Introduction

If you experience a problem with the operation of DFSMShsm, it will be necessary to accurately describe the problem to your IBM® Level 2 support group so that they may quickly help you solve the problem. This section explains how to describe DFSMShsm program failures through the use of keywords. A keyword is an agreed-upon word or abbreviation used to describe a single aspect of a program failure. This section shows you how to systematically develop a set of keywords that describes a program failure.

After you have selected a set of keywords, use it to search the ServiceLink function within IBMLink. You might determine whether an authorized program analysis report (APAR) has already been recorded for the failure. An APAR is a record of a product operation discrepancy. The IBM Software Support Facility (SSF), an online database available only to IBM personnel, contains APAR resolution information. If ServiceLink identifies a program failure with the same set of keywords, your search will yield a description of the problem and usually a solution. If the failure is not on record, use the keywords to describe the failure when you contact IBM for assistance.

Diagnosing Errors: Use the following steps to diagnose program failures:

For a description of system messages, use LookAt or see z/OS MVS System Messages, Vol 2 (ARC-ASA). You can access IBM message explanations directly from the LookAt Web site at http://www.ibm.com/systems/z/os/zos/bkserv/lookat/.
Look up the commands in the DFSMShsm section of z/OS DFSMSdfp Storage Administration.
Examine the parameters specified by each command to verify that they are specified correctly.
If you notice any messages that indicate that an command that is not valid or a parse error was received due to a missing or parameter that is not valid, correct the error and resubmit the command.
If all parameters appear to be correctly specified, you can build a set of keywords that describes the error, and then contact IBM for assistance.

Using Keywords: When you contact IBM, you will be asked to identify your problem with a full set of keywords. Each keyword describes an aspect of a program failure. A full set of keywords for DFSMShsm is made up of the following:

The component identification number
The release and modification level
The type of failure
The command involved
The DFSMShsm function involved
The load module or the control section (CSECT), or both

The more precisely the keyword describes the failure, the more selective the resulting search can be, thus increasing the chance of finding an APAR that already addresses a similar failure.

Use program temporary fix (PTF) numbers as a keyword only if you feel that the PTF has caused the problem. The match you are looking for might have been found for a program with an earlier or later PTF level than yours.

A search of ServiceLink using the DFSMShsm component identifier (5695DF170) by itself detects all reported problems for the entire program product. However, each keyword added to the search argument makes the search more specific, thereby reducing the number of problem descriptions needing consideration.

If you are doing your own search, use the following guidelines for building search arguments that are generic in nature. The arguments may need to be varied slightly for the particular search facility that you are using. Most search facilities have logical operators (AND, OR, and NOT) as well as wild card characters (.), which enhance the ability to search the database and limit the number of matches. For the purposes of this section, we will try to keep the suggested search arguments as generic as possible. However, where required, the conventions used are those available through ServiceLink:

A search argument may contain no more than 14 words or 122 characters.
It cannot contain a question mark (?).
No word can be longer than 15 characters. Words longer than 15 characters are truncated at 15 characters and treated as abbreviations.
Each word must be separated from the next by at least one blank.

The logical operator for AND is the blank; for OR the vertical bar (|); and for NOT the not symbol (¬) or single quote ('). The character for searching for an abbreviation is the asterisk (*).

Understanding DFSMShsm data areas and control blocks: In this document, the term data area refers to the DFSMShsm control data sets (CDSs), the resources that DFSMShsm uses to manage the storage environment. The three DFSMShsm control data sets are the backup control data set (BCDS), the migration control data set (MCDS), and the offline control data set (OCDS). These control data sets contain information about DFSMShsm settings and describe in-storage information that is used by DFSMShsm for internal processing.

For descriptions of the DFSMShsm control data set records, see z/OS DFSMShsm Data Areas, which is available online at the z/OS Internet Library at http://www.ibm.com/systems/z/os/zos/bkserv/.

Using DFSMShsm health checks to prevent problems: IBM Health Checker for z/OS® includes the following checks, which are designed to help you determine whether DFSMShsm is configured correctly:

HSM_CDSB_BACKUP_COPIES. This check determines whether DFSMShsm is configured to maintain a critical level of control data set (CDS) backups.
HSM_CDSB_DASD_BACKUPS. If DFSMShsm control data set backups are created on DASD, this check will ensure that all required DASD backup data sets are in place.
HSM_CDSB_VALID_BACKUPS. This check determines whether the number of valid control data set (CDS) backups has fallen below a critical level.

If a check finds a potential problem, it issues a detailed message. For more information, see IBM Health Checker for z/OS: User's Guide.