Version 8.2.5
 —  DBA Tasks  —

Error Handling and Message Buffering

The error handling and message buffering facility helps implement 24-by-7 operations by analyzing and recovering from certain types of errors automatically with little or no DBA intervention. It also generates additional information so that the error can be diagnosed by the user and by Software AG.

The ADARUN SMGT parameter is set to activate the facility; if message buffering is to be used, the ADARUN MSGBUF parameter is used to size the buffer. The wrap-around message buffer collects Adabas messages for later review by Adabas Online System in case online access to the console or to DDPRINT messages becomes unavailable. The buffer aids problem analysis and performance tuning.

The error handling functions of the facility are implemented as operands of the operator command SMGT and can be invoked from the operator console or from Adabas Online System. See the Adabas Operations documentation for detailed information.

The current implementation of the facility makes it possible for the nucleus to protect itself or provide additional error recovery information for

This document covers the following topics:


User Exit Failures

User exits and hyperdescriptor exits that are essential to the operation of the Adabas nucleus can be marked as critical (the default) or not using one of the operands of the SMGT operator command:

Note:
If an Adabas exit attaches a subtask, the subtask is not protected by the error handling and message buffering facility.

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Recovery or Plug-In (PIN) Routines

The extensions (plug-in routines or PINs) are designed to analyze and, in some cases, determine the cause of an abend while allowing the nucleus to continue processing. The PIN determines whether it is safe to allow the nucleus to continue processing and prints appropriate messages to notify the DBA when this is the case.

The PIN routine user exit ADASMXIT can be used to obtain additional information about response codes and abends. The user exit allows you to specify particular response codes or response code/subcode combinations to be monitored. Once you have modified the user exit, you can reload it and make your changes effective without bringing the database down.

Each plug-in (PIN) service routine handles a predefined condition when encountered, allowing the Adabas nucleus to

Based on its execution, a PIN module can either transfer control to the Adabas nucleus so that it can resume normal processing-usually with a response code-or it can return control to the error handling and message buffering facility, allowing the Adabas nucleus to terminate abnormally.

While the PIN is executing, most Adabas functionality is available to the PIN as the registers at the time of the abnormal event are available. The PIN decides whether the nucleus should remain active.

A PIN can also be used to format an intelligent dump in a number of circumstances to help debug a particular response or abend code.

If the PIN determines that the nucleus is to remain active, the PIN sets a response code.

PIN Processing

In the event of an abnormal termination or nonzero response code, the error handling and message buffering facility looks for a PIN routine first for the specific condition and location detected, then for the specific condition, and finally for the location (any condition). If an appropriate PIN is found, it is invoked; otherwise, the nucleus is terminated.

If a PIN routine is invoked and it

For a response code error, the error handling facility first determines whether the response code is one that it monitors.

Once the PIN has processed the response code, it returns control to the error handling facility so that normal response code processing can continue.

Default PIN Module ADAMXY

The ADAMXY module is the default PIN module comprising the PIN routines that are distributed with Adabas and automatically installed during initialization.

Note:
It is possible to disable the default PIN ADAMXY using the SMGT,DELPIN or SMGT,DEACTPIN operator commands.

The following table describes the interrupts that are handled by the PIN routines in ADAMXY. For each interrupt, extended dump formatting is provided to aid in error analysis:

Interrupt Code Exception Type The processor . . .
01 Operation is about to execute an instruction that has an invalid operation code.
02 Privileged Operation attempts to execute a supervisory instruction while in problem state.
03 Execute interrupts a program deliberately to aid problem diagnosis.
04 Protection (also Segment and Page) attempts to alter system or hardware storage; access fetch protected system or hardware storage; or access or modify storage that is not allocated. Requires record/file-level locking with user notification in job log. Note that interrupt code 16 (segment exception) and code 17 (page exception) are also presented to the error handling facility as code 04.
05 Addressing encounters a reference to an invalid read address.
06 Specification attempts to either set or branch to an old address or an instruction that required a field to be aligned but did not have an aligned argument.
07 Data encounters a corrupted data record, probably a field that should be packed decimal is not.
08 Fixed Point a high-order carry occurs; or high-order significant bits are lost in a fixed-point add, subtract, shift, or sign-control operation.
09, 11, 15 Divide encounters a zero divisor in a division instruction; probably a corrupted record. Code 9 is for binary; code 11 is for packed decimal; and code 15 is for floating point arithmetic.

