OPS/MVS

Can someone explain why for Sysview PTF RO89162, DESCRIPTION     = CICS TRANS ABEND DUE TO CE APM TRACING, why does Sysview auto-install (EXEC CICS CREATE) features needed for CE APM even though we are not using CE-APM and in fact have it disabled?  Why is this not tested for on startup, and the exec CICS Create disabled since it is not needed

This may also be part of a co-workers case/question regarding it's use, but it made sense to ask the question, even though the install IS described in the hold-data.  It just doesnt look like we should have to do that, for customers that don't or never will use/have APM.

Hi Peter,

The fix applies only if you are running CE APM. As you are not/do not run CE APM, you should back the fix off, and set CEAPM in the GSVXGSVX member to

reflect NO and cycle Sysview. You have case 459658 open regarding this. It may be a matter of interpretation regarding the wording in the Holddata.

Holddata states that  SYSVIEW system configuration option OPTION-CEAPM must be YES, meaning that you must be running CE APM in order to incur the problem, and in that case the

PTF would need to be applied. In this case, I believe that the Holddata was interpreted as you need to have CE APM set to YES in order to apply the PTF, which is not the meaning.

Though you do not run CE APM, Mike set it to on to apply the PTF.  All you need to do as detailed above is backoff the fix and turn off CE APM and cycle Sysview.

I don’t think it should be coded like that.

He did that as a test.  If we back off the fix, it is only a matter of time before it get’s PRE-d or superceeded by another PTF and we end up with it anyway.

I did a separate install of the maintenance on another system, and left CA APM turned OFF/Disabled.

I got those same CICS Create entries and the new DD card in the test CICS region.

I don’t think it should be coded to do this if APM is not in effect, but if it IS needed, then the option should not be to install maintenance that is eventually going to be sourced in anway.

Eventually, we would have to deal with it, but I think Sysview should be testing for APM and not spawning these commands, unless it’s needed for some reason other than APM.

Peter T. Brown

Phone: 412-236-0429

Peter,

If you are not running CE APM, the fact that the entries are created do not affect anything as they are not used unless you decide to implement CE APM.

If the fix were 'sourced' into the Sysview code, the entries would still be created, and unless you were running CE APM, the entries would not affect anything.

We wrote this fix to address a problem which occurs when the CE APM  CICS transaction trace facility  traces a transaction  using the CICS Transaction

Gateway (CTG) COMMAREA,  decorating the transaction COMMAREA on the CTG side, and Sysview is not active in the CICS region to undecorate the

COMMAREA which could (and in one case at a customer site did), pose a problem to the transaction application programs. 

Maintenance is written to address problems which are identified in current supported releases. As such, they need resolved at those releases. The maintenance

does not get sourced until a subsequent. 

We initially addressed Mike advising to back off the fix, however, leaving it on and setting CEAPM to reflect NO in the GSVXGSVX member should not disrupt

or negatively impact functionality.

The question is still, should they be auto-installing for a feature that we don’t need or use.

Are they only for APM?  If so, then they auto-install should be coded to NOT occur, since we are not using APM.

Peter T. Brown

Phone: 412-236-0429

When SYSVIEW initializes, it will dynamically validate the CICS environment with regard to CICS definitions. If a definition is not found, SYSVIEW will automatically define and correct the environment.  This is a feature of SYSVIEW that assists in configuration, upgrade and migration processes.  I would have to believe that there will always be features or functions that may not be used in each customer environment. SYSVIEW must provide a complete install in the environment for potential usage. SYSVIEW features and functions can be activated and deactivated at any time.

The fix RO89162 being discussed introduced new CICS definitions. These definitions are required and therefore must be defined to CICS. This resource definitions can be performed manually by a sysprog in each CICS region, or automatically by SYSVIEW. A goal of SYSVIEW and CA is to make installation, configuration, upgrade and maintenance easier and automatic were possible.

If further clarification is needed, we would be happy to setup a phone call with you. Alternatively, you can also open a support case with CA customer support.

Thanks.

As you know, we have intentionally been going through and trying to turn off these types of auto-configuration activities.

We are going to go ahead and manually enter them, and we appreciate the hold-data that pointed us in that direction.

I still don’t quite understand why it is setting this up for a feature we are not using, APM.

Is this for some other purpose beyond APM?

Peter T. Brown

Phone: 412-236-0429

When SYSVIEW is installed there is a step that defines a set of CICS transactions and programs that are part of the product.  When running SYSVIEW those resources may be used, or not, depending on various options and parameters that you chose.  We believe it would only complicate the install to make someone choose which CICS resources they may or may not need to define, given many factors that would play into the decision, for a very small benefit.  And then later if the options/parameters change you may have to go back and add definitions...it could easily become a pain.  Our approach is that any resource that would need defined to CICS gets defined up front so that you do not have to be concerned with such details.

I understand the CICS resources introduced by PTF RO89162 stand out because they are new, but that does not change the overall approach outlined above that they are part of.  We tried to make these service-stream additions as painless as possible by dynamically creating the definitions if you did not manually add them.  As it stands the new GSVCGSVS TD queue does get used regardless of CEAPM.  The two new APM-related programs are always defined, but only get used if the system configuration Option-CEAPM is YES.  I hope this provides some insight.

Our setting in GSVXGSVX is set to:

Option-CEAPM                     No

This is why I raised the issue.

We are going to migrate regardless, but I was questioning why I was getting that when we are set to NO.

Are you are saying that the EXEC CICS Create always get executed regardless of setting it YES or NO?  If so, then that explains it.  We do not use CEAPM, nor do we have any plans to do so in the future.

Peter T. Brown

Phone: 412-236-0429

Correct, if we find any of these new resources were not pre-defined then we will always issue EXEC CICS CREATE to add them.