Managing the Broker Persistent Store

The persistent store is used for storing unit-of-work messages to disk. This means message and status information can be recovered after a hardware or software failure to the previous commit point issued by each application component.

Under z/OS, the broker persistent store can be implemented with:

  • the Adabas database of Software AG

  • a VSAM linear data set (LDS) accessed using Data In Virtual (DIV)

This document covers the following topics:

See also Concepts of Persistent Messaging.


Implementing an Adabas Database as Persistent Store

Introduction

EntireX provides an Adabas persistent driver. This enables Broker unit of work (UOW) messages and their status to be stored in an Adabas file. It is designed to work with Adabas databases under z/OS, UNIX, Windows, BS2000 and z/VSE, and can be used where the database resides on a different machine to Broker kernel. For performance reasons, we recommend using EntireX Broker on the same machine as the Adabas database.

Configuring and Operating the Adabas Persistent Store

Selecting the Adabas Persistent Store Driver

The Adabas persistent store driver module is contained within the regular Broker load library or binaries directory. Module ADAPSI is activated by specifying the PSTORE-TYPE parameter. Use the supplied job EXBJ015 from data set EXX103.JOBS to define and install the persistent store file in your Adabas database. This job creates and loads the Adabas file into the database.

Restrictions

If a HOT start is performed, the Broker kernel must be executed on the same platform on which also the previous Broker executed. This is because some portions of the persistent data are stored in the native character set and format of the Broker kernel. It is also necessary to start Broker with the same Broker ID as the previous Broker executed.

If a COLD start is executed, a check is made to ensure the Broker ID and platform information found in the persistent store file is consistent with the Broker being started (provided the persistent store file is not empty). This is done to prevent accidental deletion of data in the persistent store by a different Broker ID. If you intend to COLD start Broker and to utilize a persistent store file which has been used previously by a different Broker ID, you must supply the additional PSTORE-TYPE parameter FORCE-COLD=Y.

Recommendations

  • Perform regular backup operations on your Adabas database. The persistent store driver writes C1 checkpoint records at each start up and shut down of Broker.

  • Significant performance improvements can be achieved using Adabas/Fastpath where available. See Adabas/Fastpath documentation for details of installation and configuration of Adabas/Fastpath.

  • For performance reasons, execute Broker on the same machine as Adabas.

Broker Checkpoints in Adabas

During startup, Broker writes the following C1 checkpoint records to the Adabas database. The time, date and job name are recorded in the Adabas checkpoint log. This enables Adabas protection logs to be coordinated with Broker executions. This information can be read from Adabas, using the ADAREP utility with option CPLIST:

Broker Execution Name Broker Execution Type Adabas
ETBC Broker Cold Start Normal Cold Start
ETBH Broker Hot Start Normal Hot Start
ETBT Broker Termination Normal Termination

Adabas DBA Considerations

BLKSIZE : Adabas Persistent Store Parameter for Broker

Caution should be exercised when defining the block size (BLKSIZE) parameter for the Adabas persistent store. This determines how much UOW message data can be stored within a single Adabas record. Therefore, do not define a much larger block size than the size of the maximum unit of work being processed by Broker. (Remember to add 41 bytes for each message in the unit of work.) The advantage of having a good fit between the unit of work and the block size is that fewer records are required for each I/O operation.

It is necessary to consider the following Adabas parameters and settings when using Adabas for the persistent store file:

Table of Adabas Parameter Settings

Topic Description
Allowing Sufficient Adabas UQ Elements Allow sufficient Adabas user queue (UQ) elements each time you start Broker. The Broker utilizes a number of user queue elements equal to the number of worker tasks (NUM-WORKER), plus two. Adabas timeout parameter (TNAE) determines how long the user queue elements will remain. This can be important if Broker is restarted after an abnormal termination, and provision must be made for sufficient user queue elements in the event of restarting Broker.