The message

*****DEFAULT PIN OUTPUT************

is generated whenever the default PIN ADAMXY is invoked. This is followed by all output concerning the program interrupt processing of ADAMXY. The message

*****END OF DEFAULT PIN OUTPUT*****

-is generated whenever ADAMXY is completed.

Additional PIN Modules Provided

Some of the PIN modules discussed in this section are delivered with add-on products of Adabas. They are established automatically when the relevant server component initializes at nucleus startup:

PINAFP
PINATM
PINAVI
PINCOR
PINSAF

The remaining PIN modules discussed in this section are included with Adabas but are not part of ADAMXY and are not automatically installed at Adabas initialization:

PINAUTOR
PINOPRSP
PINUES

PINUES is installed using the SMGT,ADDPIN=module-name command when the nucleus is active. Because PINAUTOR and PINOPRSP are invoked during system initialization when operator commands are not available, they are activated by renaming a particular module in the Adabas load library:

See the Adabas Installation documentation for more information about installing PIN modules.

PINAFP

PINAFP is delivered with the add-on product Adabas Fastpath. It is established automatically when the Adabas Fastpath server component initializes at nucleus startup (ADARUN FASTPATH=YES).

In the event of a program interrupt (see the table in the section Default PIN Module ADAMXY) in the Adabas Fastpath server component, control is passed to PINAFP, which formats and prints the main memory areas used by the component. These diagnostics are written to the DDPRINT data set with the title

ADABAS FASTPATH - memory-area-name : SNAP BY PINAFP

PINAFP then returns control to the error handling and message buffering facility so that Adabas can terminate abnormally.

If necessary, PINAFP can be activated and deactivated. However, after PINAFP is reactivated, it will not be reestablished until the next nucleus session.

PINATM

PINATM is delivered with the add-on product Adabas Transaction Manager (ATM). It is established automatically when the ATM job initializes (ADARUN DTP=TM).

In the event of a program interrupt (see the table in the section Default PIN Module ADAMXY) in the ATM logic, control may be passed to PINATM, which formats and prints the main memory areas used by ATM. These diagnostics are written to the DDPRINT data set with the title

ADABAS TRANSACTION MANAGER - memory-area-name : SNAP BY PINATM

PINATM then returns control to the error handling and message buffering facility so that Adabas can terminate abnormally.

If necessary, PINATM can be activated and deactivated. However, after PINATM is reactivated, it will not be reestablished until the next ATM session.

PINAUTOR

If NOAUTOR has been renamed to PINAUTOR in the Adabas load library and a parameter error 31 occurs during autorestart, PINAUTOR acquires control. PINAUTOR attempts to identify the file that is in error and exclude it from autorestart if possible.

Before excluding a file from autorestart processing, PINAUTOR checks that

Additionally, PINAUTOR checks whether certain files or particular response codes for a particular database are designated as ineligible for exclusion. For example, it may be senseless to start a database without the particular file on which it depends. You can customize ADASMXIT to include the files and the response codes that cannot be excluded. You can also specify the maximum number of autorestarts with exclusions that can be attempted.

The AREXCLUDE procedure is automatically invoked to exclude a file. See the Adabas Operations documentation, ADARUN parameter AREXCLUDE for more information. Note that excluded files may become inconsistent and need to be restored from backup using ADASAV RESTORE.

If a file is excluded from autorestart, an SM-PINAUTOR2 message is generated followed by an ADAN50 message, both indicating the file number of the excluded file.

Whenever PINAUTOR is invoked, the message PINAUTOR OUTPUT is generated followed by messages pertaining to the specific PINAUTOR situation as described in the Adabas Messages and Codes documentation. To indicate that PINAUTOR processing is completed, the message END PINAUTOR OUTPUT is generated.

PINAVI

PINAVI is delivered with the add-on product Adabas Vista. It is established automatically when the Adabas Vista server component initializes at nucleus startup (ADARUN VISTA=YES).

In the event of a program interrupt (see the table in the section Default PIN Module ADAMXY) in the Adabas Vista server component, control is passed to PINAVI, which formats and prints the main memory areas used by the component. These diagnostics are written to the DDPRINT data set with the title

ADABAS VISTA - memory-area-name : SNAP BY PINAVI

PINAVI then disables the program in which the interrupt occurred and returns control to Adabas so that Adabas can continue. Disabling the program does not disrupt the Adabas service; however, access to Adabas Vista files may be restricted. In this case, a nonzero response code returned to the user identifies the restrictions.

