The HTTP/1.1 specification defines various roles for the parties
that make use of the HTTP protocol. CICS® Web support carries out many of the
functions that are appropriate for an origin server, for a client, and for
a user agent (although a human user might not be involved for every HTTP client
request). The HTTP/1.1 specification also includes requirements that relate
to proxies, gateways, tunnels and caches, and these requirements are not relevant
to CICS Web
support and can be ignored.
- CICS does
not act as a proxy. You can ignore all the requirements in the HTTP/1.1
specification that relate to the behaviour of proxies.
- CICS does
not act as a gateway (an intermediary for another server) or a tunnel (a relay
between HTTP connections). You can ignore all the requirements in the
HTTP/1.1 specification that relate to the behaviour of gateways and tunnels.
- CICS does
not provide caching facilities, or provide support for user-written caching
facilities. You can ignore all the requirements in the HTTP/1.1 specification
that relate to the behaviour of caches. Although you may store any information
you receive from a server, you should be careful that you do not deliver the
stored information to a user who is making a request in the expectation of
receiving current information from the server.
- CICS is
not designed for use as a Web browser. Through CICS as an HTTP client, user application
programs can make requests for individual, known resources that are available
from a server, but they would not be expected to browse the Internet generally. CICS does
not provide history lists, lists of favorites or other features of a Web browser,
so any requirements relating to these can be ignored.
See
The HTTP protocol for more information about
the HTTP specifications.