Troubleshooting

If you encounter any problems with your CICS Web Service application, use the following checklist to assist in determining a resolution. This list presents the most common problems:

General
Are CICS WEBSERVICES disabled?
If the following message appears in the console log:
CASSI0017W ES support for CICS WEBSERVICES is disabled. CCSID tables not found

Check your CCSID installation and configuration, and make corrections as required. See CCSID Conversion Tables for more information.

Note: When CICS WEBSERVICES are disabled, the PIPELINE and WEBSERVICE resources do not show in ESMAC.
Resources
Are all defined resources running on your enterprise server region?
If you have not installed a resource after adding or creating it, or have not reset the region since doing so, your new resources might not be running. Try resetting the region by stopping and restarting it.
Are the DFHWEB and DFHPIPE resource groups installed correctly?
If not, install these two groups to your enterprise server region using ESMAC. See To add a resource group to a startup list for details.
Provider mode: Did the PIPELINE resource install correctly?
Check to be sure that the PIPELINE configuration file is in the specified location. If it is, check the file to be sure it is a well-formed provider-mode (not requester-mode) configuration file.

Verify that the appropriate WEBSERVICEs and URIMAPs were automatically installed by the PIPELINE installation process, which installs one WEBSERVICE and one URIMAP for each WSBIND file found in the WSDIR directory specified by the PIPELINE definition.

Provider mode: Is the TCPIPSERVICE installed and the port open?
When using HTTP as your transport, check to ensure that the TCPIPSERVICE is installed and the port is open.
Requester mode: Did the PIPELINE resource install correctly?
Check to be sure that the PIPELINE configuration file is in the specified location. If it is, check the file to be sure it is a well-formed requester-mode (not provider-mode) configuration file.

Verify that the appropriate WEBSERVICEs were automatically installed by the PIPELINE installation process, which installs one WEBSERVICE for each WSBIND file found in the WSDIR directory specified by the PIPELINE definition.

Request handling
Is the request target accurate?
Check to be sure that the target of the request correctly identifies the host, port, and path, and that the appropriate case is used when applicable.
Is the request body accurate?
Verify that the SOAP or JSON code in the request is free of errors.
Mappings
Is the data in the WSBIND file mapped correctly?
Generate a log file for the generation of the WSBIND file using the appropriate CWS command-line utility – ws2ls, ls2ws, ws2js, or js2ws – with the logfile parameter (see the matching command Reference topic listed below for details). This file can be very useful when trying to diagnose problems that occur due to inaccurate data mapping between SOAP or JSON and COBOL.
Debugging
Is the data in the input structure(s) correct?
Verify that the input structure(s) contain the correct data.
Is the data in the output structure(s) correct?
Verify that the output structure(s) contain the correct data.
Is the container data correct?
Verify that all data in a container and sent to an application and all data retrieved from a container by the application is correct.
Diagnostics
CPIO transaction
The TD QUEUE CPIO collects a great deal of information and contains all CICS Web services error messages. The contents can be particularly useful, especially in diagnosing PIPELINE installation problems, including the failure to dynamically generate WEBSERVICEs and URIMAPs. You can retrieve the contents of the queue using the CPIO transaction, which generates an output file to the Enterprise Server work area.
Note: If you are unsure of the location of your work area, see the Enterprise Server System Directory topic for more information.
Application handler trace
To generate an application handler trace, access the active WEBSERVICE in ESMAC and check Trace Application Handler. Resubmit the request, and then check for an output file in the work area. The output file contains the following:
  • The names of the CICS resources being used
  • The SOAP or JSON message received by or sent from CICS
  • Parsing output for the received SOAP or JSON message
  • Key pieces of information from the WSBIND header
  • Output for the processing of the WSBIND from SOAP or JSON to COBOL
  • Output for the processing of the WSBIND from COBOL to SOAP orJSON
  • The response message built and sent back to or received by the requester
Note: If you are unsure of the location of your work area, see the Enterprise Server System Directory topic for more information.
CTF trace
In some cases, you might find that CTF trace is useful in addition to other diagnostics. See CTF Trace for more information.
Customer Care
If you are unable to diagnose a problem using the information in this topic, be sure to collect the following diagnostic information before calling Customer Care:
  • console.log file
  • Aux trace captured while the offending request ran, with at least the following flags:
    • kcp
    • api
    • cws
  • CAS dumps, ideally one taken before the request and another taken afterwards
  • Application Handler trace
  • Contents of the CPIO TD QUEUE
  • Log file for the generation of the WSBIND file

For more information on preparing to call Customer Care, see Information We Need.