Dump a communications trace

Dumping the data to a stream file offers several advantages. Consider these advantages when deciding whether to use this function:

You can run new traces without losing data from the existing trace.
You can run an initial program load (IPL) on the server and still keep the raw trace data in the stream file.
You can format trace data multiple times, even after you run an IPL or delete the prior trace buffer. If you do not dump the raw data to a stream file and you delete the trace or IPL the server, you will not be able to format the trace again.
You can use a custom formatter to analyze the trace data.

Note: If you are using Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), you must dump the trace data into a stream file by following these steps. However, if you are using IPv4, this is an optional part of the communications trace process.

To dump a communications trace, follow these steps:

Create a directory, such as mydir. See the CRTDIR (Create Directory) command description in the Control Language (CL) topic, to create a directory.
At the command line, type DMPCMNTRC.
For the Configuration object prompt, specify the same line you specified when you started the trace, such as TRNLINE.
For the Type prompt, specify the type of resource, either *LIN or *NWI.
For the To stream file prompt, specify the path name, such as /mydir/mytraces/trace1.