Easy access to CICS IA jobs via z/OS explorer

Mainframe jobs can be accessed & run directly from mainframe host or from Z/OS Explorer in windows machine. Z/OS explorer simplifies the usage for non-mainframe users to work on jobs. This blog will walk you through the process of accessing CICS IA jobs in mainframe from z/OS explorer on windows system.

z/OS explorer:
z/OS Explorer is an Eclipse-based integration platform which provides various plugin interface for z/OS users. It is single workbench with ability to develop and test CICS, DB2, WebSphere MQ, IMS, and batch applications and manage related subsystems.

CICS IA:
CICS IA provides the dependencies and relationships of resources used in CICS application which also generates Interdependency, affinity & command flow reports by running several CICS IA jobs from mainframe
 
Notations in this blog
Cvv – CICS TS Version
Cx – SYSID in which CICS IA region is running
C01 – Region number given by user
 
Steps for Simplified CICS IA job access via z/OS explorer:
Configuration of CICS IA for manual collection of data
1.      Logon to a active CICS IA region.
2.      Sample APPLID à CvvCxC01
3.      Configure the CICS IA region for the collection of data by entering CINT for                                      affinity/interdependency.
Sample Interdependency collection
1.      Start the collector and run transactions for collecting dependency data
2.      Stop the collector
3.      Connect to FTP host connection as in “Required host connection to connect mainframe”
4.      Open z/OS perspective
5.      Once the connection is established z/OS perspective “Qualifier” tab will take userid given             in credential and display datasets under it.
6.      Type the HLQ of the CICS IA files “CICSIAD” in the qualifier tab. This will display                            corresponding files under it.
7.      Go to the interdendency job (“CIUUPDB”) inside SCIUSAMP.CICS of the CvvCxC01 region.           Provide the collection ID and save it.

8.      Right click on the display panel or the job name and select “Submit
         z/OS job” & Refresh page
9.      Type the job name in job name tab. This lists the output datasets. Click on any file which              will be displayed in display panel
10.    Go to CICS IA perspective by clicking on the icon or by typing in the quick access
11.    Connect to the host connection using schema under which “CvvCxC01” region got                         created. This displays the region & collection ID which was given in interdependency job

1.      Right-click on collection ID “tesintid” and set it as current scope
2.      In transactions tab, transactions that was run as part of this collection ID get displayed
3.      The jobs submitted & created in z/OS explorer will be reflected in host as well

• Note the JOBID from the console of z/OS explorer
• Logon to the TSO & go to SPOOL (SD;ST)
• Give “M” & F8 to see the most recent job submitted
• The job submitted from z/OS explorer can be viewed

 
Benefit of accessing jobs from z/OS explorer:
Simpler comparison between reports from host & client side.
Ex :  Job to produce threadsafe report in host side SPOOL “CIUJTSQ2” can be submitted and its data can be taken “SYSPRINT” output datasets. Later it can be compared to the client side threadsafe report by switching on tabs in the display panel.

To summarize the content of blog, This explains the usage of z/OS explorer in accesing CICS IA jobs, generating report and how z/OS explorer help in comparing reports from host and client. z/OS explorer gives simplified access to mainframe jobs and provides one platform usage.

Author:
Preethikashree M (Software Engineer – HCL Software)
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