Tutorial: Creating a session and browsing a log

This tutorial shows you how to create a session for a problem, manually specify a log file for the problem, and then browse the log file.

Before you begin

  • If you have not already done so, follow the instructions in Configuring Transaction Analysis Workbench.
  • Determine the data set name or the log stream name of a log file that you want to analyze. This log file can be any of the types that are supported by Transaction Analysis Workbench. This tutorial uses an SMF file.

About this task

This tutorial is intended for first-time users. You can use it to verify that you have correctly configured your Transaction Analysis Workbench ISPF dialog profile settings (under option 0 Profile).

Procedure

  1. Start the Transaction Analysis Workbench ISPF dialog.

    For example:

    1. On the ISPF primary option menu, select option 6 Command.
    2. Enter the following command. Replace FUW.V1R3M0 with the high-level qualifiers of the Transaction Analysis Workbench libraries installed on your system.
      EX 'FUW.V1R3M0.SFUWEXEC(FUWOREXX)' 'FUW.V1R3M0'

    The following steps register (create) a session.

  2. On the Transaction Analysis Workbench Primary Option Menu, select option 1 Sessions.
    Figure 1. Panel: Transaction Analysis Workbench Primary Option Menu
       File  Help 
     ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                  Transaction Analysis Workbench - Primary Option Menu 
     Option ===> 1                                                                 
     
     0 Profile     Customize your dialog profile
     1 Sessions    Analyze problems using the session manager
     2 Controls    Define record filtering and formatting controls
     3 Systems     Define the systems where transactions are processed
     4 Process     Analyze ad hoc log files
     5 Big Data    Extract, transform, and load logs to a big data platform
     X Exit        Quit the workbench
    
     Session Repository  . . . FUW.SESSIONS                                    +

    If the session repository does not yet exist, a Define Repository Data Set panel is displayed; press Enter to create the repository.

    The Session Manager panel is displayed. This panel shows the list of existing sessions. To scroll the list horizontally and see more columns, press the Right function key (F11).

  3. Enter NEW on the command line.
    Figure 2. Panel: Session Manager (list of existing sessions)
       File  View  Help 
     ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                    Session Manager           Row 1 of 16 More: < > 
     Command ===> NEW                                              Scroll ===> PAGE
    
     NEW Register a new Session
    
     /  Key       Status  Description                                            
        00000001  OPEN    Installation verification
     ******************************* Bottom of data ********************************
    

    The New Session window opens, prompting for an optional template. In this example, we will create a session without using a template.

  4. Press Enter without specifying a template.

    The Session Details panel for the new session is displayed.

  5. Specify a description such as Getting started. Leave the other details blank or accept their default values.
    Figure 3. Panel: Session Details
       File  Help 
     ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                    Session Details                 Row 1 to 1 of 1 
     Command ===>                                                  Scroll ===> PAGE
    
     Key . . . . : 00000002 
     Description . Getting started                                                 
     Severity  . .   
     Reference . .                                   ── When problem occurred ───
     Reported by .                                        YYYY-MM-DD  HH.MM.SS.TH
     Assigned to .                                   From                         
     Status  . . . OPEN                              To                           
     Template  . .           +                       Zone LOCAL 
    
     Systems involved:                                                              
    
     /  System +   Type +                                                           
                            
     ******************************* Bottom of data ********************************
    
  6. Press the Exit function key (F3) to save the session.

    The menu for the new session is displayed. The menu title contains the unique session key identifier (for example, Session 00000002).

    The following steps select a log file for the new session.

  7. On the session menu, select option 3 Files.
    Figure 4. Panel: Session menu
       File  Help 
     ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                  Session 00000002           Session 00000002 saved 
     Option ===> 3                                                                 
    
     Description : Getting started
    
     1  Register      Update the problem registration details
     2  Workflow      Perform the diagnostic tasks
     3  Files         Locate and manage the log files required for diagnosis
     4  Reporting     Run batch reports
     5  Investigate   Perform interactive log file analysis
     6  History       Review the problem history
    

    The Locate and Manage Log Files panel is displayed.

    Figure 5. Panel: Locate and Manage Log Files panel
       File  Help 
     ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                              Locate and Manage Log Files 
     Command ===> NEW                                              Scroll ===> PAGE
    
     NEW  Insert a new log file.
     AUTO Run automated file selection to locate log files.
    
     Log Files:                                                                     
                                                          ──── System ──── File
     /   Exc Data Set Name                                Name     Type    Type
     ******************************* Bottom of data ********************************
    
  8. Manually specify your SMF file:
    1. Enter NEW on the command line.
      The Specify File Details window opens.
      Figure 6. Panel: Manually specifying an SMF file for a session (1 of 2)
         File  Help 
       ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                  Specify File Details                Row 1 to 5 of 5 
       Command ===>                                                              
      
       Specify file details then press EXIT to save.                               
      
       System Name . . . MVSA      +                    When the system is IMS:   
       System Type . . . IMAGE     +                      IMS Release      +       
       File Type . . . . SMF       +     Log stream    
       Source  . . . . . MANUAL    +                                               
      
       /  Data Set Name                                   UNIT +    VOLSER         
          'CPPX.DEMO.SMF'                                                  
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
       ***************************** Bottom of data ******************************
      
    2. Specify the following file details:
      Field Value Notes
      System Name The SYSID of the MVS™ system that created the SMF file The system name does not have to match an MVS system definition. That is, you do not need to have previously defined this MVS system to Transaction Analysis Workbench under primary menu option 3 Systems.

