I had a CICS Sockets application that ran 20 years ago. I tried bringing it up to date, and ran into many complications. Here is my current issue.

I use the supplied IBM Listener with a child task. When it tries to start the child task, I get an error because the listener task runs with TASKDATAKEY=CICS, and the child task has TASKDATAKEY=User. I changed the child task to match, and the program it starts gets an error because the EXECKey is User. I changed that to EXECKey=CICS, then it get an error whenever it tries to link to a program because the EXECKey for those is User and not CICS. The programs it links to are used by terminal transactions and should not have to have an EXECKey of CICS. How can I get this to switch between TASKDATAKEY=CICS which is required by the sockets listener and its child and get into a User mode. 

------------------------------
Michael Lusicic
------------------------------

There is no requirement that the started task (the child server task) run with TASKDATAKEY(CICS).

Examining a current implementation, the listener task is running with TASKDATAKEY(CICS) and all the child server tasks are running with TASKDATAKEY(USER).

So, it appears that there may be something unusual in this sockets implementation that is causing the child server task to need to run in CICS key.

Note that the TRANSACTION resource and the PROGRAM resources used within that transaction (the child server task) should agree on TASKDATAKEY and EXECKEY.  But there's no CICS requirement that two separate tasks (the STARTing task and the STARTed task) have the same key assignment.

------------------------------
Leigh Compton
Consulting IT Specialist - CICS and Enterprise Integration
IBM

Original Message:
Sent: Wed September 25, 2024 12:33 PM
From: Michael Lusicic
Subject: Sockets application

I had a CICS Sockets application that ran 20 years ago. I tried bringing it up to date, and ran into many complications. Here is my current issue.

I use the supplied IBM Listener with a child task. When it tries to start the child task, I get an error because the listener task runs with TASKDATAKEY=CICS, and the child task has TASKDATAKEY=User. I changed the child task to match, and the program it starts gets an error because the EXECKey is User. I changed that to EXECKey=CICS, then it get an error whenever it tries to link to a program because the EXECKey for those is User and not CICS. The programs it links to are used by terminal transactions and should not have to have an EXECKey of CICS. How can I get this to switch between TASKDATAKEY=CICS which is required by the sockets listener and its child and get into a User mode. 

------------------------------
Michael Lusicic
------------------------------

I have documented the process I used here to see if this will help in narrowing the issue. Here is the socket configuration for the CICS Region I am using:

Here is the Listener:

Here is the Listener task with TASKDATAKey = User

Here is the Listener child task with TASKDATAKey = User

Here Is the program (OPPBSOCK) associated with PMCS with the EXECKey = User

I have code in OPPBSOCK to write to the MSGUSR queue along with the other output from CICS including the sockets information. Here is the output after starting the listener.

It shows that it is listening on the proper port. When I send a message to that port, this is what I get:

Here is the code in OPPBSOCK that is producing the output you see above that I am using to debug this problem:

You can see the "Taking Socket" message, then it abends with a protection exception. It never gets to the "Ret Take Socket" message.

I change the two transactions to have TASKDATAKey = CICS as shown below for PMTC:

I also change the program (OPPBSOCK) to have EXECKey=CICS as shown below:

Now when I send a message to that port, here is what I get:

As you can see, this time the take socket is successful and you can see the "RET TAKE SOCKET" message that is after the call to take the socket. The rest shows that it is processing the message that was sent.

I hope the scree shots made it.

There is no requirement that the started task (the child server task) run with TASKDATAKEY(CICS).

Examining a current implementation, the listener task is running with TASKDATAKEY(CICS) and all the child server tasks are running with TASKDATAKEY(USER).

So, it appears that there may be something unusual in this sockets implementation that is causing the child server task to need to run in CICS key.

Note that the TRANSACTION resource and the PROGRAM resources used within that transaction (the child server task) should agree on TASKDATAKEY and EXECKEY.  But there's no CICS requirement that two separate tasks (the STARTing task and the STARTed task) have the same key assignment.

------------------------------
Leigh Compton
Consulting IT Specialist - CICS and Enterprise Integration
IBM

Original Message:
Sent: Wed September 25, 2024 12:33 PM
From: Michael Lusicic
Subject: Sockets application

I had a CICS Sockets application that ran 20 years ago. I tried bringing it up to date, and ran into many complications. Here is my current issue.

I use the supplied IBM Listener with a child task. When it tries to start the child task, I get an error because the listener task runs with TASKDATAKEY=CICS, and the child task has TASKDATAKEY=User. I changed the child task to match, and the program it starts gets an error because the EXECKey is User. I changed that to EXECKey=CICS, then it get an error whenever it tries to link to a program because the EXECKey for those is User and not CICS. The programs it links to are used by terminal transactions and should not have to have an EXECKey of CICS. How can I get this to switch between TASKDATAKEY=CICS which is required by the sockets listener and its child and get into a User mode. 

------------------------------
Michael Lusicic
------------------------------

There is no requirement that the started task (the child server task) run with TASKDATAKEY(CICS).

Examining a current implementation, the listener task is running with TASKDATAKEY(CICS) and all the child server tasks are running with TASKDATAKEY(USER).

So, it appears that there may be something unusual in this sockets implementation that is causing the child server task to need to run in CICS key.

Note that the TRANSACTION resource and the PROGRAM resources used within that transaction (the child server task) should agree on TASKDATAKEY and EXECKEY.  But there's no CICS requirement that two separate tasks (the STARTing task and the STARTed task) have the same key assignment.

------------------------------
Leigh Compton
Consulting IT Specialist - CICS and Enterprise Integration
IBM

Original Message:
Sent: Wed September 25, 2024 12:33 PM
From: Michael Lusicic
Subject: Sockets application

I had a CICS Sockets application that ran 20 years ago. I tried bringing it up to date, and ran into many complications. Here is my current issue.

I use the supplied IBM Listener with a child task. When it tries to start the child task, I get an error because the listener task runs with TASKDATAKEY=CICS, and the child task has TASKDATAKEY=User. I changed the child task to match, and the program it starts gets an error because the EXECKey is User. I changed that to EXECKey=CICS, then it get an error whenever it tries to link to a program because the EXECKey for those is User and not CICS. The programs it links to are used by terminal transactions and should not have to have an EXECKey of CICS. How can I get this to switch between TASKDATAKEY=CICS which is required by the sockets listener and its child and get into a User mode. 

------------------------------
Michael Lusicic
------------------------------

Let me try this from the top with text rather than pictures.

Here is the TCP Config definitions. I have 3 CICS regions defined, but I am only using one, so the following is for that region:

CICS region: CICSC2

Listener Transaction: PMTC

Port: 22741

Child Transaction: PMCS

   EZACICD TYPE=INITIAL,               START OF MACRO ASSEMBLY INPUR   X

               FILENAME=EZACICDF,      DD NAME FOR CONFIGURATION FILE  X

               PROGRAM=EZACICDF        NAME OF BATCH PROGRAM TO RUN    

   EZACICD TYPE=CICS,                  CICS RECORD DEFINITION          X

               APPLID=CICSC2,          APPLID OF CICS REGION NOT USING X

               TCPADDR=TCPIP,          JOB/STEP NAME FOR TCP/IP        X

               NTASKS=20,              NUMBER OF SUBTASKS              X

               DPRTY=0,                SUBTASK DISPATCH PRIORITY DIF   X

               CACHMIN=15,             MINIMUM REFRESH TIME FOR CACHE  X

               CACHMAX=30,             MAXIMUM REFRESH TIME FOR CACHE  X

               CACHRES=10,             MAXIMUM NUMBER OF RES RESOLVERS X

               ERRORTD=CSMT,           TD QUEUE FOR ERROR MSGS         X

               TCBLIM=0,               OPEN API TCB LIMIT              X

               OTE=YES,                OPEN TRANSACTION ENVIRONMENT    X

               TRACE=NO,               NO CICS TRACE RECORDS           X

               SMSGSUP=NO              STARTED MESSAGES SUPPRESSED?    

EZACICD TYPE=LISTENER,              LISTENER RECORD DEFINITION      X

               FORMAT=ENHANCED,        ENHANCED LISTENER               X

               APPLID=CICSC2,          APPLID OF CICS REGION           X

               LAPPLD=NO ,             REGISTER APPLICATION DATA       X

               TRANID=PMTC,            TRANSACTION NAME FOR LISTENER   X

               PORT=22741,             PORT NUMBER FOR LISTENER        X

               AF=INET,                LISTENER ADDRESS FAMILY         X

               IMMED=YES,              LISTENER STARTS UP AT INIT?     X

               BACKLOG=20,             BACKLOG VALUE FOR LISTENER      X

               NUMSOCK=50,             # OF SOCKETS SUPPORTED BY LSTNR X

               ACCTIME=30,             TIMEOUT VALUE FOR ACCEPT        X

               GIVTIME=30,             TIMEOUT VALUE FOR GIVESOCKET    X

               REATIME=30,             TIMEOUT VALUE FOR READ          X

               CSTRAN=PMCS,            NAME OF CHILD IPV4 SERVER TRANN X

               CSSTTYP=KC,             CHILD SERVER STARTUP TYPE       X

               CSDELAY=000000,         CHILD SERVER DELAY INTERVAL     X

               MSGLEN=0,               LENGTH OF INPUT MESSAGE         X

               PEEKDAT=NO,             PEEK OPTION                     X

               MSGFORM=ASCII           OUTPUT MESSAGE FORMAT          

•               SECEXIT=OPPBSECX        NAME OF SECURITY EXIT PROGRAM   

NOTE: I have tried OTE= YES and OT=NO and get the same results. I have also used LAPPLD=YES and left it out altogether. No change.