If necessary, PINAVI can be activated and deactivated. However, after PINAVI is reactivated, it will not be reestablished until the next nucleus session.

PINCOR

PINCOR is delivered with System Coordinator for Adabas Options. It is established automatically when the System Coordinator server component (ADAPOP) initializes at nucleus startup.

If a program interrupt occurs in the System Coordinator server component, control is passed to PINCOR, which formats and prints the main memory areas used by the component.

These diagnostics are written to the DDPRINT data set with the title

COMMON RUNTIME - memory-area-name : SNAP BY SMGT

PINCOR then returns control to the error handling and message buffering facility so that Adabas can terminate abnormally.

PINOPRSP

Warning:
PINOPRSP makes it possible to initialize a database and operate it without writing checkpoints. If database recovery procedures become necessary, the missing checkpoint information can result in critical errors. To prevent this, you must reorder the checkpoint file immediately after PINOPRSP is invoked and be able to account for all changes in the status of the database between initialization and the reordering of the checkpoint file.

If NOOPRSP has been renamed to PINOPRSP in the Adabas load library and a parameter error 73 occurs during system initialization indicating a checkpoint overflow condition, PINOPRSP is invoked.

The message PINOPRSP OUTPUT is generated indicating that PINOPRSP has been invoked. PINOPRSP then generates a message warning the DBA that Adabas will activate even though the checkpoint file is full:

response code  INTERCEPTED BY PINOPRSP BECAUSE THE CHECKPOINT FILE IS 
FULL. THE ADABAS NUCLEUS WILL ACTIVATE BUT THE CHECKPOINT FILE NEEDS
TO BE REORDERED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

The response code is either 75 (ADARSP075) or 77 (ADARSP077) in this case. No checkpoint is written but the nucleus activates. Corrective action needs to be taken as soon as possible. The message "END PINOPRSP OUTPUT" is then generated to indicate that PINOPRSP processing is completed.

PINRSP

The SMGT,ADDPIN=PINRSP operator command activates PINRSP, which provides extended information to aid in diagnosing a response code. PINRSP is also loaded automatically at startup if the ADARUN SMGT parameter is set to "YES", similarly to ADAMXY.

Note:
Only response codes set by Adabas can be logged. A response code such as 22 (ADARSP022 - invalid command code), which is set by the Adabas SVC before it reaches Adabas, is not logged.

If PINRSP is loaded without modifying the Adabas PIN routine user exit ADASMXIT, all response codes are logged. You can customize ADASMXIT to:

When a nonzero response code is encountered, PINRSP acquires control. The message "PINRSP OUTPUT" is generated to indicate that PINRSP has control. Depending on the response code encountered, different areas are logged.

With respect to areas logged, five categories of response codes are described:

  1. Basic response code logging includes:

  2. Index-related response codes such as 177 (ADARSP177):

  3. Response codes such as 40 (ADARSP040) where additional IUB areas may be pertinent:

  4. Response codes such as 255 (ADARSP255) where additional attached buffer information may be necessary:

  5. Response codes such as 72 (ADARSP072) where the user queue may be helpful:

Example:

Rather than obtain a CLOG when you need additional information to diagnose a particular response code, you can modify ADASMXIT to capture the response code, reassemble it, and load it while the nucleus is up. The information is then logged the next time the response code is encountered.

Once you have the information, you can modify ADASMXIT to remove the response code and reload it so that information is no longer captured. Alternatively, you can set ADASMXIT initially to log the information only `n' number of times.

You can also use PINRSP in conjunction with ADASMXIT to suppress the ADAN77 message that is generated for response codes 201 (ADARSP201), 202 (ADARSP202), or 203 (ADARSP203). This may be useful in situations where a new application receives enough security errors to fill the SYSLOG. Although Software AG does not recommend this action, you may temporarily modify ADASMXIT to suppress N77 messages and activate PINRSP with response codes 201 (ADARSP201), 202 (ADARSP202) and 203 (ADARSP203) indicated in ADASMXIT.

If message suppression is activated, the ADAN77 message "Message suppression in effect" is generated and the PINRSP output providing format information related to the response code is suppressed.

