Issues opening, closing, extending VSAM data sets

Symptoms

• Message IEC161I is issued for open problems (or in some cases information)
• Message IEC251I is issued for close problems (or in some cases information)
• Message IEC070I is issued for extend problems

How to investigate

1. Review the messages and codes manual for the specific return and reason codes. If they are informational decide if further action is necessary from your applications perspective. For example, some common messages such as

   IEC161I 001(DW)-255,P0331406,STEP1,AURM,,,VSAM.DATA.SET

   are informational as are some other messages such as the following:

   IEC161I 056-084,P0331406,STEP1,AURM,,,VSAM.DATA.SET           
   IEC161I 062-086,P0331406,STEP1,AURM,,,VSAM.DATA.SET

   The return and reason codes for messages IEC251I and IEC070 are documented under message IEC161I
2. In some cases VSAM may take a DUMP during this processing. These dumps will have a title similar to the following:

   DUMP TITLE=VSAM O/C/EOV FFDC DUMP - IDA0192Y + 00000298 RC=020 CCC=054

   The return and reason codes are the same as those documented for messages IEC161I. The reason for the dump being taken was to gather doc at the time of the issue.
3. If the reason for problem in open, close or extend processing is not clear from the message description, submit the joblog, syslog and any dumps produced to the support center .

Recovery actions

• If the job/application needs to be changed according the messages received, change the job/application.
• The Support Center will provide guidance for any other cases.

Actions to avoid recurrence