Having helped major enterprises across the world for more than 40 years, CICS continues to innovate in the field of transaction processing, delivering new capabilities that address users’ needs. CICS Transaction Server for z/OS V4.2, announced April 5, 2011, with delivery slated for June, will help users compete in the marketplace, comply with standards and regulations, and control their business…

When IBM announced support for running application code in the Open Transaction Environment (OTE), among the selling points was a significant reduction in CPU utilization in CICS-DB2 applications. Unfortunately, the possibility of reducing an application’s CPU requirements by 30 percent, without any coding changes, diverted attention from the OTE’s many other benefits. This article discusses those benefits and related OTE issues…

Businesses operate in a complex ecosystem of connected, inter-related events. Everything from fluctuating interest rates to seemingly simple customer interactions can impact your business. By responding quickly to patterns of business events, you can gain insight and potentially a competitive edge. This has been the theory of business event processing for several years, but now we’re at a point where the Event-Driven Enterprise is a real possibility…

The mainframe remains one of the most effective methods for batch processing and a large number of organizations rely on it. However, maintenance is a key consideration for any mainframe batch application. Large batch applications fail for various reasons. These batch applications are commonly used for overnight processing and have strict Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) that make quick failure resolution imperative. This article presents an effective solution to automate most of the manual activities required while restarting any failed batch stream…

Systems Network Architecture (SNA) over IP solutions have evolved over the last 15 years to provide a variety of options. The optimal solution depends on the application environment and the evolution of legacy equipment in those environments. Typically, users modernize their networks, then deploy technology that lets them transport the SNA application traffic over the new IP network…

Identity propagation is a new identity assertion capability provided by z/OS V1R11 and CICS Transaction Server (CICS TS) V4.1. Together with new functions in WebSphere DataPower or the CICS Transaction Gateway (CICS TG), it supports a cross-platform, end-to-end security solution, providing for identity assertion, control, and auditing…

IBM introduced the first CICS Internet connection option in CICS/ESA 3.3, with support for the CICS socket interface option of TCP/IP for MVS. Since then, with each new release—and often between releases via SupportPac offerings—IBM has continued to provide CICS with new Internet connectivity capabilities and features, generating so many support features that it’s difficult to keep up with them all…

When IBM released CICS TS 2.2 in December 2002, which introduced Task-Related User Exits (TRUE) in the Open Transaction Environment (OTE) architecture, a primary selling point was potentially significant CPU savings for CICS/DB2 applications defined as threadsafe. To be threadsafe, a program must be Language Environment- (LE-) conforming and knowledgeable CICS programmers must ensure the application logic adheres to threadsafe coding standards. (For more information, see “DB2 and CICS Are Moving On: Avoiding Potholes on the Yellow Brick Road to an LE Migration,” z/Journal, April/May 2007.) This may require knowledge of Assembler code to follow the many tentacles of application logic that need to verify the application and its related programs are threadsafe. If you define a program to be threadsafe, but the application logic isn’t threadsafe, then unpredictable results could occur that could compromise your data integrity. This article provides some background on what threadsafe means at the program level, how to identify and correct non-threadsafe coding, and how to ensure your programs are maximizing their potential CPU savings…

There have been many customers confused about the Integrated Translator since it was introduced, in fact there may still be customers that are not even aware that it exists.  Many times, customers install a new release of CICS and since IBM has always said that applications don’t have to be re-compiled or even re-linked for the new release, they don’t bother to change any of their compile PROCs (procedures).  Of course, if the existing CICS libraries (SDFH**** libraries) contain a version number or reference, those PROCs must be changed to the new library name.  Many installations support these compile PROCs in a PROCLIB that is available to all developers, so their JCL does not change and the system support staff will change the internal content of the members.  Needless to say, most of the time the developers are used to a ‘standard’ CICS compile PROC and merely change their source input and target link library for the output…

Web services are an increasingly common design paradigm, and where these applications are to be provided is the first design decision. IBM’s CICS Transaction Server may not be an obvious choice, but CICS is a good environment for hosting some Web service applications. CICS isn’t a general-purpose Web server; it’s a 40-year-old transaction processor. Its utility for Web services boils down to secure, scalable access to existing applications and data. The Web services of interest are those based on SOAP/XML, and CICS can act as a Web service provider for these services…