Benefits of channels

The channel/container model has several advantages over the communication areas (COMMAREAs) traditionally used by CICS® programs to exchange data. For example:
Start of changeThis topic has listed some of the many benefits of channels. However, channels may not be the best solution in all cases. When designing an application, there are one or two implications of using channels that you should be aware of:
  • When a channel is to be passed to a remote program or transaction, passing a large amount of data may affect performance. This is particularly true if the local and remote regions are connected by an ISC, rather than MRO, connection.
  • A channel may use more storage than a COMMAREA designed to pass the same data. This is because:
    1. Container data can be held in more than one place.
    2. COMMAREAs are accessed by pointer, whereas the data in containers is copied between programs.
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