Messages

The iSeries™ server sends a variety of system messages that indicate conditions ranging from simple typing errors to problems with server devices or programs.

Listed here are the messages you might get:

An error message on your current display.
These messages can interrupt your job or sound an alarm. You can display these messages by entering DSPMSG on any command line.
A message regarding a server problem that is sent to the server operator message queue and displayed on a separate Work with Messages display.
To see these messages, enter DSPMSG QSYSOPR on any server command line.
A message regarding a server problem that is sent to the message queue specified in a device description.
To see these messages, enter DSPMSG message-queue-name on any server command line.

The server sends informational or inquiry messages for certain server events. Informational messages give you status on what the server is doing. Inquiry messages give you information about the server, but also request a reply.

In some message displays, a message is accompanied by a letter and number code such as:

CPF0083

The first two or three letters indicate the message category. Some message categories for distributed relational database are:

Table 1. Message categories
Category	Description	Library
CPA through CPZ	Messages from the operating system	QSYS/QCPFMSG
MCH	Licensed internal code messages	QSYS/QCPFMSG
SQ and SQL	Structured Query Language (SQL) messages	QSYS/QSQLMSG
TCP	TCP/IP messages	QTCP/QTCPMSGF

The remaining four digits (five digits if the prefix is SQ) indicate the sequence number of the message. The example message ID shown indicates this is a message from the operating system, number 0083.

To obtain more information about a message on the message line of a display or in a message queue, follow these steps:

Move the cursor to the same line as the message.
Press the Help key. The Additional Message Information display is shown.

Additional Message Information
 
Message ID  . . . . . . :   CPD6A64          Severity . . . . . . :   30
Message type  . . . . . :   DIAGNOSTIC
Date sent . . . . . . . :   03/29/92         Time sent  . . . . . :   13:49:06
From program  . . . . . :   QUIACT           Instruction  . . . . :   080D
To program  . . . . . . :   QUIMGFLW         Instruction  . . . . :   03C5
 
Message . . . . :   Specified menu selection is not correct.
Cause . . . . . :   The selection that you have specified is not correct for
one of the following reasons:
-- The number selected was not valid.
-- Something other than a menu option was entered on the option line.
Recovery  . . . :   Select a valid option and press the Enter or Help key
again.
 
 
 
Bottom
Press Enter to continue.
 
F3=Exit   F6=Print   F9=Display message details
F10=Display messages in job log   F12=Cancel   F21=Select assistance level

You can get more information about a message that is not showing on your display if you know the message identifier and the library in which it is located. To get this information, enter the Display Message Description (DSPMSGD) command:

DSPMSGD RANGE(SQL0204) MSGF(QSYS/QSQLMSG)

This command produces a display that allows you to select the following information about a message:

Message text
Field data
Message attributes
All of the preceding items

The text is the same message and message help text that you see on the Additional Message Information display. The field data is a list of all the substitution variables defined for the message and their attributes. The message attributes are the values (when defined) for severity, logging, level of message, default program, default reply, and dump parameters. You can use the information to help you determine what the user was doing when the message appeared.