The system initialization parameter descriptions and summary

You can define system initialization parameters to CICS® in a number of ways. All the system initialization parameters are listed, together with how they can be specified to CICS and their default values.

You can specify system initialization parameters in any of the following ways:
  • In a DFHSIT macro.
  • In a PARM parameter on the EXEC PGM=DFHSIP statement.
  • In the SYSIN data set of the CICS startup job stream.
  • Through the system console. For parameters that require mixed case values, type / on an SDSF command line to open the System Command Extension facility. Use quotation marks around the parameter and value that you want to specify to preserve the mixed case. The command is still echoed in uppercase in the job log, but SDSF processes the value in mixed case.

The following table lists the parameters and their default values, and whether the parameter can be specified in a PARM parameter, in the SYSIN data set, through the system console, or in a DFHSIT macro.

For a summary of changes by release to SIT parameters, see Changes to SIT parameters.
Table 1. System initialization parameters with override options and default settings
Parameter PARM SYSIN System console DFHSIT Default value Description
ADI YES YES YES YES 30 XRF(B) - Alternate delay interval
AIBRIDGE YES YES YES YES AUTO Bridge Autoinstall URM
AICONS YES YES YES YES NO No autoinstall for MVS™ CONSOLES
AIEXIT YES YES YES YES DFHZATDX Autoinstall user program name
AILDELAY YES YES YES YES 0 Delete delay period for AI terminals
AIQMAX YES YES YES YES 100 Maximum number of terminals queued for AI
AIRDELAY YES YES YES YES 700 Restart delay period for AI terminals
AKPFREQ YES YES YES YES 4000 Activity keypoint frequency
APPLID YES YES YES YES DBDCCICS z/OS® Communications Server APPL identifier
AUTCONN YES YES YES YES 0 Autoconnect delay
AUTODST YES YES YES YES NO Language Environment® automatic storage tuning
AUTORESETTIME YES YES YES YES IMMEDIATE Time-of-day synchronization
AUXTR YES YES YES YES OFF Auxiliary trace option
AUXTRSW YES YES YES YES NO Auxiliary trace autoswitch facility
BMS YES YES YES YES FULL, UNALIGN, DDS Basic Mapping Support options
BRMAXKEEPTIME YES YES YES YES 86400 Bridge Max Keeptime
CDSASZE YES YES YES NO 0 The size of CDSA
CHKSTRM YES YES YES NO NONE Activation of terminal storage-violation checking
CHKSTSK YES YES YES NO NONE Activation of task storage-violation checking
CICSSVC YES YES YES YES 216 The CICS SVC number
CILOCK YES YES YES YES NO Do not keep CI lock after read update
CLINTCP YES YES YES YES 437 Default client code page
CLSDSTP YES YES YES YES NOTIFY Notification for ISSUE PASS command
CLT YES YES YES YES No default The command list table option or suffix
CMDPROT YES YES YES YES YES Exec storage command checking
CMDSEC YES YES NO YES ASIS API command security checking
CONFDATA YES YES NO YES HIDE Redact sensitive data in dump and trace
CONFTXT YES YES NO YES NO Do not prevent z/OS Communications Server tracing user data
CPSMCONN YES YES YES YES NO Do not connect to CICSPlex® SM
CRLPROFILE YES YES YES YES No default Name of profile that allows CICS to access certificate revocation lists
CSDACC YES YES YES YES READWRITE CSD access
CSDBKUP YES YES YES YES STATIC Backup type of CSD (STATIC or DYNAMIC)
CSDBUFND YES YES YES YES No default Number of data buffers for the CSD
CSDBUFNI YES YES YES YES No default Number of index buffers for the CSD