Transaction definitions for the LISTENER and Child:

CEDA  View TRANSaction( PMTC )                               

  TRANSaction    : PMTC                                       

  Group          : BAS300TR                                   

  DEScription    : TCPIP LISTENER TASK FOR EBASE              

  PROGram        : EZACIC02                                   

  TWasize        : 00000              0-32767                 

  PROFile        : DFHCICST                                   

  PArtitionset   :                                            

  STAtus         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled      

  PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                 

  TASKDATALoc    : Any                Below | Any             

  TASKDATAKey    : User               User | Cics             

  STOrageclear   : No                 No | Yes                

  RUnaway        : System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

  SHutdown       : Disabled           Disabled | Enabled      

  ISolate        : Yes                Yes | No                

  Brexit         :                                            

CEDA  View TRANSaction( PMCS )                              

  TRANSaction    : PMCS                                      

  Group          : BAS300TR                                  

  DEScription    : EBASE SOCKETS COMMUNICATION MODULE        

  PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                  

  TWasize        : 00000              0-32767                

  PROFile        : DFHCICST                                  

  PArtitionset   :                                           

  STAtus         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled     

  PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                

  TASKDATALoc    : Any                Below | Any            

  TASKDATAKey    : User               User | Cics            

  STOrageclear   : No                 No | Yes               

  RUnaway        : System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

  SHutdown       : Disabled           Disabled | Enabled     

  ISolate        : Yes                Yes | No               

  Brexit         :                                           

Here is the program definition:

CEDA  View PROGram( OPPBSOCK )                                         

  PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                             

  Group          : BAS300PP                                             

  DEScription    : EBASE SOCKETS SERVER CHILD                           

  Language       : CObol              CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli

  RELoad         : No                 No | Yes                          

  RESident       : No                 No | Yes                          

  USAge          : Normal             Normal | Transient                

  USElpacopy     : No                 No | Yes                          

  Status         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                

  RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                     

  CEdf           : Yes                Yes | No                          

  DAtalocation   : Any                Below | Any                       

  EXECKey        : User               User | Cics                       

  COncurrency    : Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required 

  Api            : Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                 

I wrote message to the message queue to track down where the error occurs. Here is the code in the program:

     MOVE TSP-LSTN-NAME TO CIDL-NAME.              

     MOVE TSP-LSTN-SUBTASKNAME TO CIDL-SUBTASKNAME.

     MOVE TSP-GIVE-TAKE-SOCKET TO SOC-SOCKET-ID.   

*-->                                               

*                                                  

     MOVE 'TAKING SOCKET' TO MSG-MESSAGE.          

     PERFORM S000-LOG-ERROR THRU S000-EXIT         

*<--                                               

     CALL 'EZASOKET' USING TCPL-TAKE-SOCKET        

             SOC-SOCKET-ID                         

             CLIENTID-LISTENER                     

             SIP-ERROR-NO                          

             SIP-RETURN-CODE.                      

*-->                                               

*                                                  

     MOVE 'RET TAKE SOCKET' TO MSG-MESSAGE.        

     PERFORM S000-LOG-ERROR THRU S000-EXIT         

*<--                                               

Here is the output to the message queue after starting the listener and sending a message to the listener:

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:11:43 EZACIC01 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE84A0                                                                       

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:11:43 TRU00000 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE3FF0                                                                       

EZY1291I 10/18/24 11:11:43 LISTENER TRANSACTION= PMTC TASKID= 0000056L ACCEPTING REQUESTS VIA PORT 22741                          

EZY1325I 10/18/24 11:15:43 START SUCCESSFUL TRANID= PMCS PARTNER INET ADDR=172.28.255.46 PORT=   61078                            

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 ENTERING OPPBSOCK                                                                                

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 ENTERING A100-INITIALIZE                                                                         

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 TCPSOCKET-PARM                                                                                   

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058     CICSC2    00056L                                                                             

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 0000CCCECF4400FFFFFD444444444444444444444444444444                                               

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 00013932320011000563000000000000000000000000000000                                               

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 TAKING SOCKET                                                                                    

DFHDU0203I 10/18/2024 11:15:43 CICSC2 A transaction dump was taken for dumpcode: ASRA, Dumpid: 1/0002, Tranid: PMCS, Tranum:      

           00000058, Program: OPPBSOCK.                                                                                           

DFHAC2236 10/18/2024 11:15:43 CICSC2 Transaction PMCS transaction number 00058 abend ASRA in program OPPBSOCK term ????. Updates to

           local recoverable resources will be backed out.

Note that it runs, but only until it tries to do a TAKESOCKET.

Now I go in and make changes to the transactions and program to go from User to CICS as follows:

CEDA  ALter TRANSaction( PMTC )                              

   TRANSaction    : PMTC                                       

   Group          : BAS300TR                                   

   DEScription  ==> TCPIP LISTENER TASK FOR EBASE              

   PROGram      ==> EZACIC02                                   

   TWasize      ==> 00000              0-32767                 

   PROFile      ==> DFHCICST                                   

   PArtitionset ==>                                            

   STAtus       ==> Enabled            Enabled | Disabled      

   PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                 

   TASKDATALoc  ==> Any                Below | Any             

   TASKDATAKey  ==> Cics               User | Cics             

   STOrageclear ==> No                 No | Yes                

   RUnaway      ==> System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

   SHutdown     ==> Disabled           Disabled | Enabled      

   ISolate      ==> Yes                Yes | No                

   Brexit       ==>                                            

  CEDA  ALter TRANSaction( PMCS )                             

   TRANSaction    : PMCS                                      

   Group          : BAS300TR                                  

   DEScription  ==> EBASE SOCKETS COMMUNICATION MODULE        

   PROGram      ==> OPPBSOCK                                  

   TWasize      ==> 00000              0-32767                

   PROFile      ==> DFHCICST                                  

   PArtitionset ==>                                           

   STAtus       ==> Enabled            Enabled | Disabled     

   PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                

   TASKDATALoc  ==> Any                Below | Any            

   TASKDATAKey  ==> Cics               User | Cics            

   STOrageclear ==> No                 No | Yes               

   RUnaway      ==> System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

   SHutdown     ==> Disabled           Disabled | Enabled     

   ISolate      ==> Yes                Yes | No               

   Brexit       ==>                                           

  CEDA  ALter PROGram( OPPBSOCK )                                        

   PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                             

   Group          : BAS300PP                                             

   DEScription  ==> EBASE SOCKETS SERVER CHILD                           

   Language     ==> CObol              CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli

   RELoad       ==> No                 No | Yes                          

   RESident     ==> No                 No | Yes                          

   USAge        ==> Normal             Normal | Transient                

   USElpacopy   ==> No                 No | Yes                          

   Status       ==> Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                

   RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                     

   CEdf         ==> Yes                Yes | No                          

   DAtalocation ==> Any                Below | Any                       

   EXECKey      ==> Cics               User | Cics                       

   COncurrency  ==> Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required 

   Api          ==> Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                 

  REMOTE ATTRIBUTES                                                      

I now try sending to the listener the exact same thing as last time, and get this in the message queue:

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:29:41 EZACIC01 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE84A0                                            

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:29:41 TRU00000 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE3FF0                                            

EZY1291I 10/18/24 11:29:41 LISTENER TRANSACTION= PMTC TASKID= 0000069L ACCEPTING REQUESTS VIA PORT 22741

EZY1325I 10/18/24 11:30:03 START SUCCESSFUL TRANID= PMCS PARTNER INET ADDR=172.28.255.46 PORT=   61634 

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING OPPBSOCK                                                     

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING A100-INITIALIZE                                              

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 TCPSOCKET-PARM                                                        

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070     CICSC2    00069L                                                  

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 0000CCCECF4400FFFFFD444444444444444444444444444444                    

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 00013932320011000693000000000000000000000000000000                    

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 TAKING SOCKET                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 RET TAKE SOCKET                                                       

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 SET SO_LINGER                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING B000-PROCESS-SESSION                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING B100-PROCESS-STREAM                                          

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 PACKET TARGET0000000013                                               

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 READING PACKE0000000013                                               

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 PACKET HEADER                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 EBCHDR  00025                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 CCCCCD44FFFFF                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 5238490000025                                                         

You can see that now it gets to the RET TAKE SOCKET message. It continues to run as expected.

Something is happening in the call to EZASOKET. The ASRA is somewhere outside the program OPPBSOCK. 

There is no requirement that the started task (the child server task) run with TASKDATAKEY(CICS).

Examining a current implementation, the listener task is running with TASKDATAKEY(CICS) and all the child server tasks are running with TASKDATAKEY(USER).