Once PINRSP has completed processing, the message END PINRSP OUTPUT is generated.

PINSAF

PINSAF is delivered with the add-on product Adabas SAF Security (ADASAF). It is invoked automatically when the ADASAF initializes at nucleus startup.

In the event of a program interrupt (see the table in the section Default PIN Module ADAMXY) in ADASAF, control is passed to PINSAF, which formats and prints the main memory areas used by ADASAF. These diagnostics are written to a data set with the title

ADABAS SAF INTERFACE - control-block-name : SNAP BY SMGT

PINSAF then returns to the error handling facility so that Adabas can terminate abnormally.

Note:
For security reasons, PINSAF does not allow Adabas to continue after an abend in ADASAF.

Like other PIN routines, PINSAF can be activated and deactivated. However, after PINSAF is reactivated, ADASAF itself must be restarted before PINSAF will function correctly. Refer to the Adabas SAF Security documentation for more information.

PINUES

PINUES handles Adabas response codes in the context of the universal encoding support (UES) system. PINUES captures input/output errors when trying to

Note:

When used with other PIN routines that handle the same error conditions, the PIN loaded last is called to handle the error. For example:

F NUC227,SMGT,ADDPIN=PINRSP      
F NUC227,SMGT,ADDPIN=PINUES

In this example, PINUES is loaded after PINRSP and therefore handles the error conditions it can handle -- response codes 17 (ADARSP017), 48 (ADARSP048), and 55 (ADARSP055). All other response codes are processed by PINRSP.

The message PINUES OUTPUT is generated to show that PINUES has acquired control. The message END PINUES OUTPUT is generated when PINUES processing is completed.

Error Conditions Handled

Output Produced

Whenever PINUES writes diagnostic information, the following lines are printed on the console:

  ******** P I N U E S  OUTPUT ********'           
      
  ADANX1 dbid COMMAND cmd COMMAND ID hex-cid FNR file-number
         RESPONSE adabas-response-code SUBCODE adabas-subcode FLD
  field-name' 
         TID hex-internal-user-id UID open-userid JOB job-name'    
  ****** END P I N U E S  OUTPUT ******'                

Session Snapshots

18:17:37 ADAN19 00227 BUFFERFLUSH IS  A S Y N C H R O N O U S
18:17:37 ADAN01 00227 A D A B A S  V7.1.0  IS ACTIVE
18:17:37 ADAN01 00227 MODE = MULTI
18:17:37 ADAN01 00227 RUNNING WITHOUT RECOVERY-LOG
18:18:04 ADAI29 OPER CMD: SMGT,ADDPIN=PINUES
18:18:04 ADANTG 00227 PIN MODULE PINUES   LOADED
18:18:04 ADANO2 00227 SMGT COMMAND PROCESSED
18:18:04 ADAN41 00227 1999-01-00 18:18:03 FUNCTION COMPLETED

18:36:33 ADAN7A 00227 ECS ERROR     -2 IN FUNCTION GETHANDL
18:37:21
18:37:21 ******** P I N U E S  OUTPUT ********
18:37:21 ADANX1 00227 COMMAND OP COMMAND ID 00000000 FNR 00014
18:37:21              RESPONSE 017 SUBCODE 023
18:37:21              TID 00000013 UID BLAUTOPF JOB TXG.....
18:37:21 ADAH51 00227 DUMP FORMAT CALLED

The following output is produced by the ADAMXF module:

18:37:22 ADAH52 00227 DUMP FORMAT COMPLETED
18:37:22 ****** END P I N U E S  OUTPUT ******
18:37:22
18:49:45 ADAN7A 00227 ECS ERROR     54 IN FUNCTION CVFTXTX
18:49:45
18:49:45 ******** P I N U E S  OUTPUT ********
18:49:45 ADANX1 00227 COMMAND A1 COMMAND ID 00000000 FNR 00014
18:49:45              RESPONSE 055 SUBCODE 004
18:49:45              TID 00000017 UID ANDECHS. JOB TXG.....

