CICS

Introduction and Overview

Larry Trollope
Monday August 8, 2011
9:30 am
Orlando, FL Session 9627
Abstract
This session provides an introduction to CICS and
provides an overview of the product. CICS
transaction processing and application server
capabilities will be highlighted
highlighted. It provides the
attendee with information regarding important
functionality such as Application Development,
Storage Management, File Control, DB2 and MQ
attach, Security, Two-phase commit,
and Dispatching. The attendee also will see how
resources are defined and will be introduced to the
new face of CICS
CICS, the IBM CICS Explorer.
Explorer
2
 CICS: IBM's
IBM s best kept secret
30 billion transactions/day, >$300B/week

16,000 customers worldwide

40 years invested in applications

30 million users
CICS 950,000 programmers earn
their living from CICS

Over 900,000 concurrent users/system

5000 packages from 2000 ISVs Used by 490 + of IBM''s top

500 customers

50,000 CICS licenses

3
What is a transaction and what should
software to manage transactions provide?

A transaction
i iis the
h ffundamental
d l unit
i off work
k ffor
which recovery, consistency and concurrency are
managed in online processing environment.

For a transaction manager to pass the ACID

test it should provide:

Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation and Durability

4
What else should transaction
management software provide?

• Should support major programming languages

• Should provide tools to assist in development
• Should have an API to shield developers
• Should have tools to assist in operations
• Should support major platforms
• Should
Sh ld supportt major
j ddatabase
t b systems
t
• Should support major network protocols

• And it should support Web-based applications

5
So CICS is a Transaction Manager?
g
Customer Information Control System

also known as .......

 a Transaction Server

 a Transaction Monitor

 an Application Server

6
So what does CICS actually do?

CICS provides a concurrent program execution

environment for multiple end users, who have
access to multiple data types
types.

CICS will manage the operating environment to

provide
id performance,
f scalability,
l bilit security
it and
d
integrity.

7
 Transaction Processing Requirements
 Large volume of business transactions to be rapidly and accurately
processed

 Multiple users, single/sysplex or distributed

 With potentially:
– A huge number of users
– Simultaneous access to data
– A large volume of data residing in multiple database types
– Intense security and data integrity controls necessary

 The access to the data is such that:

– Each user has the perception of being the sole user of the system
– A set of changes
g is g guaranteed to be logically
g y consistent
If a failure occurs, any intermediate results are undone before the
system becomes available again
– A completed set of changes is immediately visible to other users

8
CICS Provides .......
 Systems Services
 Storage, Program, Task and Time Control
 Security,
Security Workload Management
 Communications Services
 To other CICS's, end-users, the web and other non-CICS
programs
 SNA – TCP/IP
 Data Management
g Services
 with Commit
 with Logging
 with Recovery
 Application Development Services
 API
 Language Tools
 Debug Support 9
Does CICS Run on a System
y z?
 Well yes it does .......
and on the UNIX platforms,
platforms
– AIX, HP-UX, Solaris,
and on Windows
and VSE
and OS/400
and d Linux
Li (PRPQ 7J0468 on S System
t x))

 TX Series for Multi

Multi-platforms
platforms

 C CS a
CICS also
so has
as Gateways,
Ga e ays, C
Clients,
e s, Co
Connectors
ec o s and
a d
Systems Management....…much much more 10
CICS - Its really Middleware !

APPLICATION BUSINESS LOGIC

CICS API
DATA MGMT SERVICES STORAGE MANAGEMENT
DATA BASE SUPPORT LANGUAGE SUPPORT
COMMUNICATION SERVICES OPERATOR INTERFACE
TASK MANAGEMENT
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT CICS SYSTEM MANAGEMENT
MONITORIING AND STATISTICS
TIME MANAGEMENT CONNECTIVITY MGMT
RECOVERY SERVICES WEB SERVICES

Communications Database Manager

g
Operating System
Hardware
11
CICS Systems Services - Security
 Strong security facilities are available in the CICS to implement
identification, authentication and authorization

 Uses SAF calls to access External Security Manager

 Logon/Signon
L /Si
 Passwords (8 characters upper/lower/special char)

 Passphrase
p ((100 character))

 CICS implements techniques to protect

 Transactions

 Resources

 Commands

 Encryption of communication flows 12

CICS Systems Services - Storage
 Effective use of memory is key to performance

 Supported Virtual Storage, Paging

 Redesigned to .........
 Utilize 31-bit addressing
 Allow data to be put in memory
 Provides storage protection within a region
 Exploiting 64-bit
64 bit addressing

