HP NonStop FTAM (Trace utilities)
Posted by Faiz on April 5th, 2009 filed in HP NonStop Application SupportThe NTL version of PTRACE
PTrace Reference for Tandem FTAM
PTrace formats the data that is stored in the unstructured trace files that you can create using the SCF TRACE command. These files contain records of the communications between processes.
TRACE and PTrace
The SCF TRACE PROCESS command and the PTrace utility, used together, help you
diagnose different problems that can occur in the operation of APLMGR, initiator, and
responder processes.
The TRACE command allows you to monitor the activities of the APLMGR, initiator,
and responder processes involved in the FTAM environment, including the user
application. You can initiate and terminate the gathering of trace information while these
processes are running.
You can use PTrace to format and display trace records captured by the TRACE
Command
The order in which TRACE commands and PTrace commands are given is important.
You must start and stop a trace before you use PTrace to view the collected trace
records; you must start PTrace before you can issue PTrace commands. The order is as
follows:
1. Start a trace using the SCF TRACE command.
The following example starts a trace of an initiator process named $FTI1 on the
MARS system, collects all record types, sets a trace record size of 4050, and writes
the collected trace records in the file $DATA.SYS00.TRACE01 on the same system:
TRACE PROCESS MARS.$FTI1 &
, SELECT ALL &
, RECSIZE 4050 &
, TO MARS.$DATA.SYS00.TRACE01
2. While the trace is running, perform the FTAM activity you wish to be recorded by
the TRACE facility.
3. Stop a trace using the SCF TRACE command.
The following example stops the trace started in Step 1:
TRACE PROCESS MARS.$FTI1, STOP
4. Start the PTrace utility using the SCF RUN command. The following is an example
of an explicit RUN command and the display header that is returned:
RUN DIAG.$SYSTEM.SYS00.PTRACE
PTrace - Trace Formatter - T9385D20 - (01JUN93) - (05APR93)
Copyright Tandem Computers Incorporated 1986-1993
You can also use an implicit RUN command to start PTrace, as follows:
PTRACE
5. Display selected trace records, using PTrace commands.
The following example displays the PROV and USER trace records from the trace
file specified in the earlier TRACE command:
FROM DIAG.$DATA.SYS00.TRACE01;SELECT(PROV,USER)
When using SCF TRACE and PTrace use the SELECT ALL option Then, when analyzing the trace file using PTrace, select only among the PROV, ASN1, and USER options. (The PROV,ASN1, and USER options have the most relevance for users; the others are primarily for use by your service provider.)
The following command collects information on all activity of the FTAM initiator
$FTM1 on the MARS system, sets a trace file record size of 2000 bytes, and stores the
trace in the file named TRACE01 on the same system:
TRACE PROCESS MARS.$FTM1, SELECT ALL &
, RECSIZE 2000 &
, TO TRACE01
When you have collected the data you want, use the following command to stop the
trace:
TRACE PROCESS MARS.$FTM1, STOP
When you have collected the data you want, stop the trace and start the PTrace utility, as
follows (using, in this example, an implicit RUN command):
PTRACE
PTrace - Trace Formatter - T9385D20 - (01JUN93) - (05APR93)
Copyright Tandem Computers Incorporated 1986-1993
After the PTrace product banner is displayed, issue the following PTrace command to
view the trace records for DSM and ASN1 encoding and decoding activity stored in the
TRACE01 file:
FROM TRACE01;SELECT(DSM,ASN1); RECORD ALL
In the above example, all record types were written to the trace file. Therefore, the DSM
and ASN1 keywords were used in the PTrace command to specify the specific record
types desired for display.
The following command collects information only about the PROV activity of the
FTAM initiator $FTM1 and stores it in the file named TRACE02:
TRACE PROCESS $FTM1, SELECT PROV, TO TRACE02, RECSIZE 2000
When you have collected the data you want, stop the trace and start the PTrace utility.
To view the PROV activity records stored in the TRACE02 file, use the following
PTrace command:
FROM TRACE02;SELECT ALL; RECORD ALL
In the above example, only PROV records were written to the trace file. Therefore, the
PROV keyword does not need to be repeated in the PTrace command. (You could also
omit the SELECT ALL since that is the default.)
You can collect information on DSM requests to and responses from the APLMGR
process by using the following SCF TRACE command:
TRACE PROCESS $AMGR, SELECT DSM, TO TRACE03, RECSIZE 2000
When you have collected the data you want, stop the trace and start the PTrace utility.
To view the trace records you have collected, use the following PTrace command:
FROM TRACE03;SELECT ALL; RECORD ALL
OSI/FTAM and OSI/APLMGR SCF Reference Manual—421943-001
5-10
Table 5-3 identifies the available FILTER options.
To display only trace records for the subdevice #Z123456 from the trace file TRACE01
on the system, use the following PTrace command:
FROM TRACE01;FILTER SU #Z123456
To display only records related to ASN.1 decoding, use the following PTrace command:
FROM TRACE01;SELECT ASN1;FILTER ASN1DEC
To display all provider records related to data transfer, use the following PTrace
command:
FROM TRACE01;SELECT PROV;FILTER PROV DATA
Table 5-3. FILTER Options for Initiator and Responder Process Traces
Option Description of Records Displayed
SU [su-name] Records containing the specific subdevice that you named.
PROV [primitive-type] PROV records containing the
primitive type that you
specify. Primitive-type
options and the primitives
that they include are
CONNECT
RELEASE
DATA
A-ASSOC-REQ,
A-ASSOC-IND,
A-ASSOC-RSP,
A-ASSOC-CNF,
A-ATTACH-REQ
A-ABORT-IND,
A-ABORT-REQ,
A-P-ABORT-IND,
A-RELEASE-REQ, A-RELEASE-
IND,
A-RELEASE-RSP,
A-RELEASE-CNF
P-DATA-REQ,
P-DATA-IND
Note. Multiple filter options cannot be issued in the same FILTER command