SYSTP Functions under CICS

The SYSTP utility provides functions that are specific to CICS.

Start of instruction set To invoke specific SYSTP functions under CICS

  • In the Code field of the SYSTP Main Menu, enter E for Environment-Dependent Functions.

    From the menu displayed then, you can select the functions explained in this section.

Note:
In the remainder of this section, the Natural CICS Interface is also referred to as NCI.

This section covers the following topics:

Natural User Sessions

This function is used to display a list of active user sessions in a Natural environment.

When you invoke this function, the Natural User Sessions screen appears, which displays the following information:

Column Explanation
Term ID Unique terminal ID within CICS associated with the Natural session.
User ID Natural user ID of the Natural session.
Tran CICS transaction ID under which Natural session is currently running. For pseudo-conversational sessions, this is the pseudo-conversational restart transaction ID.
Start Date / Time Starting date and time of the Natural session.
Last Act Time of last screen output.
Stat Session status: see Operational Status.
Program Natural program currently active.
Library Natural library in which the user is currently working.

If you press PF10, the display of the session date and time is replaced by the following session resource data:

Column Explanation
Thrd Grp Thread group to which user is assigned.
Thread Name of thread last used.
Roll Fac Assigned roll facility.

This section covers the following topics:

Commands for Natural User Sessions

In addition to the commands described in Using SYSTP Utility Screens, for each item displayed on the Natural User Sessions screen, you can execute one of the following line commands.

Line Command Function
C Cancel session.

Invokes a confirmation window where you can enter YES to mark a session for termination. The session selected is then flagged with number (#) signs that appear in the column User ID. Additionally, for the session concerned, the operational status Purged by Admin appears on the Natural User Session Statistics screen of the user (administrator) who executed the cancel command.

The session actually terminates when the owner of the session marked for termination performs the next terminal I/O, Adabas call or external program call. The session owner then receives a corresponding termination notification.

F Flush session.

Invokes a confirmation window where you can enter YES to terminate a session immediately. The session terminated is then flagged with number (#) signs that appear in the column User ID. The user (administrator) who terminated the session receives a termination message when trying to invoke the Natural User Session Statistics screen for the session terminated but still listed on the Natural User Sessions screen. The session owner receives a corresponding termination notification.

R Reactivate session.

Reverses a C (Cancel) command as described earlier. The R command removes the termination flags set for a session and resets the session status to active. Note that you cannot reactivate a session that has been terminated with the F (Flush) command described above.

W Wake up session.

Reactivates immediately a session that has been suspended by a CMROLL call with a non-zero wait interval specified with the MAXROLL profile parameter (see the Parameter Reference documentation). See also the example program SUSPEND supplied in the Natural system library SYSEXTP.

Start of instruction set To reduce the number of list items by specifying selection criteria

  • On the Natural User Sessions screen, press PF4.

    The Selection for User Sessions window appears where you can select user sessions by inactivity date and time, inactivity time interval, Natural server ID, CICS system ID, terminal ID, user ID or transaction ID.

    Inactivity date and time and inactivity interval list all sessions that were not active before the date and time specified or before the time interval specified.

    A date must be specified in the format YYYY-MM-DD (YYYY = year, MM = month, DD = day).
    The time must be specified in the format HH:II:SS (HH = hours, II = minutes, SS = seconds).

    To specify a range of IDs, use the asterisk (*) as a leading or trailing character or use the question mark (?) as a wildcard character. See also Examples of Name Ranges.

Natural User Session Statistics

For each session displayed on the Natural User Sessions screen shown above, additional information can be displayed by invoking the Natural User Session Statistics screen with the S or U line command. The following section describes the information provided on this screen.

All sizes on the Natural User Session Statistics screen are in KB unless otherwise indicated in the field descriptions below.