      If you do want to select from the list of systems defined to Transaction Analysis Workbench, tab to the System Name field, and then press the Prompt function key (F4).

      System Type IMAGE IMAGE is an abbreviation of MVS image.
      IMS Release Blank Required only for system type IMS.
      File Type SMF  
      Log stream Unselected In this example, we are using a data set, not a log stream.
      Source MANUAL Indicates that the file that has been manually entered into the list of session files.
      Data Set Name The fully qualified data set name of the SMF file, enclosed in single quotes If you omit the enclosing single quotes and your TSO user profile specifies a prefix to be used as the first qualifier of all non-fully-qualified data set names, that prefix is added to the data set name.
      Tips:
      • A plus sign (+) next to a field indicates that you can press the Prompt function key (F4) to open a window that lists the values that you can select for that field.
      • For a list of compatible combinations of system type and file type, see System and file types.
    3. Press the Exit function key (F3).
      The window closes.

    The list at the bottom of the Locate and Manage Log Files panel shows the details of the file that you have just specified.

    Figure 7. Panel: Manually specifying an SMF file for a session (2 of 2)
       File  Help 
     ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                              Locate and Manage Log Files      Row 1 of 1 More: < > 
     Command ===>                                                  Scroll ===> PAGE
    
     NEW  Insert a new log file.
     AUTO Run automated file selection to locate log files.
    
     Log Files:                                                                     
                                                          ──── System ──── File
     /   Exc Data Set Name                                Name     Type    Type
             CPPX.DEMO.SMF                                MVSA     IMAGE   SMF     
     ******************************* Bottom of data ********************************
    
  9. Press the the Exit function key (F3) to return to the session menu.
  10. On the session menu, select option 5 Investigate.

    The Investigate panel is displayed. Use this panel to select which log files you want to browse, and whether you want to browse entire files starting at their first record or a time slice: a specific time period across one or more log files. Time slicing improves performance when browsing large log files.

    The Time Slice heading shows the start and duration of the time slice, and whether time slicing is on or off.

    The Coverage column indicates how much of the time slice each file covers.

  11. In the Duration field under the Time Slice heading, enter 00.10.00 (10 minutes).
  12. If the Time Slice heading shows (OFF), enter SLICE on the command line to switch time slicing on.
  13. Enter S on the first line under the / heading.

    Entering S in this top line shows a merged view of all log files for the session. In this example, we have only one file, so there is no difference between entering S on this line, or the line next to our single file.

    Tip: To set the time slice to the start and duration of a particular log file, enter T next to the file.
    Figure 8. Panel: Investigate (Time Slicing)
       File  Menu  Time Slicing  Help 
     ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                      Investigate              Row 1 of 1 More: < > 
     Command ===>                                                  Scroll ===> PAGE
    
                     ────────────── Time Slice (ON)  ────────────────
                     Time             Date            Duration                      
                     HH.MM.SS.thmiju  YYYY-MM-DD      HH.MM.SS  Zone   Filter +     
                     12.00.00.110000  2012-12-05      00.10.00  LOCAL           
     /                                                                              
     S         Type  Start Time       Date            Duration         Coverage     
               SMF   12.00.00.110000  2012-12-05 Wed    4 days         COMPLETE 
     ******************************* Bottom of data ********************************
    

    The log records are displayed in the log browser. Your screen should look similar to the following figure, although the details will depend on your particular log file.

    Figure 9. Panel: Browsing an SMF file
       File  Mode  Filter  Time  Labels  Options  Help 
     ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
     BROWSE    CPPX.DEMO.SMF                              Record 00000782 More: < >
     Command ===>                                                  Scroll ===> CSR 
             Navigate < 00.00.01.000000 >      Date/Time 2012-12-05 12.00.00.110000 
     /  ──── ───────────────────────────────── Wednesday 2012-12-05 Time (LOCAL)
     S  6E13 CICS Transaction                                       12.08.38.555150
             TranCode=WMSC Program=EYU9XLOP Userid=STC@CICS
             RecToken=CCVT42C/CA9236BD45695C06 Resp=0.000640 CPU=0.000599 File=5
             ACCT=FTS1.CCVT42C.9236BD45695C Task=21415
        ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
      6E13 CICS Transaction                                       12.08.48.555658
             TranCode=WMSC Program=EYU9XLOP Userid=STC@CICS
             RecToken=CCVT42C/CA9236C6CEF0ED84 Resp=0.000657 CPU=0.000623 File=5
             ACCT=FTS1.CCVT42C.9236C6CEF0ED Task=21416
        ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
      6E13 CICS Transaction                                       12.08.58.556028
             TranCode=WMSC Program=EYU9XLOP Userid=STC@CICS
             RecToken=CCVT42C/CA9236D058736286 Resp=0.000680 CPU=0.000590 File=5
             ACCT=FTS1.CCVT42C.9236D0587362 Task=21417
        ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
      6E13 CICS Transaction                                       12.08.02.458971
             TranCode=WMSC Program=EYU9XLOP Userid=STC@CICS
             RecToken=CCVQ51C/CA92369AD8DE8304 Resp=0.000650 CPU=0.000612 File=5    
  14. Browse the log.
    • To scroll forward or backward through the records, press the Forward function key (F8) or the Backward function key (F7).
    • To cycle through the four views on this log browser panel, press the Left function key (F10) or the Right function key (F11). The different views show or hide global fields, and show either the Time column or the LSN (log record sequence number) column.
    • To view all the fields of a particular record, enter S next to the record.