So, it appears that there may be something unusual in this sockets implementation that is causing the child server task to need to run in CICS key.

Note that the TRANSACTION resource and the PROGRAM resources used within that transaction (the child server task) should agree on TASKDATAKEY and EXECKEY.  But there's no CICS requirement that two separate tasks (the STARTing task and the STARTed task) have the same key assignment.

------------------------------
Leigh Compton
Consulting IT Specialist - CICS and Enterprise Integration
IBM

Original Message:
Sent: Wed September 25, 2024 12:33 PM
From: Michael Lusicic
Subject: Sockets application

I had a CICS Sockets application that ran 20 years ago. I tried bringing it up to date, and ran into many complications. Here is my current issue.

I use the supplied IBM Listener with a child task. When it tries to start the child task, I get an error because the listener task runs with TASKDATAKEY=CICS, and the child task has TASKDATAKEY=User. I changed the child task to match, and the program it starts gets an error because the EXECKey is User. I changed that to EXECKey=CICS, then it get an error whenever it tries to link to a program because the EXECKey for those is User and not CICS. The programs it links to are used by terminal transactions and should not have to have an EXECKey of CICS. How can I get this to switch between TASKDATAKEY=CICS which is required by the sockets listener and its child and get into a User mode. 

------------------------------
Michael Lusicic
------------------------------

Hi Michael,

What are your EXECKEY attributes on the CICS definitions for the EZACIC00/01/02 programs? They must all be EXECKEY(CICS):

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/2.5.0?topic=SSLTBW_2.5.0/com.ibm.zos.v2r5.halc001/ipciccfg_strg_protect.html

Set PMTC to TASKDATAKEY(CICS) - this is your equivalent of the CSKL transaction: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/2.5.0?topic=dctr-using-storage-protection-when-running-cics-330-later

You should then be able to set PMCS to TASKDATAKEY(USER) and OPPBSOCK to EXECKEY(USER).

Regards,

Ian

Let me try this from the top with text rather than pictures.

Here is the TCP Config definitions. I have 3 CICS regions defined, but I am only using one, so the following is for that region:

CICS region: CICSC2

Listener Transaction: PMTC

Port: 22741

Child Transaction: PMCS

   EZACICD TYPE=INITIAL,               START OF MACRO ASSEMBLY INPUR   X

               FILENAME=EZACICDF,      DD NAME FOR CONFIGURATION FILE  X

               PROGRAM=EZACICDF        NAME OF BATCH PROGRAM TO RUN    

   EZACICD TYPE=CICS,                  CICS RECORD DEFINITION          X

               APPLID=CICSC2,          APPLID OF CICS REGION NOT USING X

               TCPADDR=TCPIP,          JOB/STEP NAME FOR TCP/IP        X

               NTASKS=20,              NUMBER OF SUBTASKS              X

               DPRTY=0,                SUBTASK DISPATCH PRIORITY DIF   X

               CACHMIN=15,             MINIMUM REFRESH TIME FOR CACHE  X

               CACHMAX=30,             MAXIMUM REFRESH TIME FOR CACHE  X

               CACHRES=10,             MAXIMUM NUMBER OF RES RESOLVERS X

               ERRORTD=CSMT,           TD QUEUE FOR ERROR MSGS         X

               TCBLIM=0,               OPEN API TCB LIMIT              X

               OTE=YES,                OPEN TRANSACTION ENVIRONMENT    X

               TRACE=NO,               NO CICS TRACE RECORDS           X

               SMSGSUP=NO              STARTED MESSAGES SUPPRESSED?    

EZACICD TYPE=LISTENER,              LISTENER RECORD DEFINITION      X

               FORMAT=ENHANCED,        ENHANCED LISTENER               X

               APPLID=CICSC2,          APPLID OF CICS REGION           X

               LAPPLD=NO ,             REGISTER APPLICATION DATA       X

               TRANID=PMTC,            TRANSACTION NAME FOR LISTENER   X

               PORT=22741,             PORT NUMBER FOR LISTENER        X

               AF=INET,                LISTENER ADDRESS FAMILY         X

               IMMED=YES,              LISTENER STARTS UP AT INIT?     X

               BACKLOG=20,             BACKLOG VALUE FOR LISTENER      X

               NUMSOCK=50,             # OF SOCKETS SUPPORTED BY LSTNR X

               ACCTIME=30,             TIMEOUT VALUE FOR ACCEPT        X

               GIVTIME=30,             TIMEOUT VALUE FOR GIVESOCKET    X

               REATIME=30,             TIMEOUT VALUE FOR READ          X

               CSTRAN=PMCS,            NAME OF CHILD IPV4 SERVER TRANN X

               CSSTTYP=KC,             CHILD SERVER STARTUP TYPE       X

               CSDELAY=000000,         CHILD SERVER DELAY INTERVAL     X

               MSGLEN=0,               LENGTH OF INPUT MESSAGE         X

               PEEKDAT=NO,             PEEK OPTION                     X

               MSGFORM=ASCII           OUTPUT MESSAGE FORMAT          

•               SECEXIT=OPPBSECX        NAME OF SECURITY EXIT PROGRAM   

NOTE: I have tried OTE= YES and OT=NO and get the same results. I have also used LAPPLD=YES and left it out altogether. No change.

Transaction definitions for the LISTENER and Child:

CEDA  View TRANSaction( PMTC )                               

  TRANSaction    : PMTC                                       

  Group          : BAS300TR                                   

  DEScription    : TCPIP LISTENER TASK FOR EBASE              

  PROGram        : EZACIC02                                   

  TWasize        : 00000              0-32767                 

  PROFile        : DFHCICST                                   

  PArtitionset   :                                            

  STAtus         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled      

  PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                 

  TASKDATALoc    : Any                Below | Any             

  TASKDATAKey    : User               User | Cics             

  STOrageclear   : No                 No | Yes                

  RUnaway        : System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

  SHutdown       : Disabled           Disabled | Enabled      

  ISolate        : Yes                Yes | No                

  Brexit         :                                            

CEDA  View TRANSaction( PMCS )                              

  TRANSaction    : PMCS                                      

  Group          : BAS300TR                                  

  DEScription    : EBASE SOCKETS COMMUNICATION MODULE        

  PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                  

  TWasize        : 00000              0-32767                

  PROFile        : DFHCICST                                  

  PArtitionset   :                                           

  STAtus         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled     

  PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                

  TASKDATALoc    : Any                Below | Any            

  TASKDATAKey    : User               User | Cics            

  STOrageclear   : No                 No | Yes               

  RUnaway        : System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

  SHutdown       : Disabled           Disabled | Enabled     

  ISolate        : Yes                Yes | No               

  Brexit         :                                           

Here is the program definition:

CEDA  View PROGram( OPPBSOCK )                                         

  PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                             

  Group          : BAS300PP                                             

  DEScription    : EBASE SOCKETS SERVER CHILD                           

  Language       : CObol              CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli

  RELoad         : No                 No | Yes                          

  RESident       : No                 No | Yes                          

  USAge          : Normal             Normal | Transient                

  USElpacopy     : No                 No | Yes                          

  Status         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                

  RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                     

  CEdf           : Yes                Yes | No                          

  DAtalocation   : Any                Below | Any                       

  EXECKey        : User               User | Cics                       

  COncurrency    : Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required 

  Api            : Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                 

I wrote message to the message queue to track down where the error occurs. Here is the code in the program:

     MOVE TSP-LSTN-NAME TO CIDL-NAME.              

     MOVE TSP-LSTN-SUBTASKNAME TO CIDL-SUBTASKNAME.

     MOVE TSP-GIVE-TAKE-SOCKET TO SOC-SOCKET-ID.   

*-->                                               

*                                                  

     MOVE 'TAKING SOCKET' TO MSG-MESSAGE.          

     PERFORM S000-LOG-ERROR THRU S000-EXIT         

*<--                                               

     CALL 'EZASOKET' USING TCPL-TAKE-SOCKET        

             SOC-SOCKET-ID                         

             CLIENTID-LISTENER                     

             SIP-ERROR-NO                          

             SIP-RETURN-CODE.                      

*-->                                               

*                                                  

     MOVE 'RET TAKE SOCKET' TO MSG-MESSAGE.        

     PERFORM S000-LOG-ERROR THRU S000-EXIT         

*<--                                               

Here is the output to the message queue after starting the listener and sending a message to the listener:

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:11:43 EZACIC01 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE84A0                                                                       

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:11:43 TRU00000 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE3FF0                                                                       

EZY1291I 10/18/24 11:11:43 LISTENER TRANSACTION= PMTC TASKID= 0000056L ACCEPTING REQUESTS VIA PORT 22741                          

EZY1325I 10/18/24 11:15:43 START SUCCESSFUL TRANID= PMCS PARTNER INET ADDR=172.28.255.46 PORT=   61078                            

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 ENTERING OPPBSOCK                                                                                

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 ENTERING A100-INITIALIZE                                                                         

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 TCPSOCKET-PARM                                                                                   

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058     CICSC2    00056L                                                                             

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 0000CCCECF4400FFFFFD444444444444444444444444444444                                               

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 00013932320011000563000000000000000000000000000000                                               

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 TAKING SOCKET                                                                                    

DFHDU0203I 10/18/2024 11:15:43 CICSC2 A transaction dump was taken for dumpcode: ASRA, Dumpid: 1/0002, Tranid: PMCS, Tranum:      

           00000058, Program: OPPBSOCK.                                                                                           

DFHAC2236 10/18/2024 11:15:43 CICSC2 Transaction PMCS transaction number 00058 abend ASRA in program OPPBSOCK term ????. Updates to

           local recoverable resources will be backed out.