Sample JCL SAGJ014 is provided in data set EXX103.JOBS for z/OS to enforce clean-up of any user queue element belonging to the previous Broker job. This JCL can be inserted into the job step before starting up Broker.

Setting Size of Hold Queue Parameters Consideration must be given to the Adabas hold queue parameters NISNHQ and NH. These must be sufficiently large to allow Adabas to add/update/delete the actual number of records within a single unit of work.

Example: where there are 100 message within a unit of work and the average message size is 10,000 bytes, the total unit of work size is 1 MB. If, for example, a 2 KB block size (default BLKSIZE=2000) is utilized by the Adabas persistent store driver, there will be 500 distinct records within a single Adabas commit (ET) operation, and provision must be made for this to occur successfully.

Setting Adabas TT Parameter Consideration must be given to the Adabas transaction time (TT) parameter for cases where a large number of records is being updated within a single unit of work.
Defining LWP Size Sufficient logical work pool (LWP) size must be defined so that the Adabas persistent store can update and commit the units of work. Adabas must be able to accommodate this in addition to any other processing for which it is used.
Executing Broker Kernel and Adabas Nucleus on Separate Machines If Broker kernel is executed on a separate machine to the Adabas nucleus, with a different architecture and codepage, then we recommend running the Adabas nucleus with the UEC (universal conversion) option in order to ensure that Adabas C1 checkpoints are legible within the Adabas checkpoint log.
Setting INDEXCOMPRESSION=YES This Adabas option can be applied to the Adabas file to reduce by approximately 50% the amount of space consumed in the indexes. This is the default setting in job EXBJ015, which is supplied in data set EXX103.JOBS to define the Adabas persistent store file.
4-byte ISNs If you anticipate having more than 16 million records within the persistent store file, you must use 4-byte ISNs when defining the Adabas file for EntireX.
Specification of Adabas LP Parameter
Warning:
This parameter must be specified large enough to allow the largest UOW to be stored in Adabas.
If this is not large enough, Broker will detect an error (response 9; subresponse - 4 bytes - X'0003',C'LP') and Broker will not be able to write any further UOWs.

See the description of the LP parameter under ADARUN Parameters in theDBA Reference Summary of the Adabas documentation.

Estimating the Number of Records to be Stored

To calculate the Adabas file size it is necessary to estimate the number of records being stored. As an approximate guide, there will be one Adabas record (500 bytes) for each unprocessed unit of work, plus also n records containing the actual message data, which depends on the logical block size and the size of the unit of work. In addition, there will be one single record (500 bytes) for each unit of work having a persisted status.

Always allow ample space for the Adabas persistent store file since the continuous operation of Broker relies of the availability of this file to store and retrieve information.

Note:
If the Adabas file space is exceeded, no new units of work will be accepted.

Estimating the Number of Records to be Stored

In this example there are 100,000 Active UOW records at any one time. Each of these is associated with two message records containing the message data. UOW records are 500 bytes in length. Each message record contains 2,000 bytes. In addition, there are 500,000 UOW status records residing in the persistent store, for which the UOW has already been completely processed. These are 500 bytes long.

Note:
The actual size of the data stored within the UOW message records is the sum of all the messages within the UOW, plus a 41-byte header for each message. Therefore, if the average message length is 59 bytes, the two 2,000 bytes, messages records, could contain n = 4,000 / (59+41), or 40 messages. Adabas is assumed to compress the message data by 50% in the example (this can vary according to the nature of the message data).

3-byte ISNs and RABNs are assumed in this example. A device type of 8393 is used; therefore, the ASSO block size is 4,096, and DATA block size is 27,644. Padding factor of 10% is specified.

The following example calculates the space needed for Normal Index (NI), Upper Index (UI), Address Converter (AC) and Data Storage (DS).

Calculation Factors Required Space
  • Number entries for descriptor WK

    (21-byte unique key)

  • = number UOW records: 0.1 + 0.5 million

    + number message records: 0.2 million

  • NI Space for descriptor WK

  • (3-byte ISN )

  • (4,092 ASSO block 10% padding)

  • = 800,000 * (3 + 21 + 2)

  • = 20,800,000 bytes

  • = 5,648 blocks

  • UI Space for descriptor WK

  • (3-byte ISN + 3-byte RABN)

  • (4,092 ASSO block 10% padding)

  • = 5,648 * (21 + 3 + 3 + 1)

  • = 158,140 bytes

  • = 43 blocks

  • Number entries for descriptor WI

    (8-byte unique key)

  • = number processed UOW records: 0.5 million

  • NI Space for descriptor WI

  • (3-byte ISN)

  • (4,092 ASSO block 10% padding)

  • = 500,000 * (3 + 8 + 2)

  • = 6,500,000 bytes

  • = 1,765 blocks

  • UI Space for descriptor WI

  • (3-byte ISN and 3 byte RABN)

  • (4,092 ASSO block 10% padding)

  • = 17,649 * (8 + 3 + 3 + 1)

  • = 26,475 bytes

  • = 8 blocks

  • Number entries for descriptor WL

    (96 byte key)

  • = number UOW records 0.1 + 0.5 million

  • NI Space for descriptor WL

  • (3-byte ISN)

  • (4,092 ASSO block 10% padding)

  • = 600,000 * (3 + 96 + 2)

  • = 60,600,000 bytes

  • = 16,455 blocks

  • UI Space for descriptor WL

  • (3-byte ISN and 3 byte RABN)

  • (4,092 ASSO block 10% padding)

  • = 164,548 * (96 + 3 + 3 + 1)

  • = 16,948,517 bytes

  • = 461 blocks

  • Address Converter space

  • (4,092 ASSO block)

  • = (800,000 + 1) * 3 / 4092

  • = 587 blocks

  • Data storage for message data

    (2,000-byte records compressed by 50%)

  • = 0.2 million * 2000 * 0.5 = 200,000,000 bytes

  • Data storage for UOW data

    (2,000-byte records compressed by 50%)

  • = 0.6 million * 500 * 0.5 = 150,000,000 byte

  • Combined space required for data

    (27,644 DATA block 10% padding)

  • = 14,068 blocks

Entity Requiring Space Total Required Space
Normal Index (NI) = 23,868 blocks
Upper Index (UI) = 512 blocks
Data Storage (DS) = 14,068 blocks
Address Converter (AC) = 587 blocks

Tips on Transports, Platforms and Versions

  • Entire Net-Work
    If you intend to use Adabas persistent store through Entire Net-Work, see the Entire Net-Work documentation for installation and configuration details.

  • Adabas Versions
    Adabas persistent store can be used on all Adabas versions currently released and supported by Software AG.

  • Prerequisite Versions of Entire Net-Work with Adabas
    See the Adabas and Entire Net-Work documentation to determine prerequisite versions of Entire Net-Work to use with Adabas at your site.

Implementing a DIV Persistent Store

Note:
From EntireX version 9.7, broker attribute PSTORE-VERSION must be set to 4 for a persistent store of type DIV. If you were using a lower version, you will need to perform a cold start. See PSTORE=COLD under Broker Attributes.

This section covers the following topics:

Introduction

The persistent store is implemented as a VSAM linear data set (LDS) accessed using Data In Virtual (DIV). This DIV persistent store is a container for units of work.

DIV is an access method that utilizes the system paging facilities for fast I/O to and from an LDS. Performance is best if the LDS is placed on the fastest storage device available such as those used for paging. An LDS may span multiple volumes.

The DIV persistent store has an internal structure that is formatted by EntireX Broker during a COLD start (see broker attribute PSTORE). This format is controlled by format parameter statements that the Broker reads from the attribute file. See DIV-specific Attributes.

Persistent store data sets are maintained using the IBM z/OS utility IDCAMS. See Operations using IDCAMS for more information.

