CICS Transaction Profile
This section provides examples and full descriptions of the report fields and values contained in the Strobe CICS Transaction Profile.
Transaction Summary Report
The Transaction Summary report (See the following figure) provides general information about all transactions that were seen during the measurement period. All values reported are based on total time and count activity collected by Strobe.
Transaction Summary Report
NAME
The transaction identifier. If the name is not alphanumeric, it is shown in hexadecimal notation. The following types of transactions are reported:
- User transaction - A user-defined transaction that executes user written programs
- System transaction - A CICS-supplied transaction that provides internal services or access to CICS resources. (System transaction always begin with C and sometimes do not have counts associated with them. Mean service time does not appear for system transactions.)
- Mirror transaction - A CICS-supplied transaction that acts on behalf of the initial user transaction that was executed on a remote system.
- Strobefor CICS associates execution activity with user and CICS system transactions. When Strobe for CICS detects activity in the main CICS task and neither a user nor a CICS system transaction is in control, it assumes that CICS is performing activities on its own behalf and it attributes that time to a pseudo-transaction named .CICS.
When a task other than the main CICS transaction-processing task is executing, Strobe for CICS attributes the CPU time to a pseudo-transaction that is assigned a name consisting of an initial period, and the first seven characters of the module name in which execution of the task was initiated. The Strobe CICS journaling task and asynchronous VSAM task are attributed using this convention.
When a task is initializing or terminating and Strobe for CICS cannot identify the name of such a module, activity is attributed to the pseudo-transaction .NOPRB.
PROFILED
The letter Y in this column indicates that a transaction detail report was created for the transaction. You can request a detail report for a specific transaction by specifying the transaction name in the CICS TRANSACTION PROFILING FILTER field of the Strobe - Tailor Report panel. If you do not specify any transaction filters on the Strobe - Tailor Report panel, detail reports are created for the transactions you specified on the Strobe - CICS Data Collector Options panel when you submitted the measurement request.
COUNT
The total number of times transactions were invoked during the measurement session.
CPU TIME PERCENT
The total percent of all CPU time consumed in the CICS region for all transactions, which was used by the transaction.
Note: If a transaction was attached prior to the start of the Strobe measurement session and still active at the end of the session, the reported service time may be less than the actual service time for the transaction. For conversational transactions, the average total time the transaction is active during the measurement was reported.
MEAN SERVICE TIME: DISPATCH DELAY
The average number of seconds when a transaction is ready to run but is waiting to be dispatched.
MEAN SERVICE TIME: SUSPEND
The average number of seconds that a transaction is waiting on a resource before being able to be dispatched.
MEAN SERVICE TIME: EXECUTE
The average number of seconds that a transaction is running.
MEAN SERVICE TIME: TOTAL
The total number of seconds that transactions are in a dispatch delay state, suspend state, and an execution state.
TOTAL: COUNT
Total number of times transactions were invoked during the measurement.
TOTAL: CPU TIME PERCENT
Total percent of CPU time consumed in the CICS region for all transactions.
TOTAL AVERAGES: DISPATCH DELAY
Average mean service time for all user and mirror transactions in the dispatch delay state.
TOTAL AVERAGES: SUSPEND
Average mean service time for all user and mirror transactions in the suspend state.
TOTAL AVERAGES: EXEC
Average mean service time for all user and mirror transactions in the execution state.
TOTAL: OVERALL AVERAGES
Combined (overall) averages for the dispatch delay, suspend, and execution states.
Transaction Profile Reports
The Transaction Profile contains three transaction-specific reports for each transaction that you chose to profile. These reports are designed for use by the application programmer. The set of reports is presented in the following sequence: CICS API Service Time, CICS Non-API Service Time, and CICS API Service Time Detail. Each transaction that is profiled appears in alphabetical order.
CICS API Service Time Report
The CICS API Service Time report (See the following figure) contains the average number of seconds that a CICS API command issued by the measured application is in a suspend or an execution state. The information is in alphabetical ordered by each Module section that is part of the program. To appear in the report, the API Command Mean Service Time for Suspend and Execution states must be equal to or greater than the CICS Transaction Profile threshold value. The default threshold value is 0.01 seconds.
For commands with Suspend and Execution Mean Service Times that are lower than the CICS Transaction Profile threshold value, the measurement information is compressed into a pseudo-transaction named .COMPRES and appears as the last line in the COMMAND column.
CICS API Service Time Report
COMMAND
The CICS EXEC API command. (If the option is installed, the Db2, IMS, or WebSphere MQ.)
COMMAND RESOURCES
The argument used in EXEC CICS file control, program control, and transient data commands. For Db2, the DBRM name is reported. For IMS requests, the Program Specification Block (PSB) is reported. For WebSphere MQ, the queue name token (generated by Strobe) is reported.