 Storage has been a major evolution allowing for

significant transactional growth
13
 Other CICS Systems Services
 Abnormal termination and exception handling

 Interval Control for time initiated events

 Multitasking and subtasking

 Different TCB's dispatched
 Priority
P i it scheduling
h d li
 Open Transaction Environment (OTE)
 Threadsafe
 JVM Server for threadsafe Java programs
 Pooled JVM for non-threadsafe Java pprograms
g
(See CICS TS 4.2 Statement of Direction)
14
CICS Systems Management
 Operator commands to control the transaction processing environment
(e.g. inquire/change trans, trace, purge trans ….)
 CICS Explorer
p – Web based definition,, operation
p and monitoringg
 Resource Definition Online (RDO) provides dynamic definitions
 Dynamic Program Library Management without CICS restart
 Exits and sample code allow for customization
 TRUES – Task Related User Exits

 GLUES – Global User Exits

 URMS S – User Replaceable Modules

 Monitoring tools are available to analyze performance and load
 CICS Statistics Utilities

 CICS Performance Monitor

 CICS Performance Analyzer

 CICSPlex SM features provide operational and definitional tools

 Web based interface (WUI) included with CICS Transaction Server
15
CICS Communications Services
 SNA - VTAM
 3270 Terminals

 APPC / LU 6 6.2
2 sessions
 CICS or IMS ISC (InterSystem Communication)

 FEPI – Front End Programming Interface

 MRO – Multiple
M lti l RRegion
i O Operation
ti
 XCF / MRO - Cross-system MRO (CTC or Coupling Facility)
 EXCI – External CICS Interface
 TCP/IP
 TCP/IP Sockets

 Region to Region IP Connectivity (IPIC)

 Internet protocols (e.g. HTML, XML, SOAP)

 Remote Procedure Calls (ONC RPC)

 IIOP / EJB (N
(Notet St
Statement
t t off Di
Direction
ti TS 4
4.2)
2)
 WebSphere MQ 16
 CICS Data Services
 M lti l ttypes, multi-access
Multiple lti within
ithi same ttransaction
ti

 VSAM (KSDS, ESDS, RRDS)

and VSAM transparency too….

 Data Base Management Systems (DBMS)

 DB2

 IMS DBCTL

 And many other third party database products

 Transient Data queues (TD queues)

 Temporary Storage (TS)

 Data Tables (>

( 2GB)
17
 Data integrity, logging, recovery, backout, restart
CICS Application Development Services
 Command level Application Programming Interface with
XPI, SPI added for Systems Programmers

 Language S
L Supportt
(Assembler, COBOL, PL/I, C, C++, Java, REXX)

 Dynamic Scripting with PHP and Groovy support

 Execution Diagnostic Facility (EDF)

 Command Interpreter

 End to end debugger for client and server

 Support for BMS/3270 screens, Web Services, and Atom feeds

18
But What Does a CICS Command
Look Like ?
EXEC CICS LINK EXEC CICS DOCUMENT CREATE
PROGRAM(‘MyProgram')
PROGRAM( MyProgram ) DOCTOKEN(Atoken)
COMMAREA(MyData) TEXT(AppPgmCA)
LENGTH(LengthofMyData) LENGTH(Input_data_len)
NOHANDLE
EXEC CICS RETURN
EXEC CICS READNEXT EXEC CICS WEB SEND
DATASET(‘MENUFILE') DOCTOKEN(Atoken)
INTO(MASTER-MENU-RECORD)
( ) STATUSCODE(StatusCode)
RIDFLD(MENU-KEY)
STATUSTEXT(StatusText)
LENGTH(OPTION-LENGTH)
RESP(CICS-RESPONSE)
LENGTH(StatusLen)
CLNTCODEPAGE('819')
EXEC CICS WRITEQ TD NOHANDLE
QUEUE('CSSL')
FROM(IDMSG) EXEC CICS GET
LENGTH(IDMSGLN) CONTAINER(MsgInput)
RESP(RESPVAL) INTOCCSID(UTF8 CCID)
INTOCCSID(UTF8-CCID)
SET(Msg-Ptr)
19
FLENGTH(Msg-Length)
CICS Events Processing
 An event
e ent is an
anything
thing of significance to an enterprise

