QMGTOOLS: Communications Menu

Starts up a trace connection
TRCTCPAPP *SIGNON
TRCTCPAPP *RMTCMD
TRCTCPAPP *CENTRAL


1) Parameters are as follows.

Function - *START (start the trace), *STOP (stop the traces), *DELETE (delete the trace in the buffer), *DUMP (dump the trace)
Trace size - size for the trace connection
Dump NETSTAT when stopped - when the trace is stopped, dump connection status, interface status, and routes
Local IP to trace - specify a specific IP address or *ALL
Remote IP to trace - specify a specific IP address or *ALL
Message ID to trigger - start a watch for up to 3 message IDs to end the trace
Trigger on VLOG - start a watch for up to 3 VLOGS to end the trace




2) Refer to Steps 2 - 4 under the Trace 5250 Sessions section

Get an IP address from a qualified job name.

Additional information: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1010518

The intention was to create a user-friendly interface to the TRCCNN program and add some more enhancements.


1) Parameters are as follows.

Function - *START (start the trace), *STOP (stop the traces), *DELETE (delete the trace in the buffer), *DUMP (dump the trace)
Local port - specific ports to trace or *ALL
Remote port - specific ports to trace or *ALL
Trace size - size for the trace connection
Local IP to trace - specify a specific IP address or *ALL
Remote IP to trace - specify a specific IP address or *ALL
Size in megabytes - size for the trace connection
Number of TRCCNN to keep - how many trace connections to keep
Trace servers - choosing yes to run TRCTCPAPP on the specific servers
Dump NETSTAT when stopped - when the trace is stopped, dump connection status, interface status, and routes
Message ID to trigger - start a watch for up to 3 message IDs to end the trace
Trigger on VLOG - start a watch for up to 3 VLOGS to end the trace







2) To dump the data choose *DUMP after the trace is stopped (*STOP command or if trigger by a message ID or VLOG ID.

To dump to physical files, the options are listed:

Library to store data - where to store the data
File to store the TRCCNN - either give it a name or let the program generate one
Replace file - replace it with the current TRCCNN
Save data - save the data into a save file
Save file name - specify a name or let the program generate one

The save file is called IBMDATAxxx (*GEN) in the data library.



The data files have text descriptions describing what they are and when it was taken.
Note: To keep more than 1 trace connection, each one is a member in a file called TRCCNNxxxx for xxxx is a number.



To store in the IFS, the parameters are as follows.

IFS directory to store data - default is /tmp
Zip file - yes or no to compress the collected data, if zipped, the file is IBMDATAxxx.zip where xxx is a number.



The collected data is in the COMDATA subdirectory.

Allows for a looping LIC trace that collects a specific number of trace tables. The option gives the ability to have multiple trace tables expanding a time frame.


1) Parameters are as follows.

Function - *START (start the trace), *STOP (stop the trace), *DELETE (delete the trace), *DUMP (dump the trace)
Library to store data - data library
LIC trace table prefix - the name of the LIC trace table name when deleting
LIC trace size - size of LIC trace
Number of trace to keep - how many LIC traces to rotate
Trace type - *XSM (TRCINT w/ trace type *CSTALL, *TCP, *SCK), *TCP (TRCINT w/ trace type *TCP), *LICSSL (TRCINT w/ trace type *LICSSL)
Trigger on message - choose up to 3 messages to trigger on
Trap on LICLOG - choose up to 3 VLOGS to trigger on
Exit program - a program to call when triggered




2) When started, a job is submitted call LICTRACE like the following screen capture.




3) If the trace is stop (*STOP) or if triggered by message ID/VLOG, the traces are held.

4) Once stopped, use *DUMP to dump the data. A job is submitted (LICTRACE is the name of the job). It dumps the traces and copies them over to physical files into the data library specified. The file is named LICTRCxxxx where xxxx is a number.

To start and stop data collection when a job is in a certain status. MTXW, ICFW, and MSGW are examples of job statuses.

- communications trace
- trace connection
- IOFR -COM -ALL SST advance macro
- VIOFR -HEA EACH -FR SST advance macro
- ALTSTACK -ERRORLOG SST advance macro
- ALTSTACK -DUMP SST advance macro
- HEAFR -HEA -DETAIL -FR SST advance macro
- IOFR -CRYPTO -ALL SST advance macro
- IOFR -CTL -ALL SST advance macro
- IOFR -ALL SST advance macro
- SERVICEDOCS advance macro






Parameters as follows:

The port scanner does a SYN scan against TCP ports. If a response is received back from the SYN, then we post that it is active. If a SYN is rejected with an RST, we do not post that it's active. If a SYN gets no response, it is considered a timeout.

The following screen capture is an example.

Another extract TCP trace that allows to extract up to 4 pairs of ports and IP addresses. Currently, there is no summary function. To get a summary function, use this extract first to get the filtered data and use the QSPTLIB version of extract TCP trace (another menu option in this menu)

1) Parameters are as follows:

Com trace file - the file member that contains the com trace (the trace can be a formatted TRCCNN, communications trace, or FMTSST (from QSPTLIB)
IP information 1-4 - A combination of port pair, IP address to filter out
Results outfile - where to store the output, default is to store the output in the same file (if that file allows multiple members)
Submit job - run interactive or in batch

Makes a summary of connections from a communications trace file.

1) Parameters as follows.

TCP trace file name, library, member - location of the communications trace (TRCCNN, communications trace via PRTCMNTRC, or FMTSST)
Output - spoolfile or put in physical file




2) First value is the total number of packets in the communications trace. The rest will be frame counts per port pair, starting from highest to lowest.

Original extract TCP command from QSPTLIB.

When using the QSPTLIB version of extract TCP trace to create a summary file, the output will have expected ACK number for each frame. This program gets the deltas for when an expected ACK was received to gauge the delay either from the target system or network delay.

1) Parameters are as follows.

Summary file - the location of the summary file
ACK request direction - what direction of the ACK request to get delta
Ouput - either *PRINT (spoolfile), or *OUTFILE
Output file, library, member - if *OUTFILE was specified, the location to store the data. Default is to use the same library and extract TCP summary file





Example output

Another alternative method to get deltas in an extract TCP summary file. The common use is to determine whether there are gaps in an unfiltered communications trace to help in PEX trace analysis for system issues.

1) Parameters are as follows.

TCP summary file, library, member - the location of the extract TCP summary file
Output - *PRINT (spoolfile), *OUTFILE




Example output.

Combines a non-summary communications trace file into 1 record for each send or receive packet. Allows a user to build a query to query certain packets.

1) Parameters are as follows.

Comtrace file, library, member - location of the communications trace
Output library - a new file is created and stored in a library, default is to use the same library as the input file
Submit job - either run interactive or submit to batch