Note that it runs, but only until it tries to do a TAKESOCKET.

Now I go in and make changes to the transactions and program to go from User to CICS as follows:

CEDA  ALter TRANSaction( PMTC )                              

   TRANSaction    : PMTC                                       

   Group          : BAS300TR                                   

   DEScription  ==> TCPIP LISTENER TASK FOR EBASE              

   PROGram      ==> EZACIC02                                   

   TWasize      ==> 00000              0-32767                 

   PROFile      ==> DFHCICST                                   

   PArtitionset ==>                                            

   STAtus       ==> Enabled            Enabled | Disabled      

   PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                 

   TASKDATALoc  ==> Any                Below | Any             

   TASKDATAKey  ==> Cics               User | Cics             

   STOrageclear ==> No                 No | Yes                

   RUnaway      ==> System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

   SHutdown     ==> Disabled           Disabled | Enabled      

   ISolate      ==> Yes                Yes | No                

   Brexit       ==>                                            

  CEDA  ALter TRANSaction( PMCS )                             

   TRANSaction    : PMCS                                      

   Group          : BAS300TR                                  

   DEScription  ==> EBASE SOCKETS COMMUNICATION MODULE        

   PROGram      ==> OPPBSOCK                                  

   TWasize      ==> 00000              0-32767                

   PROFile      ==> DFHCICST                                  

   PArtitionset ==>                                           

   STAtus       ==> Enabled            Enabled | Disabled     

   PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                

   TASKDATALoc  ==> Any                Below | Any            

   TASKDATAKey  ==> Cics               User | Cics            

   STOrageclear ==> No                 No | Yes               

   RUnaway      ==> System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

   SHutdown     ==> Disabled           Disabled | Enabled     

   ISolate      ==> Yes                Yes | No               

   Brexit       ==>                                           

  CEDA  ALter PROGram( OPPBSOCK )                                        

   PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                             

   Group          : BAS300PP                                             

   DEScription  ==> EBASE SOCKETS SERVER CHILD                           

   Language     ==> CObol              CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli

   RELoad       ==> No                 No | Yes                          

   RESident     ==> No                 No | Yes                          

   USAge        ==> Normal             Normal | Transient                

   USElpacopy   ==> No                 No | Yes                          

   Status       ==> Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                

   RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                     

   CEdf         ==> Yes                Yes | No                          

   DAtalocation ==> Any                Below | Any                       

   EXECKey      ==> Cics               User | Cics                       

   COncurrency  ==> Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required 

   Api          ==> Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                 

  REMOTE ATTRIBUTES                                                      

I now try sending to the listener the exact same thing as last time, and get this in the message queue:

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:29:41 EZACIC01 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE84A0                                            

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:29:41 TRU00000 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE3FF0                                            

EZY1291I 10/18/24 11:29:41 LISTENER TRANSACTION= PMTC TASKID= 0000069L ACCEPTING REQUESTS VIA PORT 22741

EZY1325I 10/18/24 11:30:03 START SUCCESSFUL TRANID= PMCS PARTNER INET ADDR=172.28.255.46 PORT=   61634 

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING OPPBSOCK                                                     

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING A100-INITIALIZE                                              

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 TCPSOCKET-PARM                                                        

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070     CICSC2    00069L                                                  

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 0000CCCECF4400FFFFFD444444444444444444444444444444                    

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 00013932320011000693000000000000000000000000000000                    

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 TAKING SOCKET                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 RET TAKE SOCKET                                                       

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 SET SO_LINGER                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING B000-PROCESS-SESSION                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING B100-PROCESS-STREAM                                          

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 PACKET TARGET0000000013                                               

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 READING PACKE0000000013                                               

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 PACKET HEADER                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 EBCHDR  00025                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 CCCCCD44FFFFF                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 5238490000025                                                         

You can see that now it gets to the RET TAKE SOCKET message. It continues to run as expected.

Something is happening in the call to EZASOKET. The ASRA is somewhere outside the program OPPBSOCK. 

There is no requirement that the started task (the child server task) run with TASKDATAKEY(CICS).

Examining a current implementation, the listener task is running with TASKDATAKEY(CICS) and all the child server tasks are running with TASKDATAKEY(USER).

So, it appears that there may be something unusual in this sockets implementation that is causing the child server task to need to run in CICS key.

Note that the TRANSACTION resource and the PROGRAM resources used within that transaction (the child server task) should agree on TASKDATAKEY and EXECKEY.  But there's no CICS requirement that two separate tasks (the STARTing task and the STARTed task) have the same key assignment.

------------------------------
Leigh Compton
Consulting IT Specialist - CICS and Enterprise Integration
IBM

Original Message:
Sent: Wed September 25, 2024 12:33 PM
From: Michael Lusicic
Subject: Sockets application

I had a CICS Sockets application that ran 20 years ago. I tried bringing it up to date, and ran into many complications. Here is my current issue.

I use the supplied IBM Listener with a child task. When it tries to start the child task, I get an error because the listener task runs with TASKDATAKEY=CICS, and the child task has TASKDATAKEY=User. I changed the child task to match, and the program it starts gets an error because the EXECKey is User. I changed that to EXECKey=CICS, then it get an error whenever it tries to link to a program because the EXECKey for those is User and not CICS. The programs it links to are used by terminal transactions and should not have to have an EXECKey of CICS. How can I get this to switch between TASKDATAKEY=CICS which is required by the sockets listener and its child and get into a User mode. 

------------------------------
Michael Lusicic
------------------------------

CEDA  View PROGram( EZACIC00 )                                             
 PROGram        : EZACIC00                                                 
 Group          : SOCKETS                                                  
 DEScription    : PRIMARY PROGRAM FOR TRANSACTION EZAO                     
 Language       : Assembler          CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli   
 RELoad         : No                 No | Yes                              
 RESident       : No                 No | Yes                              
 USAge          : Transient          Normal | Transient                    
 USElpacopy     : No                 No | Yes                              
 Status         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                    
 RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                         
 CEdf           : Yes                Yes | No                              
 DAtalocation   : Any                Below | Any                           
 EXECKey        : Cics               User | Cics                           
 COncurrency    : Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required     
 Api            : Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                     
REMOTE ATTRIBUTES                                                          
 DYnamic        : No                 No | Yes                              

 CEDA  View PROGram( EZACIC01 )                                          
  PROGram        : EZACIC01                                              
  Group          : SOCKETS                                               
  DEScription    : TASK RELATED USER EXIT <TRUE>                         
  Language       : Assembler          CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli
  RELoad         : No                 No | Yes                           
  RESident       : Yes                No | Yes                           
  USAge          : Normal             Normal | Transient                 
  USElpacopy     : No                 No | Yes                           
  Status         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                 
  RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                      
  CEdf           : Yes                Yes | No                           
  DAtalocation   : Any                Below | Any                        
  EXECKey        : Cics               User | Cics                        
  COncurrency    : Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required  
  Api            : Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                  
 REMOTE ATTRIBUTES                                                       
  DYnamic        : No                 No | Yes                           
                                                                         

CEDA  View PROGram( EZACIC02 )                                           
 PROGram        : EZACIC02                                               
 Group          : SOCKETS                                                
 DEScription    : IBM LISTENER                                           
 Language       : Assembler          CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli 
 RELoad         : No                 No | Yes                            
 RESident       : Yes                No | Yes                            
 USAge          : Normal             Normal | Transient                  
 USElpacopy     : No                 No | Yes                            
 Status         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                  
 RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                       
 CEdf           : Yes                Yes | No                            
 DAtalocation   : Any                Below | Any                         
 EXECKey        : Cics               User | Cics                         
 COncurrency    : Threadsafe         Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required   
 Api            : Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                   
REMOTE ATTRIBUTES                                                        
 DYnamic        : No                 No | Yes                            

 CEDA  View TRANSaction( PMTC )                               
  TRANSaction    : PMTC                                       
  Group          : BAS300TR                                   
  DEScription    : TCPIP LISTENER TASK FOR EBASE              
  PROGram        : EZACIC02                                   
  TWasize        : 00000              0-32767                 
  PROFile        : DFHCICST                                   
  PArtitionset   :                                            
  STAtus         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled      
  PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                 
  TASKDATALoc    : Any                Below | Any             
  TASKDATAKey    : Cics               User | Cics             
  STOrageclear   : No                 No | Yes                
  RUnaway        : System             System | 0 | 250-2700000
  SHutdown       : Disabled           Disabled | Enabled      
  ISolate        : Yes                Yes | No                
  Brexit         :                                            

