Formatting VTAM GTF Trace Records

There may be times when you need, or want, to examine the GTF trace data. In this case, the raw data collected by GTF needs to be processed by a formatting program such as IBM's Interactive Problem Control System (IPCS). You can run IPCS either using a TSO command under ISPF or as a batch job. To run IPCS you need an IPCS dump directory VSAM data set. If you do not already have a dump directory, you can allocate one using a job similar to the following.

//jobname JOB (accounting),'name',CLASS=?,MSGCLASS=?,NOTIFY=userid
//--------------------------------------------------------------------
//* Allocate an IPCS dump directory VSAM data set
//--------------------------------------------------------------------
//IDCAMS   EXEC PGM=IDCAMS                                            
//SYSPRINT DD   SYSOUT=*                                              
 DELETE <hlq>.DIR                                               
 DEFINE CLUSTER (NAME(<hlq>.DIR)                -        
                SHAREOPTIONS(1)                 -                     
                RECSZ(256 3072)                 -                     
                KEYS(128 0)                     -                     
                VOLUMES(volser) 
          INDEX (NAME(<hlq>.DIRINDEX)           -        
                TRK(15 5))                      -                     
          DATA  (NAME(<hlq>.DIRDATA)            -        
                CYLINDERS(5 1)                  -                     
                CISZ(X'1000'))

This example JCL runs IPCS to print all 'FEF' and 'FF1' records from the GTF trace data set.

//jobname JOB (accounting),'name',CLASS=?,MSGCLASS=?,NOTIFY=userid
//--------------------------------------------------------------------
//* Run IPCS batch to print GTF trace records          
//--------------------------------------------------------------------
//IPCSBAT  EXEC PGM=IKJEFT01,DYNAMNBR=20,REGION=0M                    
//IPCSDDIR DD DSN=<hlq>.DIR,DISP=SHR                     
//IPCSPRNT DD SYSOUT=*                                                
//TRACE    DD DSN=<hlq>.TRACE,DISP=SHR                           
//SYSTSPRT DD SYSOUT=*                                         
//SYSTSIN  DD *                                                
 IPCS NOPARM                                                   
 DROPDUMP DDNAME(TRACE)                                        
 SETDEF DDNAME(TRACE) NOCONFIRM                                
 GTFTRACE DDNAME(TRACE),USR(FEF,FF1),TERMINAL,NOPRINT
 END