   ECS CONVERSION PARAMETERS

   0C190BE0+0000  00106570 00000080 00000200 00000000 *................*
   0C190BF0+0010  00000004 0C10ACB4 00000004 0010A6E0 *..............w.*
   0C190C00+0020  00004000 0C190BEC 0000020C 00000000 *................*
   0C190C10+0030  001065AD 0C190BE4 00000000 00000000 *.......U........*

   ECSE FROM ENCODING 3026 TO ENCODING 3035

   00106570+0000  02000002 00000BD2 00000BDB 00000004 *.......K........*
   00106580+0010  00000000 001062C8 00106350 001064E8 *.......H.......Y*
   00106590+0020  0000BD20 0000BDB0 0000000C 00000000 *................*
   001065A0+0030  001065AD 0004362C 40000000 00FEFE00 *................*
   001065B0+0040  00000340 40000000 04404000 00000000 *................*
   001065C0+0050  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 *................*
   001065D0+0060  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 *................*
   001065E0+0070  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 *................*
   001065F0+0080  00000000 00000000 02000001 00000BDB *................*

   ECONV INPUT AREA

   0C10ACB4+0000  4141F1F2 40404040 40404040 40404040 *..12............*

   ECONV OUTPUT AREA

   0010A6E0+0000  414150C2 50C350C4 50C550C6 50C750C8 *...B.C.D.E.F.G.H*
   0010A6F0+0010  50C150C2 50C350C4 50C550C6 50C750C8 *.A.B.C.D.E.F.G.H*
       LINES 0010A700 TO 0010A7C0 SAME AS ABOVE
   0010A7D0+00F0  50C150C2 50C350C4 50C550C6 00000000 *.A.B.C.D.E.F....*
   0010A7E0+0100  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 *................*
       LINES 0010A7F0 TO 0010E6D0 SAME AS ABOVE

18:49:45 ****** END P I N U E S  OUTPUT ******

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PIN Routine User Exit

The PIN routine user exit (entry name ADASMXIT) can be used to:

The ADASMXIT load module must be located so that it can be loaded by the nucleus, either in the load library concatenation or in a system call library such as the z/OS system link list. If you are running either Adabas Parallel Services or Adabas Cluster Services in z/OS environments, the ADASMXIT module must be placed in an authorized load library.

The PIN routine user exit is written in Assembler.

User Exit Inputs

The exit is entered with the following registers set:

R13 Adabas PIN routine save area
R14 Return address / AMODE
R15 Entry point address
R0
Function code:
1 - nucleus initialization
2 - abend
4 - response code
5 - nucleus termination
R1
Parameter list
+0 address of two user words
+4 address of condition description block (CDB) for functions 2, 4

User Exit Outputs

There are no outputs. Return codes are ignored and all registers other than 15 must be returned unchanged.

Condition Description Block

For each program check, abnormal termination, or response code error, a control block called the condition description block (CDB) is generated that describes the event that occurred, where it occurred, and what the registers and machine state were when it occurred. The CDB is passed to the error handling and message buffering facility for use in determining whether a PIN routine is to be called or whether an Adabas user exit is to be terminated. A PIN routine uses the CDB to obtain information about the occurrence of the condition.

Modifying and Reloading the Exit

The PIN routine user exit may be modified, reassembled, and reloaded with the nucleus active. To load a newly reassembled exit, issue the console operator command:

SMGT,XD=SXnn
to deactivate the PIN routine user exit
SMGT,XLOAD=SXnn 
to load the modified version of the exit
SMGT,XA=SXnn 
to activate the exit

See the Adabas Online System documentation for another way to accomplish this task.

Using the Exit with PINAUTOR

If PINAUTOR is enabled:

AUTOPARM Example

AUTOPARM DS  0D
MAXARPIN DC  F'6'       Maximum of 6 files can be excluded from autorestart
BADRSPS  DC  XL1'48'    Response code 72 (ADARSP072) cannot be excluded from autorestart
        DC  XL29'00'    28 more entries are possible
NOTFILE DC  XL2'0041'   File number 65 cannot be excluded from autorestart
        DC  XL48'00'    23 more entries are possible

Using the Exit with PINRSP

When PINRSP is enabled:

Response Table Entry Example

Note:
There is one entry per response code up to 255.

XL5'000A000000'
.
.... subcodes (up to 3; specified in hexadecimal)
.
.... maximum number of times to invoke PINRSP for response code (default=10)
.
.... 00 don't log, 01 log

Example:

The ninth entry in the table corresponds to response code 9 (ADARSP009).

The entry X'0105020311' indicates that response code 9 (ADARSP009), subcodes 2, 3, and 16 are logged. Response code 9 (ADARSP009) is logged a maximum of 5 times.

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