This section describes briefly the system management functions of CICSPlex® SM:
CICSPlex SM provides a real-time, single-system image (SSI) of all CICS® regions and resources that make up your enterprise’s transaction processing environment. CICSPlex SM creates an inventory of the CICS systems and resources, and maps the relationships between them; this is called the CICSPlex SM topology. Thus the operator no longer needs to know the location of a resource before working with it. The SSI is provided by the CICSPlex SM operating function and applies to all CICSPlex SM applications: operations, monitoring, real-time analysis (RTA), and workload management (WLM).
The CICSPlex SM operator can manage all of the enterprise CICS systems and their resources from a single session. That is, CICSPlex SM can provide a single point of control for the enterprise, which in turn means that the CICSPlex SM operator is able to manage large and complex configurations of CICS resources. Furthermore, you can have multiple points of control, so that multiple CICS operators in multiple locations each may have a complete view of the enterprise CICS systems and resources, or a view of those systems and resources that is tailored to their individual requirements. Finally, because the physical location of these points of control is irrelevant, you have total flexibility in appointing control locations.
CICSPlex SM enables you to manage your enterprise in terms of your business applications rather than your CICS systems:
BAS provides an alternative to resource definition online (RDO). RDO is based on a structure in which definitions are tied to a single group, and groups are processed sequentially from a group list. BAS frees resource definitions from associations with only one group. This means that a resource definition can be used and reused, and associated with more than one group as needed. BAS enables you to associate your resources according to their use within your enterprise. This in turn means that you can, if you wish, manage individual resources, rather than a group. For example, you could disable all the files associated with your payroll system, without affecting any other files in the CICSplex.
Managing resources using Business Application Services (BAS) gives an overview of BAS. For full details, see CICSPlex System Manager Managing Business Applications.
From any point of control, the operator can take advantage of the SSI to perform tasks, either across the entire CICSplex or across a selected subset. You can display information about the current status of one or more instances of a CICS resource in an enterprise, and you can also change the status of the resources with a single entry. You can issue an action command to affect the status of the displayed resources.
You use the Web User Interface or the ISPF EUI to issue the commands. The responses are displayed in panels known as operations views, that can summarize related facts and provide access, using hyperlinks to other, related information. The operations views mirror the functionality currently provided for CICS systems. Operators can therefore work in essentially the same way as they are used to, without any change to their basic approach to daily system activities.
See the CICSPlex System Manager Operations Views ReferenceCICSPlex System Manager Web User Interface Guide for more information about operations views. ISPF EUI operations views are described in detail in CICSPlex System Manager Operations Views Reference.
CICSPlex SM’s workload management (WLM) uses the dynamic routing program EYU9XLOP to route eligible work requests from a requesting region to a suitable target region selected at the time the transaction is initiated.
EYU9XLOP handles the dynamic routing of:
CICSPlex SM provides management support for BTS by dynamically routing BTS work across a BTS-set, and by monitoring the management of data in a distributed environment.For full details, see CICS Business Transaction Services.
You do not have to use CICSPlex SM workload management to route BTS activities, but using CICSPlex SM can offer many benefits:
You can write your own program, and use it in conjunction with the CICS-supplied user-replaceable programs DFHDYP and DFHDSRP, to handle your dynamic routing requirements.
More information on dynamic routing and workload management is given in Managing workloads. You could also refer to the relevant CICS Transaction Server for z/OS®, Version 3 Release 1 publications.
CICSPlex SM’s Real-Time Analysis (RTA) function provides automatic, external, notification of conditions in which you have expressed an interest. The notification can take the form of a console message, or of a generic alert to NetView®, or both. Real-time analysis is not concerned solely with commonly recognized error conditions: you can ask to be notified about any aspect of a resource’s status. Real-time analysis also enables you to take actions without having to use an external automation product.
The RTA functions of CICSPlex SM are described in greater detail in Exception reporting using real-time analysis (RTA). For full details, see CICSPlex System Manager Managing Resource Usage.
The CICSPlex SM monitoring functions support the collection of performance-related data, at user-defined intervals, for named resource instances within a set of CICS systems.
The monitoring functions of CICSPlex SM are described in more detail in Collecting statistics using CICSPlex SM monitoring. For full details, see CICSPlex System Manager Managing Resource Usage.
CICSPlex SM provides an application programming interface (API) that allows applications to:
A command-level interface is available to programs that are written in these languages:
Programs written in Assembler, PL/I, COBOL, and C are supported in the CICS/ESA, CICS/MVS, and MVS/ESA Batch, TSO, and NetView environments.
In addition, a REXX run-time interface is available under MVS/ESA Batch, TSO, and NetView.
You can use the CICSPlex SM API to write external programs that automate the management of CICSPlex SM and CICS resource definitions. Such programs could be used to integrate the CICSPlex SM system management functions into your enterprise-wide change management process. For example, you could write an API program to coordinate resource definition changes with database or file updates, or the standard life cycle of an application. For a complete description of the API, see the CICSPlex System Manager Application Programming Reference and the CICSPlex System Manager Application Programming Guide.
You manage the CICSPlex SM environment using:
To define the configuration of your CICS systems to CICSPlex SM (and to define your BAS, WLM, RTA, and monitoring requirements) you create CICSPlex SM objects, and associate them with each other. For each object, and for each association or link between them, a record is created in a CICSPlex SM data repository. CICSPlex SM objects are described in CICSPlex SM objects.
The data repository contains the objects that define the CICSPlex SM components, resources, system management requirements, and the relationships between them. The definitions can be created using the Web User Interface or EUI views, the CICSPlex SM API, or the batched repository-update facility.
The batched repository-update facility allows you to create and update large numbers of CICSPlex SM and CICS resource definitions by submitting one command that is used as the template for other definitions. The batched repository-update facility is also used for migrating your definitions from one platform to another, and for backing up the data repository. More information is given in The batched repository-update facility. For details, see CICSPlex System Manager Administration.
Much of CICSPlex SM’s activity is time dependent. For example, you can specify on your RTA and monitoring definitions when you want the definition to be active. Also, you may want CICS systems running in the same CICSplex but different time zones to run as if they were in the same time zone. You are able to create time period-definitions that control:
The international standard for time zones is used, based on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). You select the time zone in which you want your CICSplex to run. You can then make adjustments, either for locations that have implemented times that are not different from GMT by 60-minute multiples, and for daylight saving.
Details of time-period definition are in CICSPlex System Manager Administration.
For users of Tivoli Business Systems Manager, the CICSPlex SM Instrumentation feature supplied with that product enables users to view status information for the CMAS and MAS environments of the CICSplex. This can be very helpful in reporting back the status of specific subsets of an enterprise‘s applications. For more information see Support for Tivoli Business Systems Manager.