RPC Online Maintenance Facility

The RPC Online Maintenance Facility - the CICS transaction ERXM - enables you to monitor server activity, start and stop the RPC Server for CICS manually and to modify various aspects of its behavior. This document covers the following topics:

Monitoring the RPC Server for CICS

The parameters in the following screens are described under Configuring the RPC Server.

Start of instruction setTo call the RPC Online Maintenance Facility and display the RPC Broker Parameters

  • Start the CICS transaction

    ERXM [MEM=erxmain-control-block]

    where erxmain-control-block is the name of the ERXMAIN control block. See ERXMAIN Control Block under Customizing the RPC Server.

    The RPC Broker Parameter map is displayed:

     11:56:56           --- ERX CICS Online utility  V109.0 ---           31/11/2022
                             RPC Broker Parameter

   Broker parameter
    Broker name    = ETB001
    Class name     = RPC
    Server name    = SRV2
    Service name   = CALLNAT
    
    User ID        = ERXSRV1
    Logon          = Yes

    Code page      =
    Server timeout = 60
    Compress level = N 
    ETBLNK         = CICSETB


   COMMAND ===>
 ===============================================================================
 PF01=Help   03=Exit   04=Control       05=Broker parms      06=Server parms
                       08=Start server  09=Ping server       10=Stop server

    Press PF05 from any map to return to the RPC Broker Parameter map.

Start of instruction setTo display the RPC Server Parameters

  • Press PF06 from any map and the RPC Server Parameters will be displayed: 

    12:03:05           --- ERX CICS Online utility  V109.0 ---           31/11/2022
                            RPC Server Parameter

   Server parameter
    # Min. Workers =     2             Trace Level    = 0
    # Max. Workers =     2             Trace Dest.(TD)= CSSL
    Ending Workers = Never
    Impersonation  = No
    Deployment     = Yes
    Restart Cycles =    3

    Server options =  SVM      AutoSYNC
    Marshal options=

   CICS parameter                      Mapping file   = ERXSVM   (Prefered)
    Memory name    = ERXMAIN  (V900)    Dsn(ENTIREX.SVMDEV.KSDS)
    Transaction ID = ESRV               Opn Add Rea Upd Del

  COMMAND ===>
===============================================================================
PF01=Help   03=Exit   04=Control       05=Broker parms      06=Server parms
                      08=Start server  09=Ping server       10=Stop server

Start of instruction setTo display the RPC Server Control map

  • Press PF04. 

     12:07:18           --- ERX CICS Online utility  V109.0 ---           31/11/2022
                              RPC Server Control
   MAIN Task
    Status          Running

   WORKER Tasks
    Registered             2
    Busy                   0
    Maximum busy           2

   USER Tasks
    Active                 0
    Max. active            0

   BrokerId in use:     ETB001
   Class in use:        RPC
   Server Name in use:  SRV1
   Service in use:      CALLNAT

   COMMAND ===>
 ===============================================================================
 PF01=Help   03=Exit   04=Control       05=Broker parms      06=Server parms
                       08=Start server  09=Ping server       10=Stop server

Start of instruction setTo display help for the RPC Online Maintenance Facility

  • Enter Help or press PF01.

Start of instruction setTo stop the RPC Online Maintenance Facility

  • Enter Exit or press PF03.

Starting the RPC Server for CICS

Start of instruction setTo start the RPC Server for CICS using the RPC Online Maintenance Facility

  1. Start the CICS transaction ERXM to call the RPC Online Maintenance Facility. See also Monitoring the RPC Server for CICS.

  2. Start the server with the PF08 key or with the command start.

    The status of the MAIN task (see RPC server control panel) changes to "is running". The defined number (see ERXMAIN macro parameter MINW) of worker tasks that are registered is displayed.

If an error occurred and the RPC Server for CICS is not correctly registered in the broker, but the number of currently active worker tasks is not zero:

  • Check with CICS command CEMT INQUIRE TASK whether server instances are already running. If yes, stop them using native CICS commands.

