Chapter 2. System enhancements 39
Transactions must come in through IMS Connect or OTMA:
– IMS TM Resource Adapter (IMS Connector for Java) through IMS Connect and OTMA
– MQBridge through OTMA
For more information about OTMA, see IMS Version 10: Communications and Connections
Guide, SC18-9703. For more information about IMS and WLM, see IMS Version 10: System
Administration Guide, SC18-9718.
2.6 IMS Abend Search and Notification
IMS Version 10 provides a new diagnostic tool for system administrators, the IMS Abend
Search and Notification (ASN) capability. It automatically notifies a designated set of contacts
of an IMS abnormal termination (abend) and includes direct access to guidance on how to
resolve the abend. IMS ASN also enables you to create a notification on demand and have it
sent to a designated set of contacts containing information about an IMS abend or failure. In
this section, we discuss IMS ASN:
Functionality and benefits
Prerequisites
Installation
Customization components
2.6.1 Functionality and benefits
You can configure IMS ASN to automatically notify you when an IMS abends, or you can use
it proactively to obtain guidance for an abend that has already occurred. These two methods
of using ASN are referred to as
event driven ASN and on demand ASN, respectively. IMS ASN
does not interfere with existing IMS programs, transactions, or database-related activity and
is activated only when an IMS abend occurs. Messages are sent internally from the IMS
system task without including sensitive information, such as client data. We now explore each
of the IMS ASN methods in further detail.
Event driven ASN
When an abend occurs, IMS sends a message that contains an abend code to an operator’s
console or to the master terminal operator (MTO). This process delays a response, because
the operator who can respond to the abend might not physically be at the console when the
message is sent. Therefore, action in response to the abend is delayed until the message
reaches the correct operator.
Event driven ASN enables IMS to send an e-mail or SMS text message to a designated
e-mail address, or mobile devices, respectively, when an abend occurs, in order to:
Notify the correct operator of an abend
Provide a Web address (URL) to the location of additional informational resources, such
as IMS product documentation, technical notes in an IBM technical support database, and
information in the preventive service planning (PSP) database.
You can see an sample of an e-mail message sent by IMS ASN in Figure 2-12 on page 40.
40 IBM IMS Version 10 Implementation Guide
Figure 2-12 Sample e-mail sent by IMS ASN, notifying the user of an S0C4 abend
When an IMS control region abends, only the first abend will trigger an e-mail or SMS text
message to be sent. IMS ASN will not group abends into one message or send multiple
messages for the same abend associated with different tasks. IMS ASN targets a single IMS
cycle, and after an abend, another message will be sent only if the IMS is restarted and then
abends again. A new Dump Suppression Table that was added to module DFSFDMP0 in IMS
Version 10 determines whether the abend requires a notification to be sent. The module
issues the abend message and invokes the ASN procedure, which in turn constructs
information to create the electronic message using pre-constructed text. Information that is
specific to the IMS abend will be populated in this text and sent to the user.
On demand ASN
You can also use IMS ASN to dynamically research abends and build links to the same Web
addresses that event driven ASN uses. Again, these URLs contain links to resources, such
as IMS product documentation, technical support databases, and information in the
preventive service planning (PSP) database. This method is known as
on demand ASN.
Restriction: IMS ASN does not support abends that occur in MPP regions.
Get IBM IMS Version 10 Implementation Guide: A Technical Overview now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
