Scenario 2: Why Is ENGM using so much CSA storage?


As part of your daily routine, you display the WARN view to check on Exception Monitor warning messages.

One of the WARN messages indicates that job ENGM is currently consuming 25 percent of CSA. You must find out why, and then correct the problem before the CSA shortage affects other jobs.

You know there is a BMC AMI Ops Monitor for z/OS system utility to help you troubleshoot this problem, but you do not know which command to use to access it.

To determine why ENGM uses too much CSA storage

  1. On the command line, type MAIN to display the View Selection panel.
  2. Select UTILITY to see a list of the OpsM for z/OS system utilities, as shown in following figure:

     W1 =UTILITY===========SYSE=====*========DDMMMYYYY==HH:MM:SS====MVMVS====D====4
     C View Name  Description                                                       
     - ---------- ------------------------------                                    
       CONSOLES   List of available consoles                                        
       CSMON      Common storage monitor                                            
       EMSTAT     Exception Administration Dial.
       WARN       SYSPROG Warning records
       WARNA      SYSPROG Warning records

    CSMON, Common storage monitor, is the tool that you need.

  3. Position your cursor under CSMON and press Enter.
    The Common Storage Summary panel is displayed, as shown in following figure:

     ---------------------------- Common Storage Summary ------- Row 1 to 30 of 251
     COMMAND ===>                                                  SCROLL ===> DATA
                                                                   TARGET - SYSE
                                     --- Commands ---                               
     S - Select (line command)                      O - Order list by any field name
     D - Display allocation detail                  G - Graph allocated storage     
     F - Find a name in the list                                                    
     V - Overview                        20%       40%   |   40%       20%          
     B - Bar graph detail        CSA-->   |    |    |    |    |    |    |    <--SQA
                                 ECSA->   |    |    |    |    |    |    |    <-ESQA
                                                                            *       
       Name     X ASID        CSA       ECSA        SQA       ESQA      Total   %   
     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       ENGM     *  151    4137480    4453056     988880    2314640   11894056 35.22
       *MASTER*      1      86384    4449184      39424    2298520    6873512  3.15
       DC$TCPIE    120        136    6067224          0       5736    6073096  2.78
       TCPIP       130        136    6052192          0        680    6053008  2.77
       MTA9MIMS    309     216528    5754312      13256       1304    5985400  2.74
       MTA8MIMS    305     212656    5515648       2256       1216    5731776  2.63
       MTA8AIMS    327     216344    5139416       2056       1216    5359032  2.46
       MVWWEBHN    240          0    5241152        456       3688    5245296  2.40
       CNMNETE      47      22352    4488992          0      10712    4522056  2.07
       MVWWEBGT *  176          0    4397248        896        520    4398664  2.02

    The Common Storage Summary panel lists all jobs using common storage, ranking them in order from the highest consumption level to the lowest level.
    As you can see, COMMON STORAGE MONITOR does not operate in the BMC AMI Ops window environment. Accordingly, your current system (SYSE) is listed in the TARGET field in the upper right-hand corner of your screen, rather than on the window information line. You will return to the window environment when you end your COMMON STORAGE MONITOR session.
    Because ENGM is flagged with an asterisk, you know that it is no longer active. However, it is still holding 4 MB of CSA storage and a considerable amount of SQA storage as well.
    Frequently, storage attributed to a job is actually used by many jobs; therefore, freeing all storage attributed to a terminated job might cause a system failure even though most of the storage can safely be freed. Before freeing the storage allocated by ENGM, you will want to see a list of the actual storage areas abandoned by the job.

  4. Type an S (Select) next to ENGM (the job name), and then press Enter.
    The Selection and Sort Criteria for Storage Areas panel is displayed, as shown in following figure:

     ---------------- Selection and Sort Criteria for Storage Areas ----------------
     COMMAND ===>                                                                   
                           Selection Criteria for Storage Areas                     
                                                                                   
        NAME     ===> ENGM    ASID  ===> 151   (Omit for all owners)              
        SUBPOOLS ===> ALL   (226, 227, 228, 231, 239, 241, 245;                     
                             DRF, CSA, SQA, FIX, PAG, or ALL)                       
        RMODE    ===> ANY   (Enter 24, 31 or ANY)                                   
        KEY      ===> ALL   (Storage key 0 through 15, or ALL)                      
        STARTING ===> YES   (Enter NO to exclude job names of STARTING)             
        ACTIVE   ===> YES   (Enter NO to exclude active address spaces; show only *)
        LENGTH   ===> 0            TO  ===> MAX          (Range in decimal or hex)  
        B DATE   ===> 11/10/YYYY  B TIME  ===> 14:52:53  (Beginning date and time)  
        E DATE   ===> 11/10/YYYY  E TIME  ===> 23:59:59  (Ending date and time)     
                                                                                   
                                      Sort Criteria                                 
        SORT BY  ===> LENGTH      (Valid sort fields are:                           
                                   NAME, ASID, START, LENGTH, SP KEY, TIME, HEADER)
        DIR.     ===> D    (A=Ascending, D=Descending)                              
                                                                                   
     Press ENTER key to display storage areas                                       
     Enter END command to cancel request

    To identify common attributes or patterns, you might want to sort the data on various fields.

