED S04C-000

When we now look at the listing for this entity and specifically the output from this step DB2EXEC, we find the root cause of the problem is a S0C4 in program AMTALCBC (not an Alchemist program, which all start with 'Z'):

         
RUN PROGRAM(AMTALCBC) PLAN (BATCHPLN)
PARMS('PROD,MYPGM,MSS,CICS,N')
 IKJ56641I DSN      ENDED DUE TO ERROR+
 IKJ56641I SYSTEM ABEND CODE 0C4   REASON CODE 00000004
 *** PROGRAM AMTALCBC WAS LAST COMPILED ON 12/14/0414.18.17
 CEE3204S The system detected a protection exception (System Completion
Code=0C4).
          From compile unit AMTALCBC at entry point AMTALCBC at statement
1234 at compile unit offset +00002F10 at entry offset
          +00002F10 at address 257E2C68.
 <> LEAID ENTERED (LEVEL 07/09/2002 AT 11.37)
 <> LEAID IGNORED BY ABNLIGNR
 <> LEAID PROCESSING COMPLETE.

Note that Register 15 (F) in the symptom dump indicates 0C4, which corresponds to these error messages.

To resolve this particular problem, the programmer for program AMTALCBC needs to see what is coded at OFFSET 2F10 in the AMTALCBC compile listing, resolve that, then re-release the Alchemist request.

This Frequently Asked Question applies to all supported releases of ESP Alchemist.