 CEDA  View TRANSaction( PMCS )                               
  TRANSaction    : PMCS                                       
  Group          : BAS300TR                                   
  DEScription    : EBASE SOCKETS COMMUNICATION MODULE         
  PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                   
  TWasize        : 00000              0-32767                 
  PROFile        : DFHCICST                                   
  PArtitionset   :                                            
  STAtus         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled      
  PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                 
  TASKDATALoc    : Any                Below | Any             
  TASKDATAKey    : User               User | Cics             
  STOrageclear   : No                 No | Yes                
  RUnaway        : System             System | 0 | 250-2700000
  SHutdown       : Disabled           Disabled | Enabled      
  ISolate        : Yes                Yes | No                
  Brexit         :                                            

 CEDA  View PROGram( OPPBSOCK )                                          
  PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                              
  Group          : BAS300PP                                              
  DEScription    : EBASE SOCKETS SERVER CHILD                            
  Language       : CObol              CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli
  RELoad         : No                 No | Yes                           
  RESident       : No                 No | Yes                           
  USAge          : Normal             Normal | Transient                 
  USElpacopy     : No                 No | Yes                           
  Status         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                 
  RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                      
  CEdf           : Yes                Yes | No                           
  DAtalocation   : Any                Below | Any                        
  EXECKey        : User               User | Cics                        
  COncurrency    : Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required  
  Api            : Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                  
 REMOTE ATTRIBUTES                                                       
  DYnamic        : No                 No | Yes                           

Same results:

EZY1325I 10/21/24 09:49:29 START SUCCESSFUL TRANID= PMCS PARTNER INET ADDR=172.28.255.171 PORT=   55921                      
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055 ENTERING OPPBSOCK                                                                           
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055 ENTERING A100-INITIALIZE                                                                    
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055 TCPSOCKET-PARM                                                                              
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055     CICSC2    00052L                                                                        
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055 0000CCCECF4400FFFFFD444444444444444444444444444444                                          
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055 00033932320013000523000000000000000000000000000000                                          
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055 TAKING SOCKET                                                                               
DFHDU0203I 10/21/2024 09:49:29 CICSC2 A transaction dump was taken for dumpcode: ASRA, Dumpid: 1/0006, Tranid: PMCS, Tranum: 
           00000055, Program: OPPBSOCK.                                                                                      

Hi Michael,

What are your EXECKEY attributes on the CICS definitions for the EZACIC00/01/02 programs? They must all be EXECKEY(CICS):

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/2.5.0?topic=SSLTBW_2.5.0/com.ibm.zos.v2r5.halc001/ipciccfg_strg_protect.html

Set PMTC to TASKDATAKEY(CICS) - this is your equivalent of the CSKL transaction: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/2.5.0?topic=dctr-using-storage-protection-when-running-cics-330-later

You should then be able to set PMCS to TASKDATAKEY(USER) and OPPBSOCK to EXECKEY(USER).

Regards,

Ian

Let me try this from the top with text rather than pictures.

Here is the TCP Config definitions. I have 3 CICS regions defined, but I am only using one, so the following is for that region:

CICS region: CICSC2

Listener Transaction: PMTC

Port: 22741

Child Transaction: PMCS

   EZACICD TYPE=INITIAL,               START OF MACRO ASSEMBLY INPUR   X

               FILENAME=EZACICDF,      DD NAME FOR CONFIGURATION FILE  X

               PROGRAM=EZACICDF        NAME OF BATCH PROGRAM TO RUN    

   EZACICD TYPE=CICS,                  CICS RECORD DEFINITION          X

               APPLID=CICSC2,          APPLID OF CICS REGION NOT USING X

               TCPADDR=TCPIP,          JOB/STEP NAME FOR TCP/IP        X

               NTASKS=20,              NUMBER OF SUBTASKS              X

               DPRTY=0,                SUBTASK DISPATCH PRIORITY DIF   X

               CACHMIN=15,             MINIMUM REFRESH TIME FOR CACHE  X

               CACHMAX=30,             MAXIMUM REFRESH TIME FOR CACHE  X

               CACHRES=10,             MAXIMUM NUMBER OF RES RESOLVERS X

               ERRORTD=CSMT,           TD QUEUE FOR ERROR MSGS         X

               TCBLIM=0,               OPEN API TCB LIMIT              X

               OTE=YES,                OPEN TRANSACTION ENVIRONMENT    X

               TRACE=NO,               NO CICS TRACE RECORDS           X

               SMSGSUP=NO              STARTED MESSAGES SUPPRESSED?    

EZACICD TYPE=LISTENER,              LISTENER RECORD DEFINITION      X

               FORMAT=ENHANCED,        ENHANCED LISTENER               X

               APPLID=CICSC2,          APPLID OF CICS REGION           X

               LAPPLD=NO ,             REGISTER APPLICATION DATA       X

               TRANID=PMTC,            TRANSACTION NAME FOR LISTENER   X

               PORT=22741,             PORT NUMBER FOR LISTENER        X

               AF=INET,                LISTENER ADDRESS FAMILY         X

               IMMED=YES,              LISTENER STARTS UP AT INIT?     X

               BACKLOG=20,             BACKLOG VALUE FOR LISTENER      X

               NUMSOCK=50,             # OF SOCKETS SUPPORTED BY LSTNR X

               ACCTIME=30,             TIMEOUT VALUE FOR ACCEPT        X

               GIVTIME=30,             TIMEOUT VALUE FOR GIVESOCKET    X

               REATIME=30,             TIMEOUT VALUE FOR READ          X

               CSTRAN=PMCS,            NAME OF CHILD IPV4 SERVER TRANN X

               CSSTTYP=KC,             CHILD SERVER STARTUP TYPE       X

               CSDELAY=000000,         CHILD SERVER DELAY INTERVAL     X

               MSGLEN=0,               LENGTH OF INPUT MESSAGE         X

               PEEKDAT=NO,             PEEK OPTION                     X

               MSGFORM=ASCII           OUTPUT MESSAGE FORMAT          

•               SECEXIT=OPPBSECX        NAME OF SECURITY EXIT PROGRAM   

NOTE: I have tried OTE= YES and OT=NO and get the same results. I have also used LAPPLD=YES and left it out altogether. No change.

Transaction definitions for the LISTENER and Child:

CEDA  View TRANSaction( PMTC )                               

  TRANSaction    : PMTC                                       

  Group          : BAS300TR                                   

  DEScription    : TCPIP LISTENER TASK FOR EBASE              

  PROGram        : EZACIC02                                   

  TWasize        : 00000              0-32767                 

  PROFile        : DFHCICST                                   

  PArtitionset   :                                            

  STAtus         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled      

  PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                 

  TASKDATALoc    : Any                Below | Any             

  TASKDATAKey    : User               User | Cics             

  STOrageclear   : No                 No | Yes                

  RUnaway        : System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

  SHutdown       : Disabled           Disabled | Enabled      

  ISolate        : Yes                Yes | No                

  Brexit         :                                            

CEDA  View TRANSaction( PMCS )                              

  TRANSaction    : PMCS                                      

  Group          : BAS300TR                                  

  DEScription    : EBASE SOCKETS COMMUNICATION MODULE        

  PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                  

  TWasize        : 00000              0-32767                

  PROFile        : DFHCICST                                  

  PArtitionset   :                                           

  STAtus         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled     

  PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                

  TASKDATALoc    : Any                Below | Any            

  TASKDATAKey    : User               User | Cics            

  STOrageclear   : No                 No | Yes               

  RUnaway        : System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

  SHutdown       : Disabled           Disabled | Enabled     

  ISolate        : Yes                Yes | No               

  Brexit         :                                           

Here is the program definition:

CEDA  View PROGram( OPPBSOCK )                                         

  PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                             

  Group          : BAS300PP                                             

  DEScription    : EBASE SOCKETS SERVER CHILD                           

  Language       : CObol              CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli

  RELoad         : No                 No | Yes                          

  RESident       : No                 No | Yes                          

  USAge          : Normal             Normal | Transient                

  USElpacopy     : No                 No | Yes                          

  Status         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                

  RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                     

  CEdf           : Yes                Yes | No                          

  DAtalocation   : Any                Below | Any                       

  EXECKey        : User               User | Cics                       

  COncurrency    : Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required 

  Api            : Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                 

I wrote message to the message queue to track down where the error occurs. Here is the code in the program:

     MOVE TSP-LSTN-NAME TO CIDL-NAME.              

     MOVE TSP-LSTN-SUBTASKNAME TO CIDL-SUBTASKNAME.

     MOVE TSP-GIVE-TAKE-SOCKET TO SOC-SOCKET-ID.   

*-->                                               

*                                                  

     MOVE 'TAKING SOCKET' TO MSG-MESSAGE.          

     PERFORM S000-LOG-ERROR THRU S000-EXIT         

*<--                                               

     CALL 'EZASOKET' USING TCPL-TAKE-SOCKET        

             SOC-SOCKET-ID                         

             CLIENTID-LISTENER                     

             SIP-ERROR-NO                          

             SIP-RETURN-CODE.                      

*-->                                               

*                                                  

     MOVE 'RET TAKE SOCKET' TO MSG-MESSAGE.        