STATEMENT NUMBER
The DBRM statement number, if appropriate.
OFFSET
The offset of the source causing program activity.
MEAN SERVICE TIME: SUSPEND
The average service time, in seconds, that the command is in a suspend state.
MEAN SERVICE TIME: EXECUTION
The average service time, in seconds, that the command is in an execution state.
CICS Non-API Service Time Report
The CICS Non-API Service Time report (See the following figure) contains the service time reported for transactions that was not directly related to CICS services. The report data represents the remainder of activity not contained in the CICS API Service Time report. The information is presented in alphabetical order: Dispatch Delay Time, Suspend Time, and Execution Time. Each state will be sorted by Resource Type and Resource Name, or Module and CSECT. For resources, the report presents the Resource Type and the Name (if available) of the resource where the sum of the Dispatch Delay and Suspend Mean Service Times are equal to or greater than the TLIBASE value. Not every resource type will have an associated resource name. For instance, a Resource name is not provided for the API service MAXT nor the .NONCICS pseudo-module.
Any module or section is reported that has an average execution Service Time equal to or greater than the specified CICS Transaction Profile threshold value that is reported. Resources or CSECTs whose Mean Service Time is less than the threshold value will be compressed into a .COMPRES pseudo-module which appears as the last detail line of the report.
CICS Non-API Service Time Report
RESOURCE TYPE
The type of resource task that the command is using. Several pseudo-values may be reported in this field when the transaction is ready to execute but another task is using the TCB that it requires.
Pseudo-Values for Resource Types and Names
Resource Type | Resource Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
.DELAY | .MVS | The transaction is waiting on some other MVS resource. |
.DELAY | .xx_TCB | The transaction is waiting to be dispatched to a CICS mode TCB. See the next table for list of these modes. |
CDB2TBC | .DB2_TCB | The transaction is waiting to be dispatched to a Db2 TCB. |
CDB2RDYQ | .DB2_THD | The transaction is waiting to be dispatched to a Db2 thread. |
.INTCALL | .MQ_TCB | An IBM MQSeries internal call is being issued on behalf of the transaction. |
.CICSDB2 | .DB2_TCB | An IBM internal Db2 call is being issued on behalf of the transaction, (i.e. SYNCPOINT). |
.LOKWAIT | LMQUEUE | The suspended transaction cannot acquire a lock on a requested resource. |
.JVMWAIT | --- | The transaction is waiting to be dispatched by a Java application. |
.NONCICS | --- | An External Resource Manager suspended the transaction and the user does not have the appropriate Strobe option. |
RESOURCE NAME
The name of the resource for which the task is waiting.
Pseudo-Resource Names
Resource Name | Explanation |
|---|---|
.xx-TCB | .xx indicates the CICS dispatch mode TCB that was requested. The dispatch modes reported are:
|
.MVS | The transaction is waiting some MVS resource. |
MODULE
Name of the executing module. (If a .xxxxx pseudo-module appears in this column, refer to the Program-Structure-and-Strobe-Pseudo-Entities to identify its meaning.)
SECTION
Name of the executing module section. (If a .xxxxx pseudo-section appears in this column, refer to the Program-Structure-and-Strobe-Pseudo-Entities to identify its meaning.)
MEAN SERVICE TIME: DISPATCH DELAY
The average number of seconds that a transaction was in the dispatch delay state due to the identified resource.
MEAN SERVICE TIME: SUSPENDED
The average number of seconds that a transaction was in the suspend state due to the identified resource.
MEAN SERVICE TIME: EXECUTION
The average number of seconds that the module or section was running.
MEAN SERVICE TIME TOTAL: DISPATCH DELAY
The total average number of seconds that the transaction was in the dispatch delay state due to the identified resources.
MEAN SERVICE TIME TOTAL: SUSPENDED
The total average number of seconds that the transaction was in the suspend state due to the identified resources.
MEAN SERVICE TIME TOTAL: EXECUTION
The total average number of seconds that the reported modules or sections were running.
CICS API Service Time Detail Report
The CICS API Service Time Detail report (See the following figure) identifies all resources that the CICS API commands use. To appear in the report, the average suspend time for the resource must equal or exceed the specified CICS Transaction Profile threshold value. The report also describes resources used by module/sections if the average execution service time equals or exceeds the threshold value. If the value is set too high, Strobe does not generate the report; therefore, you need to lower the threshold. If all details of a command do not meet or exceed the threshold, the command is suppressed. If all commands are suppressed, the entire report is not produced. This report includes a function descriptor for each resource.
CICS API Service Time Detail Report
MODULE
The module that was measured and is associated with the transaction being profiled.
SECTION
The control section name that was measured.
