The Tracing Facility [ SNA Link/iX Node Manager's Guide ] MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation
SNA Link/iX Node Manager's Guide
The Tracing Facility
Tracing provides data for analysis, and can be done on many levels. The
highest level of tracing is at the services level (see the Node Manager's
Guide for each service for which tracing is available). SNA tracing is
done at the SNA Transport level (an intermediate level) and at the link
level (the lowest level). All of these functions are controlled through
MPE commands (see chapter 6 of this manual).
SNA Transport Tracing
The tracing facility for SNA Transport performs two types of tracing:
intrinsic tracing and node tracing.
Intrinsic Tracing.
Intrinsic tracing records the interface between SNA Transport and the SNA
services (LU-LU traffic). The interface consists of procedure calls to
the SNA Transport intrinsics. These procedures are used to establish and
maintain user sessions. Intrinsic tracing is turned on with the
INTRINSIC parameter of the SNACONTROL TRACEON MPE command, and off with
the INTRINSIC parameter of the SNACONTROL TRACEOFF command. (It also is
stopped when the link is brought down with the SNACONTROL STOP command.)
Intrinsic tracing is written to a disk file.
The trace file name can be specified as an argument to the INTRINSIC
parameter when tracing is turned on. Naming the file this way allows the
contents of the file to be overwritten each time a new trace is started
(no warning is issued). Or you can let the default name be assigned:
NMTCnnnn.PUB.SYS, where nnnn is a number from 0000 through 9999.
NOTE Regardless of whether you specify a trace file name or let the
default name be assigned, the trace file that is opened when
tracing is started is used until tracing is stopped. This means
that if the file becomes full before tracing is stopped, the
current contents of the file are overwritten with the new trace
information, starting at the beginning of the file (no warning is
issued). You should keep this in mind if you usually run tracing
for long periods without stopping. If you want to keep the
contents of a trace file from being written over, stop tracing
before the file is full, and then restart it.
The trace file can be formatted through the NMDUMP utility. Using NMDUMP
for SNA links (including an example of the SNA Transport tracing format)
is described later in this chapter. More-detailed information about
NMDUMP is contained in Using the Node Management Services Utilities
(32022-61005).
NOTE Although the format of the default trace file name is the same for
all types of tracing, the same default file name will not be
assigned for more than one trace. This is because the default
trace file name is automatically assigned in numerical order. For
example, suppose the last default trace file name assigned was
NMTC0004.PUB.SYS. If you started SNA Transport intrinsic tracing,
and did not specify a trace file name, the default name
NMTC0005.PUB.SYS would be assigned. Then, if you started SNA
Transport node tracing without specifying a trace file name, the
default name NMTC0006.PUB.SYS would be assigned. Finally, if you
started link-level tracing, and did not specify a file name, the
default name NMTC0007.PUB.SYS would be assigned.
Remember, this applies only when you are using the default
file-naming scheme.
Node Tracing.
Node tracing records state transitions and events internal to SNA
Transport for each SNA node (PU-SSCP, LU-SSCP, and a portion of LU-LU
traffic). It is turned on with the NODETRACE parameter of the SNACONTROL
START MPE command. Once node tracing is active, it remains active until
the link is brought down with the SNACONTROL STOP command. Node tracing
is written to a disk file.
SNA Transport tracing is not normally necessary unless recommended by the
HP systems engineer for special problem-solving.
The trace file name can be specified as an argument to the NODETRACE
parameter when tracing is turned on. Naming the file this way allows the
contents of the file to be overwritten each time a new trace is started
(no warning is issued). Or you can let the default name be assigned:
NMTCnnnn.PUB.SYS, where nnnn is a number from 0000 through 9999.
NOTE Regardless of whether you specify a trace file name or let the
default name be assigned, the trace file that is opened when
tracing is started is used until tracing is stopped. This means
that if the file becomes full before tracing is stopped, the
current contents of the file are overwritten with the new trace
information, starting at the beginning of the file (no warning is
issued). You should keep this in mind if you usually run tracing
for long periods without stopping. If you want to keep the
contents of a trace file from being written over, stop tracing
before the file is full, and then restart it.
