SMFSTART and SMFSTOP
SMFSTART and SMFSTOP provide an efficient means
of selecting records based on the SMF record time stamp.
Use these control operands to specify a time period to filter the input data before processing by all commands in the command input. CICS PA processes only those records with within the specified time period. If not specified, the entire input file is processed.

- Each record is examined at read time to see if it matches the specified time range. This is very early in the record processing cycle and before the records are passed to report processing modules for selection criteria checking.
- SMF record processing commences when a record whose SMF time is ≥ SMFSTART is encountered.
- SMF record processing terminates when a record whose SMF time is > SMFSTOP is encountered (before EOF).


- Specify the READ2EOF operand in the batch command.
- Delete the SMFSTART and SMFSTOP operands from the command.

The syntax is:
CICSPA SMFSTART(date,time),
SMFSTOP(date,time)
Date is either a calendar date in the format yyyy/mm/dd or
a relative date specified as 0, -1, -2,... to signify a date relative
to the current date. 0 represents today, -1 yesterday, -2 two days
ago, and so on.
- If both START and STOP dates are specified, they must be in the same format.
- If STOP date is not specified, it defaults to the end of file.
- If START date is not specified, it defaults to the first record in the data input file.
- If START time is not specified, it defaults to the start of the day.
- If STOP time is not specified, it defaults to the end of the day.
- Times can span midnight.
Notes:
- When filtering records in an SMF file, SMFSTART
and SMFSTOP refer to the SMF record time stamps. When filtering records
in a historical database (HDB), SMFSTART and SMFSTOP refer to transaction
start times. HDBs do not contain SMF record time stamps.
Do not confuse these operands with the SELECT FROM and TO report interval operands, which refer to transaction start and stop times.
- For the DB2® report, if protected threads are in use, specify an SMFSTOP time that is at least 5 minutes past the required time (FROM/TO report interval). This is to ensure that no DB2 accounting statistics are excluded that relate to CMF performance records that are included in the report.
Example 1:
CICSPA SMFSTART(-1,08:30:00.00),
SMFSTOP(0,17:30:00.00)
CICS PA will
process only the data from 8:30a.m. yesterday until 5:30p.m. today.
Data outside this time period is ignored.Example 2:
CICSPA SMFSTART(2005/02/19,),
SMFSTOP(,)
CICS PA will
process the data from February 19, 2005 until the end of file. Data
before this date is ignored.