Monitoring dictionary utility program (DFHMNDUP)

CICS® provides two programs for processing any CICS monitoring data that is written to system management facilities (SMF) data sets.

These two programs are:
  • DFHMNDUP — a utility program that generates a performance dictionary record, in a sequential data set, for use with monitoring data extracted from SMF data sets.
  • DFH$MOLS — a print program for CICS monitoring data. DFH$MOLS is a sample program which you can modify or adapt to your own purposes — it is intended to show you how you can code your own monitoring utility program to print CICS monitoring data. See Sample monitoring data print program (DFH$MOLS).

This section describes the purpose of the DFHMNDUP program, with a sample job to run it.

When CICS monitoring is switched on, and you activate the monitoring performance class (MNPER=ON), CICS first writes a performance dictionary record to the current SMF data set, and then begins to write the monitoring performance data records. A new dictionary record, which always precedes the monitoring data it relates to, is written whenever you:
  • Start CICS with the performance class active, and CICS monitoring on
  • Change the status of the monitoring performance class from inactive to active, with CICS monitoring on. If monitoring is off and the monitoring performance class is switched from inactive to active, a dictionary record is scheduled from the next time monitoring is activated.

Any monitoring utility program that processes performance data must read the dictionary record that relates to the data being processed before attempting to analyze the data. However, if SMF switches data sets during the period when CICS monitoring is writing performance data, CICS does not write a new dictionary record, and therefore a CICS performance dictionary record is not the first monitoring performance record on the new SMF data set. The DFHMNDUP program provides a solution to the problem posed by SMF data sets that do not contain a dictionary record.