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z/XML-Host™: Easy SOA and Web Services

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This Week's iTip!

Controlling tasks with CICS TS MXT (maxtask)

CICS TS uses a maximum task mechanism to limit the number of transactions in a CICS TS partition in order to keep from overlaying virtual storage and other system resources.  The SIT maximum task (MXT) parameter is used to limit the total number of user tasks in the CICS TS partition.  If the value for MXT is coded too low, CICS performance can suffer.

The MXT parameter in CICS TS works slightly different than it did in CICS/VSE.  In CICS/VSE the MXT parameter controlled the maximum number of user and system tasks that could exist concurrently in the CICS partition.  If the CICS MXT value is set too low and the total number of user tasks in the CICS partition reaches the MXT value, then no more tasks will be attached and task response time will be affected.  If the MXT value is set too high, then virtual storage will be wasted. 

CICS TS pre-allocates storage in the 24-bit and 31-bit Dynamic Storage Areas during CICS startup based on the MXT value.  The following formulas can be used to calculate the amount of storage that is allocated:

(10 * 2K) + (MXT * 2K) + (MXT/10 * 4K) = 24-bit DSA storage used

(10 * 12K) + (MXT * 12K) + (MXT/10 * 4K) = 31-bit DSA storage used

For example, if MXT value is 50, then using the formulas 140KB of 24-bit DSA storage and 740KB of 31-bit DSA storage would be used.  Many users specified MXT=999 in their CICS/VSE systems.  If the same specification is used in CICS TS and not needed then a lot of virtual storage will be wasted in the DSAs.

CICS statistics can be used to monitor the MXT value.  The statistics show the number of times MXT was reached.  Ideally, this statistic should be zero; however, MXT can also be used as a throttle to limit the number of tasks in the system therefore controlling the amount of virtual storage used and the load on other system resources such as I/O subsystems and processor utilization.  If your CICS has short on storage problems, I/O constraints or high processor utilization then a lower MXT value may help alleviate the demands by CICS tasks for these resources.

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