Trace levels

Apart from exception trace points, all trace points in CICS® have an associated level attribute. The level of a trace point indicates the depth of information that the trace point provides.

Trace levels 1–32 are available in CICS, but in practice nearly all mainline trace points have a trace level of 1 or 2.

You can use the trace levels to specify the level of CICS system tracing that you require for the CICS region, or for an individual component or task.

Level-1 trace points

Level-1 trace points are designed to give you enough diagnostic information to fix errors caused by user applications or user actions. CICS provides level-1 trace points in the following situations:

• Entry to, and exit from, every CICS domain. The information includes the domain call parameter list, and the address of any data that is useful for a high-level understanding of the function to be performed.
• Entry to, and exit from, major internal domain functions. The information includes parameters passed on the call, and any output from the function.
• Before and after calls to other programs, such as the z/OS® Communications Server. The information includes the request that is to be made, the input parameters on the request, and the result of the call.

Level-2 trace points

Level-2 trace points are situated between the level-1 trace points, and they provide information that is likely to be more useful for fixing errors within CICS code. You probably will not want to use level-2 trace points yourself, unless you are requested to do so by IBM® support staff after you have referred a problem to them.

Level-3 trace points

Trace points at level 3 and above are reserved for special cases. Very few components have trace points higher than level 2, and they are only likely to be of use by IBM support staff.