     PERFORM S000-LOG-ERROR THRU S000-EXIT         

*<--                                               

Here is the output to the message queue after starting the listener and sending a message to the listener:

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:11:43 EZACIC01 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE84A0                                                                       

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:11:43 TRU00000 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE3FF0                                                                       

EZY1291I 10/18/24 11:11:43 LISTENER TRANSACTION= PMTC TASKID= 0000056L ACCEPTING REQUESTS VIA PORT 22741                          

EZY1325I 10/18/24 11:15:43 START SUCCESSFUL TRANID= PMCS PARTNER INET ADDR=172.28.255.46 PORT=   61078                            

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 ENTERING OPPBSOCK                                                                                

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 ENTERING A100-INITIALIZE                                                                         

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 TCPSOCKET-PARM                                                                                   

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058     CICSC2    00056L                                                                             

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 0000CCCECF4400FFFFFD444444444444444444444444444444                                               

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 00013932320011000563000000000000000000000000000000                                               

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 TAKING SOCKET                                                                                    

DFHDU0203I 10/18/2024 11:15:43 CICSC2 A transaction dump was taken for dumpcode: ASRA, Dumpid: 1/0002, Tranid: PMCS, Tranum:      

           00000058, Program: OPPBSOCK.                                                                                           

DFHAC2236 10/18/2024 11:15:43 CICSC2 Transaction PMCS transaction number 00058 abend ASRA in program OPPBSOCK term ????. Updates to

           local recoverable resources will be backed out.

Note that it runs, but only until it tries to do a TAKESOCKET.

Now I go in and make changes to the transactions and program to go from User to CICS as follows:

CEDA  ALter TRANSaction( PMTC )                              

   TRANSaction    : PMTC                                       

   Group          : BAS300TR                                   

   DEScription  ==> TCPIP LISTENER TASK FOR EBASE              

   PROGram      ==> EZACIC02                                   

   TWasize      ==> 00000              0-32767                 

   PROFile      ==> DFHCICST                                   

   PArtitionset ==>                                            

   STAtus       ==> Enabled            Enabled | Disabled      

   PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                 

   TASKDATALoc  ==> Any                Below | Any             

   TASKDATAKey  ==> Cics               User | Cics             

   STOrageclear ==> No                 No | Yes                

   RUnaway      ==> System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

   SHutdown     ==> Disabled           Disabled | Enabled      

   ISolate      ==> Yes                Yes | No                

   Brexit       ==>                                            

  CEDA  ALter TRANSaction( PMCS )                             

   TRANSaction    : PMCS                                      

   Group          : BAS300TR                                  

   DEScription  ==> EBASE SOCKETS COMMUNICATION MODULE        

   PROGram      ==> OPPBSOCK                                  

   TWasize      ==> 00000              0-32767                

   PROFile      ==> DFHCICST                                  

   PArtitionset ==>                                           

   STAtus       ==> Enabled            Enabled | Disabled     

   PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                

   TASKDATALoc  ==> Any                Below | Any            

   TASKDATAKey  ==> Cics               User | Cics            

   STOrageclear ==> No                 No | Yes               

   RUnaway      ==> System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

   SHutdown     ==> Disabled           Disabled | Enabled     

   ISolate      ==> Yes                Yes | No               

   Brexit       ==>                                           

  CEDA  ALter PROGram( OPPBSOCK )                                        

   PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                             

   Group          : BAS300PP                                             

   DEScription  ==> EBASE SOCKETS SERVER CHILD                           

   Language     ==> CObol              CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli

   RELoad       ==> No                 No | Yes                          

   RESident     ==> No                 No | Yes                          

   USAge        ==> Normal             Normal | Transient                

   USElpacopy   ==> No                 No | Yes                          

   Status       ==> Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                

   RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                     

   CEdf         ==> Yes                Yes | No                          

   DAtalocation ==> Any                Below | Any                       

   EXECKey      ==> Cics               User | Cics                       

   COncurrency  ==> Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required 

   Api          ==> Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                 

  REMOTE ATTRIBUTES                                                      

I now try sending to the listener the exact same thing as last time, and get this in the message queue:

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:29:41 EZACIC01 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE84A0                                            

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:29:41 TRU00000 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE3FF0                                            

EZY1291I 10/18/24 11:29:41 LISTENER TRANSACTION= PMTC TASKID= 0000069L ACCEPTING REQUESTS VIA PORT 22741

EZY1325I 10/18/24 11:30:03 START SUCCESSFUL TRANID= PMCS PARTNER INET ADDR=172.28.255.46 PORT=   61634 

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING OPPBSOCK                                                     

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING A100-INITIALIZE                                              

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 TCPSOCKET-PARM                                                        

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070     CICSC2    00069L                                                  

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 0000CCCECF4400FFFFFD444444444444444444444444444444                    

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 00013932320011000693000000000000000000000000000000                    

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 TAKING SOCKET                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 RET TAKE SOCKET                                                       

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 SET SO_LINGER                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING B000-PROCESS-SESSION                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING B100-PROCESS-STREAM                                          

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 PACKET TARGET0000000013                                               

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 READING PACKE0000000013                                               

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 PACKET HEADER                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 EBCHDR  00025                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 CCCCCD44FFFFF                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 5238490000025                                                         

You can see that now it gets to the RET TAKE SOCKET message. It continues to run as expected.

Something is happening in the call to EZASOKET. The ASRA is somewhere outside the program OPPBSOCK. 

There is no requirement that the started task (the child server task) run with TASKDATAKEY(CICS).

Examining a current implementation, the listener task is running with TASKDATAKEY(CICS) and all the child server tasks are running with TASKDATAKEY(USER).

So, it appears that there may be something unusual in this sockets implementation that is causing the child server task to need to run in CICS key.

Note that the TRANSACTION resource and the PROGRAM resources used within that transaction (the child server task) should agree on TASKDATAKEY and EXECKEY.  But there's no CICS requirement that two separate tasks (the STARTing task and the STARTed task) have the same key assignment.

------------------------------
Leigh Compton
Consulting IT Specialist - CICS and Enterprise Integration
IBM

Original Message:
Sent: Wed September 25, 2024 12:33 PM
From: Michael Lusicic
Subject: Sockets application

I had a CICS Sockets application that ran 20 years ago. I tried bringing it up to date, and ran into many complications. Here is my current issue.

I use the supplied IBM Listener with a child task. When it tries to start the child task, I get an error because the listener task runs with TASKDATAKEY=CICS, and the child task has TASKDATAKEY=User. I changed the child task to match, and the program it starts gets an error because the EXECKey is User. I changed that to EXECKey=CICS, then it get an error whenever it tries to link to a program because the EXECKey for those is User and not CICS. The programs it links to are used by terminal transactions and should not have to have an EXECKey of CICS. How can I get this to switch between TASKDATAKEY=CICS which is required by the sockets listener and its child and get into a User mode. 

------------------------------
Michael Lusicic
------------------------------

@Michael Lusicic -- this last set of definitions is what I would expect to work for your application.  The definitions for the IBM-supplied programs match those provided in the CSD updates in hlq.SEZAINST(EZACICCT).  Your listener transaction definition (PMTC) matches the default listener transaction of CSKL.  And the program (OPPBSOCK) and transaction (PMCS) for your child server task match the recommended attributes -- and more importantly, they match what is successfully running in both internal IBM systems and in one customer system that I checked.

At this point, I can't explain why you are getting the ASRA abend. I would guess that there's invalid data in a pointer field, but this is simply a guess.  The best thing to do at this point is to make sure that the internal trace table in CICS is fairly large and that a system dump is captured when the ASRA abend occurs.  Opening a support case and submitting the system dump will allow our IBM support team to diagnose the cause of the program check.

CEDA  View PROGram( EZACIC00 )                                             
 PROGram        : EZACIC00                                                 
 Group          : SOCKETS                                                  
 DEScription    : PRIMARY PROGRAM FOR TRANSACTION EZAO                     
 Language       : Assembler          CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli   
 RELoad         : No                 No | Yes                              
 RESident       : No                 No | Yes                              
 USAge          : Transient          Normal | Transient                    
 USElpacopy     : No                 No | Yes                              
 Status         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                    
 RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                         
 CEdf           : Yes                Yes | No                              
 DAtalocation   : Any                Below | Any                           
 EXECKey        : Cics               User | Cics                           
 COncurrency    : Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required     
 Api            : Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                     
REMOTE ATTRIBUTES                                                          
 DYnamic        : No                 No | Yes                              

 CEDA  View PROGram( EZACIC01 )                                          
  PROGram        : EZACIC01                                              
  Group          : SOCKETS                                               
  DEScription    : TASK RELATED USER EXIT <TRUE>                         
  Language       : Assembler          CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli
  RELoad         : No                 No | Yes                           
  RESident       : Yes                No | Yes                           
  USAge          : Normal             Normal | Transient                 
  USElpacopy     : No                 No | Yes                           
  Status         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                 
  RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                      
  CEdf           : Yes                Yes | No                           
  DAtalocation   : Any                Below | Any                        
  EXECKey        : Cics               User | Cics                        
  COncurrency    : Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required  
  Api            : Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                  
 REMOTE ATTRIBUTES                                                       
  DYnamic        : No                 No | Yes                           
                                                                         