Field Explanation
Started Day, date and time when the session was started.
Last Actions Date and time when the user was active last.
User Natural user ID as assigned by the Natural system variable *USER (see the System Variables documentation).
at Terminal ID of the terminal associated with the Natural session as assigned by the Natural system variable *INIT-ID (see the System Variables documentation).
Transid Pseudo-conversational transaction ID under which Natural is running.
Task # in Task number assigned by CICS followed by the ID of the CICS region.
Cur Strg Used Current amount of storage used by this session.
Max Strg Used Maximum amount of storage ever used by this session.
Thread Size Size of this thread.
Thread Name Name of the thread used last. For threads allocated by using GETMAIN, the thread name is composed of the prefix NSCP followed by the terminal ID.
Thread Group Name of the associated thread group (triggered by starting the transaction ID).
of Type
Type of thread used for thread group:
 
SHR Permanent storage threads.
 
GETM Storage threads allocated by using GETMAIN.
 
NONE No threads used; all Natural storage requests are passed to CICS.
Natural Library Natural library ID as assigned by the Natural system variable *LIBRARY-ID (see the System Variables documentation).
Natural Program Name of the Natural program currently used by the session as assigned by the Natural system variable *PROGRAM (see the System Variables documentation).
Line No. Line number in the Natural program currently used by the session.
Operational Status See Operational Status in the following section.
Roll Facility Name of associated roll facility.
Roll Recs (Last) Number of records written to roll facility for last roll-out.
Roll Recs (Max) Maximum number of records ever written during roll-out.
Roll Record Size Record size of this roll facility.
Slot Size Number of records required to roll-out a thread completely.
Restart Rec. No. Number of the record that contains roll-out control information; this record must be rolled in first.
VSAM Roll Files:

The following applies to VSAM roll files only.

The relationship between restart record number (RecNum), slot number (SN) and slot size (SZ) is:

RecNum = (SN-1) * SZ + 2

or

SN = (RecNum-2) / SZ + 1
Slot Number Number of slot in VSAM roll file belonging to this session (for VSAM only). See also VSAM Roll Files in Restart Rec. No. above.
Compressed Length Amount of relevant storage currently swapped/rolled out.
Session Resumes Total number of session resumes.
Swap-Ins Number of session resumes with swapping in from swap pool.
Thread Switches Number of session resumes with swapping/rolling into a thread which is different to the one the session had been in before.
Roll-Ins Number of session resumes with rolling in from roll facility.
Region Switches Number of CICS region switches.
OpSys Switches Number of operating system image switches in a z/OS Parallel Sysplex environment.

Operational Status

This field indicates any of the following operational statuses:

Status Abbreviation Description
Active Act Currently active.
Inactive Ina Inactive, still in thread.
Swapped Swp Swapped, in swap pool.
Rolled out Rld Rolled out, in roll facility.
Wait (Init) WtI Waiting for thread on session initialization.
Wait (Resume) WtR Waiting for thread on session resume.
Initializing Int Initializing session.
Resuming Res Resuming session, in thread, not active yet.
Suspending Sus Suspending session.
Terminating Trm Terminating session.
Swapping out Swo Session swapping out.
Swapping in Swi Session swapping in.
Rolling out Out Rolling out from thread or swap pool.
Rolling in In Rolling in from roll facility.

The following additional information can appear in Operational Status:

Status Description
Conversational Dialog-oriented session (PSEUDO=OFF) as opposed to pseudo-conversational/transaction-oriented session.

See also the PSEUDO profile parameter described in the Parameter Reference documentation.

Forced Conversational Last screen I/O of a PSEUDO=ON session was conversational.

See also the PSEUDO profile parameter described in the Parameter Reference documentation.

No-Roll Session is not allowed to roll.
Compressed Session is compressed (in swap pool or roll facility).
Thread Switched Thread currently used is not the same as used before.
Thread Locked Session kept from switching threads (for example, RELO=OFF); can also force No-Roll/Conversational status.

See also the RELO profile parameter described in the Parameter Reference documentation.

Purged by Admin Session canceled by administrator (flag set).
Spool Task Task is a spool/print task.
Asynchronous Task Task is an asynchronous task, not bound to a terminal.

Natural Roll Facilities

This function is used to display which swap files are available for rolling out user work areas to make room in the swap pool for active users. These swap files are known as roll facilities.