CSDDISP YES YES YES YES No default CSD disposition for dynamic allocation
CSDDSN YES YES YES YES No default CSD data set name for dynamic allocation
CSDFRLOG YES YES YES YES NO Journal ID for CSD forward recovery
CSDINTEG YES YES YES YES UNCOMMITTED Read integrity = uncommitted
CSDJID YES YES YES YES NO Journal ID for CSD auto journaling
CSDLSRNO YES YES YES YES 1 The VSAM LSR pool number for the CSD
CSDRECOV YES YES YES YES NONE CSD recoverable file option
CSDRLS YES YES YES YES NO Use traditional VSAM
CSDSTRNO YES YES YES YES 6 CSD number of strings
CWAKEY YES YES YES YES USER CWA storage key
DAE YES YES YES YES NO SDUMPS are not suppressed by DAE
DATFORM YES YES YES YES MMDDYY CSA date format
DB2CONN YES YES YES YES NO Do not connect to Db2® at CICS startup
DBCTLCON YES YES YES YES NO Do not connect to DBCTL at CICS start
DEBUGTOOL YES YES YES YES NO No Debugging Tool access
DFLTUSER YES YES NO YES CICSUSER Default user
DIP YES YES YES YES NO Batch data interchange program
DISMACP YES YES YES YES YES Disable macro programs
DOCCODEPAGE YES YES YES YES 037 Default host code page
DSALIM YES YES YES YES 5M Upper limit of DSA below 16 MB line
DSHIPIDL YES YES YES YES 020000 Delete shipped idle time
DSHIPINT YES YES YES YES 120000 Delete shipped interval
DSRTPGM YES YES YES YES NONE Distributed routing program
DTRPGM YES YES YES YES DFHDYP Dynamic routing program
DTRTRAN YES YES YES YES CRTX Default dynamic transaction routing transid
DUMP YES YES YES YES YES Dump option
DUMPDS YES YES YES YES AUTO CICS dump data set opening option
DUMPSW YES YES YES YES NO Dump data set autoswitch option
DURETRY YES YES YES YES 30 SDUMP total retry time (in seconds)
ECDSASZE YES YES YES NO 0 Size of the ECDSA
EDSALIM YES YES YES YES 800M Upper limit of DSA in 31-bit storage
EODI YES YES YES YES E0 End-of-data indicator for sequential devices
ERDSASZE YES YES YES NO 0 Size of the ERDSA
ESDSASZE YES YES YES NO 0 Size of the ESDSA
ESMEXITS NO NO NO YES NOINSTLN External security manager exits
EUDSASZE YES YES YES NO 0 Size of the EUDSA
FCT YES YES YES YES NO File control table option or suffix
FCQRONLY YES YES YES YES YES Threadsafe FC runs on QR TCB
FEPI YES YES YES YES NO Front-End Programming Interface
FLDSEP YES YES YES YES ' ' (4 blanks) End-of-field separator characters
FLDSTRT YES YES YES YES ' ' (1 blank) Field start character for built-in function
FORCEQR YES YES YES YES NO Do not force QR for threadsafe programs
FSSTAFF YES YES YES YES NO Function-shipped START affinity option
FTIMEOUT YES YES YES YES 30 File timeout 30 seconds
GMTEXT YES YES YES YES 'WELCOME TO CICS' Good-morning message text
GMTRAN YES YES YES YES CSGM Initial transaction
GNTRAN YES YES YES YES NO Signoff transaction
GRNAME YES YES YES YES No default Generic resource name for CICS TORs
GRPLIST YES YES YES YES DFHLIST List name of CSD groups for startup
GTFTR YES YES YES YES OFF GTF trace option
HPO YES YES NO YES NO z/OS Communications Server High Performance Option (HPO)
HTTPSERVERHDR YES YES YES YES YES Value set in the server header for an HTTP response
HTTPUSRAGENTHDR YES YES YES YES YES Value set in the user-agent header for an HTTP request
ICP YES YES YES YES COLD Interval control program start option
ICV YES YES YES YES 1000 Region exit interval (milliseconds)
ICVR YES YES YES YES 2000 Runaway task interval (milliseconds)
ICVTSD YES YES YES YES 0 Terminal scan delay interval