CEDA  View PROGram( EZACIC02 )                                           
 PROGram        : EZACIC02                                               
 Group          : SOCKETS                                                
 DEScription    : IBM LISTENER                                           
 Language       : Assembler          CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli 
 RELoad         : No                 No | Yes                            
 RESident       : Yes                No | Yes                            
 USAge          : Normal             Normal | Transient                  
 USElpacopy     : No                 No | Yes                            
 Status         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                  
 RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                       
 CEdf           : Yes                Yes | No                            
 DAtalocation   : Any                Below | Any                         
 EXECKey        : Cics               User | Cics                         
 COncurrency    : Threadsafe         Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required   
 Api            : Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                   
REMOTE ATTRIBUTES                                                        
 DYnamic        : No                 No | Yes                            

 CEDA  View TRANSaction( PMTC )                               
  TRANSaction    : PMTC                                       
  Group          : BAS300TR                                   
  DEScription    : TCPIP LISTENER TASK FOR EBASE              
  PROGram        : EZACIC02                                   
  TWasize        : 00000              0-32767                 
  PROFile        : DFHCICST                                   
  PArtitionset   :                                            
  STAtus         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled      
  PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                 
  TASKDATALoc    : Any                Below | Any             
  TASKDATAKey    : Cics               User | Cics             
  STOrageclear   : No                 No | Yes                
  RUnaway        : System             System | 0 | 250-2700000
  SHutdown       : Disabled           Disabled | Enabled      
  ISolate        : Yes                Yes | No                
  Brexit         :                                            

 CEDA  View TRANSaction( PMCS )                               
  TRANSaction    : PMCS                                       
  Group          : BAS300TR                                   
  DEScription    : EBASE SOCKETS COMMUNICATION MODULE         
  PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                   
  TWasize        : 00000              0-32767                 
  PROFile        : DFHCICST                                   
  PArtitionset   :                                            
  STAtus         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled      
  PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                 
  TASKDATALoc    : Any                Below | Any             
  TASKDATAKey    : User               User | Cics             
  STOrageclear   : No                 No | Yes                
  RUnaway        : System             System | 0 | 250-2700000
  SHutdown       : Disabled           Disabled | Enabled      
  ISolate        : Yes                Yes | No                
  Brexit         :                                            

 CEDA  View PROGram( OPPBSOCK )                                          
  PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                              
  Group          : BAS300PP                                              
  DEScription    : EBASE SOCKETS SERVER CHILD                            
  Language       : CObol              CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli
  RELoad         : No                 No | Yes                           
  RESident       : No                 No | Yes                           
  USAge          : Normal             Normal | Transient                 
  USElpacopy     : No                 No | Yes                           
  Status         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                 
  RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                      
  CEdf           : Yes                Yes | No                           
  DAtalocation   : Any                Below | Any                        
  EXECKey        : User               User | Cics                        
  COncurrency    : Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required  
  Api            : Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                  
 REMOTE ATTRIBUTES                                                       
  DYnamic        : No                 No | Yes                           

Same results:

EZY1325I 10/21/24 09:49:29 START SUCCESSFUL TRANID= PMCS PARTNER INET ADDR=172.28.255.171 PORT=   55921                      
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055 ENTERING OPPBSOCK                                                                           
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055 ENTERING A100-INITIALIZE                                                                    
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055 TCPSOCKET-PARM                                                                              
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055     CICSC2    00052L                                                                        
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055 0000CCCECF4400FFFFFD444444444444444444444444444444                                          
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055 00033932320013000523000000000000000000000000000000                                          
094929   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000055 TAKING SOCKET                                                                               
DFHDU0203I 10/21/2024 09:49:29 CICSC2 A transaction dump was taken for dumpcode: ASRA, Dumpid: 1/0006, Tranid: PMCS, Tranum: 
           00000055, Program: OPPBSOCK.                                                                                      

Hi Michael,

What are your EXECKEY attributes on the CICS definitions for the EZACIC00/01/02 programs? They must all be EXECKEY(CICS):

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/2.5.0?topic=SSLTBW_2.5.0/com.ibm.zos.v2r5.halc001/ipciccfg_strg_protect.html

Set PMTC to TASKDATAKEY(CICS) - this is your equivalent of the CSKL transaction: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/2.5.0?topic=dctr-using-storage-protection-when-running-cics-330-later

You should then be able to set PMCS to TASKDATAKEY(USER) and OPPBSOCK to EXECKEY(USER).

Regards,

Ian

Let me try this from the top with text rather than pictures.

Here is the TCP Config definitions. I have 3 CICS regions defined, but I am only using one, so the following is for that region:

CICS region: CICSC2

Listener Transaction: PMTC

Port: 22741

Child Transaction: PMCS

   EZACICD TYPE=INITIAL,               START OF MACRO ASSEMBLY INPUR   X

               FILENAME=EZACICDF,      DD NAME FOR CONFIGURATION FILE  X

               PROGRAM=EZACICDF        NAME OF BATCH PROGRAM TO RUN    

   EZACICD TYPE=CICS,                  CICS RECORD DEFINITION          X

               APPLID=CICSC2,          APPLID OF CICS REGION NOT USING X

               TCPADDR=TCPIP,          JOB/STEP NAME FOR TCP/IP        X

               NTASKS=20,              NUMBER OF SUBTASKS              X

               DPRTY=0,                SUBTASK DISPATCH PRIORITY DIF   X

               CACHMIN=15,             MINIMUM REFRESH TIME FOR CACHE  X

               CACHMAX=30,             MAXIMUM REFRESH TIME FOR CACHE  X

               CACHRES=10,             MAXIMUM NUMBER OF RES RESOLVERS X

               ERRORTD=CSMT,           TD QUEUE FOR ERROR MSGS         X

               TCBLIM=0,               OPEN API TCB LIMIT              X

               OTE=YES,                OPEN TRANSACTION ENVIRONMENT    X

               TRACE=NO,               NO CICS TRACE RECORDS           X

               SMSGSUP=NO              STARTED MESSAGES SUPPRESSED?    

EZACICD TYPE=LISTENER,              LISTENER RECORD DEFINITION      X

               FORMAT=ENHANCED,        ENHANCED LISTENER               X

               APPLID=CICSC2,          APPLID OF CICS REGION           X

               LAPPLD=NO ,             REGISTER APPLICATION DATA       X

               TRANID=PMTC,            TRANSACTION NAME FOR LISTENER   X

               PORT=22741,             PORT NUMBER FOR LISTENER        X

               AF=INET,                LISTENER ADDRESS FAMILY         X

               IMMED=YES,              LISTENER STARTS UP AT INIT?     X

               BACKLOG=20,             BACKLOG VALUE FOR LISTENER      X

               NUMSOCK=50,             # OF SOCKETS SUPPORTED BY LSTNR X

               ACCTIME=30,             TIMEOUT VALUE FOR ACCEPT        X

               GIVTIME=30,             TIMEOUT VALUE FOR GIVESOCKET    X

               REATIME=30,             TIMEOUT VALUE FOR READ          X

               CSTRAN=PMCS,            NAME OF CHILD IPV4 SERVER TRANN X

               CSSTTYP=KC,             CHILD SERVER STARTUP TYPE       X

               CSDELAY=000000,         CHILD SERVER DELAY INTERVAL     X

               MSGLEN=0,               LENGTH OF INPUT MESSAGE         X

               PEEKDAT=NO,             PEEK OPTION                     X

               MSGFORM=ASCII           OUTPUT MESSAGE FORMAT          

•               SECEXIT=OPPBSECX        NAME OF SECURITY EXIT PROGRAM   

NOTE: I have tried OTE= YES and OT=NO and get the same results. I have also used LAPPLD=YES and left it out altogether. No change.

Transaction definitions for the LISTENER and Child:

CEDA  View TRANSaction( PMTC )                               

  TRANSaction    : PMTC                                       

  Group          : BAS300TR                                   

  DEScription    : TCPIP LISTENER TASK FOR EBASE              

  PROGram        : EZACIC02                                   

  TWasize        : 00000              0-32767                 

  PROFile        : DFHCICST                                   

  PArtitionset   :                                            

  STAtus         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled      

  PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                 

  TASKDATALoc    : Any                Below | Any             

  TASKDATAKey    : User               User | Cics             

  STOrageclear   : No                 No | Yes                

  RUnaway        : System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

  SHutdown       : Disabled           Disabled | Enabled      

  ISolate        : Yes                Yes | No                

  Brexit         :                                            

CEDA  View TRANSaction( PMCS )                              

  TRANSaction    : PMCS                                      

  Group          : BAS300TR                                  

  DEScription    : EBASE SOCKETS COMMUNICATION MODULE        

  PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                  

  TWasize        : 00000              0-32767                

  PROFile        : DFHCICST                                  

  PArtitionset   :                                           

  STAtus         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled     

  PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                

  TASKDATALoc    : Any                Below | Any            

  TASKDATAKey    : User               User | Cics            

  STOrageclear   : No                 No | Yes               

  RUnaway        : System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

  SHutdown       : Disabled           Disabled | Enabled     

  ISolate        : Yes                Yes | No               

  Brexit         :                                           

Here is the program definition:

CEDA  View PROGram( OPPBSOCK )                                         

  PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                             

  Group          : BAS300PP                                             

  DEScription    : EBASE SOCKETS SERVER CHILD                           

  Language       : CObol              CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli

  RELoad         : No                 No | Yes                          

  RESident       : No                 No | Yes                          

  USAge          : Normal             Normal | Transient                

  USElpacopy     : No                 No | Yes                          

  Status         : Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                

  RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                     

  CEdf           : Yes                Yes | No                          

  DAtalocation   : Any                Below | Any                       

  EXECKey        : User               User | Cics                       

  COncurrency    : Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required 

  Api            : Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                 

I wrote message to the message queue to track down where the error occurs. Here is the code in the program:

     MOVE TSP-LSTN-NAME TO CIDL-NAME.              

