HDB Templates

Templates specify the performance information that is to be contained in an HDB. Templates are used by List and Summary HDBs. They are not required for Statistics HDBs which instead use a menu-selection facility.

Customize the templates to specify the data that you want to be contained in the HDB. Templates are similar to report forms which are used to customize reports.

Select option 1 Templates from the HDB menu to define (or update) templates.

Figure 1. HDB Templates

  File  Options  Help                                                          
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
                                HDB Templates                                  
Command ===> NEW_____________________________________________ Scroll ===> CSR_ 
                                                                               
Select to edit Template. Enter NEW command to define a new Template.           
                                                                               
/  Name     Type              Description                Changed        ID     
********************************* End of list *********************************
                                                                               
 F1=Help      F3=Exit      F7=Backward  F8=Forward  F10=Actions  F12=Cancel

The NEW command is used to define a new template.

Figure 2. New HDB Template

  File  Systems  Options  Help                             
--------------------------------------------------------------- 
                      New HDB Template                     
Command ===> __________________________________________________ 
                                                           
Specify new Template options.      
                                                           
Name . . . . . PRODSUM_  Version (VRM) . . . ____ +        
 
System Selection:              Field Categories:                
 APPLID . . . . ________  +    _  Select to specify Field Categories
 MVS Image  . . ________                                    
                                        
Template Type:
2  1. List                                            
   2. Summary

You need to specify the template name and type. To include any user fields in the template, you must specify a CICS® system (APPLID, or APPLID and MVS™ Image).

If you specify the CICS System (APPLID, or APPLID and MVS Image), CICS PA can extract the associated dictionary entries for that CICS system, including any user fields. If you do not specify the system, CICS PA displays the default form, and user fields are not available.

The CICS system must be defined in System Definitions, either Personal or Shared depending on your current setting. To select one from a list, use Prompt (F4). To link directly to System Definitions or switch between Personal and Shared Systems, use Systems in the action bar.

The Field Categories option affects which CMF fields the template will initially be defined with. You can use this option to reduce the amount of fields contained in the template.

In this example, a Summary template called PRODSUM is created. Press Enter to proceed with defining the template.

Figure 3. Edit Summary Template

  File  Edit  Confirm  Upgrade  Options  Help                                 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     EDIT Summary Template - PRODSUM                   More: >
Command ===> ________________________________________________ Scroll ===> CSR_
                                                                              
Description  . . . Summary HDB Template____________  Version (VRM): 740       
                                                                              
Selection Criteria:                                                           
 _  Performance                    Time Interval  . . 00:15:00  (hh:mm:ss)    
                                                                              
     Field                                                                    
/    Name +    K  Description                                                 
__   START___  A  Task start time                                             
__   MVSID___  A  MVS SMF ID                                                  
__   APPLID__  A  CICS Generic APPLID                                         
__   TRAN____  A  Transaction identifier                                      
__   TASKCNT_     Total Task count                                            
__   RESPONSE     Transaction response time                                   
__   DISPATCH     Dispatch time                                               
__   CPU_____     CPU time                                                    
__   SUSPEND_     Suspend time                                                
__   DISPWAIT     Redispatch wait time                                        
__   FCWAIT__     File I/O wait time                                          
D_   FCAMCT__     File access-method requests                                 
__   IRWAIT__     MRO link wait time                                          
__   SC24UHWM     UDSA HWM below 16MB                                         
I_   SC31UHWM     EUDSA HWM above 16MB                                        
__   EOD_____     ---------------- End of HDB -----------------               
__   TERM____  A  Terminal ID                                                 
__   APPLTRAN  A  Application naming Tran ID                                  
 F1=Help      F3=Exit      F4=Prompt    F5=Rfind     F7=Backward  F8=Forward
F10=Actions  F11=Right    F12=Cancel

Templates are similar to Report Forms. Where Report Forms define the fields to be included in a report or extract, templates define the fields to be included in an HDB.

When you define a new template, the default fields list is initially displayed. Edit the template to include the required fields.

The EOD marker in the template signifies the end of fields that is included in the HDB. Fields after the EOD marker will not be included in the HDB. You can move required fields above the EOD marker to include them in the HDB.

The example in Figure 3 displays the default Summary template. Key fields are positioned at the top and the most common performance indicators like response, dispatch and suspend times are included.

Edit the template to meet your reporting requirements. In the previous example, FCAMCT is deleted and TSWAIT is inserted.

Specify performance selection criteria and the Time Interval to control the data you want in your HDBs:

Selection Criteria

Templates have optional selection criteria that allows you to filter the CMF performance class records used to build the HDB. For example, the HDB only includes data for transactions that use File Control services (FCTOTAL>0).

Select Performance to specify selection criteria.

Time Interval

Summary templates specify a recording time interval. The default is 1 minute which indicates that summary data is accumulated and recorded in 1 minute intervals. Select the interval carefully because it will impact on HDB processing as follows:

Loading. Shorter recording intervals write more records, increasing the size of your HDB data sets.
Reporting. Longer recording intervals restrict reporting. For example, if you specify a recording interval of 1 hour then you can only report on 1 hour (or higher) intervals, and 15 minute interval reporting is not possible.

Therefore selecting the correct interval is a balance between not loading too much data and not restricting reporting. In the previous example, the interval has been changed to 15 minutes.

Exit (F3) to save the template. You are now ready to define an HDB that uses this template.

Attention: After the template has been initially saved, you are permitted to edit the template to change its field list. However if the template is already being used to load data into a HDB, then changing the template can potentially cause reporting problems in the future. CICS PA supports the alteration of template fields, but a few simple rules will ensure that HDB processing is not compromised:

Do not change the key fields of a summary template.
Do not change the focus of a template. For example, if the template includes Temporary Storage fields only, do not delete those fields and insert File Control fields in their place. You should create another template with a focus on File Control.