AEIL: DSIDERR (FILENOTFOUND) not handled

What it means

AEIL is the abend for an unhandled DSIDERR condition. Current CICS manuals call it FILENOTFOUND. The two names are the same condition with the same RESP value, so DFHRESP(DSIDERR) and DFHRESP(FILENOTFOUND) test the same thing.

It means the FILE option on a command such as READ, WRITE or STARTBR named a file that has no FILE resource installed in this region. The name in question is the CICS file name of up to eight characters, not the data set name. A file that is defined but disabled, or that CICS can't open, gives a different condition, DISABLED or NOTOPEN.

If the command codes RESP(WS-RESP), CICS hands the condition back to the program to test. Older programs may use HANDLE CONDITION DSIDERR(paragraph). Without either, CICS abends the task with AEIL.

Common causes

• The FILE resource isn't installed in this region. Its CSD group was never added to the region's startup list, or the definition was created but never installed.
• The file name in the program is wrong, from a typo or from a variable that holds the wrong value or extra characters.
• The program now runs in a region that doesn't own the file, and there's no remote FILE definition pointing to the region that does.
• The FILE resource was discarded, for example during a change, and not reinstalled.

How to find the problem

1. The terminal message DFHAC2206 names the transaction. In the transaction dump, EIBRSRCE in the EIB holds the file name the program asked for.
2. Run the transaction under CEDF. It shows the FILE value on the failing command, including any odd characters in it.
3. Run CEMT INQUIRE FILE(name) in the region. If CEMT can't find the file, it isn't installed there.
4. Check the CSD with CEDA, or your site's definition tool, to see whether the file is defined and which group it belongs to. Then check whether that group is in the region's startup list.

How to fix it

• Install the FILE definition, and add its group to the startup list so it comes back after the next restart.
• If the file belongs to another region, define it here as a remote file that points to the owning region.
• Correct the file name in the program, or the code that fills the variable.
• Code RESP(WS-RESP) on file commands and handle the condition, so a missing definition produces a clear message instead of an abend.
• Missing definitions are fixed by the CICS systems programmers. Wrong names in code are fixed by the application team.

What it looks like

DFHDU0203I 10/12/2026 07:58:03 CICSTST2 A transaction dump was taken for dumpcode: AEIL, Dumpid: 1/0009.
DFHAC2206 07:58:03 CICSTST2 Transaction POL1 failed with abend AEIL. Updates to local recoverable resources backed out.

Last reviewed 2026-10-12 by the WND Software team. Written in our own words. For the full reference, check IBM’s documentation for your z/OS, CICS or Db2 release.