SMS/Debug overview - syncsort_allocation_control_center - Latest

Syncsort™ Storage Management Sms/Debug User Guide
Product type
Software
Portfolio
Integrate
Product family
Syncsort™ software
Product
Syncsort™ Storage Management > Syncsort™ Allocation Control Center
Version
Latest
ft:locale
en-US
Product name
Syncsort Storage Management
ft:title
Syncsort™ Storage Management Sms/Debug User Guide
Copyright
1991
First publish date
2025
ft:lastEdition
2025-12-05
ft:lastPublication
2025-12-05T10:27:31.692000
L1_Product_Gateway
Integrate
L2_Product_Segment
IBM Infrastructure
L3_Product_Brand
Precisely Syncsort
L4_Investment_Segment
Mainframe
L5_Product_Group
Mainframe Storage Optimization
L6_Product_Name
Syncsort Storage Management

SMS/Debug is a powerful testing, tracing, and debugging tool for z/OS installations. With SMS/Debug, storage administrators can more effectively understand and manage their installation's DFSMS environment. SMS/Debug includes the following components:

  • Extensive tracing facilities for Automatic Class Selection (ACS) routines. Tracing is available for both real-time production ACS routines as well as test (unactivated) routines. Up to 99 different sets of ACS routines may be tested.
  • Trace and display of the DFSMS volume selection process, including the display of the primary, secondary, and tertiary volume selection lists.
  • Display of the results of the Direct Access Device Space Manager (DADSM) pre- and post-processing exit return codes, showing each volume considered for allocation.
  • Automatic display of the DFSMS volume selection lists when an allocation error occurs.
  • ACS/QA, the SMS/Debug Test Facility, a robust and powerful ACS routine comparison and regression testing facility which is much faster, more complete, and more accurate than the limited facilities available via ISMF.

Simple user interface

SMS/Debug is particularly simple to use. When SMS/Debug is active, additional JCL parameters and options on the TSO ALLOCATE command become available. The SMSDEBUG and ACSTRACE keywords indicate what type of debugging or tracing is to be performed.

In the example below, full ACS routine logic tracing, volume selection lists, and DADSM return code displays are performed for the dataset allocated to the //DD1 statement, as requested by the SMSDEBUG keyword. 

//JOBNAME JOB...
// EXEC PGM=IEFBR14
//DD1 DD DSN=TEST.DATASET,SPACE=(TRK,1),STORCLAS=STC1,
// SMSDEBUG=YES

For a complete description of the trace and debugging keywords and output, examine The SMS/Debug user interface.

No rules language

Unlike most of the other DTS Software products, SMS/Debug does not require customized product policy rules.
Important: An SMSDEBUG member in the //PARMLIB dataset allocated to the DIF started task is required.
This member can be found in the SCC rule library, DTS.R61.RULELIB. The default SMSDEBUG parmlib member is shown below. 
DEFPROD SMSDEBUG DDNAME(TRACE(SMSDEBUG)) DEFENV
SMSACS RULES(NEVER)
DEFENV SMSACS_TRACE DEFENV SMS_TRACE
DEFENV DADSM RULES(NEVER) PROCESS(DISKALL)
OPTION(SYSALLOC,IGNORERC) DEFENV POST_DADSM RULES(NEVER) PROCESS(DISKALL)
OPTION(SYSALLOC,IGNORERC) DEFENV DEVSELECT MODE(INACTIVE)

Figure 2-1. SMSDEBUG member in the RULELIB PDS

Trace output returned to user

In most cases, SMS/Debug trace output is returned directly to the user. For batch jobs, the trace messages are included in the JESMSGS dataset. If a trace is performed under TSO, the trace messages are returned directly to the user's TSO session unless an //ACSPRINT DD statement is present and the trace is being performed under ISMF. If the trace is for the DEFINE of a VSAM cluster under program IDCAMS, the trace output is placed in the //SYSPRINT dataset. In this case, the trace output will actually precede the DEFINE statement and the IDCAMS messages in SYSPRINT. For JES3 installations, the WTORC(2,11) parameter must be added to the DEFENV statement for SMSACS_TRACE in order to display ACS trace output. Under JES3, the ACS routine trace output for the job will be written to the system console/log instead of the JESMSGS dataset.