Fault history files

Fault history files are PDS or PDSE data sets that contain information about faults that have been analyzed by Fault Analyzer. Fault entries, which are stored as separate members in the history file, contain the following type of information:

  • Real-time analysis key information, such as abend code and failing program name
  • Execution environment details, such as job name, system ID, and date and time when the fault occurred
  • Associated real-time analysis report (if applicable)
  • Saved minidump (if applicable)
  • Name of associated MVS dump data set (if applicable)
Each new fault entry in a history file is given an identifier, which is unique to that history file. The ID consists of a 1-3 character prefix, followed by a 5-digit sequence number. The default prefix is "F", but this default can be changed in one of the following ways:

The sequence numbering starts at 1 and is incremented by 1 for each new fault entry created. When the sequence number reaches 99999, it wraps back to 1. If a given fault ID already exists, then the next available fault ID is assigned.

You can set the minimum number of fault entries that are maintained in a PDSE history file, or the maximum number of fault entries that can be contained in a PDS history file: The minimum number of fault entries can be exceeded if the maximum fault limit has been reached, and all fault entries have been locked. (For details about fault entry locking, see Viewing fault entry information.) Setting this limit has no impact on the assignment of sequence numbers to new fault entries created. For PDSE history files, the default is to maintain a minimum of 25 fault entries. For PDS history files, the default is not to limit the number of fault entries.

Although a history file can be either a PDS or a PDSE data set, PDSE data sets are recommended because they provide concurrent member write capability which is not possible with PDS data sets. Fault Analyzer provides better sharing and performance when using PDSE history files, and allows the history file to be managed by the IDIS subsystem, (see "Caching of history file $$INDEX data").

You can view fault entry details, browse the real-time analysis report, start batch and interactive fault reanalysis, or delete fault entries from an interactive display of a history file. These actions are described in The Fault Analyzer ISPF interface.

A view member can be created in a data set identified by the IDIVIEWS DDname that contain the names of any number of history files that you want to display simultaneously using the Fault Analyzer ISPF interface. For details, see Using views.