FFST: IBM MQ for IBM i

Describes the name, location, and contents of the First Failure Support Technology ( FFST ) files for IBM® i systems.

For IBM i, FFST information is recorded in a stream file in the /QIBM/UserData/mqm/errors directory.

These errors are normally severe, unrecoverable errors, and indicate either a configuration problem with the system or an IBM MQ internal error.

The stream files are named AMQ nnnnn.mm.FDC, where:

  • nnnnn is the ID of the process reporting the error.
  • mm is a sequence number, normally 0.

A copy of the job log of the failing job is written to a file with the same name as the .FDC file. The file name ends with .JOB.

Some typical FFST data is shown in the following example. 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| IBM MQ First Failure Symptom Report                                         |
| ===================================                                         |
|                                                                             |
| Date/Time         :- Mon January 28 2008 21:59:06 GMT                       |
| UTC Time/Zone     :- 1201539869.892015 0 GMT                                |
| Host Name         :- WINAS12B.HURSLEY.IBM.COM                               |
| PIDS              :- 5733A38                                                |
| LVLS              :- 520                                                    |
| Product Long Name :- IBM MQ for IBMi                                        |
| Vendor            :- IBM                                                    |
| Probe Id          :- XY353001                                               |
| Application Name  :- MQM                                                    |
| Component         :- xehAS400ConditionHandler                               |
| Build Date        :- Feb 25 2008                                            |
| UserID            :- 00000331 (MAYFCT)                                      |
| Program Name      :- STRMQM_R  MAYFCT                                       |
| Job Name          :- 020100/MAYFCT/STRMQM_R                                 |
| Activation Group  :- 101 (QMQM) (QMQM/STRMQM_R)                             |
| Process           :- 00001689                                               |
| Thread            :- 00000001                                               |
| QueueManager      :- TEST.AS400.OE.P                                        |
| Major Errorcode   :- STOP                                                   |
| Minor Errorcode   :- OK                                                     |
| Probe Type        :- HALT6109                                               |
| Probe Severity    :- 1                                                      |
| Probe Description :- 0                                                      |
| Arith1            :- 1 1                                                    |
| Comment1          :- 00d0                                                   |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MQM Function Stack
lpiSPIMQConnect
zstMQConnect
ziiMQCONN
ziiClearUpAgent
xcsTerminate
xlsThreadInitialization
xcsConnectSharedMem
xstConnSetInSPbyHandle
xstConnSharedMemSet
xcsFFST

MQM Trace History
<-- xcsCheckProcess rc=xecP_E_INVALID_PID
-->
xcsCheckProcess
<-- xcsCheckProcess rc=xecP_E_INVALID_PID
-->
xlsThreadInitialization
-->
xcsConnectSharedMem
-->
xcsRequestThreadMutexSem
<-- xcsRequestThreadMutexSem rc=OK
-->
xihGetConnSPDetailsFromList
<-- xihGetConnSPDetailsFromList rc=OK
-->
xstCreateConnExtentList
<-- xstCreateConnExtentList rc=OK
-->
xstConnSetInSPbyHandle
-->
xstSerialiseSPList
-->
xllSpinLockRequest
<-- xllSpinLockRequest rc=OK
<-- xstSerialiseSPList rc=OK
-->
xstGetSetDetailsFromSPByHandle
<-- xstGetSetDetailsFromSPByHandle rc=OK
-->
xstConnSharedMemSet
-->
xstConnectExtent
-->
xstAddConnExtentToList
<-- xstAddConnExtentToList rc=OK
<-- xstConnectExtent rc=OK
-->
xcsBuildDumpPtr
-->
xcsGetMem
<-- xcsGetMem rc=OK
<-- xcsBuildDumpPtr rc=OK
-->
xcsBuildDumpPtr
<-- xcsBuildDumpPtr rc=OK
-->
xcsBuildDumpPtr
<-- xcsBuildDumpPtr rc=OK
-->
xcsFFST

Process Control Block
SPP:0000 :1aefSTRMQM_R MAYFCT  020100 :8bba0:0:6d  E7C9C8D7 000004E0 00000699 00000000  XIHP...\...r....
SPP:0000 :1aefSTRMQM_R MAYFCT  020100 :8bbb0:1:6d  00000000 00000002 00000000 00000000  ................
SPP:0000 :1aefSTRMQM_R MAYFCT  020100 :8bbc0:2:6d  80000000 00000000 EC161F7C FC002DB0  ...........@...¢
SPP:0000 :1aefSTRMQM_R MAYFCT  020100 :8bbd0:3:6d  80000000 00000000 EC161F7C FC002DB0  ...........@...¢
SPP:0000 :1aefSTRMQM_R MAYFCT  020100 :8bbe0:4:6d  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000  ................

Thread Control Block
SPP:0000 :1aefSTRMQM_R MAYFCT  020100 :1db0:20:6d  E7C9C8E3 00001320 00000000 00000000  XIHT............
SPP:0000 :1aefSTRMQM_R MAYFCT  020100 :1dc0:21:6d  00000001 00000000 00000000 00000000  ................
SPP:0000 :1aefSTRMQM_R MAYFCT  020100 :1dd0:22:6d  80000000 00000000 DD13C17B 81001000  ..........A#a...
SPP:0000 :1aefSTRMQM_R MAYFCT  020100 :1de0:23:6d  00000000 00000046 00000002 00000001  ................
SPP:0000 :1aefSTRMQM_R MAYFCT  020100 :1df0:24:6d  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000  ................


RecoveryIndex
SPP:0000 :1aefSTRMQM_R MAYFCT  020100 :2064:128:6d  00000000                 ....
Note:
  1. The MQM Trace History section is a log of the 200 most recent function trace statements, and is recorded in the FFST report regardless of any TRCMQM settings.
  2. The queue manager details are recorded only for jobs that are connected to a queue manager subpool.
  3. When the failing component is xehAS400ConditionHandler, additional data is logged in the errors directory giving extracts from the job log relating to the exception condition.

The function stack and trace history are used by IBM to assist in problem determination. In most cases, there is little that the system administrator can do when an FFST report is generated, apart from raising problems through the IBM Support Center.