Format Parameters

Note:
This method of specifying persistent store format parameters is deprecated, but still supported for compatibility reasons. We recommend you use the attributes introduced with EntireX version 9.12 instead. See DIV-specific Attributes.

The persistent store format parameters define how a persistent store is formatted during a cold start operation and how it is accessed during all operations. These parameters are supplied in the attribute file section DEFAULTS=DIV. Knowledge of the application usage of units of work (UOWs) will be very helpful in selecting appropriate values for the parameters used to define the persistent store.

The persistent store format parameters file must begin with the word DEFINE, followed by "parameter name parameter value" specifications. Each parameter name must be separated from the parameter value by whitespace (blanks, tabs, or new lines). Comments may be added to the file. A comment begins with /* and ends with */, just as in the C language. The parameters must be entered in uppercase. In the following parameter descriptions, lowercase is used to denote variables:

DEFINE STORE name             
    DDNAME ddname
    DATASPACE NAME name-of-dataspace
    DATASPACE PAGES count-of-pages
Parameter Value Opt/
Req
Description
STORE A8 R Defines an internal name that is used to identify the persistent store.
DDNAME A8 R Defines the JCL DDNAME that will be used to access the persistent store.
DATASPACE NAME A8 O Defines the name of the data space that will be used to map the persistent store.

Default value=DSPSTORE.

DATASPACE PAGES 126-524284 O Defines the size of the dataspace used to map the persistent store (size=DATASPACE-PAGES * 4 KB). We recommend using the maximum value.

Default value is 2048.

Example

DEFAULTS = DIV
DIV = "DEFINE STORE PSD01 DDNAME STORE01"

Operations using IDCAMS

This section covers the following topics:

Defining a Persistent Store Linear Data Set

The following IDCAMS statement can be used to allocate the persistent store. It assumes that the local environment is using z/OS SMS for data management. SMS allows for simple definition, but it may not be used at your site or it may not provide optimal performance. You may therefore need to modify the following statement under the direction of your local system administrator:

DEFINE CLUSTER (NAME(dsn_pstore) -
MEGABYTES(15,5) - 
SHAREOPTIONS(1,3) - /*this is required*/
LINEAR) /*this is required*/

where dsn_pstore is the DSNAME you chose for the PSTORE linear data set (LDS).

Note:
The size of the linear data set (LDS) should be 16K times the value specified for DATASPACE PAGES. For example, 16K * 2048 = 32768K = 32M would be the LDS size needed to contain the default number of pages. Less than the required amount will cause initialization to fail; more will be unused space.

Printing a Persistent Store for Diagnosis

The following statement lists the catalog information for the linear data set:

LISTCAT ENTRIES(dsn_pstore) ALL

where dsn_pstore is the DSNAME you chose for the PSTORE linear data set (LDS).

The following statement prints the contents of a persistent store in dump format:

PRINT IDS(dsn_pstore) DUMP

Copying a Persistent Store for Backup or Diagnosis

REPRO IDS(dsn_pstore) ODS(your_backup_name)

Sample IDCAMS JCL

Sample JCL is provided as member IDCAMS in the installation source library. Each operation is contained in a separate DD. To select an operation, modify the SYSIN DD DDNAME= to the name of the DD enclosing the statements to be selected.

Migrating the Persistent Store

The contents of EntireX Broker's persistent store can be migrated to a new persistent store in order to change the PSTORE type or to use the same type of PSTORE with increased capacity.

The migration procedure outlined here requires two Broker instances started with a special RUN-MODE parameter. One Broker unloads the contents of the persistent store and transmits the data to the other Broker, which loads data into the new PSTORE. Therefore, for the purposes of this discussion, we will refer to an unload Broker and a load Broker.

This procedure is based on Broker-to-Broker communication to establish a communication link between two Broker instances. It does not use any conversion facilities, since the migration procedure is supported for homogeneous platforms only.

