Troubleshooting data for file control (VSAM RLS) problems

CICS® MustGather for file control (RLS) problems

Gather the following diagnostic information before contacting the CICS support team to troubleshoot your file control (RLS) problems.

Required data:
  1. The CICS message log for all CICS regions that use RLS and the system log (SYSLOG) for all MVS™ images that use RLS.
  2. The CICS internal trace that is included in the MVS system dump and the SLIP dump when tracing is active. Ensure that the internal trace table size is big enough to contain sufficient data for diagnosis; for example, you can use a table size of 20480K. When possible, turn on level 1 tracing for all CICS components and level 1-2 for the FC component. For more information, see Using trace for CICS problem determination on z/OS®.
  3. If you experience hang situations with CICS and RLS, take MVS system dumps of SMSVSAM address spaces and dataspaces, MASTER address space, XCF address spaces and dataspaces, and CICS address spaces. For more information, see Using dumps for CICS problem determination on z/OS. To capture a dump on each MVS system in your sysplex, use the following MVS command with the REMOTE option when the hang occurs:
    DUMP COMM=(dumpname)
R nn,JOBNAME=(SMSVSAM, XCFAS,*MASTER*,cicsjob*),CONT
R nn,DSPNAME=('XCFAS'.*,'SMSVSAM'.*),CONT
R nn,SDATA=(COUPLE,ALLNUC,LPA,LSQA,PSA,RGN,SQA,SUM,
TRT,CSA,GRSQ,XESDATA),CONT
R nn,REMOTE=(SYSLIST=*('XCFAS','SMSVSAM','cicsjob*',
'*MASTER*'),DSPNAME,SDATA),END

    where:

    dumpname
    Specifies the name you want to give to the dump.
    nn
    Specifies the unique reply identifier for each reply.
    cicsjob*
    Specifies the first part of the job name for your CICS regions. The asterisk is a wildcard that instructs MVS to dump all regions that start with cicsjob.
    Note: The incident token in message IEA611I or IEA911I is the same on all MVS systems.

    To avoid replying with so many dump options, you can specify the suffixes of one or more IEADMCxx parmlib members. For more information, see IEADMCxx (DUMP command parmlib) in z/OS MVS Initialization and Tuning Reference.

    1. Customize an IEADMCxx member to include the dump command. The following sample is for CICS and RLS problems:
       /* ** Start of Specifications for IEADMCCR ************************ */
 /*                                                                  */
 /* $MAC(IEADMCCR) COMP(SCDMP) PROD(HBB7705): Dump CICS and RLS      */
 /*                                                                  */
 /* PROPRIETARY STATEMENT:                                           */
 /*                                                                  */
 /*    LICENSED MATERIALS - PROPERTY OF IBM                          */
 /*    THIS MACRO IS "RESTRICTED MATERIALS OF IBM"                   */
 /*    5694-A01 (C) COPYRIGHT IBM CORP. 2001                         */
 /*                                                                  */
 /* STATUS: HBB7705                                                  */
 /*                                                                  */
 /* External classification= none                                    */
 /* End of external classification:                                  */
 /*                                                                  */
 /* DUMP command Parmlib member                                      */
 /*                                                                  */
 /* Function: Provides DUMP command options to dump                  */
 /*  Logger, RLS and CICS.                                           */
 /*                                                                  */
 /*                                                                  */
 /* To use:  Copy this member to Parmlib.                            */
 /*          Modify cicsjob to be the first part of the jobname for  */
 /*          your CICS regions.                                      */
 /*                                                                  */
 /* To execute:  Specify the following DUMP command:                 */
 /*                                                                  */
 /*   DUMP PARMLIB=xx                                                */
 /*     - or -                                                       */
 /*   DUMP TITLE=(dump_title_text),PARMLIB=xx                        */
 /*                                                                  */
 /*   If a dump title is specified on the DUMP command using the     */
 /*   TITLE option, the specified text will be used instead of the   */
 /*   TITLE line in the parmlib member.                              */
 /*                                                                  *
 /* ================================================================ *
 /*                                                                  *
 /*   Change activity:                                               *
 /*                                                                  *
 /* 10/24/05 created as sample for CICS MustGather                   * 
 /*                                                                  *
 /* ** End of Specifications for IEADMCCR ************************** *
TITLE=(DUMP RLS AND CICS),
JOBNAME=(SMSVSAM, XCFAS,*MASTER*,cicsjob*),
DSPNAME=('XCFAS'.*,'SMSVSAM.*),
REMOTE=(SYSLIST=*('XCFAS','SMSVSA,cicsjob*,*MASTER*),
       DSPNAME,SDATA)
SDATA=(COUPLE,ALLNUC,LPA,LSQA,PSA,RGN,SQA,SUM,TRT,CSA,GRSQ,
       XESDATA)
    2. Copy the member into SYS1.PARMLIB.
    3. Enter DUMP TITLE=(dump-name),PARMLIB=xx to request a dump by using the dump command in IEADMCxx. To request multiple parmlib members, specify PARMLIB=(xx,yy).
  4. If you receive RLS messages such as DFHFC0987, take a SLIP dump. For more information, see Using trace for CICS problem determination on z/OS. Use the following SLIP command to capture a dump of the SMSVSAM address space and the CICS address spaces for message DFHFC0987:
    SLIP SET,MSGID=DFHFC0987,A=SVCD,
JOBLIST=(SMSVSAM,cicsjob*),
DSPNAME =('SMSVSAM'.*),
REMOTE=(JOBLIST,DSPNAME),ID=id,END

    where:

    DFHFC0987
    Specifies the message you receive.
    id
    Specifies the dump identifier.
    cicsjob*
    Specifies the first part of the job name for your CICS regions. The asterisk is a wildcard that instructs MVS to dump all regions that start with cicsjob.
    Note: The MSGID parameter is valid for z/OS V1.2 or later. The incident token in message IEA611I or IEA911I is the same on all MVS systems.
Optional data:

If you can reproduce the problem, consider using the CICS auxiliary trace or the GTF Trace with the MVS system dump. The MVS system dump alone is unlikely to show anything about system activity in the period that leads up to the wait because the trace table probably wraps before you have a chance to respond. But the CICS auxiliary trace and the GTF trace can provide you with enough trace.