     MOVE TSP-LSTN-SUBTASKNAME TO CIDL-SUBTASKNAME.

     MOVE TSP-GIVE-TAKE-SOCKET TO SOC-SOCKET-ID.   

*-->                                               

*                                                  

     MOVE 'TAKING SOCKET' TO MSG-MESSAGE.          

     PERFORM S000-LOG-ERROR THRU S000-EXIT         

*<--                                               

     CALL 'EZASOKET' USING TCPL-TAKE-SOCKET        

             SOC-SOCKET-ID                         

             CLIENTID-LISTENER                     

             SIP-ERROR-NO                          

             SIP-RETURN-CODE.                      

*-->                                               

*                                                  

     MOVE 'RET TAKE SOCKET' TO MSG-MESSAGE.        

     PERFORM S000-LOG-ERROR THRU S000-EXIT         

*<--                                               

Here is the output to the message queue after starting the listener and sending a message to the listener:

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:11:43 EZACIC01 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE84A0                                                                       

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:11:43 TRU00000 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE3FF0                                                                       

EZY1291I 10/18/24 11:11:43 LISTENER TRANSACTION= PMTC TASKID= 0000056L ACCEPTING REQUESTS VIA PORT 22741                          

EZY1325I 10/18/24 11:15:43 START SUCCESSFUL TRANID= PMCS PARTNER INET ADDR=172.28.255.46 PORT=   61078                            

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 ENTERING OPPBSOCK                                                                                

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 ENTERING A100-INITIALIZE                                                                         

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 TCPSOCKET-PARM                                                                                   

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058     CICSC2    00056L                                                                             

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 0000CCCECF4400FFFFFD444444444444444444444444444444                                               

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 00013932320011000563000000000000000000000000000000                                               

111543   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000058 TAKING SOCKET                                                                                    

DFHDU0203I 10/18/2024 11:15:43 CICSC2 A transaction dump was taken for dumpcode: ASRA, Dumpid: 1/0002, Tranid: PMCS, Tranum:      

           00000058, Program: OPPBSOCK.                                                                                           

DFHAC2236 10/18/2024 11:15:43 CICSC2 Transaction PMCS transaction number 00058 abend ASRA in program OPPBSOCK term ????. Updates to

           local recoverable resources will be backed out.

Note that it runs, but only until it tries to do a TAKESOCKET.

Now I go in and make changes to the transactions and program to go from User to CICS as follows:

CEDA  ALter TRANSaction( PMTC )                              

   TRANSaction    : PMTC                                       

   Group          : BAS300TR                                   

   DEScription  ==> TCPIP LISTENER TASK FOR EBASE              

   PROGram      ==> EZACIC02                                   

   TWasize      ==> 00000              0-32767                 

   PROFile      ==> DFHCICST                                   

   PArtitionset ==>                                            

   STAtus       ==> Enabled            Enabled | Disabled      

   PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                 

   TASKDATALoc  ==> Any                Below | Any             

   TASKDATAKey  ==> Cics               User | Cics             

   STOrageclear ==> No                 No | Yes                

   RUnaway      ==> System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

   SHutdown     ==> Disabled           Disabled | Enabled      

   ISolate      ==> Yes                Yes | No                

   Brexit       ==>                                            

  CEDA  ALter TRANSaction( PMCS )                             

   TRANSaction    : PMCS                                      

   Group          : BAS300TR                                  

   DEScription  ==> EBASE SOCKETS COMMUNICATION MODULE        

   PROGram      ==> OPPBSOCK                                  

   TWasize      ==> 00000              0-32767                

   PROFile      ==> DFHCICST                                  

   PArtitionset ==>                                           

   STAtus       ==> Enabled            Enabled | Disabled     

   PRIMedsize     : 00000              0-65520                

   TASKDATALoc  ==> Any                Below | Any            

   TASKDATAKey  ==> Cics               User | Cics            

   STOrageclear ==> No                 No | Yes               

   RUnaway      ==> System             System | 0 | 250-2700000

   SHutdown     ==> Disabled           Disabled | Enabled     

   ISolate      ==> Yes                Yes | No               

   Brexit       ==>                                           

  CEDA  ALter PROGram( OPPBSOCK )                                        

   PROGram        : OPPBSOCK                                             

   Group          : BAS300PP                                             

   DEScription  ==> EBASE SOCKETS SERVER CHILD                           

   Language     ==> CObol              CObol | Assembler | Le370 | C | Pli

   RELoad       ==> No                 No | Yes                          

   RESident     ==> No                 No | Yes                          

   USAge        ==> Normal             Normal | Transient                

   USElpacopy   ==> No                 No | Yes                          

   Status       ==> Enabled            Enabled | Disabled                

   RSl            : 00                 0-24 | Public                     

   CEdf         ==> Yes                Yes | No                          

   DAtalocation ==> Any                Below | Any                       

   EXECKey      ==> Cics               User | Cics                       

   COncurrency  ==> Quasirent          Quasirent | Threadsafe | Required 

   Api          ==> Cicsapi            Cicsapi | Openapi                 

  REMOTE ATTRIBUTES                                                      

I now try sending to the listener the exact same thing as last time, and get this in the message queue:

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:29:41 EZACIC01 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE84A0                                            

EZY1258I 10/18/24 11:29:41 TRU00000 ENTRY POINT IS 1CFE3FF0                                            

EZY1291I 10/18/24 11:29:41 LISTENER TRANSACTION= PMTC TASKID= 0000069L ACCEPTING REQUESTS VIA PORT 22741

EZY1325I 10/18/24 11:30:03 START SUCCESSFUL TRANID= PMCS PARTNER INET ADDR=172.28.255.46 PORT=   61634 

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING OPPBSOCK                                                     

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING A100-INITIALIZE                                              

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 TCPSOCKET-PARM                                                        

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070     CICSC2    00069L                                                  

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 0000CCCECF4400FFFFFD444444444444444444444444444444                    

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 00013932320011000693000000000000000000000000000000                    

113003   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 TAKING SOCKET                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 RET TAKE SOCKET                                                       

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 SET SO_LINGER                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING B000-PROCESS-SESSION                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 ENTERING B100-PROCESS-STREAM                                          

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 PACKET TARGET0000000013                                               

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 READING PACKE0000000013                                               

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 PACKET HEADER                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 EBCHDR  00025                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 CCCCCD44FFFFF                                                         

113004   OPPBSOCK TASK # 0000070 5238490000025                                                         

You can see that now it gets to the RET TAKE SOCKET message. It continues to run as expected.

Something is happening in the call to EZASOKET. The ASRA is somewhere outside the program OPPBSOCK. 

There is no requirement that the started task (the child server task) run with TASKDATAKEY(CICS).

Examining a current implementation, the listener task is running with TASKDATAKEY(CICS) and all the child server tasks are running with TASKDATAKEY(USER).

So, it appears that there may be something unusual in this sockets implementation that is causing the child server task to need to run in CICS key.

Note that the TRANSACTION resource and the PROGRAM resources used within that transaction (the child server task) should agree on TASKDATAKEY and EXECKEY.  But there's no CICS requirement that two separate tasks (the STARTing task and the STARTed task) have the same key assignment.

------------------------------
Leigh Compton
Consulting IT Specialist - CICS and Enterprise Integration
IBM

Original Message:
Sent: Wed September 25, 2024 12:33 PM
From: Michael Lusicic
Subject: Sockets application

I had a CICS Sockets application that ran 20 years ago. I tried bringing it up to date, and ran into many complications. Here is my current issue.

I use the supplied IBM Listener with a child task. When it tries to start the child task, I get an error because the listener task runs with TASKDATAKEY=CICS, and the child task has TASKDATAKEY=User. I changed the child task to match, and the program it starts gets an error because the EXECKey is User. I changed that to EXECKey=CICS, then it get an error whenever it tries to link to a program because the EXECKey for those is User and not CICS. The programs it links to are used by terminal transactions and should not have to have an EXECKey of CICS. How can I get this to switch between TASKDATAKEY=CICS which is required by the sockets listener and its child and get into a User mode. 

------------------------------
Michael Lusicic
------------------------------