INFOCENTER YES YES YES YES No default The server name of where the CICS Information Center is installed and the port number that it uses to run in server mode
INITPARM YES YES YES YES No default Initialization parameters for programs
INTTR YES YES YES YES ON CICS internal trace option
IRCSTRT YES YES YES YES NO Interregion communication start
ISC YES YES YES YES NO Intersystem communication option
JESDI YES YES YES YES 30 JES delay interval for XRF alternate
JVMPROFILEDIR YES YES YES YES /usr/lpp/cicsts /cicsts56/JVMProfiles JVM profile directory
KERBEROSUSER YES YES YES YES ' ' (8 blanks) The user ID associated with the Kerberos service principal for this CICS region
KEYRING YES YES YES YES No default Key ring to be used by SSL support
LGDFINT YES YES YES YES 5 Log defer interval in Log Manager
LGNMSG YES YES YES YES NO Extract z/OS Communications Server logon data
LLACOPY YES YES YES YES YES Use MVS LLACOPY support
LOCALCCSID YES YES YES YES 037 The default CCSID for the local region
LPA YES YES YES YES NO Use LPA option for CICS/user modules
MAXOPENTCBS YES YES YES YES (2 × MXT value) + 32 Maximum number of L8 and L9 open TCBs
MAXSOCKETS YES YES YES YES 65535 Maximum number of IP sockets
MAXSSLTCBS YES YES YES YES 32 Limit on number of SSL TCBs
MAXXPTCBS YES YES YES YES MXT value Maximum number of XP TCBs
MCT YES YES YES YES NO Monitoring control table option or suffix
MINTLSLEVEL YES YES YES YES TLS12 Level of encryption for TLS
MN YES YES YES YES OFF CICS monitoring option
MNCONV YES YES YES YES NO Monitoring converse recording option
MNEXC YES YES YES YES OFF Monitoring exception class option
MNFREQ YES YES YES YES 0 Monitoring frequency period
MNIDN YES YES YES YES OFF Monitoring identity class option
MNPER YES YES YES YES OFF Monitoring performance class option
MNRES YES YES YES YES OFF Monitoring resource class option
MNSYNC YES YES YES YES NO Monitoring syncpoint recording option
MNTIME YES YES YES YES GMT Monitoring timestamp (GMT or LOCAL)
MQCONN YES YES YES YES NO Do not connect to WebSphere® MQ at startup
MROBTCH YES YES YES YES 1 Number of MRO requests to batch
MROFSE YES YES YES YES NO Extend lifetime of long-running mirror
MROLRM YES YES YES YES NO Long-running mirror task option
MSGCASE YES YES YES YES MIXED CICS messages in mixed case
MSGLVL YES YES YES YES 1 System console MSG level option
MXT YES YES YES YES 250 Maximum number of tasks in CICS
NATLANG YES YES YES YES E List of national languages
NCPLDFT YES YES YES YES DFHNC001 Named counter default pool name
NEWSIT YES YES YES NO NO Load a specified SIT and enforce use of all system initialization parameters
NISTSP800131A YES YES YES YES NOCHECK Whether the CICS region is to check for compliance to the NIST 800-131A standard
NONRLSRECOV YES YES YES YES VSAMCAT Select location of recovery options for non-RLS files
NQRNL YES YES YES YES NO RNL processing by z/OS global resource serialization
OFFSITE YES YES YES NO NO Restart in off-site recovery mode
OPERTIM YES YES YES YES 120 Write to operator timeout (seconds)
OPNDLIM YES YES YES YES 10 OPNDST/CLSDST request limit
PARMERR YES YES YES YES INTERACT System initialization parameter errors option
PDI YES YES YES YES 30 Primary delay interval - XRF active
PDIR YES YES YES YES NO DL/I PSB directory option or suffix
PGAICTLG YES YES YES YES MODIFY PG autoinstall catalog state
PGAIEXIT YES YES YES YES DFHPGADX PG autoinstall exit program
PGAIPGM YES YES YES YES INACTIVE PG autoinstall state
PGCHAIN YES YES YES YES No default BMS CHAIN command