Configuration

The migration procedure requires two Broker instances started with the RUN-MODE parameter. The unload Broker should be started with the following attribute:

RUN-MODE=PSTORE-UNLOAD

The load Broker should be started with the following attribute:

RUN-MODE=PSTORE-LOAD

These commands instruct the Broker instances to perform the PSTORE migration.

Note:
The attribute PARTNER-CLUSTER-ADDRESS must be defined in both Broker instances to specify the transport address of the load Broker. The unload Broker must know the address of the load broker, and the load Broker must in turn know the address of the unload Broker.

Example:

Broker ETB001 performs the unload on host HOST1, and Broker ETB002 performs the load on host HOST2. The transmission is based on TCP/IP. Therefore, Broker ETB001 starts the TCP/IP communicator to establish port 1971, and Broker ETB002 starts the TCP/IP communicator to establish port 1972.

For ETB001, attribute PARTNER-CLUSTER-ADDRESS=HOST2:1972:TCP is set, and for ETB002, attribute PARTNER-CLUSTER-ADDRESS=HOST1:1971:TCP is set to establish the Broker-to-Broker communication between the two Broker instances.

In addition to attributes RUN-MODE and PARTNER-CLUSTER-ADDRESS, a fully functioning Broker configuration is required when starting the two Broker instances. To access an existing PSTORE on the unloader side, you must set the attribute PSTORE=HOT. To load the data into the new PSTORE on the loader side, you must set the attribute PSTORE=COLD. The load process requires an empty PSTORE at the beginning of the load process.

Note:
Use caution not to assign PSTORE=COLD to your unload Broker instance, as this startup process will erase all data currently in the PSTORE.

For the migration process, the unload Broker and the load Broker must be assigned different persistent stores.

A report can be generated to detail all of the contents of the existing persistent store. At the end of the migration process, a second report can be run on the resulting new persistent store. These two reports can be compared to ensure that all contents were migrated properly. To run these reports, set the attribute PSTORE-REPORT=YES. See PSTORE for detailed description, especially for the file assignment.

Migration Procedure

The migration procedure is made up of three steps.

Step 1

The unload Broker and the load Broker instances can be started independently of each other. Each instance will wait for the other to become available before starting the unload/load procedure.

The unload Broker instance sends a handshake request to the load Broker instance in order to perform an initial compatibility check. This validation is performed by Broker according to platform architecture type and Broker version number. The handshake ensures a correctly configured partner cluster address and ensures that the user did not assign the same PSTORE to both Broker instances. If a problem is detected, an error message will be issued and both Broker instances will stop.

Step 2

The unload Broker instance reads all PSTORE data in a special non-destructive raw mode and transmits the data to the load Broker instance. The load Broker instance writes the unchanged raw data to the new PSTORE. A report is created if PSTORE-REPORT=YES is specified, and a valid output file for the report is specified.

Step 3

The unload Broker instance requests a summary report from the load Broker instance to compare the amount of migrated data. The result of this check is reported by the unload Broker instance and the load Broker instance before they shut down.

When a Broker instances is started in RUN-MODE=PSTORE-LOAD or RUN-MODE=PSTORE-UNLOAD, the Broker instances only allow Administration requests. All other user requests are prohibited.

Notes:

  1. The contents of the persistent store are copied to the new persistent store as an exact replica. No filtering of unnecessary information will be performed, for example, UOWs in received state. The master records will not be updated.
  2. Before restarting your Broker with the new persistent store, be sure to change your PSTORE attribute to PSTORE=HOT. Do not start your broker with the new persistence store using PSTORE=COLD; this startup process will erase all of the data in your persistent store.
  3. After completing the migration process and restarting your broker in a normal run-mode, it is important not to bring both the new PSTORE and the old PSTORE back online using separate Broker instances; otherwise, applications would receive the same data twice. Once the migration process is completed satisfactorily, and is validated, the old PSTORE contents should be discarded.