Setting up RAS1 tracing for persistent data store activity

RAS1 tracing is the primary diagnostic tool for product and infrastructure components. For tracing persistent data store activity, the RAS1 trace needs to be set where the collection takes place, that is, in either the agent or the monitoring server address space. RAS1 tracing can be set dynamically in the IBM® Tivoli® Monitoring Service Console interface or by a more direct method of modifying the KBB_RAS1 parameter. .
Important: The content in this section was created for and applies to the original persistent data store, referred to as PDS V1. A new PDS version (referred to as PDS V2) now exists. PDS V1 will eventually be deprecated.

For agents that run in their own address space, the KBB_RAS1 parameter is located in hilev.rte.RKANPARU(KppENV) member, where pp is the two-letter product code. For agents that run in the monitoring server address space, like OMEGAMON for z/OS or OMEGAMON for Storage, the KBB_RAS1 parameter is located in hilev.rte.RKANPARU(KppENV). If you modify the KBB_RAS1 parameter by directly editing the ENV file, you must stop and restart the monitoring server. To change the trace settings without having to recycle the monitoring server, use the Service Console interface ras1 command.

RAS1 messages are sent to STDOUT and redirected to the files shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Locations of log and trace information for z/OS components
Component Component description and location
Monitoring agents

The RKLVLOG for the monitoring agent started task is the single most helpful piece of service information for an agent. The RKLV (R = runtime, KLV = the prefix associated with IBM Tivoli Monitoring Services:Engine or TMS:Engine) is the sysout data set or spool file that contains log and trace messages.

These additional zSeries log files (if available) are also useful:
  • The RKLVSNAP sysout data set or spool file contains formatted dump output.
  • The RKPDLOG sysout data set or spool file contains the information and error messages related to the handling of persistent datastores.
  • Some agents have other files defined to collect log and trace messages.
Refer to your started procedures for the locations of these serviceability log files.
Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server on z/OS® The Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server runs under TMS:Engine just as an agent does, and the logging is handled in the same way: log and trace data are written to RKLVLOGs and RKPDLOGs.
End-to-End Response Time Feature The End-to-End Response Time Features is a base component and does not have its own RKLVLOG file. This component writes messages to the IBM System Display and Search Facility (SDSF) Job Log.
IBM Tivoli Management Services:Engine (TMS:Engine)

TMS:Engine is a collection of basic operating system and communication service routines built specifically for z/OS. All address spaces used by monitoring agents load and use the services of TMS:Engine.

TMS:Engine writes messages to the same RKLVLOG file as the product it is running. In the RKLVLOG file, product-specific messages start with the product code (for example, KM5 or KM2 for OMEGAMON for z/OS monitoring agent). The messages for the Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server start with KDS. The messages for the TMS:Engine itself start with that component prefix, KLV.
OMEGAMON® Subsystem The OMEGAMON Subsystem does not allocate an RKLVLOG. This component issues messages directly to either the SYSPRINT or the SYSTRACE output allocation of the Subsystem procedure.
Persistent data store The RKPDLOG SYSOUT data set or spool file contains the information and error messages related to the handling of persistent data stores.

RAS1 trace log files can grow very large with the wrong amount of filtering. Be careful with the levels of tracing that you specify.