Problem:

We downloaded our host IMS Stage1 definitions, but when trying to load the IMS definitions into Mainframe Express we get NO records loaded. We have valid PSB,  DBD and MFS gens but when producing the extract file of transactions from the download to generate the .DAT, we saw this in the IMS log tab output window

07.08.29/12:07:11 Extracting transactions from a STAGE1 file                   

07.08.29/12:07:11 Number of Definitions extracted:                            

07.08.29          BMP  : 00000.

07.08.29          QBMP : 00000.

07.08.29          MPP  : 00000.

07.08.29          NRMP : 00000.

What is wrong?

Resolution:

Both the downloaded host IMS Stage 1 gen file and the extract file created by the IMS gen load process must be in EBCDIC. If the download creates an ASCII (or ANSI) file, then no valid records are found and the output shows zero definitions processed.