Mainframe, MVS and zOS Discussion

Hi,

From the SMF30_V, we see the following reported under CIC_NIS Service Class BROKERL, BROKERRL -- I'm not sure how to identify if they are some CICS subsystem defined for CICS?

In other words, how do we identify the CICS sub-system name in general?

Thanks,

Service Class is typically a Workload Manager term, NOT a CICS name. Service classes identify the type of work and the WLM policy determines the relative importance and processing of each service class. What are you calling "CICS sub-system name" -- job name, VTAM APPLID, or job step name, or something else?

Robert Sample wrote:What are you calling "CICS sub-system name" -- job name, VTAM APPLID, or job step name, or something else?

Robert, for an IT optimization need, at a new shop we were told that there are two CICS sub-systems (say CICS1, CICS2) for the LPAR, LPAR1. However when we executed a SAS Job to extraact the SMF report, for SMF30V, along with CICS1 and CICS2 we got BROKERL, BROKERRL as well listed under CIC_NIS. This is why I asked:

From the SMF30_V, we see the following reported under CIC_NIS Service Class BROKERL, BROKERRL -- I'm not sure how to identify if they are some CICS subsystem defined for CICS? In other words, how do we identify the CICS sub-system name in general?

from the service class you CANNOT determine what you want to know. Service classes apply to all the LPARs covered by the Workload Manager. It looks like you are using CICS1 and CICS2 as job names, so look in the data at the JOB (or JOBNAME -- MXG uses both at different points).

With SMF data in general, if you don't know exactly what you need your best bet is usually to dump the data (PUT _ALL_ ; in SAS) to look at the variables and correlate the data to what you know about the system. However, be aware that doing so may generate multiple millions of lines of output depending upon how much data you are processing, so restricting yourself to just a few records first might help you identify the fields easier.

Robert, that's true But then what is the easiest way to start learning about SMF records...

Plan on spending a LOT of time reading the SMF manual and the CICS manual on SMF records. For CICS data, which can be pretty complicated even for SMF, plan on putting in 80 to 120 hours (or more) of manual reading and experimenting to understand the SMF data being generated.