RPC Online Maintenance Facility

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

Monitoring the RPC Server

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  V990.0 ---           06/02/2014
                             RPC Broker Parameter


   Broker parameter
    Broker name    = ETB001
    Class name     = RPC
    Server name    = SRV1
    Service name   = CALLNAT
    User ID        = ERXSRV1
    Code page      =

    Logon          = No                     Server timeout =   600
                                            Encryptionlevel=   0
                                            Compression lvl=   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  V990.0 ---           06/02/2014
                            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
    SMH Port       =

    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  V990.0 ---           06/02/2014
                              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

Start of instruction setTo start the CICS RPC Server 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.

  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 CICS RPC Server 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.

Pinging the RPC Server

Start of instruction setTo ping the CICS RPC Server 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.

  2. Issue the command ping or use PF09.

Alternative Method

Stopping the RPC Server

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

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

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

Modifying Parameters of the RPC Server

With RPC Online Maintenance Facility commands, CICS RPC Server 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 CICS RPC Server, reassemble the ERXMAIN Control Block using the ERXMAIN Macro.

Start of instruction setTo modify the CICS RPC Server 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.

  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

Start of instruction setTo switch on tracing for the CICS RPC Server 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.

  2. Use the command tracelevel=tracelevel, where tracelevel is one of None, Standard, Advanced or Support. See ERXMAIN macro parameter TRLV.

    Example: tracelevel=Standard

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

Console Commands for the RPC Server

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 CICS RPC Server 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 CICS RPC Server 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 CICS RPC Server 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 CICS RPC Server from a z/OS console