  • Verify the server parameters matching your system requirements. See column 2 of table under Configuring the RPC Server.

  • Then issue command start or use PF08.

Alternatively, you can use the start command from the console. See Console Commands for the RPC Server for CICS.

Pinging the RPC Server for CICS

Start of instruction setTo ping the RPC Server for CICS using the RPC Online Maintenance Facility

  1. Start the CICS transaction ERXM to call the EntireX RPC Online Maintenance Facility. See Monitoring the RPC Server for CICS.

  2. Issue the command ping or use PF09.

Alternatively you can use the ping command from the console. See Console Commands for the RPC Server for CICS.

Stopping the RPC Server for CICS

Start of instruction setTo stop the RPC Server for CICS using the RPC Online Maintenance Facility

  1. Start the CICS transaction ERXM to call the RPC Online Maintenance Facility. See Monitoring the RPC Server for CICS.

  2. Issue the stop command or use PF10. This ensures correct deregistration from broker and all worker threads are shut down.

Alternatively, you can use the stop command from the console. See Console Commands for the RPC Server for CICS.

Modifying Parameters of the RPC Server for CICS

With RPC Online Maintenance Facility commands, RPC Server for CICS parameters can be temporarily modified. Modifications are lost if CICS is restarted. The purpose of the commands is to try out easily new configurations. For persistent modifications (setup) of the RPC Server for CICS, reassemble the ERXMAIN Control Block using the ERXMAIN Macro.

Start of instruction setTo modify the RPC Server for CICS parameters using the RPC Online Maintenance Facility

  1. Start the CICS transaction ERXM to call the RPC Online Maintenance Facility. See Monitoring the RPC Server for CICS.

  2. Use the appropriate RPC Online Maintenance Facility command to modify the parameters. See the column 2 of table under Configuring the RPC Server.

Activating Tracing for the RPC Server for CICS

Start of instruction setTo switch on tracing for the RPC Server for CICS using the RPC Online Maintenance Facility

A prerequisite to switch on tracing is a valid defined trace destination. We recommend defining it permanently, see ERXMAIN macro parameter TRC1.

  1. Start the CICS transaction ERXM to call the RPC Online Maintenance Facility. See Monitoring the RPC Server for CICS.

  2. Temporarily change the trace level with the command tracelevel=tracelevel, where tracelevel is one of None, Standard, Advanced or Support. See ERXMAIN macro parameter TRLV.

    Example: tracelevel=Standard

  3. Dynamically change the trace option with the command traceoption=traceoption, where traceoption is one of None, STUBLOG or NOTRUNC. See ERXMAIN macro parameter TROP.

    Example: traceoption=NOTRUNC

To evaluate RPC Server for CICS return codes, see EntireX RPC Server Return Codes.

Alternatively, you can issue the command from the console. See Console Commands for the RPC Server for CICS.

Console Commands for the RPC Server for CICS

The RPC Online Maintenance Facility ERXM can be used directly from a z/OS console using the z/OS command MODIFY /F. In the command syntax below:

  • cics-name is the name of the CICS job

  • erxmain-control-block is the name of the ERXMAIN Control Block. It can be omitted if the default name ERXMAIN is used.

  • No blanks are allowed in the string provided to ERXM, for example MEM=erxmain-control-block,CMD=...

Start of instruction setTo start the RPC Server for CICS from a z/OS console

  • Use the following z/OS MODIFY command: 

    F cics-name,ERXM [MEM=erxmain-control-block,]CMD=START

Start of instruction setTo ping the RPC Server for CICS from a z/OS console

  • Use the following z/OS MODIFY command: 

    F cics-name,ERXM [MEM=erxmain-control-block,]CMD=PING

Start of instruction setTo stop the RPC Server for CICS from a z/OS console

  • Use the following z/OS MODIFY command: 

    F cics-name,ERXM [MEM=erxmain-control-block,]CMD=STOP

Start of instruction setTo switch on tracing for the RPC Server for CICS from a z/OS console