Strobe Address Space Commands

Starting the Strobe Address Space

To start a fresh Strobe environment from an operators console with no outstanding measurement requests running, issue the following command to the session manager:

START STRxSM

Establishing and Modifying the Strobe Environment

To establish the environment, Strobe performs the following tasks when the address space begins as a started task:

  • Loads the programs STRBCLPA and STRBCLPB into the CSA
  • Adds the Strobe SVC to the system SVC table
  • If the environment is enabled, modifies the attach SVC (SVC 42) address to point to the Strobe attach filter, a routine within STRBCLPA.

Strobe Environment

The Strobe environment resides in the extended common system area (ECSA). The Strobe environment consists of:

  • Run-time support modules
  • Two entries in the SVC table — one for ATTACH (SVC 42) and one for the Strobe SVC (by default, SVC 67).

Stopping the Strobe Address Space

We recommend that you use the MVS STOP command whenever possible to stop the Strobe address space, and terminate the execute of Strobe. If the results of using the STOP command aren’t as you expected, you should use the MVS CANCEL command, which stops all measurement requests. If using the CANCEL command is unsuccessful, you can issue the MVS TERMINATE command, which leaves the measurement requests active.

You should note that using the CANCEL or TERMINATE command can produce unpredictable results in both the session requester address space, the measured address space or both address spaces because issuing either command causes Strobe to perform many different tasks. Therefore, you should wait a reasonable period of time before you issue any of the commands described in the next three sections.

Stopping Strobe with the STOP Command

To stop the Strobe address space, and terminate the execution of Strobe, issue the following command from the operator’s console:

STOP STRxSM

Warning

Strobe does not terminate if you issue a STOP command on a system where there are active measurement sessions or session requesters. Strobe issues message STR6411W or STR6112E to indicate what is active.

Tip

You can use this information to issue a SEND QUIT command to cancel the session requesters and stop the measurement. Next, you can reissue the STOP command, and the  environment will come down cleanly.

Stopping Strobe with the CANCEL Command

If there are active measurement requests that cannot be QUIT, we recommend that you issue an MVS CANCEL command to Strobe. All session requesters receive a U611 ABEND and Strobe will attempt to end all active measurement requests and terminate.

At times, Strobe is unable to end all active requests and the environment cannot be entirely removed. By default, Strobe attempts to use the environment it finds when it is restarted.

If you want Strobe to create a new environment, you should specify a parameter called ENVNEW with the START command as shown in the example:

START STRxSM,PARM=‘ENVNEW=YES’

Setting ENVNEW to YES causes Strobe to create a new environment. Any measurement requests that had remained with the old environment will now fail.

The default value for ENVNEW is NO, meaning that a new environment is not created and the old one is used during attempts to restart Strobe.

Stopping Strobe with the TERMINATE Command

If you need to bring down Strobe when measurement sessions are still active and you want to keep them active, issue the following command from an operator’s console:

MODIFY STRxSM,TERMINATE

Active measurement requests will continue to measure. All session requesters will receive a U611 ABEND. Next, to restart, issue the following command:

START STRxSM

By default, the remaining environment is reused, and the measurements remain active. If you find the remaining environment cannot be reused, restart Strobe by issuing the following command:

START STRxSM,PARM=‘ENVNEW=YES’

Stopping a Strobe XCF Group

Use the following procedure to stop a Strobe XCF group:

  1. To stop a Strobe XCF group, you first have to end all instances of Strobe measurement sessions in the group. To do this, you can:
    • Stop submitting new requests and wait for active requests to complete.
    • Use the LIST TYPE=ACTIVE command to determine which measurements are active and then use the SEND command with the QUIT option to terminate them.
      • Prevent queued requests from becoming active by disabling the attach filter with an ENV DISABLE command.
        MODIFY STRxSM,ENV DISABLE

  2. Issue the STOP STRxSM command for each instance of Strobe that is to be stopped.

    Important

    If you missed any of the active measurement sessions in Step 1 the STOP command is rejected and  issues message STR6411W which lists the request numbers of the active sessions. Stop those sessions with one of the methods listed in step 1 and reissue the STOP command.

Starting and Stopping z/OS UNIX System Services Process Exits

During normal operation, if you specified BPXBATCH=YES in the Strobe PARMLIB member, Strobe will use two z/OS UNIX System Services process exits. If these two exits incur a total of 10 ABENDs, Strobe disables its use of the exits and measurement data for z/OS UNIX System Services will not appear in the Strobe Performance Profile.

To restore use of the Strobe for z/OS UNIX System Services process exits, issue the following operator command:

MODIFY STRxSM,ENABLEUSSX

To disable Strobe’s use of the Strobe for z/OS UNIX System Services process exits, issue the following operator command:

MODIFY STRxSM,DISABLEUSSX

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*