z/OS broker joblogs

Understanding the broker address spaces

On z/OS, the broker writes messages to the appropriate z/OS system log and joblogs. These might include information, warning, error, and severe messages to indicate various situations and events.

The broker run time consists of multiple address spaces. There is a single control address space that is always running when the broker is active and is responsible for communicating with the Configuration Manager and workbench. Each execution group within the broker is mapped to its own address space and as these execution groups start and stop, the corresponding address spaces are started and stopped. The control address space is assigned a JOBNAME and STEPNAME, which is the same as the broker name. The execution groups have a JOBNAME that is also the same as the broker name, and a STEPNAME that matches the last seven characters of the execution group name.

Viewing the z/OS system console log

The broker writes all of its messages to the z/OS system console log. You can see messages from all address spaces running on the z/OS system in this log. It is easy to identify jobs associated with the broker in the console log because of the naming of broker address spaces. Using the console log, you can see the order of event reporting for different products. This is helpful for cross-product problem determination.

Viewing the broker joblogs

The broker control address space and each of the execution group address spaces has its own joblog. Selecting the joblog for the appropriate broker address space allows you to see all messages relating to that address space. This is helpful in a busy system where the system console log might have many messages from different products obscuring the information in which you are interested.

Interpreting log information

In both logs, each message is displayed on its own, in date and time order; it might span multiple lines, if necessary. For each message, the following information is available:
  • Date and time: The exact date and time when the event was written to the log.
  • JOBID: The started task job identifier of the address space.
  • Message Number: The message number that identifies whether the event is information, a warning, or an error, with diagnostic text.
  • JOBNAME: The JOBNAME of the address space issuing the message. This is always the same as the broker name.
  • STEPNAME: The STEPNAME of the address space that is issuing the message. For the control address space, this is the same as the broker name; otherwise, it is the same as the last seven characters of the execution group that is issuing the message.
Related concepts
Logs
Related tasks
Using logs
Linux and UNIX systems: Configuring the syslog daemon
Windows: Viewing the local error log
Related reference
Local error logs
WebSphere Event Broker logs