PH48202: UNPREDICTABLE RESULTS WHEN CANCELLING THE ANGEL PROCESS WITHOUT STOPPING REGISTERED LIBERTY SERVERS FIRST.

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• The Angel process was cancelled to apply maintenance, without
  stopping the registered Liberty servers first. If the Angel
  process is cancelled, registered Liberty servers will terminate
  with an ABEND EC3 RSN 20000800.
  This caused the CICS region to
  get into an inoperational state, since the TCB associated with
  the registered liberty server was terminated.
  

Local fix

• Stop all registered Liberty servers before stopping the Angel
  process.
  

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED:  WebSphere Application Server users of CICS  *
  *                  on                                          *
  *                  z/OS                                        *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: CICS Region may become unresponsive     *
  *                      after                                   *
  *                      canceling a Liberty Angel               *
  ****************************************************************
  * RECOMMENDATION:                                              *
  ****************************************************************
  The Angel process was cancelled to apply maintenance, without
  stopping the registered Liberty servers first.  It is
  recommended that the Angel be stopped via the Stop command
  rather than cancelled. If the Angel process is cancelled,
  registered Liberty servers will terminate with an ABEND EC3
  RSN 20000800.
  This caused the CICS region to get into an inoperational
  state, since the JOBSTEP TCB associated with the registered
  liberty server was terminated.
  

Problem conclusion

• Code has been modified in the Angel RESMGR routine to check if
  the registered Liberty server is running with a new
  environment variable WLP_ZOS_ANGEL_SERVER_CALLRTM_STEP_NO set
  to "true".  If so, then the invocation to CALLRTM will use
  the STEP=NO parameter which will allow the associated JOBSTEP
  TCB to remain active.
  
  
  
  The following is information on the new environment variable:
  
  
  - WLP_ZOS_ANGEL_SERVER_CALLRTM_STEP_NO
  
  This environment variable can be used to control a z/OS Angel
  process behavior when terminating with a registered Liberty
  server.  When set to "true", if the z/OS Angel is terminated
  with this Liberty server registered the z/OS Angel's RESMGR
  will use the STEP=NO parameter on the CALLRTM invocation to
  terminate this Liberty server; otherwise the RESMGR will invoke
  CALLRTM with the STEP=YES parameter.  The recommendation is to
  not use the environment variable unless specified to do so.
  The default is "false".
  
  
  
  
  The fix for this APAR is targeted for inclusion in fix pack
  22.0.0.9. For more information, see 'Recommended Updates for
  ebSphere Application Server':
  https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/715553
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  LIBERTY PROF -

• Fixed component ID

  5655W6514

Applicable component levels