How PFA invokes Runtime Diagnostics

Runtime Diagnostics is an MVS™ utility (component HZR) that can perform some of the same tasks you might manually perform when looking for a the cause of a hung address space as well as other tasks. See Runtime Diagnostics for complete details about Runtime Diagnostics.

PFA can invoke Runtime Diagnostics to analyze and report insufficient metric activity from the PFA_ENQUEUE_REQUEST_RATE check, PFA_MESSAGE_ARRIVAL_RATE check, and PFA_SMF_ARRIVAL_RATE check. For details and examples, see:

Note: PFA requires the Runtime Diagnostic address space (HZR) to be active on the system or systems running these checks for Runtime Diagnostics to detect the insufficient metric activity.

When PFA issues a check exception because metric activity is unusually low, the IBM® Health Checker for z/OS® report includes information from Runtime Diagnostics. The Runtime Diagnostics information in the report points to the specific job or address space and provides the next action you can take. The additional Runtime Diagnostic output can help you quickly determine your next course of action and possibly help you avoid additional problems.

The following is an example of the Runtime Diagnostics output that might appear in the message arrival rate check when PFA determined the tracked jobs had a lower than expected message arrival rate (for AIH206E):

Figure 1. Runtime Diagnostics report within the PFA message arrival rate check

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Persistent address spaces with low rates:
                                      Predicted Message
                   Message              Arrival Rate
Job                Arrival
Name     ASID         Rate       1 Hour      24 Hour        7 Day
________ ____ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
JOBS4    0027         1.17        23.88        22.82        15.82
JOBS5    002D         0.30         8.34        11.11        12.11

Runtime Diagnostics Output:

Runtime Diagnostics detects a problem in job: JOBS4

EVENT 06: HIGH - HIGHCPU - SYSTEM: SY1 2011/06/12 - 13:28:46
ASID CPU RATE: 96% ASID: 0027 JOBNAME: JOBS4
STEPNAME: STEPA PROCSTEP: STEPA JOBID: STC00042 USERID: ++++++++
JOBSTART: 2011/06/12 - 13:28:35
ERROR: ADDRESS SPACE USING EXCESSIVE CPU TIME. IT MAY BE LOOPING.
ACTION: USE YOUR SOFTWARE MONITORS TO INVESTIGATE THE ASID.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
EVENT 07: HIGH - LOOP - SYSTEM: SY1 2011/06/12 - 13:28:46
ASID: 0027 JOBNAME: JOBS4 TCB: 004E6850
STEPNAME: STEPA PROCSTEP: STEPA JOBID: STC00042 USERID: ++++++++
JOBSTART: 2011/06/12 - 13:28:35
ERROR: ADDRESS SPACE APPEARS TO BE IN A LOOP.
ACTION: USE YOUR SOFTWARE MONITORS TO INVESTIGATE THE ASID.

The following is an example of the Runtime Diagnostics output that might appear in the SMF arrival rate check when PFA determines the tracked jobs exception report for jobs that had a lower than expected SMF arrival rate (for AIH208E):

Figure 2. Runtime Diagnostics report within the SMF arrival rate check

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Persistent address spaces with low rates:

                                       Predicted SMF 
                       SMF              Arrival Rate
Job                Arrival              
Name     ASID         Rate      1 Hour      24 Hour        7 Day
________ ____ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
TRACKED4 0027         0.20        23.88        22.82        15.82
TRACKED5 0034         0.01        12.43        11.11         8.36

Runtime Diagnostics Output:

Runtime Diagnostics detected a problem in job: TRACKED4

EVENT 06: HIGH - HIGHCPU - SYSTEM: SY1 2011/06/12 - 13:28:46
ASID CPU RATE: 96% ASID: 0027 JOBNAME: TRACKED4
STEPNAME: STEPA PROCSTEP: STEPA JOBID: STC00042 USERID: ++++++++
JOBSTART: 2011/06/12 - 13:28:35
ERROR: ADDRESS SPACE USING EXCESSIVE CPU TIME. IT MAY BE LOOPING.
ACTION: USE YOUR SOFTWARE MONITORS TO INVESTIGATE THE ASID.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
EVENT 07: HIGH - LOOP - SYSTEM: SY1 2011/06/12 - 13:28:46
ASID: 0027 JOBNAME: TRACKED4 TCB: 004E6850
STEPNAME: STEPA PROCSTEP: STEPA JOBID: STC00042 USERID: ++++++++
JOBSTART: 2011/06/12 - 13:28:35
ERROR: ADDRESS SPACE APPEARS TO BE IN A LOOP.
ACTION: USE YOUR SOFTWARE MONITORS TO INVESTIGATE THE ASID.