When you invoke this function, the Natural Roll Facilities screen appears for the current CICS region (as indicated by the CICS ID in the screen title). For each roll facility, the following information is displayed:

Column Explanation
Facility Name TEMPSTOR is used for auxiliary temporary storage, MAINSTOR for main temporary storage, and remaining file names are VSAM roll files as defined in the CICS file control table (FCT). none denotes that no roll facility is used.
Record Size Record size of this roll facility.
Slot Size This column is displayed by defaultNumber of records required to roll out a thread completely (maximum thread size divided by record size, rounded up).
No. of Slots Number of sessions which fit into this roll file (number of file records divided by slot size, rounded down); applies to VSAM roll files only.

Facility Users
Cur / Max

Current (Cur) and maximum (Max) number of user sessions assigned to this roll facility.

Roll Counts
Out / In

Number of session roll operations from or into this roll facility.
CI Size* Control Interval size of the VSAM roll file.
No. of Records* Number of records in the VSAM roll file

Roll File Initialization*
Date and Time

Date and time when the VSAM roll file was formatted by the NCISCPRI utility program.
Status Indicates Full if the facility users equal the number of available slots.

* These columns are only displayed if you press PF10. If pressed again, it switches back to the default display.

In addition to the commands described in Using SYSTP Utility Screens, the Natural Roll Facilities screen provides the following PF keys and line commands:

PF Key Line Command Function
PF4 U Invokes the Natural User Sessions screen (see the relevant section) for the marked roll facility which displays all Natural user sessions that use this facility.
PF10 - Toggles between the display of the following columns:

Slot Size, No. of Slots, Facility Users and Roll Counts
(default display)

and

CI Size, No. of Records and Roll File Initialization.

Natural Thread Groups

This function is used to display which thread groups are available to Natural.

When you invoke this function, the Natural Thread Groups screen appears for the current CICS region (as indicated by the CICS ID in the screen title). For each thread group, the following information is displayed on this screen:

Column Explanation
Group Name Thread group name.

Group Users
Cur / Max

Current (Cur) and maximum (Max) number of users assigned to this thread group.
Thread Type Type of thread used: see Natural User Session Statistics.
Thread Size Thread group's common thread size.
Strg Used Maximum storage ever used by a session that uses this thread group.
TCBs Maximum number of sessions concurrently active.

Queue Sizes
Cur / Max / AtMax

Current (Cur) and maximum (Max) queue size for the thread group's central wait queue and the number of times the maximum was reached (AtMax).

Only applies if the parameter THREADS has been defined as greater than zero for this thread group. See also THREADS - Number of Threads or Tasks Per Thread Group in the TP Monitor Interfaces documentation.

Max Compr* Maximum compressed length of this thread group.

Active Tasks*
Cur / Max / AtMax

Current and maximum number of CICS tasks such as sessions concurrently active in a thread group and the number of times this maximum was reached.

VSAM
Aux / Main

Roll facilities defined for group; CICS temporary storage (auxiliary or main) always backs up VSAM if VSAM roll files are not available or full.

* These columns are only displayed if you press PF10. If pressed again, it switches back to the default display.

Commands for Natural Thread Groups

In addition to the commands described in Using SYSTP Utility Screens, the Natural Thread Groups screen provides the following PF keys and line commands:

PF Key Line Command Function
PF4 U Displays all Natural user sessions (see the relevant section) that use the thread group marked with the cursor/command.
PF10 - Toggles between the display of the following columns:

TCBs and Queue Sizes
(default display)

and

Max Compr and Active Tasks.

- T Displays Natural storage threads (see below) for the thread group marked with the cursor/command.
- D Displays Natural thread group definitions (see the relevant section) for the thread group marked with the cursor/command.

Natural Storage Threads

This function is used to display information about the storage threads in the Natural environment.

When you invoke this function, the Natural Storage Threads screen appears for the current CICS region (as indicated by the CICS ID in the screen title). The screen displays the following information:

Column Explanation
Thread Name Name of the thread.
Grp No. Number of the group to which this thread belongs.
Thrd Size Usable thread size.
Strg Used Maximum storage ever used by a session that uses this thread.
Use Count Number of times this thread has been selected for processing.

