You can use Cross Component Trace (XCT) to track individual requests as they flow between WebSphere® Application Server, CICS® Transaction Gateway and CICS, assisting both problem diagnosis and system planning and configuration.
The XCT facility is available when using IPIC connections and WebSphere Application Server V8.5 or later, when High Performance Extensible Logging (HPEL) is enabled. As a request flows through the system, the related XCT information is in the WebSphere HPEL log, CICS TG request monitoring exit data and CICS task association data, which you can view in a variety of ways.
XCT context data is written to the HPEL log. For the ECI resource adapter, the log is annotated with the target CICS server, the CICS program name and, on exit, the CICS return code.
An example of XCT context data written to the HPEL repository viewed through the WebSphere Application Server Log Viewer:
[9/3/12 12:45:10:016 GMT] 00000046 I UOW= source=com.ibm.websphere.XCT class= method= org=null prod=null component=null
thread=[WebSphere WLM Dispatch Thread t=007c40b8] requestID=[BKwWqX+HPuK-AAAAAAAAAAG]
BEGIN BKwWqz2kOGV-AAAAAAAAAAE BKwWqz2kOGV-AAAAAAAAAAD ECIRA(Server(24TGNSIP) Program(EC01))
[9/3/12 12:45:31:106 GMT] 00000046 I UOW= source=com.ibm.websphere.XCT class= method= org=null prod=null component=null
thread=[WebSphere WLM Dispatch Thread t=007c40b8] requestID=[BKwWqX+HPuK-AAAAAAAAAAG]
END BKwWqz2kOGV-AAAAAAAAAAE BKwWqz2kOGV-AAAAAAAAAAD ECIRA(Server(24TGNSIP) Program(EC01) RC(ECI_NO_ERROR))
Additional information can be viewed using the WebSphere Application Server Cross Component Trace.
For more information about configuring Cross
Component Trace, see the WebSphere Application Server V8.5 information center"
[00000000001]: com.ibm.ctg.samples.requestexit.BasicMonitor:eventFired called with event = RequestEntry
: : : : : :
[00000000001]: XctRoot = BKwWqX+HPuK-AAAAAAAAAAG
[00000000001]: XctParent = BKwWqz2kOGV-AAAAAAAAAAD
[00000000001]: XctCurrent = BKwWqz2kOGV-AAAAAAAAAAE
[00000000001]: com.ibm.ctg.samples.requestexit.BasicMonitor:eventFired called with event = RequestDetails
: : : : : :
[00000000001]: OriginData - Transaction Group ID = 1A10C2C1 E8D3C9E2 E22EC7C1 E3C5E6C1 E8F1CA1D BCBD6459 8200
- User Correlator = XCT BKwWqX+HPuK-AAAAAAAAAAG BKwWqz2kOGV-AAAAAAAAAAE
: : : : : :
[00000000001]: XctRoot = BKwWqX+HPuK-AAAAAAAAAAG
[00000000001]: XctParent = BKwWqz2kOGV-AAAAAAAAAAD
[00000000001]: XctCurrent = BKwWqz2kOGV-AAAAAAAAAAE
[00000000001]: com.ibm.ctg.samples.requestexit.BasicMonitor:eventFired called with event = ResponseExit
: : : : : :
[00000000001]: OriginData - Transaction Group ID = 1A10C2C1 E8D3C9E2 E22EC7C1 E3C5E6C1 E8F1CA1D BCBD6459 8200
- User Correlator = XCT BKwWqX+HPuK-AAAAAAAAAAG BKwWqz2kOGV-AAAAAAAAAAE
: : : : : :
[00000000001]: XctRoot = BKwWqX+HPuK-AAAAAAAAAAG
[00000000001]: XctParent = BKwWqz2kOGV-AAAAAAAAAAD
[00000000001]: XctCurrent = BKwWqz2kOGV-AAAAAAAAAAE
For IPIC only, the user correlation data containing the root and current XCT contexts is sent from CICS TG to CICS as part of the origin data. In addition to obtaining the user correlation data through the CICS API, the user correlation data can be viewed in the task's association data, using the command CEMT INQUIRE ASSOCIATION(taskid), or in the Task Associations view in CICS Explorer®, and is recorded to SMF in type 110, sub-type 01 records.
The following screenshot shows association data displayed using the CICS API command INQUIRE ASSOCIATION(taskid):
The CICS Explorer can also be used to display the user correlation data, for example: