Collect troubleshooting data for program check or abend problems in CICS TS for z/OS

Resolving The Problem

For the most up-to-date documentation, refer to Collecting CICS troubleshooting data (MustGather) for IBM Support in the CICS TS documentation. You will find the General information you should gather for every type of problem followed by the Component-specific information which includes Troubleshooting data for program check or abend problems.

The following is the original MustGather information:

• Collecting general information for all problems
• Collecting data for program check or abend problems
• Troubleshooting hints and tips
• Exchanging data with IBM Support


• Collect troubleshooting data for CICS products - Read first

Collecting general information for all problems

If you have already contacted IBM Support, you can continue on to the component-specific MustGather information. Otherwise, go to Collect troubleshooting data for CICS products - Read first.

Back to top

• CICS message log containing the messages leading up to the abend plus the abend code and the abend message. If multiple abends occur within the same time frame (seconds), the first abend is often the cause of subsequent abends. Therefore, ensure the diagnostic information you send to IBM is for the initial abend unless otherwise requested or not available.
• MVS system dump taken at the point of failure. If system dumping is permitted for the dump code and system dumping has not been disabled, a system dump will be taken when the error is detected. See number 3 under MVS system dump if you are not getting a dump when the abend occurs.

• CICS transaction dump taken at the point of failure. The transaction dump often does not contain enough information to diagnose the problem. Therefore, if you only have a transaction dump and the problem is re-creatable you can request a system dump by doing one of the following:
• 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).
• Enter CEMT SET SYD(xxxxx) SYS MAX(1) ADD, where xxxxx is the CICS message without the DFH. Do this to request a system dump when you are receiving CICS message at the time of the error. It is common to suppress dumps for AP0001. Make sure you are not suppressing dumps for AP0001 by entering CEMT INQ SYS(AP0001) and ensuring that SYS is specified.
• CICS internal trace that is included in the MVS system dump when tracing is active. The trace should be at least 10240K and when possible level 1 tracing should be on for all CICS components.

Back to top

Troubleshooting hints and tips

• Review the logs and dumps generated at the point of failure.
• Search the CICS support site for known problems using symptoms like the message number and error codes.
• If you find a fixing PTF, see Ordering CICS products and maintenance for the options that are available to order CICS maintenance.
• Gather the documentation and work with the CICS support team to resolve your problem.
  
  

• Locating the PSW for a program check in a CICS system dump
• Managing transaction and system failures
• Dealing with transaction abend codes
• Dealing with CICS system abends
• z/OS V1.12 MVS System Codes

1. See Exchanging information with IBM Technical Support for FTP and email instructions using the IBM Enhanced Customer Data Repository (ECuRep).
   
2. Go to the Service Request page to open or update a problem. If you have a SoftwareXcel enterprise edition for zSeries contract, you can also ask a non-defect installation and usage questions.
   
   Note: Always update your Service Request (problem record) to indicate that data has been sent.

Back to top