The channel/container model has several advantages over the communication
areas (COMMAREAs) traditionally used by CICS programs to exchange data. For
example:
This 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:
- Container data can be held in more than one place.
- COMMAREAs are accessed by pointer, whereas the data in containers is copied
between programs.