What's new in version 5.2

The new and enhanced capabilities available in IBM® CICS Explorer® Version 5.2 are described.

New Function Description
CICS Explorer on OS X operating system

CICS Explorer Version 5.2.0.2 and later is available for the OS X Yosemite (10.10) operating system.

Support for CICSPlex® SM workload management

CICS Explorer presents a new way of managing your CICSPlex SM workloads. There is no change to the way the CICSPlex SM workload management operates, but by using CICS Explorer you can get a simplified and consolidated view of the CICSPlex SM elements that control where, and how, the work is distributed in a workload.

CICS Explorer introduces the term Routing rule. Routing rules take two forms: default and specific:
  • For every workload, there is a single default routing rule. The default routing rule equates to the Workload Specification (WLMSPEC), and controls the routing behavior for all transactions that are not covered by specific routing rules.
  • Specific routing rules are a collection of all the definitional resources; WLMDEF, TRANGRP, and DTRINGRP, that together define the criteria by which specific transactions are selected and routed, or separated in the target regions.
The rules define which transactions are selected, and under what criteria, where they can potentially be routed (targets), and the criteria for deciding on the specific target that is chosen for each individual routing decision. The rules can be created and changed in the Workload editor. The editor brings together all aspects of a workload definition in one place.

For more information, see Managing workloads.

Define FILE, JVMSERVER, PIPELINE, TCPIPSERVICE and WEBSERVICE resources in a CICS® Bundle project

In addition to PROGRAM, TRANSACTION, URIMAP and LIBRARY resources, you can now dynamically generate FILE, JVMSERVER, PIPELINE, TCPIPSERVICE, and WEBSERVICE resources through a CICS bundle. When you manage resources and their lifecycles through bundles, you can deploy, move, or deprovision an application without having to set up or discard resources manually each time.

For JVM servers that are packaged in CICS bundles, the JVM profiles are packaged with the resource definitions in the CICS bundles. You can therefore install the JVM server in any CICS region without needing to set up a JVM profile in the local JVM profile directory for the CICS region.

For pipelines that are packaged in CICS bundles, the pipeline configuration files are also packaged with the resource definitions in the CICS bundles, so that you do not need to manage these files separately.

For web services that are packaged in CICS bundles, you can import and package the web service binding file and the WSDL document or WSDL archive file in the bundle. You can also create a PROGRAM resource definition for the web service and include it in the bundle. To support the web service, you can use a WEBSERVICE definition packaged in a CICS bundle to generate a URIMAP definition in a separate bundle. You can also create an alias transaction for the URI map, and an optional URIMAP definition for WSDL discovery.

For more information, see Adding resources to a CICS bundle project.

Declare URIMAP resources as application entry points

URIMAP resources can now be declared as application entry points for applications deployed on platforms, in addition to PROGRAM resources. Application entry points control users' access to the different versions of the application, and are used to create an application context for tasks and produce application context data.

For more information, see Defining application entry points.

View details of, and work with, an application installed on a platform

To see more details about an installed application version, in the Cloud Explorer view or the Applications view, double-click the name of the application to open it in the new online application editor. Alternatively, right-click the name of the application and select Open. The Overview tab in the editor shows key information about the application, including the CICS bundles in the application and the application entry points. You can make available or unavailable, enable, disable, or discard the application on the Overview tab. You can perform the disable and discard operations in a single step by selecting the Disable and discard option from the Disable button.

To find the private resources that have been installed in your CICS regions for the application, select the Private Resources tab in the editor. You can view the private resources and application entry points for the application by resource type, and filter them by the CICS region where they are installed, or by the CICS bundle where they are defined. You can also view the DD names that z/OS® has generated for the LIBRARY concatenation of data sets for private LIBRARY resources.

For more information, see The online application editor.

Manage multiple versions of applications installed on a platform

You can use the CICS Cloud perspective to view, update, and remove all the versions of an application that are deployed on a platform. The Cloud Explorer view shows the status of the application versions, including whether they are available or unavailable to users through their application entry points. The Bundles view shows the status of individual CICS bundles, including whether any application entry points that they define are available or unavailable to users.

You can make available or unavailable, enable or disable, and install or discard an installed application version in the Cloud Explorer view. You can make available or unavailable, enable, or disable an installed application version in the online application editor for installed applications.

Changed Function Description
Attribute filters in the Customize Columns dialog

When you use the Customize Columns dialog to select which attributes to display as columns in a resource view, you can now filter the attribute names to find the required attributes.

For more information, see Adding or removing columns in a view.

Additional content in the CICSplex Explorer view

The CICSplex Explorer view is enhanced to show the default routers and targets, and the routing rules and transaction groups in a workload.

For more information, see CICSplex Explorer view

Further support for CICS policies

CICS Explorer has been updated to support the new CICS policy rule types and rule items that are implemented in CICS TS Version 5.2. See Policy rule types.

View changes

Table 1. New Views
View Type Description
General views
One new general view has been added in this version:
  • Repository Explorer view

    The Repository Explorer view shows a list of the CSDs that are used by the CICS regions, and the data repositories that are used across the CICSplex.

The view is visible in the CICS SM perspective.
Operation views
Five new Operation views have been added in this version:
  • Task related User Exits view

    The Task Related User Exits view (EXITTRUE) shows information about installed CICS TS task related user exits.

  • Global User Exits view

    The Global User Exits view (EXTGLORD) shows information about a global user exit in an active system being managed by CICSPlex SM.

  • Shared TS Queues view

    The Shared TS Queues view (TSQSHR) displays information about shared temporary storage queues.

  • Transaction Dumps view

    The CICS Transaction Dumps view (TRANDUMP) displays information about transaction dump codes for active CICS systems.

  • System Dumps view

    The CICS System Dumps view (SYSDUMP) displays information about system dump codes for active CICS systems.

  • Unit of Work Links view

    The Unit of Work Links (UOWLINK) view displays information about links between units of work and CICS systems or external resource managers.

The views are accessible in the CICS SM perspective from the Operations menu on the toolbar.
One view has been updated in this version:
  • Pipelines view

    The new field, Message Format, displays an 8-character string that indicates the format of the messages processed by the pipeline. Possible values are: JSON, OTHER, SOAP11, and SOAP12.

Workload Management views
One new Workload Management (WLM) view has been added in this version:
  • WLM Specifications view

    The WLM Specifications (WLMSPEC) view shows default control attributes that are used for CICPlex SM workload management. When associated with a routing region, the specification name becomes the workload name for that region. The WLMSPEC also provides the anchor for all explicit workload definitions associated with the CICS system. Although a WLM specification may be associated with any number of routing regions, a CICS region may have only one WLMSPEC associated with it.

The view is accessible in the CICS SM perspective from the Definitions > WLM menu on the toolbar.