Procedures for preparing an APAR

An Authorized Program Analysis Report (APAR) might be necessary if the keyword search proves unsuccessful. Call IBM® Software Support for help in determining if an APAR is necessary. Only authorized IBM personnel can generate APARs.

The information in the following table describes the procedures for preparing an APAR.

Table 1. Procedures for preparing an APAR
Procedure Action
Reporting a problem To report a problem, contact IBM Software Support. Be prepared to supply such information as:
  • Customer number.
  • Release level.
  • Current maintenance level (from PTF list).
    Tip: You can extract the current maintenance level of your IMS system (or of a specific IMS load module) from your IMS system by using the /DIAGNOSE SNAP MODULE(modname) command.
  • The keyword string or strings used to search the IBM Software Support database.
Gathering APAR documentation You might be asked to supply various types of information that describe the IMS nucleus, database, environment, or activities. Include applicable items from the following list with the APAR.
  • JCL listings
  • Address space storage dumps at time of failure—the entire machine-readable dump data set (normally copied to tape) and the JCL used to copy the dump to tape
  • Bind map
  • z/OS® console printout. A partial console is generally in the offline formatted dump.
  • Master terminal printout
  • Local/remote terminal printout
  • IMS log data sets
  • IMSGEN listing
  • DBD listing
  • PSB listing
  • ACB generation output
  • Log trace
  • Consolidated trace output
  • Transmittal notes explaining any unusual events leading up to the problem symptoms
  • SNAPs produced before and after the failing call by DFSDDLT0
  • Type X'67FF' SNAP log records
  • Type X'6705' SNAP log records
  • DBRC RECON data set
  • LPA map
  • LOGREC (especially software diagnostic records)
Submitting APAR documentation When submitting material for an APAR to IBM, carefully pack and clearly label all materials sent to IBM with the following information:
  1. The APAR number assigned by IBM
  2. A list of data sets on the tape, including JCL, if any
  3. A description of how the tape was made, including:
    • The exact JCL listing or the list of commands used
    • The recording mode and density
    • Tape labeling
    • The record format and block size used for each data set