Working with bundles
You can use bundles to deploy applications, events, and Atom feeds to your CICS® systems. CICS bundles are a unit of deployment for CICS resources that you want to manage together in a CICS region. Management bundles group related CICS bundles together for deployment and management in a CICSplex. Management bundles are installed in a CMAS, and the associated CICS bundles are installed in the CICS regions across the targeted CICSplex (or platform). You can create management bundles for an application or a platform.
About this task
To create and work with individual CICS bundles, use the task instructions in this section of the help. To create and work with management bundles for applications or platforms, or to create and work with policies, use the task instructions in the section Working with platforms, applications, and policies.
For some artifacts that you can deploy to a CICS bundle, you follow a dedicated process in CICS Explorer®, the CICS Explorer SDK, or Rational® Developer for System z®. For other artifacts, you create the resource definition directly in the CICS bundle.
- Application event or system event
- For CICS event processing, you can use the CICS Explorer to define and deploy event bindings, capture specifications, and EP adapters in CICS bundles. See the CICS event binding editor help.
- Atom feed
- To serve an Atom feed from CICS, you can use the CICS Explorer to create and deploy an Atom configuration file in a CICS bundle. See Working with Atom feeds.
- Channel-based service
- Channel-based services are CICS applications that are described as components and assembled together using the Service Component Architecture (SCA) tooling in Rational Developer for System z. See Creating a channel-based service in the CICS TS V5.2 product documentation.
- File
- A FILE resource represents a single file in a CICS system. The following file types are supported
for definition in CICS bundles:
- VSAM files (including files that refer to CICS-maintained, user-maintained, and coupling facility data tables, as well as files that refer to VSAM data sets)
- Remote VSAM files
- Remote BDAM files
- JSON transform
- A JSON transform is used by an application with the linkable interface for transforming JSON. The JSON assistant uses a language structure or a JSON schema to generate the JSON binding, and also creates a bundle. When you install the BUNDLE resource, CICS dynamically creates an JSONTRANSFRM bundle part that defines where the JSON binding and schema are located.
- JVM server
- A JVMSERVER resource defines the location of the JVM profile and other options that are used to create a JVM server to run Java™ applications in a CICS region. The JVM profile for the JVM server is packaged in the CICS bundle along with the resource definition. See Adding resources to a CICS bundle project.
- Library
- A LIBRARY resource defines a dynamic concatenation of data sets containing program artifacts that make up an application or group of applications. See Adding resources to a CICS bundle project.
- OSGi bundle
- Java applications that are packaged as OSGi bundles can be deployed in CICS bundles to run in a JVM server, using the CICS Explorer Software Development Kit (SDK). See the CICS Java Developer Guide in the SDK help.
- Pipeline
- A PIPELINE resource is used when a CICS application is in the role of a Web service provider or requester. It identifies a pipeline configuration file that provides information about the message handler programs that act on a service request and on the response. The pipeline configuration file is packaged in the CICS bundle along with the resource definition. PIPELINE resources that are defined in CICS bundles can only be used with WEBSERVICE resources that are defined in CICS bundles or created dynamically by a pipeline scan. See Adding resources to a CICS bundle project.
- Policy
- A policy defines one or more rules to manage the behavior of user tasks in CICS regions. See Adding resources to a CICS bundle project.
- Program
- A PROGRAM resource represents a single program in a CICS system. See Adding resources to a CICS bundle project.
- Transaction
- A TRANSACTION resource specifies the functions provided by CICS for a particular invocation of an application. Autoinstall is not supported for the initial program for TRANSACTION resources that are defined and deployed with a platform or application, so you must also define the initial program for the transaction. See Adding resources to a CICS bundle project.
- TCP/IP service
- A TCPIPSERVICE resource specifies the protocol, port, and other information for a TCP/IP connection for a CICS region. See Adding resources to a CICS bundle project.
- Web application
- Web applications that are packaged as either WAR files or an EBA file can be deployed in a CICS bundle to run in a Liberty JVM server. See Deploying applications in a JVM server.
- Web service
- A WEBSERVICE resource defines aspects of the run time environment for a CICS application program deployed in a Web services setting. The web service binding file and the WSDL document or WSDL archive file can be packaged in the CICS bundle along with the resource definition. If the binding file is for a web service provider, you can also generate a PROGRAM definition for the web service and include it in the bundle. See Adding resources to a CICS bundle project.
- URI map
- A URIMAP resource matches the URI of an HTTP, Atom feed, or Web service request, and provides information to CICS on how to process the request. See Adding resources to a CICS bundle project.
- XML-based service
- XML-based services are typically web service provider or requester applications created using Rational Developer for System z, which use XML to interface with other applications and use a binding to transform the data. See Creating an XML-based service in the CICS TS V5.2 product documentation.