COMMAND
The name of the EXEC CICS commands found executing during the measurement session.
OFFSET
The offset of the source causing program activity.
STATEMENT #
The DBRM statement number of the command acting on DBRM.
RESOURCE TYPE
The name of the resource used. If the transaction suspends for a lock manager wait the following pseudo-type information is reported.
Pseudo-Resource Types
Resource type | Resource name | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
.DELAY | .MQ_TCB | A transaction is suspended, waiting to be dispatched on an MQSeries TCB. |
.LOKWAIT | LMQUEUE | The suspended task cannot require a lock on a request resource. |
Also, a suspended transaction can wait on a resource with a name value that contains little useful information. The following table explains this type of reporting. Strobe reports a blank column for values that can vary widely, such as terminal ID.
Resource Names
Resource type | Resource name reported by CICS | Resource name reported by Strobe | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
ALLOCATE | TCTTETI | blank | A user attempted to obtain a session with another CICS region, but all sessions were in use. |
ICGTWAIT | terminal ID | blank | A user task issued an EXEC CICS RETRIEVE WAIT command, and the data to be retrieved is not available. |
ICWAIT | terminal ID | blank | A user task issued an EXEC CICS DELAY command that was not yet completed. |
Temporary storage resource types, prefixed with TS | temporary storage queue name | blank | A user task has made a request for temporary storage that has not yet completed. |
IRLINK | SYSIDNT+ session name | SYSIDNT only | (SYSIDNT is the identifier of the remote CICS region.) The task is using inter-region communications (IRC). |
JCIOBLOCK | Jnnbbbbb, where nn is journal number and bbbbb is block number | Jnn | A user task made a JOURNAL request with the WAIT option and is waiting for the I/O to complete. |
JCLASTBK | Jnnbbbbb, where nn is journal number and bbbbb is block number | Jnn | A user task has requested a journal switch when I/O is already active. |
FUNCTION
A description of the resource type.
MODULE
Name of the module that Strobe saw active.
SECTION
The name of the resource that Strobe saw active.
MEAN SERVICE TIME: SUSPEND
The mean service time, in seconds, that the command was in a suspend state.
MEAN SERVICE TIME: EXECUTION
The mean service time, in seconds, that the command was in an execution state.
Region-Level Reports
The region-level reports are a set of two reports that show transaction data on a region-level basis. These reports are designed for use by the systems programmer. The first is the Region Suspend by Class report, and the second is the Region Suspended by Resource Within Class report.
Region Suspended By Class Report
The Region Suspended By Class report (See the following figure) presents the suspend classes that were responsible for a transaction having been suspended. It summarizes the percentage of all suspend and dispatch delay times for the region during the measurement and provides the suspend time for the average transaction in that category.
For all Suspend Classes that cause an average suspend time for a transaction that is less than the RLIBASE, Strobe compressed their report data into a pseudo-class called .COMPRES, which is presented as the last detail line of the report.
Region Suspended By Class Report
SUSPEND CLASS
The name of the class that was in a suspended state. Two pseudo-classes are used for values in this column.
Pseudo-Class Names
Pseudo Class | Explanation |
|---|---|
.NONCICS | The transaction was suspended by a external resource manager, such as a subsystem interface. (Db2, IMS, or MQSeries) |
.DELAY | The CICS task is ready to run but is waiting for access to a TCB. |
PERCENT OF REGION SUSPEND
The percentage of time that the transactions running in a region were in a suspended state due to the listed class.
SUSPEND TIME AVERAGE TX
The average number of seconds that transactions running in the region were in suspend state because of the listed suspend class.
TOTAL: PERCENT OF REGION SUSPEND
The total percentage of transactions running in the region that suspended due to one of the listed classes.
TOTAL: SUSPEND TIME AVERAGE TX
The average number of seconds that any transaction running in the region was in a suspended state.
Region Suspended By Resource Within Class Report
The Region Suspended By Resource Within Class report (See the following figure) shows, for each class reported in the Region Suspend by Class report, the resource types and names that Strobe found that caused a transaction suspension. A function descriptor is provided for each resource. Strobe will not report any resource that causes an average suspension for a transaction that is less than the region level threshold value. A report is generated for each class reported by Strobe except for the .NONCICS and the .COMPRES pseudo-classes.
Region Suspended By Resource Within Class Report
RESOURCE TYPE
The type of resource that is the source of the class type causing suspension.
RESOURCE NAME
The name of the resource that is the source of the class type causing suspension.
FUNCTION
The function descriptor for the resource.
PERCENT OF REGION SUSPEND
The percent of time the region was in a suspended state due to the resource.
SUSPEND TIME AVERAGE TX
The average time the transaction was in a suspend state due to the resource.