CICS® Transaction Server for z/OS®, Version 5 Release 1 delivers a set of new and enhanced capabilities in a way that positions
CICS users for the next era in technology, moving them towards a service
delivery platform for cloud computing.
These capabilities are represented in two areas: Service agility and Operational efficiency, with a number of themes in each area.
The aims of these capabilities are as follows:
Operational efficiency:
Greater capacity, delivering significant vertical and horizontal
scalability enhancements.
Managed operations, introducing policies that deliver automated
control over critical system resources.
Increased availability, reducing the need for planned outages.
Deeper insight, providing performance and compliance information
to help tune and audit system use.
Service agility:
First-class applications, enabling the creation of agile services from
existing assets.
First-class platforms, enabling the creation of agile service delivery
runtime environments.
Modern interfaces, enabling customers to build rich web experiences
for critical applications.
Foundational enhancements, extending the
core CICS capabilities through increased support in various
areas.
Additional changes to this product CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, Version 5 Release 1 is extended by Service
after its initial release. The capabilities that are introduced through service after the product
was first released are listed. APARs that are provided as fixes to issues with existing function are
not listed here.
Greater capacity You can run the same workload on fewer
regions than in previous releases, providing the opportunity for cost
savings through consolidation.
Managed operations You can set task thresholds for data
access requests, storage use, program loops, and processor time used.
You can manage policy breaches by issuing messages, abending tasks,
or emitting events that can trigger further actions. You can apply
policies dynamically during runtime operations.
Increased availability You can upgrade without restarting z/OS and you can refresh SSL certificates
dynamically without restarting CICS regions. A heartbeat capability keeps IPIC connections established
and ready for use. This release provides greater support for IBM GDPS Continuous Availability solutions.
Deeper insight SPI commands that alter system configurations
are now logged. Identity propagation is extended, and auditing of
user IDs that make requests over IP is improved. Information about
use of SSL cipher suites, with information on actual and potential
use of specialty processors, can help you to tune system performance.
First-class applications You can combine and manage disparate application resources as a
single entity, which can be versioned and moved rapidly through the development, test, and
production lifecycle. Dependency management is handled, and you can measure entire applications for
resource use and internal billing. You can also dynamically manage applications by applying policies
during run time.
First-class platforms You can group CICS regions as
platforms for rapid application deployment and decouple applications from the underlying topology
for increased flexibility. Applications are deployed automatically when a region within a platform
is started, and platforms can be managed dynamically by applying policies during run time.
Modern interfaces A web container is available for deployment of lightweight Java™ servlets and JavaServer
Pages (JSPs). Application performance is improved through local access to CICS applications and data. OSGi packaged deployments that integrate with
first-class applications and platforms enable rapid updates to interfaces. This capability is built
on the IBM®
WebSphere® Application Server Liberty profile.
Foundational enhancements You can capture CICS events
on operator writes and system messages, and events can be emitted on a one-to-many basis. The
CICS-WebSphere MQ Dynamic Program Link (DPL) bridge now supports messages larger than 32 KB. IPIC
integration and error recovery is improved. Application storage requirements are reduced, and you
can back up and restore entire CICSPlex® SM systems
without manual overrides. Extended support is provided for specifying SSL
cipher suites.
Discontinued functions
Some functions which were supported in CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, Version 4 Release 2 have
been discontinued, or reduced in scope, in Version 5 Release 1.
Changes to the CICS Explorer and CICS Explorer SDK
Since the release of CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, Version 4 Release 2, IBM has released a number of significant
enhancements to the CICS Explorer
and the CICS Explorer SDK.
General information
General information about this release includes system
requirements, and details of the information center structure and
high-level language support.