PGCOPY YES YES YES YES No default BMS COPY command
PGPURGE YES YES YES YES No default BMS PURGE command
PGRET YES YES YES YES No default BMS RETURN command
PLTPI YES YES YES YES NO Program list table PI option, name or suffix
PLTPISEC YES YES NO YES NONE No PLT security checks on PI programs
PLTPIUSR YES YES NO YES CICS region userid PLT PI user ID = CICS region user ID
PLTSD YES YES YES YES NO Program list table SD option, name or suffix
PRGDLAY YES YES YES YES 0 BMS purge delay interval
PRINT YES YES YES YES NO Print key option
PRTYAGE YES YES YES YES 1000 Dispatcher priority aging value
PRVMOD YES YES YES NO No default Names of modules that are not to be used from the LPA
PSBCHK YES YES NO YES NO PSB resource checking required
PSDINT YES YES YES YES 0 Persistent session delay interval
PSTYPE YES YES YES YES SNPS z/OS Communications Server single node persistent Sessions
PVDELAY YES YES YES YES 30 Timeout value for LUIT table
QUIESTIM YES YES YES YES 240 Timeout value for quiesce requests
RACFSYNC YES YES NO YES YES Listen for type 71 ENF events
RAMAX YES YES YES YES 256 Maximum I/O area for RECEIVE ANY
RAPOOL YES YES YES YES 50 Maximum RECEIVE ANY request parm. lists
RDSASZE YES YES YES NO 0 Size of the RDSA
RENTPGM YES YES YES YES PROTECT Reentrant program write protection
RESP YES YES YES YES FME Logical unit response type
RESSEC YES YES NO YES ASIS Resource security check
RLS YES YES YES YES NO RLS option
RLSTOLSR YES YES YES YES NO RLS files in LSRPOOL build calculation
RMTRAN YES YES YES YES CSGM XRF alternate recovery transaction
RRMS YES YES YES YES NO Recoverable resource management services
RST YES YES YES YES NO Recovery service table (XRF-DBCTL)
RSTSIGNOFF YES YES YES YES NOFORCE XRF - Re-sign on after takeover
RSTSIGNTIME YES YES YES YES 500 XRF - sign off timeout value
RUWAPOOL YES YES YES YES NO Allocating storage pool for Language Environment
SDSASZE YES YES YES NO 0 Size of the SDSA
SDTRAN YES YES YES YES CESD Shutdown transaction
SEC YES YES NO YES YES External security manager option
SECPRFX YES YES NO YES NO Security prefix
SIT YES YES YES NO No default Suffix of the system initialization table that you want loading at the start of system initialization
SKRxxxx YES YES YES YES No default Single keystroke retrieval operation required
SNPRESET YES YES NO YES UNIQUE Specifies whether preset userid terminals share a single ACEE associated with the userid, or a unique ACEE for every terminal.
SNSCOPE YES YES NO YES NONE Multiple CICS sessions per user ID
SOTUNING YES YES YES YES YES Performance tuning for HTTP connections
SPCTR YES YES YES YES (1,2) Levels of special tracing required for CICS as a whole
SPCTRxx YES YES YES NO (1,2) The level of special tracing for a particular CICS component used by a transaction, terminal, or both
SPOOL YES YES YES YES NO System spooling interface option
SRBSVC YES YES YES YES 215 HPO Type 6 SVC number
SRT YES YES YES YES 1$ System recovery table option or suffix
SRVERCP YES YES YES YES 037 Default server code page to be used by the DFHCNV data conversion table (if the SRVERCP parameter in the DFHCNV macro is set to SYSDEF)
SSLCACHE YES YES YES YES CICS SSL session ID caching
SSLDELAY YES YES YES YES 600 SSL timeout value
START YES YES YES YES AUTO CICS system initialization option
STARTER NO NO NO YES YES Starter ($ and #) suffixes option
Note: The default is NO but the parameter must be set to YES here to enable the SIT to assemble correctly.
