Methods and systems for creating a storage dump within a coupling facility of a multisystem enviroment

A dumping service facility for data processing systems, including single systems, multisystems and shared facilities. Information, such as control information, is captured and a storage dump is created. During the capturing process, the information is serialized such that mainline commands (i.e., commands other than dump commands) are not allowed to access the information thereby possibly destroying the information. The information is stored within the storage dump in such a manner that programs can understand the information. That is, the storage dump contains a logical representation of the information being captured. Subsequent to capturing the information, serialization is released and mainline commands can once again access the information.