In this chapter, we provide an introduction to the CICS Deployment Assistant. This new, tightly integrated plug-in for the CICS Explorer works together with host components to give you a powerful toolkit to manage your CICS deployment and to discover your CICS assets.

The CICS Deployment Assistant (CICS DA) is a new tool designed to help you to discover, model, visualize, and deploy new and existing CICS regions. With CICS DA you can visualize and control all your CICS resources. You can also visualize and manage all key relationships from a single point of control. With CICS DA you can automate and standardize your CICS environment.

CICS DA is an interactive control system that allows CICS systems programmers to create and maintain a CICS environment easily. CICS DA is a part PC and a part mainframe based graphical user interface (GUI). The CICS PC part is incorporated into the CICS Explorer as a plug-in.

In this section, we discuss the components that are required to run CICS DA.

The CICS DA plug-in must be installed in the CICS Explorer V1.0.1.

IBM z/OS version 1.9 or higher is required. If access to the MVS™ system log is needed by users of CICS DA, z/OS V1.11 is required. JES3 user must have z/OS version 1.10 or higher.

CICS/TS version 3.1 or higher is required. Recommended is CICS/TS V4.1. APAR PM15583 with PTF UK60398 and APAR PM15214 with PTF UK60399 provide the ability for CICS/TS V4.1 server, to access the System Initialization Parameters (SIT) and any overrides with CICS DA.

There are three main steps that are necessary to install the CICS DA:

In this section, we describe how to install the CICS DA plug-in:

In this section, we describe how to create a CICS DA type connection:

In Figure 11-3 on page 235, you can see how we defined our connection.

The CICS DA connected window is divided into multiple frames.

In the lower window on the right side you might see the error message shown in Figure 11-4 on page 236. In this case your z/OS level is not V1.11 (see prerequisites for browsing the MVS system log in 11.2.2, “z/OS host component” on page 232).

At this point, we do a brief description into connection types because it is important to select the right connection type. Early versions of the CICS Explorer were using the CICSPlex SM Data Interface only, which was a kind of read-only access. The CICS Management Interface (CMCI) followed soon to connect also stand-alone CICS regions that are not part of a CICSPLex. This interface allows update access. To connect successfully to the CICS DA host component, a new CICS DA type connection is required. Table 11-1 provides an overview of the connection types that are currently available. For further information, refer to 4.2, “Connections and credentials” on page 78.

The Eclipse platform is project oriented, and the CICS Explorer is based on Eclipse. So if you want to start new work, you must have a CICS DA project open. A CICS DA project is used as the repository where the system configuration data that is collected by CICS DA is saved. This system information in the project is known as the model. CICS DA projects are created during the system discovery process. You cannot create a CICS DA project without performing a system discovery:

When you perform a discovery operation you import the discovered system information into your CICS DA project. The system information that is contained in the project is known as the system model. When you run discovery, CICS DA submits a job through FTP to execute a discovery program. The first thing the discovery program does is identify all of the MVS systems in the sysplex. You then select the MVS images on which to perform the next stage of the discovery process. The discovery program then looks at the regions that are running on each selected MVS image and identifies supported releases of CICS and other running instances, such as CICSPlex SM CMASes, Web User Interface servers, and DB2 and MQ servers, as well as CICS Temporary Storage, Coupling Facility Data Tables (CFDT), and Named Counter Server.

The Finish button ends the process, creating a new project. The project is now visible in the left upper frame. Expand the folder and, click the plus sign to see your CICS assets.

In this section, we review some figures to give you an overview of how CICS DA discovers CICS assets.

The main CICS asset is a CICS region. CICS DA can discover CICSPlex managed and un-managed CICS regions with a few clicks. Figure 11-5 on page 239 gives you an overview how powerful CICS DA is.

To discover CICS regions:

You can see some blue hypertext (blue underlined text), for instance, Data set name. Others are MVS Image, DB2, WebSphere MQ, CICSPlex, and so on. Simply clicking that hypertext gives you more information about that topic.

If you click Data set name, for example, you can edit your CICS startup JCL. You can change it, save it, stop CICS, and re-start CICS to activate your changes with a few clicks from one window. No need to switch back to TSO or SDSF.

Figure 11-5 on page 239 shows the CICS regions.

Let us discuss the two windows on the lower part of Figure 11-5. On the left window, you can see jobs in your system. The jobs can be running or they are already in the held output queue.

Look at figure Figure 11-6 on page 240, you can see five jobs in the system with jobname EPRED3. The first job (JOB02783) was canceled (notice the RC=S222). The following three jobs are in the held output queue for further review or processing (print or delete). The last job (JOB03997) is currently running, indicated by the small green triangle. A double-click opens the whole job. Expanding the plus sign gives you all the available JES data sets (for example, the JESMSGL, JESJCL, MSGUSR). Clicking the plus sign is comparable to the ? in SDSF just before the job. Clicking a specific data set (for example, MSGUSR) opens the CICS TDQ CSMT on the right-upper window, where you can investigate specific messages. You get the same functionality by clicking the z/OS job tab in the opposite window.

The window on the lower-right side shows the MVS syslog (if you are on z/OS version 1.11; otherwise, see Figure 11-4 on page 236). When you double-click the Syslog Tab, the small window expands to a full window. See Figure 11-7 on page 241. Now you can easily go through the syslog using the mouse and the scroll bar on the right side.

