To synchronize your program with dump processing, you can design
the program to use an event control block (ECB) or a service request
block (SRB). If you use an ECB, MVS™ posts the ECB to notify your program that
dump processing is complete. If you use an SRB to do some post-dump
processing for your program, MVS schedules the SRB after the capture phase
or the write phase is complete.
When you synchronize your program with dump processing, MVS usually posts
your program's ECB, or schedules its SRB, after the capture phase
completes. IBM® recommends using
the ECB or SRB parameter with CAPTURE instead of WRITE, because your
program can continue processing sooner, and resources can be freed
sooner. With WRITE, your program not only has to wait for MVS to write the
data to a data set, but also might have to wait until an installation
operator makes a data set available.
However, in some cases, your program must wait until the write
phase completes. MVS posts
your program's ECB, or schedules its SRB, after the write phase completes
if you:
- Code DCB=dcb addr to request that MVS use a specific
data set for the dump data. Your program must close that data set
after the dump writing phase completes. Whenever you code the DCB
parameter, MVS automatically
posts your program's ECB or schedules its SRB after the write phase
completes, but IBM recommends
that you code ECB=(ecb addr,WRITE) or SRB=(srb addr,WRITE) on SDUMPX to make your source
code easier for programmers to understand.
- Use the SDUMPX macro with ECB=(ecb addr,WRITE)
to request that MVS post
your program's ECB when the dump writing phase completes. (If you
use the SDUMP macro, you cannot code WRITE on the ECB parameter.)
- Use the SDUMPX macro with SRB=(srb addr,WRITE)
to request that MVS schedule
your program's SRB when the dump writing phase completes. (If you
use the SDUMP macro, you cannot code WRITE on the SRB parameter.)