STATEOD YES YES YES YES 0 Statistics end-of-day time
STATINT YES YES YES YES 010000 Statistics interval time
STATRCD YES YES YES YES OFF Statistics recording status
STGPROT YES YES YES YES YES Storage protection facility
STGRCVY YES YES YES YES NO Storage recovery option
STNTR YES YES YES YES 1 Level of standard tracing required for CICS as a whole
STNTRxx YES YES YES NO 1 Level of standard tracing you require for a particular CICS component
SUBTSKS YES YES YES YES 0 Number of concurrent mode TCBs
SUFFIX NO NO NO YES $$ Suffix of this SIT
SYDUMAX YES YES YES YES 999 Number of SYSDUMPS to be taken
SYSIDNT YES YES YES YES CICS Local system identifier
SYSTR YES YES YES YES ON Main system trace flag
TAKEOVR YES YES YES YES MANUAL XRF alternate takeover option
TBEXITS YES YES YES YES No default Backout exit programs
TCP YES YES YES YES YES Terminal control program option or suffix
TCPIP YES YES YES YES YES TCP/IP support
TCSACTN YES YES YES YES NONE TC Shutdown action
TCSWAIT YES YES YES YES 4 TC Shutdown wait
TCT YES YES YES YES NO Terminal control table option or suffix
TCTUAKEY YES YES YES YES USER TCT user area storage key
TCTUALOC YES YES YES YES ANY TCT user area ANY
TD YES YES YES YES (3,3) Transient data buffers and strings
TDINTRA YES YES YES YES NOEMPTY Initial state of transient data queues
TRANISO YES YES YES YES NO Transaction Isolation
TRAP YES YES YES YES OFF F.E. global trap exit option
TRDUMAX YES YES YES YES 999 Number of TRANDUMPS to be taken
TRTABSZ YES YES YES YES 12288 Internal trace table size in 1K bytes
TRTRANSZ YES YES YES YES 1024 Transaction dump trace table size
TRTRANTY YES YES YES YES TRAN Transaction dump trace option
TS YES YES YES YES (3,3) Temporary storage buffers and strings
TSMAINLIMIT YES YES YES YES 64M Upper limit of storage for TS main queues
TST YES YES YES YES NO Temporary storage table option or suffix
UDSASZE YES YES YES NO 0 Size of the UDSA
UOWNETQL YES YES YES YES No default Qualifier for NETUOWID
USERTR YES YES YES YES ON Main user trace flag
USRDELAY YES YES YES YES 30 Timeout value for user directory entries
USSCONFIG YES YES YES YES /var/cicsts/dfhconfig The name and path of the root directory for CICS configuration files on z/OS UNIX
USSHOME YES YES YES YES /usr/lpp/cicsts/cicsts56 The name and path of the root directory for CICS files on z/OS UNIX
VTAM® YES YES YES YES YES z/OS Communications Server access method option
VTPREFIX YES YES YES YES \ Client virtual terminal prefix
WEBDELAY YES YES YES YES (5,60) Web timer values
WLMHEALTH YES YES YES YES (20,25) Parameters used by CICS on z/OS WLM Health API (IWM4HLTH) calls to inform z/OS WLM about the health state of CICS regions.
WRKAREA YES YES YES YES 512 Common work area (CWA) size in bytes
XAPPC YES YES NO YES NO RACF® class APPCLU required
XCFGROUP YES YES YES YES DFHIR000 XCF group to use for MRO communications
XCMD YES YES NO YES YES SPI use default name for RACF check
XDCT YES YES NO YES YES Security check for transient data queues
XDB2 YES YES YES YES NO Security check for DB2ENTRY resources
XFCT YES YES NO YES YES Security check for files
XHFS YES YES NO YES YES Security check for z/OS UNIX files
XJCT YES YES NO YES YES Security check for journals
XLT YES YES YES YES NO Transaction list table option or suffix
XPCT YES YES NO YES YES Security check for started transactions
XPPT YES YES NO YES YES Security check for programs
XPSB YES YES NO YES YES Security check for DL/I PSBs
XPTKT YES YES NO YES YES Security check for PassTicket
XRES YES YES NO YES YES For resources subject to XRES security, checks use the default name for the RACF check. For a list of resources subject to XRES security checks, see Resource and command check cross-reference.
XRF YES YES YES YES NO Extended recovery feature (XRF) option
XTRAN YES YES NO YES YES Security check for transaction-attach
XTST YES YES NO YES YES Security check for temporary storage queues
XUSER YES YES NO YES YES Surrogate user checking to be done