 CICS allows users to capture, format and emit business

events from CICS

 Events can be sent via HTTP, MQ queue, TS Queue or

Start Transaction for further processing

 Events are bound to a CICS system using an event binding

editor built into CICS Explorer and Rational Developer for
System z with Java (RDz)

 The bindings are enabled using a BUNDLE resource

 CICS Explorer or Web User Interface (WUI)

 RDO or CEMT
20
CICS – One or Many
y CICS Regions?
g
 CICS can run in one single region

 CICS can run as several independent regions on a

single system or across multiple systems

 CICS can run as several interconnected regions on

multiple images on a single system or across several
systems

 Sysplex
y p - z/OS

 CICSplex – a group of CICS regions

 CICSPLEX SM – CICSplex Systems Manager

21
CICS – What do a call a bunch of regions?
For manageability and recoverability CICS regions in a
CICSplex are often segregated by function

 TOR – Terminal Owning Region

 WOR – Web Owning Region

 ROR – Remote Owning Region

 AOR – Application Owning Region

 FOR – File Owning Region

 DOR – Data Owning Region

22

 QOR – Queue Owning Regions

CICS – How Does Your System
y Grow?
 ISC and MRO
InterSystems Communication - system to system
Multi-Region
M lti R i Operation
O ti - region
i tto region
i
XCF/MRO – Cross System Coupling Facility MRO
 IPIC – IP InterCommunications

 Multi-platform

 Clients and Gateways

 N single
No i l points
i t off ffailure
il

 Systems Management

 Workload Balancing 23
CICS MRO, ISC, IPIC and XCF

SNA or TCP/IP Network

TOR TOR TOR

AOR AOR AOR AOR AOR AOR

Sysplex A Sysplex A

MVSA MVSB MVSC

CF

Communicating among CICSs can be

using memory, SNA or TCP/IP 24
 CICS e-business options
p

Distributed
WebSphere and
New CICS Java
CICS Transaction
Applications
Gateway
z/OS WebSphere
and New Classic
CICS Transaction CICS
Gateway Applications

Existing
CICS Native Classic CICS
Interfaces
Applications

A pragmatic approach to implementing e-business

e business solutions
25
CICS Transaction Gateway (TG)
and the Universal Client (UC)
 Enables client applications to invoke services in CICS

 Gives users at Web browsers access to business critical applications

running on CICS servers

 Supported on multiple platforms:

Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7)
Linux
HP-UX
HP UX
z/OS
AIX
Su
Sun Solaris
So a s

 Client Interfaces
MQ client - WebSphere MQ queues
External Presentation Interface (EPI) – “3270 Screen Based”
External Call Interface (ECI) - “Call and Return with Data”
26
“Remote Procedure Call”
CICS Transaction Gateway
Support for IBM JEE and JCA connectors

WebSphere
S
Browser H e z/OS CICS Transaction Server
T r
T v
P l
e EJB
COBOL Program Cobol Program
t

TCP/IP

CICS Transaction ECI

Gateway

DB2
Command Bean
Databases

zServer
Any platform that can
run WebSphere and
CTG

27
CICS Client Interfaces

CICS Application
Program
3270 Presentation Logic Link Business Logic

EPI ECI External Call Interface

External
te a PRESENTATION
S O Interface
te ace External CALL Interface

Intelligent Workstation or Intelligent Workstation or

other CPU other CPU

28
CICS access with Java

CICS Client and Gatewayy classes

• Used by Java program to run a CICS transaction
• ECI, EPI calls available

JCICS Classes
• Allow CICS function execution for Java programs

Connection to CICS can be by

• CTG, WebSphere AS, either or both
• Program calls can be created by program
development workbenches

29
CICS 3270 Bridge
CICS Transaction Server
Web CICS CICS Business
B siness
3270
TCP/IP Web Logic Application
Browser Bridge
Service Interface Interface

 Rapid enablement of 3270 Terminal Transactions

 Allows 3270 terminal based transactions to run with map recompile
 Utilities provided to recover old maps
 CICS interprets HTML/XML flows, formats as if it came from 3270
 Allows new web applications to be written using CICS skills
 Linkable bridge allows EXCI invocation of 3270 terminal based trans
 Can be sysplex enabled
30
CICS Web Support
pp

CICS Transaction Server

Web CICS CICS Business
TCP/IP Web Logic Application
Browser
Service Interface Interface

