HCD messages

In case of an error, HCD issues messages. Depending on what you are currently doing, the messages are written:

Terminal messages

User-errors, such as erroneous syntax entry and contextually wrong definitions, are handled by the dialog at the time of data entry. That is, the dialog displays messages at the terminal and the user can take corrective action immediately.

Some operations produce multiple messages. In this case, HCD displays a message list. You can save the displayed messages from the message list into the message log. See Message lists on how to work with message lists.

Message log

Errors that are of low interest for the end user, such as incomplete UIMs during initialization, are only written to the message log. The user will be informed about this when leaving the dialog or switching to another IODF. Only in critical situations (for example, when the message log is not available), will the messages be written into the ISPF list data set. If this, however, also fails, the message will be written into the operating system log.

To see a message in the message log, issue the SHOWMSG command or use the View message log pull-down choice from the Query action bar on any action list panel.

Migration log

HCD maintains a migration log that contains messages issued by the migration process. You can view this migration log through ISPF.

Figure 207. Where to find HCD messages

Mode of Operation	You Find the Message
Dialog Mode	On the terminal In the message log
Batch mode	In the message log, that is the data set allocated with ddname HCDMLOG In the output (SYSPRINT) of the batch job ¹
Migration of input data sets	In the migration log, that is the data set allocated with ddname HCDPRINT
IPL	Trapped by IPL. A wait state code is issued.
HCD LDAP backend	In the LDAP response, which the IBM Tivoli Directory Server for z/OS sends to the LDAP client. In the IBM Tivoli Directory Server for z/OS started task's log.
Note: ¹ The output shows the message number and text; for explanations refer to z/OS and z/VM HCD Messagesz/OS and z/VM HCD Messages.

LDAP response messages

If HCD is used as part of the HCD LDAP backend, HCD will issue messages if problems occur. These messages can be made visible in the following way:
In general, LDAP clients send their requests to the IBM Tivoli Directory Server for z/OS and get an LDAP response for each request. If an LDAP client requests an operation from HCD via the HCD LDAP backend and HCD encounters any problems while working on the request, HCD issues one or more text messages. These messages are sent back to the LDAP client as a part of the LDAP response and can be extracted using the LDAP client API.

The command line utilities (e.g. ldapsearch or ldapmodify) which are part of the IBM Tivoli Directory Server for z/OS show the messages contained in the LDAP response as "additional info".

IBM Tivoli Directory Server for z/OS started task log

The HCD LDAP backend runs as a part of the IBM Tivoli Directory Server for z/OS and all HCD LDAP backend messages are printed to the same location as the IBM Tivoli Directory Server for z/OS messages. The IBM Tivoli Directory Server for z/OS runs as started task for the HCD LDAP backend and the messages from the server and all of its backends are printed to the IBM Tivoli Directory Server for z/OS started task log.

The HCD LDAP backend and its HCD instances print some informational and error messages to the IBM Tivoli Directory Server for z/OS started task log. If the LDAP server debug is switched on (i.e. debug level is not LDAP_DEBUG_OFF), all diagnostic output is also printed to the started task log. The regular HCD LDAP backend messages and the additional debug output can be used to verify that the HCD LDAP backend is working correctly.