Sample monitoring data print program (DFH$MOLS)

When you have unloaded monitoring data from SMF data sets for one or more CICS® regions, you can print the data using the DFH$MOLS sample utility program, or a utility program of your own modelled on the DFH$MOLS sample program.

CICS provides two programs for processing any CICS monitoring data that is written to system management facilities (SMF) data sets:
  • DFHMNDUP: A utility program that generates a performance dictionary record, in a sequential data set, for use with monitoring data extracted from SMF data sets. See .
  • DFH$MOLS: A print program for CICS monitoring data. DFH$MOLS is a sample program that you can modify or adapt to your own purposes. It shows you how you can code your own monitoring utility program to print CICS monitoring data.

The DFH$MOLS program is a data reduction program that produces reports from the data collected by the CICS monitoring domain (MN) and written to SMF data sets.

DFH$MOLS can identify any SMF 110 monitoring records that have been compressed and expand them using the z/OS® Data Compression and Expansion Services (CSRCESRV), before working with them. If you specify the EXPAND control statement, DFH$MOLS copies the compressed monitoring records to an output data set in their expanded format, with the records that were not compressed. Other reporting tools can use the output data set of SMF 110 monitoring records.

The default is for monitoring records to be compressed, COMPRESS=YES.

You can switch data compression off and on in a number of ways. In the Monitoring Control Table (MCT), specify the COMPRESS option in the DFHMCT TYPE=INITIAL macro. Use the monitoring facility transaction CEMN or the CEMT or EXEC CICS SET MONITOR command to change the data compression option.

A monitoring record with a compressed data section is identified by the compressed record length in the SMFMNCRL field in the SMF product section, which is present only for a compressed record.

In CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, Version 5 Release 3, DFH$MOLS can process SMF 110 monitoring data records for the following supported releases:
  • CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, Version 5 Release 3
  • CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, Version 5 Release 2
  • CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, Version 5 Release 1
However, the UNLOAD control statement (which unloads performance class monitoring data into a fixed length record format) can be used only with monitoring data for CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, Version 3 Release 2 onwards. Any version or release of DFH$MOLS cannot process monitoring data for a version or release later than itself, so you must always use the DFH$MOLS from the highest version or release available to you.

For programming information about the structure of CICS SMF type 110, and how the monitoring data is packaged in the SMF records, see .

The DFH$MOLS program requires a performance dictionary record to process monitoring performance data. When it locates a dictionary record, it builds an in store dictionary and processes the subsequent (if any) performance data using this dictionary. Whenever it reads a new dictionary record, the current dictionary is released and a new in store dictionary is built. The dictionary record must come before any related performance data; otherwise, the DFH$MOLS program abends. Monitoring exception records do not require a dictionary, so they can precede the first dictionary record and still be successfully processed. For more information about performance dictionary records, see .