Notice, the top of the Window, where you can see which MVS syslog you are browsing. This also shows the date and start time of the syslog currently viewed.

You can enter z/OS commands by clicking the z/OS command tab. In Figure 11-8, we entered the z/OS command d iplinfo for demonstration purposes.

The results of this command are displayed underneath the command line.

Figure 11-9 shows that the Console tab is activated. We edited and changed the start-up JCL and viewed the confirmation message. Next, we tried to shutdown CICS and get the response that the CICS was not up at that time. Finally, we started the CICS and got the message that a job has been submitted. No need to go back to TSO, or switch to SDSF. This all can be done from a single point of control.

You can distribute CICS applications and the resources they use between interconnected CICS regions. You can group CICS regions into CICS system groups and CICSPlexes and distribute regions across the z/OS systems on a sysplex. That is your CICS topology. Without CICS DA, it requires several steps per CICS, plus inside knowledge of the expected CICS topology to get an overview of your CICS topology. With CICS DA, you are almost only a couple of clicks away to manage the configuration for ALL CICS systems within the CICSplex.

A CICS topology must be well documented. However, the documentation is sometimes neglected and often not up-to-date. With the CICS DA, you can easily get an up-to-date picture of your current CICS topology. Make the CICS DA project window on the left-upper side of your CICS DA perspective your active window. Open the CICSPlexes folder and double-click the CICSplex you want to investigate.

To give you an example on how easy you can get up-to-date topology information about your CICSPlex, we added Figure 11-10 on page 243. We opened the ALLTORS folder to see which CICS regions are dedicated as Terminal Owning Regions (TOR). Clicking any item gives you further information or the possibility to change your topology.

The CICSPlex topology frame is divided into four sub-areas:

The information provided in each sub-area works like a hyperlink. Double-click the EPREDC (MP) in the CMAS area for example, opens the CMAS view where you get further information and the ability to dig deeper into your CICS topology.

CICS initialization options can be at various places. You must have a SIT table or at least a pre-generated table with all of the default initialization values. You can have initialization options specified in the SYSIN data set. You can also specify initialization options in the JCL. To check all of these options for all CICS regions can be cumbersome and time consuming. Additional expert knowledge is necessary, for instance, you must know the location of the SIT source and the location for the overrides.

By contrast, using CICS DA, you can stay on one window and make the necessary changes to the initialization options, for example, select a CICS region, right-click, and highlight Show SIT Parameters. A new menu is displayed which then you can select a CICS initialization option location. In Figure 11-11, we show how we selected the CICS initialization options specified in the SYSIN data set for CICS region EPRED3.

If you work with CICS-related spool files, CICS DA eases the handling of this process. There is no need to switch back to another interface anymore. Stay within the CICS Explorer environment.

If you refer back to Figure 11-11 on page 244 you see in the lower-right side the MVS syslog. Remember that z/OS 1.11 is mandatory for viewing the syslog; otherwise, you will see the error message shown in Figure 11-4 on page 236. The next tab on the right of System Log is z/OS Job. If you click this tab, you see all the spool files for the currently selected region, in this case region EPRED3. We selected JESMSGLG, as shown in Figure 11-12 to find the Control is being given to CICS message.

In the lower left-side window, you can easily change your selection by clicking the job you want to see. Alternatively, you can view spool files in that window by clicking the plus sign.

Working with data sets is similar to the spool files. An important thing to mention here is, you must change the perspective. But you still stay in the CICS Explorer. For demonstration purposes, we show Figure 11-13 on page 246. We switched back to the CICS SM perspective and opened the Files tab. We selected the file STOCK to be closed.

Notice in the right-upper corner that the CICS SM perspective is now in the foreground and the CICS DA perspective is in the background.

In this chapter, we demonstrate that you can start and stop your CICS regions with CICS DA. Switch to the CICS DA perspective.

Before you can start a CICS region with CICS DA, you must define a policy to CICS DA. If you start your CICS systems as batch jobs, select the Batch Job option, and add the fully-qualified name of the PDS or the PDS/E, and append the member name in round brackets. See example in Figure 11-14.

When CICS is started as a started task, select the Started Task option, and add the start command in the free area after Start Command.

To start a CICS region:

To stop a CICS region:

An alternative to this is to allow autoinstall for MVS consoles (SIT option AICONS=YES). In the CICS Resource Definition Guide, Chapter 42 Autoinstall, you find further information about implementing autoinstall for MVS consoles.

On the left-side, upper window, you can see all of your CICS regions. The regions that are up and running have a small green triangle. However, this status does not change until you refresh this window. You can do a refresh either by pressing the PF5 key or by right-clicking and selecting Refresh.

If your workload grows and you need an additional CICS system, you can use CICS DA to clone a region. The CICS region you want to clone must be a CICSPlex SM-managed region and it must be up and running. To clone an existing CICS region:

There are some operations in which CICS DA cannot execute, such as defining the region to your security policy, connectivity steps, MVS system logger setup, and so on. This action must occur before CICS can start.

Using CICS DA you can install the CICSPlex SM definitions in an unmanaged CICS region, and add the region to an existing CICSplex and, optionally, one or more of the system groups in the CICSplex. CICS DA can add a CICS region to a CICSplex only if the region is started by a batch job. For further information, refer to the CICS DA User Guide. Remember that you find the CICS DA User Guide in the CICS Explorer Help → Help Contents when the CICS DA plug-in is installed.