Roll-Ins
Log. / Phys.

Number of roll-in operations:
 
Log. Session resumes.
 
Phys. Roll-in from roll facility.

Queue Sizes
Cur / Max / AtMax

Number of users waiting in the queue:
 
Cur Current number of users queuing on thread. If this number n is greater than 1, n minus 1 users are waiting.
 
Max Maximum queue count for this thread.
 
AtMax Number of times at maximum.
Term ID Terminal ID belonging to the Natural session whose data are in this thread.
Task No. ID of CICS task currently active in this thread. If no ID is displayed, no session is active is this thread.

Commands for Natural Storage Threads

In addition to the commands described in Using SYSTP Utility Screens, the Natural Storage Threads screen provides the following line commands and PF key:

Line Command PF Key Function
C - See Cancel session in Natural User Sessions.
D PF11 Displays Natural thread group definitions (see the relevant section).
F - See Flush session in Natural User Sessions.
G PF10 Displays Natural thread group (see the relevant section).
R - See Reactivate session in Natural User Sessions.
U - Displays statistics about the Natural user sessions currently active in the thread. See also Natural User Session Statistics.

NCI Global System Information

This function is used to display data on the system directory.

When you invoke this function, the Global System Information screen appears for the current CICS region (as indicated by the CICS ID in the screen title). The screen provides the following information:

Field Explanation
Natural User Sessions Current (Cur) and maximum (Max) number of Natural sessions in the system.
Concurrent SCP Active Current (Cur) and maximum (Max) number of concurrent system control program (SCP) requests.

SCP requests are: session initialization, session suspension, session resumption and session termination.

SIR Block Extensions Current (Cur) and maximum (Max) number of local SIR block extensions.
Slots in 1st SIR Block Number of user sessions that fit into the primary user control block (first USERS subparameter in NCMDIR macro; see USERS - Session Information Record*).
Slots in SIR Block Extns Number of user sessions that fit into a secondary user control block (second USERS subparameter in NCMDIR macro; see USERS - Session Information Record*).
VSAM Roll File Slots Number of VSAM roll files to check.
Possible Roll Facilities Number of VSAM roll files plus two for CICS (MAINSTOR and TEMPSTOR).
Thread Groups Number of thread groups determined by evaluating all NCMTGD macro specifications at system startup. See also NCMTGD Macro Parameters*.
System Recoveries Number of corrections of statistics counts and/or control block chain.
Size of DIR Extension (B) Number of bytes used at system startup for thread control blocks and VSAM roll file online directories.
Operating System Host ID Name of the operating system image.
Assembled Last Date and time when the system directory source module was last assembled.
CICS System ID ID of the CICS region.
Available Resources:

Swap Pool
Local Buff. Pool
Sort Buffer Pool
DL/I Buffer Pool
Edit Buffer Pool
Monitor Pool
RNM Buffer Pool

Resources available in the current NCI system environment: swap pools, Natural buffer pools, monitor buffer pools and RNM buffer pools.

Type, size (in KB) and location (below or above the 16 MB line) of all buffer pools supported.

Max Thread Size Largest thread size across all valid thread groups.
VSAM Roll Files Number of VSAM roll files.
Main/Aux TempStor Indicates whether CICS main or auxiliary temporary storage is available for the Natural/CICS roll facilities.
Session Logging Indicates whether the Natural/CICS log destination is defined in the CICS DCT (destination control table) and whether the log destination is available. The log destination for sessions is defined with the LOGDEST* parameter.
Message Logging Indicates whether the Natural/CICS error message log destination is defined in the CICS DCT and whether the log destination is available.

The log destination for messages is defined with the MSGDEST* parameter.

Message Switching Indicates whether the message switching transaction ID is defined in CICS and whether the transaction ID is available. The transaction for switching messages is defined with the MSGTRAN* parameter.

If a transaction ID is not available, a SYSTP session flush (see Flush session in Natural User Sessions) is not possible.

Console Terminal Indicates whether the CICS console terminal for Natural/CICS is available.

