Using autoinstall for programs can save time spent on defining individual programs, mapsets, and partitionsets. Savings can also be made on storage, because the definitions of autoinstalled resources do not occupy space until they are referenced.
Use of autoinstall for programs can reduce the number of definitions to be installed on a COLD start, thereby reducing the time taken.
Depending on your programs, you can choose to use a mixture of RDO and autoinstall. A suggested way to manage program autoinstall is to continue to use RDO for existing program definitions and for installing groups containing related programs. Use autoinstall as you develop and install new applications, and in test environments, where you might otherwise install large numbers of programs at CICS® startup.
You can enable autoinstall for programs either by specifying system initialization parameters by using the EXEC CICS or CEMT SET SYSTEM command.
For programming information on how to specify EXEC CICS commands, see the CICS System Programming Reference, and for information on how to use CEMT, see CICS Supplied Transactions.
A model definition provides CICS with one definition that can be used for all programs with the same properties. See Model definitions for program autoinstall
The autoinstall control program provides CICS with the extra information it needs to complete an autoinstall request, such as the autoinstall model name. You can write your autoinstall program in any language supported by CICS, with full access to the CICS application programming interface. See The autoinstall control program for programs.