  5. Sort the storage by size (length) first and look for large blocks of storage and repetitions of the same size.
  6. When you find a large number of a repetitious size, check the subpool and key, which might be the same. Having numerous blocks with the same size, subpool, and key is suspicious, and they might be allocated at a single location. This information is useful in finding and correcting a coding error. (This analysis could lead to the access code of some vendor product, which might be good information to pass on to the vendor.)
  7. Sort the data by time to identify clusters of activity.
  8. Examine the console log to determine what was occurring at these times. By using the CSMON browse feature, you can browse the contents of these blocks to see if they contain activity that ties them to a particular event.After assessing these possibilities, you can then make a knowledgeable decision about the blocks of storage that you want to free.
  9. Press Enter to display storage areas for ENGM.
    Your screen now displays the allocated common storage areas for ENGM, as shown in following figure:

     ------------------------ Allocated Common Storage Areas -----------------------
     COMMAND ===>                                                  SCROLL ===> PAGE
                                                              Row 1       of    4583
     Valid line commands are:               Valid COMMANDs are:                     
     B - Browse common storage              F - Find a text string in header        
     A - Alter common storage               L - Locate a value in the ordered field
     F - Free common storage                O - Order data by specified field       
                                                                                   
       Name    X ASID    Start  Length  SP Key   Date      Time     Storage Header  
     -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       ENGM      151  0EFDD000 2301920 228  3 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *BBXCSST 2000.314*
       ENGM      151  01841008 1150968 245  0 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *STQE5..*........*
       ENGM      151  114B3000 1114112 241  6 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *CSLA.....*......*
       ENGM      151  11A73010 1060848 231  0 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *RMA ............*
       ENGM      151  11240028 1028056 227  6 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *...-...HT -.....*
       ENGM      151  11D92000  544768 241  5 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *................*
       ENGM      151  01FD9010  503792 245  0 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *....... ........*
       ENGM      151  115C3000  454656 228  6 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *CSLA..0.........*
       ENGM      151  0249D6C8  440632 245  0 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *................*
       ENGM      151  0F36C000  405504 231  7 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *TRACE TABLE:  CS*
       ENGM      151  0F5D5040  397248 241  0 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *................*
       ENGM      151  1092F240  376256 228  6 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *CSRCPAB.EZAZCSRB*
       ENGM      151  0FCDF000  364544 241  4 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *SYSEVENT INTERCE*
       ENGM      151  11AF9618   77712 228  3 11/10/YYYY 14:21:47  ................*
  10. Next to the blocks of common storage that you want to free, type an F (free), and then press Enter.
    A pop-up window, Confirm Free for Storage Area, is displayed with the description of the storage area that you have selected, as shown in following figure:

    ------------------------ Allocated Common Storage Areas -----------------------
     COMMAND ===>                                                  SCROLL ===> PAGE
                                                              Row 1       of    4583
     Valid line commands are:               Valid COMMANDs are:                     
     B - Browse common storage              F - Find a text string in header        
     A - Alter common storage               L - Locate a value in the ordered field
     F - Free common storage                O - Order data by specified field       
                                                                                   
       Name    X ASID    Start  Length  SP Key   Date      Time     Storage Header  
     -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     F ENGM      151  0EFDD000 2301920 228  3 11/10/YYYY 14:52:53 *BBXCSST 2000.314*
     F ENGM      151  01 +---- Confirm Free for Storage Area ---+  STQE5..*........*
       ENGM      151  11 |                                      |  CSLA.....*......*
       ENGM      151  11 |       (Press HELP for Cautions)      |  RMA ............*
       ENGM      151  11 |                                      |  ...-...HT -.....*
     F ENGM      151  11 |   Address: 0EFDD000  Subpool: 228    |  ................*
       ENGM      151  01 |   Length:  2301920   Key:     4      |  ....... ........*
       ENGM      151  11 |                                      |  CSLA..0.........*
       ENGM      151  02 |     Set free confirmation off        |  ................*
       ENGM      151  0F |                                      |  TRACE TABLE:  CS*
       ENGM      151  0F |     Press ENTER to confirm FREE      |  ................*
       ENGM      151  10 |           END to cancel FREE         |  CSRCPAB.EZAZCSRB*
       ENGM      151  0F +--------------------------------------+  SYSEVENT INTERCE*
       ENGM      151  11AF9618   77712 228  3 11/10/YYYY 14:21:47  ................*
  11. To free multiple blocks, type a / (slash) on the left side of Set free confirmation off before you press Enter.

    Warning

    Use the Free command with extreme caution. Indiscriminate freeing of common storage can cause system or component failure.

  12. When you are finished, press PF3 (END) a few times to return to the UTILITY view.
  13. Type WARN to ensure that a CSA shortage no longer exists.
    When the original warning message disappears, you know that the problem is solved.

 

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