This IBM® Redbooks® publication describes the new channels and containers support in IBM Customer Information Control System (CICS®) Transaction Server V5.2. The book begins with an overview of the techniques used to pass data between applications running in CICS. This book describes the constraints that these data techniques might be subject to, and how a channels and containers solution can provide solid advantages alongside these techniques. These capabilities enable CICS to fully comply with emerging technology requirements in terms of sizing and flexibility. The book then goes on to describe application design, and looks at implementing channels and containers from an application programmer point of view. It provides examples to show how to evolve channels and containers from communication areas (COMMAREAs). Next, the book explains the channels and containers application programming interface (API). It also describes how this API can be used in both traditional CICS applications and a Java CICS (JCICS) applications. The business transaction services (BTS) API is considered as a similar yet recoverable alternative to channels and containers. Some authorized program analysis reports (APARs) are introduced, which enable more flexible web services features by using channels and containers. The book also presents information from a systems management point of view, describing the systems management and configuration tasks and techniques that you must consider when implementing a channels and containers solution. The book chooses a sample application in the CICS catalog manager example, and describes how you can port an existing CICS application to use channels and containers rather than using COMMAREAs.

The IBM® CICS® Transaction Server for z/VSE® (CICS TS for z/VSE) 2.1 provides functions to improve application programming, system programming, system management, and data security and availability. With CICS TS for z/VSE 2.1, you can use the extended functionality of Basic Security Manager. CICS TS for z/VSE 2.1 can be administrated by the IBM CICS Explorer® function on a workstation, which allows CICS management in a convenient way. This IBM Redbooks® publication provides information to help you install, tailor, and configure the CICS TS for z/VSE 2.1 product. The book is intended for IBM z/VSE customers and IBM technical personnel who are responsible for planning and migrating to IBM z/VSE 6.1 and CICS TS for z/VSE 2.1. The book also provides information to help you understand the affect of migrating to CICS TS for z/VSE 2.1. It provides detailed guidance and samples for installing and configuring CICS TS for z/VSE 2.1. Also included in the book is a description of the CICS TS for z/VSE 2.1 features and capabilities and the affect of removing obsolete functions. The book also covers security and performance issues and provides samples for first level problem determination through the use of memory dumps or the use of trace tools.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides information about how you can connect mobile devices to IBM Customer Information Control System (CICS®) Transaction Server (CICS TS), using existing enterprise services already hosted on CICS, or to develop new services supporting new lines of business. This book describes the steps to develop, configure, and deploy a mobile application that connects either directly to CICS TS, or to CICS via IBM Worklight® Server. It also describes the advantages that your organization can realize by using Worklight Server with CICS. In addition, this Redbooks publication provides a broad understanding of the new CICS architecture that enables you to make new and existing mainframe applications available as web services using JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), and provides support for the transformation between JSON and application data. While doing so, we provide information about each resource definition, and its role when CICS handles or makes a request. We also describe how to move your CICS applications, and business, into the mobile space, and how to prepare your CICS environment for the following scenarios: Taking an existing CICS application and exposing it as a JSON web service Creating a new CICS application, based on a JSON schema Using CICS as a JSON client This Redbooks publication provides information about the installation and configuration steps for both Worklight Studio and Worklight Server. Worklight Studio is the Eclipse interface that a developer uses to implement a Worklight native or hybrid mobile application, and can be installed into an Eclipse instance. Worklight Server is where components developed for the server side (written in Worklight Studio), such as adapters and custom server-side authentication logic, run. CICS applications and their associated data constitute some of the most valuable assets owned by an enterprise. Therefore, the protection of these assets is an essential part of any CICS mobile project. This Redbooks publication, after a review of the main mobile security challenges, outlines the options for securing CICS JSON web services, and reviews how products, such as Worklight and IBM DataPower®, can help. It then shows examples of security configurations in CICS and Worklight.

The IBM® CICS® Interdependency Analyzer (CICS IA®) is a runtime tool for use with IBM CICS Transaction Server for z/OS®. CICS IA allows both system programmers and application developers to get an understanding of the relationships and dependencies of your CICS applications and the environment on which they run. By analyzing data collected by CICS IA, you can make changes to your environment in a safe and controlled but timely manner to address changing demands on your business applications. In this IBM Redbooks® publication, we first provide a detailed overview of what CICS IA is and what business issues it addresses before we review how to configure CICS IA to collect the data that you require with the minimum provenance impact. We then show how you can analyze this data to assist with day-to-day application changes and major projects such as application onboarding.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication covers the background and implementation of the IBM CICS® asynchronous API, which is a simple, accessible API that is designed to enable CICS application developers to create efficient asynchronous programs in all CICS-supported languages. Using the API, application developers can eliminate the overhead that is involved in coding and managing homegrown asynchronous solutions, instead using a set of CICS-supported API commands to underpin CICS applications, which are more responsive and robust than ever. Initially, the book reviews the history and motivations of asynchronous processing in computing and the benefits involved when calling external services. It then introduces the asynchronous API itself and its commands. It also provides a range of scenarios, including sample code, that cover everything from the basics of making an asynchronous request to updating existing synchronous program calls, with the goal of illustrating how to harness the CICS asynchronous API to solve real business problems. Later chapters take a deeper dive into the capabilities of the asynchronous API for advanced use cases. Beyond application development, CICS provides a complete solution for system programmers to manage and monitor asynchronous business logic. Thus, the final chapters of this book cover enhancements to CICS monitoring, statistics, trace, and dumps. Using supporting CICS tooling, system programmers have greater insight than ever, with improved transaction tracking capabilities and CICS policies to provide maximum control and optimization of asynchronous processing in CICS environments.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication focuses on developing Web service applications in IBM CICS®. It takes the broad view of developing and modernizing CICS applications for XML, Web services, SOAP, and SOA support, and lays out a reference architecture for developing these kinds of applications. We start by discussing Web services in general, then review how CICS implements Web services. We offer an overview of different development approaches: bottom-up, top-down, and meet-in-the-middle. We then look at how you would go about exposing a CICS application as a Web service provider, again looking at the different approaches. The book then steps through the process of creating a CICS Web service requester. We follow this by looking at CICS application aggregation (including 3270 applications) with IBM Rational® Application Developer for IBM System z® and how to implement CICS Web Services using CICS Cloud technology. The first part is concluded with hints and tips to help you when implementing this technology. Part two of this publication provides performance figures for a basic Web service. We investigate some common variables and examine their effects on the performance of CICS as both a requester and provider of Web services.