* This parameter is contained in the NCMPRM macro of the NCIPARM parameter module, or the NTCICSP macro of the Natural parameter module depending on the Natural CICS Interface version installed. The macros are described in the TP Monitor Interfaces and Parameter Reference documentation, respectively.

NCI Generation Options

This function is used to display generation parameter settings for Natural running under CICS. The values of these parameters are determined in the macro NCMPRM of the NCIPARM parameter module, or the NTCICSP macro of the Natural parameter module (depending on the Natural CICS Interface version installed) and created during installation.

When you invoke this function, the Generation Options screen appears for the current CICS region (as indicated by the CICS ID in the screen title). This screen displays an overview of the generation option settings for Natural.

Behind each parameter setting in the Generation Options screen is a parameter of the NCMPRM or NTCICSP macro. These parameter names can be viewed by pressing PF10. Press PF10 to toggle between the screen containing the parameter names and explanations of the parameters.

Related Topics:

Natural Thread Group Definitions

This function is used to display Natural thread group definitions.

When you invoke this function, the Natural Thread Group Definitions screen appears for the current CICS region (as indicated by the CICS ID in the screen title). This screen displays the following information:

Column Explanation
Grp No. Thread group number.
Group Type
Type of group definition:
 
SHR Permanent storage threads to be used for thread group.
 
GETM Storage threads allocated by using GETMAIN.
 
none No threads to be used; all Natural storage requests are passed to CICS.
 
Alias Thread group redefinition to assign other primary roll facility triggered by transaction ID/task request key.
Roll Fac. Primary roll facility assigned:

VSAM, Aux (auxiliary temporary storage), Main (main temporary storage) or none (no roll facility assigned).

Thread Size Thread storage GETMAIN size (for thread group types GETM and SHR).
TCBs Maximum number of Natural sessions concurrently active in this thread group.
Transaction IDs / Task Request Keys As defined in the CICS transaction definitions for Natural.

Commands for Natural Thread Group Definitions

In addition to the commands described in Using SYSTP Utility Screens, the Natural Thread Group Definitions screen provides the following PF keys and corresponding line commands:

PF Key Line Command Function
PF4 S Displays thread group definitions for the thread group marked with the cursor/command.
PF10 G Displays Natural storage threads (see the relevant section) associated with the thread group marked with the cursor/command.

Own Natural User Session

This function invokes the Natural User Session Statistics screen described in Natural User Session Statistics.

CICS Task Information

This function invokes the SYSTP Task Information window, which displays status information about the Natural task in a CICS environment.

System Administration Facilities

This function is used to access facilities for debugging and tracing.

When you invoke this function, a menu appears with the following functions:

Trace Facilities

This function reserved for internal use by Software AG personnel only.

Debugging Facilities

This function reserved for internal use by Software AG personnel only.

System Snapshot for Logging

This function provides complete SYSTP batch reports (see also SYSTP in Batch for CICS Sessions) with information about all SCP facilities, regardless of whether they have been used or not. Such facilities are:

  • Thread groups

  • TYPE=SHR threads

  • Roll facilities

All this information is logged to the Natural/CICS log file, if available.

Reset System Highwater Marks

This function comprises the system snapshot function previously described. In addition, all system highwater marks can be reset, for example:

  • The number of user sessions.

  • Every thread group and roll facility.

  • The number of UCB block extensions.

  • The amount of storage.

  • All thread groups and TYPE=SHR threads.

  • All wait queue values and counts.

  • All roll facility roll counts.

Common Dynamic Parms Control Information

This function displays common dynamic profile parameters as retrieved from the PRMDEST destination, if available. See also PRMDEST - Name of the Natural CICS Profile Parameter Input Destination described in the TP Monitor Interfaces documentation.

Applied NCI Source Changes

This function invokes the Applied NCI Source Changes screen for the current CICS region (as indicated by the CICS ID in the screen title). This screen displays the numbers of all source changes that have been applied to the current Natural TP environment.

Applied NCI Zaps

This function invokes the Applied NCI Zaps screen for the current CICS region (as indicated by the CICS ID in the screen title). This screen displays the numbers of all Zaps that have been applied to the current Natural TP environment.