OA63457: TO MITIGATE CICS APAR PH47452. AFTER UPGRADING TO CICS TS 5.6, REGIONS CRASH WITH ABEND878 DUE TO LACK OF Z/OS 24-BIT STORAGE

Obtain the fix for this APAR.

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• *******************************************************
  THE FOLLOWING PTFS ARE IN ERROR: UJ08959 (HBB77C0)
  UJ08960 (HBB77D0). THESE PTFS ARE FIXED BY APAR OA66372.
  *******************************************************
  This is to mitigate CICS apar PH47452.  It
  will provide a storage utilization improvement in STIMERM
  processing.
  
  Additional Symptoms: Below the line x'58' bytes SP229 storage
  878 STIMER fragmentation below the line abend878
  
  CIC0601T/K
  CIC0506T/K
  
  There is no error in z/OS.  This enhancement will mitigate
  CICS apar PH47452.  Here is the CICS externals (as described
  in PH47452):
  
  You migrate to CICS 5.6 and notice some regions experience
  system abend 878.  You may see this reported in a messages like:
  
  DFHXS0001 An abend (code 878/AKEX) has occurred at offset x'FFFF
           in module DFHXSAD.
  DFHAP0001 An abend (code 878/AKEB) has occurred at
            offset x'FFFF' in module DFHD2EX1                    .
  DFHDS0001 An abend (code 878/AKEB) has occurred at
            offset FFFF' in module DFHDSTCB
                           .
  Dumps typically show there has been a growth in high private
  storage below the line, making the LSQA Bottom address lower
  than is typical. Because of this low LSQA bottom address, it
  makes the amount of free storage available to the user private
  area smaller, and can lead to 878 abends.
  
  You may also notice new messages being issued by the new MVS
  storage monitoring- reporting a decrease in 24 bit storage
  DFHSM0144W  The CICS region is short on 24-bit MVS
              unallocated storage.
  DFHSM0148I 24-bit MVS unallocated storage: Total xxK,
             Largest contiguous area xK.
  
  additional symptoms: KIXREVDAM
  abend878 80A 24bit fragmentation fragmented STIMERM STIMER
  sp 229 k8  x'58' allocation free FA8 ABEND80A KEY8 40D ABEND40D
  SYSTRACE will show getmains for x'58' bytes out of IEA0TI00
  looking at the lowest LSQA allocated storage it will typically
  represent TCB / SVRB control blocks that have been allocated in
  the middle of the flood of STIMERM issued from the many open
  TCB's.
  This APAR also applies to customers migrating to CICS/TS 6.1.
  upgrade2cics56 upgrade2cics61
  LOCAL FIX:
  lower DSALIM if possible
  
  CICS 5.6 customers who are experiencing ABEND878 situations
  while running high volumes of threadsafe applications should
  install the appropriate z/OS PTFs for their z/OS release.
  z/OS 2.3 customers should refer to APAR OA63740.
  z/OS 2.4 and 2.5 customers should refer to APAR OA63457.
  

Local fix

• lower DSALIM if possible
  
  CICS 5.6 customers who are experiencing ABEND878 situations
  while running high volumes of threadsafe applications should
  install the appropriate z/OS PTFs for their z/OS release.
  z/OS 2.3 customers should refer to APAR OA63740.
  z/OS 2.4 and 2.5 customers should refer to APAR OA63457.
  

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED:                                              *
  * All z/OS 2.4 and up applications that use STIMER or STIMERM  *
  * with EXIT.                                                   *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:                                         *
  * To mitigate CICS APAR PH47452.                               *
  ****************************************************************
  * RECOMMENDATION:                                              *
  ****************************************************************
  

Problem conclusion

•  Improve STIMER(M) EXIT storage processing to use less below-16M
   storage when an address space has multiple STIMER(M) exit
   routines active at once.
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

  UJ08959 UJ08960

Modules/Macros

• IEAVRTI0 IEAVEOR
  

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  TIMER SUPERVISO

• Fixed component ID

  5752SC1CV

Applicable component levels

• R7C0 PSY UJ08959

     UP22/08/10 P F208

• R7D0 PSY UJ08960

     UP22/08/10 P F208

Fix is available

• Select the PTF appropriate for your component level. You will be required to sign in. Distribution on physical media is not available in all countries.