CICS 3.1 Debugging

Course Overview

To help solve CICS system and program failures by improving the skills needed to read and analyse dumps. To develop a step by step approach for resolving dumps through debugging the dumps provided in the course. To develop skills necessary for keeping 'up' time to a maximum.

Audience

CICS Systems and Applications Programmers who are responsible for solving CICS Systems and Transaction dumps.

Prerequisites

Attendees should have at least three months CICS programming experience.

Course Outline

Architecture

• Domains
• Gates
• Kernel Linkage

Causes

• External symptoms
• Incorrect data displayed
• Transaction ABENDs
• System ABENDs
• No response looping
• No response - waits

Messages

• CICS generated messages
• Relation to Dumps
• Format of CICS generated messages
• Sample DFH messages
• ABCODE interpretation

Dumps

• Identifiers
• Tables
• Transaction
• System

Working with Hexadecimal

• Understanding hex
• Displacements
• Addresses
• Conversions

Tracing

• Where
• What
• Formats
• Recommendations

Significant Application Domain Control Blocks

• Task Control Area (TCA)
• EXEC Interface Block (EIB)
• Task Abnormal Condition Block (TACB)
• Storage Check Zone (SCZ)
• Terminal Control Table Terminal Entry (TCTTE)
• Terminal Input-Output Area (TIOA)
• Storage Accounting Area (SAA)

Transaction Dump Solving

• Understanding the data
• Categorizing the dump
• Relating to Source
• Finding COBOL statements
• Finding Variables
• Key Domain Structures
• Kernel
• Dispatcher
• Transaction Manager
• Program Manager

System Dump Solving

• General Techniques
• Waits
• Storage Violations
• Structure of Storage Manager