The trace file can be formatted through the NMDUMP utility. Using NMDUMP
for SNA links (including an example of the SNA Transport tracing format)
is described later in this chapter. More-detailed information about
NMDUMP is contained in Using the Node Management Services Utilities
[32022-61005].
NOTE Although the format of the default trace file name is the same for
all types of tracing, the same default file name will not be
assigned for more than one trace. This is because the default
trace file name is automatically assigned in numerical order. For
example, suppose the last default trace file name assigned was
NMTC0004.PUB.SYS. If you started SNA Transport intrinsic tracing,
and did not specify a trace file name, the default name
NMTC0005.PUB.SYS would be assigned. Then, if you started SNA
Transport node tracing without specifying a trace file name, the
default name NMTC0006.PUB.SYS would be assigned. Finally, if you
started link-level tracing, and did not specify a file name, the
default name NMTC0007.PUB.SYS would be assigned.
Remember, this applies only when you are using the default
file-naming scheme.
Link-Level Tracing
The data link-level protocol is traced by the link driver (for the SDLC
and token ring links) and the module configurator (for the X.25 link).
Link-level tracing is turned on with the LINKTRACE parameter of the
SNACONTROL START or SNACONTROL TRACEON MPE command, and off with the
SNACONTROL STOP command or the LINKTRACE parameter of the SNACONTROL
TRACEOFF command. Link-level tracing has two options: trace all bytes
of each link frame (full tracing), and trace only the first 16 bytes of
each link frame (partial tracing). Since full tracing uses more
resources, partial tracing is the recommended default. Link-level trace
output is written to a disk file.
We recommend that you use link-level tracing only for problem-solving
purposes when requested by the HP systems engineer.
The trace file namecan be specified as an argument to the LINKTRACE
parameter when tracing is started. Naming the file this way allows the
contents of the file to be overwritten each time a new trace is started
(no warning is issued). Note that if you start link-level tracing with
the SNACONTROL START command, and specify a name for the trace file, the
file must be written to the SYS account. That is, if you specify an
account name within the trace file name, it must be SYS. If you do not
specify an account name, the file will automatically be written to the
SYS account. This applies only when link-level tracing is started with
the SNACONTROL START command.
You also can let the default name be assigned: NMTCnnnn.PUB.SYS, where
nnnn is a number from 0000 through 9999.
NOTE Regardless of whether you specify a trace file name or let the
default name be assigned, the trace file that is opened when
tracing is started is used until tracing is stopped. This means
that if the file becomes full before tracing is stopped, the
current contents of the file are overwritten with the new trace
information, starting at the beginning of the file (no warning is
issued). You should keep this in mind if you usually run tracing
for long periods without stopping. If you want to keep the
contents of a trace file from being written over, stop tracing
before the file is full, and then restart it.
The trace file can be formatted through the NMDUMP utility. Using NMDUMP
for SNA links (including examples of the SDLC link and X.25 link tracing
formats) is described later in this chapter. More-detailed information
about NMDUMP is contained in Using the Node Management Services Utilities
[32022-61005].
NOTE Although the format of the default trace file name is the same for
all types of tracing, the same default file name will not be
assigned for more than one trace. This is because the default
trace file name is automatically assigned in numerical order. For
example, suppose the last default trace file name assigned was
NMTC0004.PUB.SYS. If you started SNA Transport intrinsic tracing,
and did not specify a trace file name, the default name
NMTC0005.PUB.SYS would be assigned. Then, if you started SNA
Transport node tracing without specifying a trace file name, the
default name NMTC0006.PUB.SYS would be assigned. Finally, if you
started link-level tracing, and did not specify a file name, the
default name NMTC0007.PUB.SYS would be assigned.
Remember, this applies only when you are using the default
file-naming scheme.
MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation