Export a transaction dump captured by Symdump for CICS and create an IPCS dump

Products

• SymDump for CICS
• SymDump Batch

Issue/Introduction

Encountered an AETA abend in CICS which was captured by Symdump for CICS.  Does Symdump for CICS have a utility to export a captured Symdump and make it readable by IPCS?
 
 

Resolution

Symdump CICS only captures transaction dumps in CICS not system dumps. When Symdump CICS captures the transaction dump it writes it to the VSAM file repository called PROTDMP. You cannot use IPCS to view a dump in the PROTDMP file. Symdump CICS has no conversion-export utility program to convert a captured dump to IPCS format.
 
Standard CICS transaction dumps are written to DFHDMPA and DFHDMPB and are managed – printed by the DFHDU## (## is the CICS level) utility program. You cannot use IPCS to view a CICS transaction dump. IPCS is used for system dumps. You need to setup your CICS region to produce a system dump in addition to the transaction dump you are currently receiving the next time the AETA abend surfaces.
 
 Configure your CICS region to create a CICS System dump.
  
If a transaction dump is not enough, you can request a CICS system dump:
• Enter CEMT SET TRD(xxxx) SYS MAX(1) ADD where xxxx is the transaction abend code.
• Ensure that MAX is 1 greater than CUR to capture a dump, check this by entering CEMT INQ TRD(xxxx).
 
MVS system dump
 
Use an MVS system dump of CICS to see the entire CICS region and other related address spaces when needed. Support prefers an MVS system dump over a CICS transaction dump because the system dump usually contains all the evidence you need to solve the problem.
1. Request a system dump at any time by entering MVS command DUMP COMM=(dumpname) followed by a reply of R yy,JOBNAME=( cicsjob) where yy is the number of the message.
 
Or, when recreating a problem:
1. Enter CEMT SET TRD(xxxx) SYS MAX(1) ADD where xxxx is the transaction abend code, to request a system dump for a transaction abend code. Ensure that MAX is 1 greater than CUR to capture a dump, check this by entering CEMT INQ TRD(xxxx).
2. Enter CEMT SET SYD(xxxxx) SYS MAX(1) ADD where xxxxx is the CICS message without the DFH, to request a system dump when you are receiving CICS message at the time of the error. For example, if you are receiving a DFHWB0100 you can add this to the system dump table by specifying WB0100.
3. Recreate the problem or wait for it to occur.