Course Description (By Curriculum)

CICS Program Debugging and Dump Analysis

Duration

22 hours

Overview

Audience

Programmers and other personnel who require knowledge about debugging CICS programs and dump analysis

Prerequisites

Knowledge of basic coding in COBOL/VS, COBOL II, or PL/1

Objectives

After completing this course, the student will be able to:
• Identify the layout of a CICS formatted dump
• Define the reason for a CICS application program abend
• Identify the details of the application environment at the time of the error
• Identify the IBM standard linkage convention and the use of registers, the base and displacement addressing mechanism, and register save area chaining
• Identify the program name and particular statement in error
• Identify all the CICS areas, such as CWA, TWA, TCTUA, and EIB, associated with this task
• Recognize the CALL chain within each load unit and the parameters associated with each CALL
• Recognize the LINK chain between load units and the COMMAREAs associated with each LINK
• Define the contents of all application program variables in all active programs at the time of the dump
• Define the contents of the CICS internal trace table and auxiliary trace
• Define the COBOL II run-time environment and its relationship with CICS
• Recognize all the above information in an unformatted system dump and a CICS formatted system dump or transaction dump
• Identify how the Execution Diagnostic Facility is used to find the required information dynamically

Course Content

Introduction to CICS/ESA Debugging and Dump Analysis

The Trace Table
The Formatted CICS Dump
Language Debugging Facilities

PL/1
COBOL

Tools Required for Debugging
CICS Areas
Dump Layout
Transaction Storage User Area (TSUA)

Principle CICS Control Blocks and their Relationships

Kernel Linkage
Application Domain
CSA, CWA, TCA, TWA
TCTTE, TCTUA, EIS, EIB

CICS Transaction Dump Layout

CICS Formatted Transaction Dump
CICS Formatted System Dump
Operating System Snap Dump
Dump Layout

Locating CICS Areas of Interest

CICS Areas Useful for Debugging
CWA Length
TWA Length
EIB

The CICS Trace Table

The Trace Facility
EIP Entries
The HANDLE CONDITION Entry
Abend Codes

IBM Addressing and Use of Registers

A History of Addressing
Base and Displacement Addressing
SAVEAREAs
Return Codes

Finding the COBOL Statement in Error

Obtaining the Interrupt Address
CICS ABEND Codes
CICS Interrupt Codes
The Task Global Table
Offsets

Finding the PL/1 Statement in Error

Obtaining the Interrupt Address
CICS ABEND Codes
CICS Interrupt Codes
The Task Global Table
Offsets

Locating Working-Storage Variables

Task Global Tables
Base Locators for Working Storage

Locating Linkage Section Variables and Indexes

Linkage Sections
Task Global Tables
Indexes

Locating PL/1 Variables

Variable Storage Classes
Variable Storage Map
Identifying Procedures’ DSA

Tracing Back from the Abend

Internal Calls
EXEC CICS LINK

The Execution Diagnostic Facility

Overview of EDF
Restrictions in the Use of EDF
How to Invoke EDF
Stop Points and Conditions
PF Keys and Options Available
Overtype EDF Displays

Interpreting Data

Data Types Overview
EBCDIC
Data Types in COBOL and PL/1
Data Type Restrictions


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