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878 abend during RACF LOCATE processing followed by abend 80A when using IAM with CICS TS

Troubleshooting


Problem

Your joblog indicates the failure is in RACF processing. CICS Transaction Server for z/OS (CICS TS) is doing RACF checking to see if a data set with FCT "YOURNAME" can be opened with a particular access. The joblog contains a IRR401I messages that coincides with the CICS trace table. After the S878, things cascaded, multiple dumps are taken and eventually the region abends with a S80A-10.

Cause

The problem was due to IAM vendor code from Innovation Data Processing. IAM stated that there were 60+ empty VSAM files. When they are empty, an attempt is made to open them, the open activity acquires storage below the 16MB line, as opposed to when they contain at least one record. The same storage is acquired above the 16MB line.

Diagnosing The Problem

From the Dump of the abendS878, it appears that you are short on storage below the line. It is not RACF, it appears to be IAM that has tied up 2M of storage below the line. You can see the following in your VSMDATA Summary with IPCS command VERBX VSMDATA 'NOG,SUM':

LOCAL SUBPOOL USAGE SUMMARY                                                    

TCB/OWNER   SP#   KEY      BELOW    ABOVE    TOTAL                      
---------   ---   ---      -----    -----    -----                      

  7FD230      0    8      214000  AE1F000  B033000<-This is IAM
  7A5C88      0    8        1000     4000     5000
  7E3478    127    8           0     1000     1000
  7DDE88    129    0      340000  3200000  3540000
  7DDE88    130    8      100000   500000   600000
  7DDE88    130    9       80000   600000   680000                      

You go to that SUBPOOL 0 Key 8 Storage above and you can see a pattern of the following:

DQE:  Addr 00732000 Size     1000
                    FQE: Addr 00732000 Size      250
DQE:  Addr 00733000 Size     4000
DQE:  Addr 00737000 Size     1000
DQE:  Addr 00738000 Size     4000
DQE:  Addr 0073C000 Size     1000
DQE:  Addr 0073D000 Size     1000
                    FQE: Addr 0073D000 Size      250
DQE:  Addr 0073E000 Size     4000
DQE:  Addr 00742000 Size     1000
DQE:  Addr 00743000 Size     4000
DQE:  Addr 00747000 Size     1000
DQE:  Addr 00748000 Size     1000
                    FQE: Addr 00748000 Size      250
DQE:  Addr 00749000 Size     4000
DQE:  Addr 0074D000 Size     1000
DQE:  Addr 0074E000 Size     4000
DQE:  Addr 00752000 Size     1000
DQE:  Addr 00753000 Size     1000
                    FQE: Addr 00753000 Size      250
DQE:  Addr 00754000 Size     4000
DQE:  Addr 00758000 Size     1000
DQE:  Addr 00759000 Size     4000


If you look at the SYSTRACE to see the Getmain for the Last piece of Storage, you will find the following:

02 010A 007E3B40 SVC  78 078D0000 80565DE2  00000000 00004000 00000000        
02 010A 007E3B40 SVCR 78 078D0000 80565DE2  00000000 00004000 00759000        


Find address 80565DE2 in the dump and see the following:

|.....IAMCRTVSPROPRIETARY CODE IN|<---This starts around
|NOVATION DATA PROCESSING 6/1/73 |       00560780.
|-- VER.8.0/30P .&08.0......G...G|
|{h{.{.{.{.{k{m{o{q{.{.{.{.{s{u{w|
|{y{.{.{.{.{.{.{.{.{.{.{.{{{B{D{F|
|{H{.{.{.{}{K{M{O{Q{.{.{.{\{S{U{W|
|{Y{.{.{.{0{2{4{6{8{.{.{.A.A.A.A.|
|A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.|
|A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A A.A.A.|
|A.A?A<A+$$$$PROD.......?...h...r|
|......h..Lh.........ASSEMBLY DAT|
|E 20031216, TIME 10.14 VS=8.0/21|
|P PRD=IAM ..}....{9\q.IU..}.....|

Resolving The Problem

Prime your VSAM files (add at least one record to the files) before you define them to CICS. Contact IAM Support if you need further assistance.

[{"Product":{"code":"SSGMGV","label":"CICS Transaction Server"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU048","label":"IBM Software"},"Component":"Application Development","Platform":[{"code":"PF035","label":"z\/OS"}],"Version":"3.1;2.3","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB70","label":"Z TPS"}}]

Product Synonym

CICS/TS CICS TS CICS Transaction Server

Document Information

Modified date:
05 January 2026

UID

swg21224551