Abnormal end with a system abend code procedure (ABEND)

Use the ABEND keyword to document a problem when CICS® VR abends with a system abend.

The failing module can be one of these: CICS VR usually produces a system dump for an abend. If no dump is produced, the dump file might be full, in which case you must re-create the abend with a larger dump file. Check for error messages that occurred while CICS VR was trying to produce a dump. A symptom string in the dump provides information about what was happening at the time of the abend.
Follow this procedure to produce a system dump:
  1. Allocate the SYSMDUMP ddname to a data set with these data control block (DCB) parameters. The DCB for SYSMDUMP can vary for different versions of MVS™:
    • The dump data must be stored on a data set with sequential (PS) organization.
    • The logical record length (LRECL) must be 4160 bytes.
    • The data set must have one of these combinations of record format (RECFM) and block size (BLKSIZE):
      • RECFM=F,BLKSIZE=4160
      • RECFM=FB,BLKSIZE=n×4160 where n=1,2,...
      • RECFM=FBS,BLKSIZE=n×4160 where n=1,2,...

    If the data set meets these criteria, the Interactive Problem Control System (IPCS) provides special purpose processing. In special purpose processing, IPCS simulates system services, such as dynamic address translation and control block formatting, when processing the information source.

  2. If the abend occurred in the CICS VR ISPF dialog interface:
    1. Allocate the SYSMDUMP data set with DISP=MOD. (If CICS VR abends before ISPF, both write to the SYSMDUMP data set. If you use DISP=SHR, you can see only the ISPF dump.
    2. Set the ISPF options in the ISPF ENVIRON COMMAND SETTINGS window (option 0.7):
         ENBLDUMP=ON
    3. Specify that you want to receive all write-to-programmer messages (including the message ID), at your terminal. To do this, enter this TSO/E command:
         PROFILE WTPMSG MSGID
  3. Re-create the abend and record any messages.
    After ISPF is terminated, at the TSO/E prompt:
      READY
    press Enter, and a dump is produced. Do not press any other key than Enter.

See Collecting documentation about all problems to complete your documentation of the problem.