 Gives CICS applications direct access to web browser

 CICS interprets HTTP flows and executes transactions
 Allows new web applications to be written using CICS skills
 Secure Socket Layer (SSL) support using up to 256 bit encryption
 C ifi
Certificates mappedd to MVS USERID
 Mixed case password and passphrase support
 Can be sysplex
y p enabled

31
CICS Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
CICS Web Services
Msg Msg Msg CICS Msg Msg Msg
Service Handler Handler Application Handler Handler Handler Service
Handler
Requestor In – 1 In - 2 In – 3 Program Out – 1 Out -2 Out - 3 Provider
Pipeline Pipeline

 Integrated
g into most current release
 Defined by Web Service Description Language (WSDL)
 CICS role in SOA can be service requestor, service provider or both
 CICS Web Services utility programs
 Assist in converting existing application into a Web Service
 Use a Web Service provided by an external provider
 Support for web services standards and technologies
 WSDL 2.0
 WS I Basic Profile 1
WS-I 1.1
1
 WS-Security
 WS-Trust
 WS-Addressing
 Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism / XML – Binary
Optimized Packaging (MTOM/XOP)
32
High Volume and High Availability
CICS Configuration
C fi ti

CTG DB2
•CICS
CTG •MQ
Port
•EXCI
Sharing CTG DB2
•CICS
CTG •MQ
WebSphere TCP/IP
CTG DB2
•CICS
CTG •MQ
Port
Sharing •EXCI
EXCI
CTG DB2
•CICS
CTG •MQ

Work Load Agent MVS Work Load Manager

33
 CICS Tools
 If CICS does not provide the needed functionality there are
many tools available from IBM and other vendors to assist in
creating and managing an online transaction processing system

 For example IBM provides the following:

 CICS Batch Application Control

 CICS Configuration Manager for z/OS

 CICS Interdependency Analyzer

 CCICS
CS Online
O e Transmission
a s ss o Timee Opt
Optimizer
e for
o z/OS
/OS
 CICS VSAM Recovery for z/OS

 CICS Performance Analyzer

 CICS Business Events Publisher

 CICS VSAM Transparency

 CICS Deployment Assistant for z/OS

 CICS Service Flow Runtime

 IBM Ti
Tivolili OMEGAMON XE ffor CICS on z/OS
/OS
 REXX for CICS Transaction Server for VSE/ESA
34
 Extensions to the CICS Information Center
 CICS - Summary
 CICS is ideal for existing transactional environments and
your new ones too…..
too It provides:

 Availability, Maintainability, and Scalability

 Tools for Development, Support and Operation

 Continues exploitation of new hardware and software

technology

 Plenty of education is available

35
•Some
Some Useful CICS Information

http://www.SHARE.org
p g

SHARE Website – Volunteer Center >

Projects/Programs
then select Data Program – CICS Project

You’ll
Y ’ll fifind
d iinformation
f ti on:
CICS Announcements
CICS Tools
CICS User Groups
CICS-L Discussion group (listserv)
CICS Presentations made at Share
36
 Some useful IBM Websites
http://www.ibm.com/software/htp/cics/
CICS Product Information

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/cicsts/v4r2/index.jsp
CICS Information Center for CICS Transaction Server

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/
Download Redbooks

http://www.ibm.com/cics/soap/
SOAP for CICS Information

http://www.ibm.com/software/ts/cics/education/
Li t available
Lists il bl training
t i i courses andd certifications
tifi ti

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27007241
pp
CICS SupportPacs

37
CICS Redbooks
www redbooks IBM com
www.redbooks.IBM.com
Introduction to CICS Dynamic Scripting SG24-7924-00
Redbook, published March 28, 2011

Threadsafe Considerations for CICS SG24-6351-03

Redbook, published March 14, 2011

Extend The CICS Explorer: A Better Way to Manage Your CICS SG24-7819-00
Redbook, published February 23, 2010

Java Application Development for CICS SG24-5275-03

Redbook, published February 24, 2009

Implementing CICS Web Services SG24-7657-00

Redbook, published November 12, 2008

Exploring Systems Monitoring for CICS Trans Gateway SG24-7562-00

Redbook published April 3
Redbook, 3, 2008

CICS Web Services Workload Management and Availability SG24-7141-01

Redbook published March 31, 2008

CICS Systems Manager in the WUI as the Principle Management Interface SG24-6793-01
Redbook, published November 16 2007
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 CICS
QUESTIONS

“I never said most of the things

g I said.”

“If you ask me anything I don't know, I'm not going to answer. “

-- Yogi Berra 39