Loss of some signalling paths between systems

If one or more paths are lost between systems and there is at least one outbound and one inbound path between all systems, XCF uses the remaining paths for message traffic. XCF issues message IXC458I or IXC459I for most problems involving signalling paths.

Some reasons why XCF stops a path include:

The operator has stopped the path.
The retry limit of the path is reached.
The system is removed from the sysplex.
A subchannel command has failed.
XCF does not have exclusive use of the path.

Note that a loss of paths can cause performance problems with message traffic because more group members are competing for the remaining paths. Additional outbound and inbound paths can be assigned to the systems via the SETXCF START,PATHIN and PATHOUT commands. If a path is listed as INOPERATIVE, in some cases XCF can automatically restart the signalling path. Thus, the operator does not need to redefine the path on the SETXCF START command.