What's new
This topic lists new features and enhancements of IBM® CICS Explorer® at general availability and by fix pack, unless otherwise specified.
While IBM values the use of inclusive language, terms that are outside of IBM’s direct influence are sometimes required for the sake of maintaining user understanding. As other industry leaders join IBM in embracing the use of inclusive language, IBM will continue to update the documentation to reflect those changes.
What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.37
New Function | Description |
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Enhancements to the Security Discovery editor |
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What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.36
New Function | Description |
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Full support for CICS® TS 6.2 |
As of Fix Pack 5.5.36, CICS Explorer can exploit all features available with CICS TS 6.2. For detailed information about the compatibility of CICS Explorer, see Table 1.
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Support for the GRPLIST system initialization parameter in the Regions view | CICS Explorer can now retrieve the GRPLIST system initialization parameter and display it in the SIT Parameters window available with the Regions view. This means that you can see the lists containing resource definition groups for a CICS region that are loaded during system initialization for a CICS cold start. |
Enhancements to the Policy Definition editor |
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New SM Operations views to display and manage FEPI resources in the current context. | The FEPI operations views include:
For an introduction to FEPI, see FEPI concepts and facilities. For an overview of FEPI resources, see FEPI resources and FEPI setup program. |
New Task History Collection view to display information about the status of CICSPlex SM history recording for CICS regions in the current context. | CICSPlex SM provides the ability to save and view data for completed tasks, that is historical task data. From the Task History Collection view, you can find out whether CICSPlex SM history recording is activated for CICS regions in the current context. For more information, see Task History Collection view. |
Support for CICS security discovery |
CICS security discovery makes it easier to migrate to a zero trust strategy, by identifying security definitions that are required for resource security. CICS Explorer provides the following capabilities to
support CICS security discovery:
You need to use them along with other security discovery functions provided by CICS, see How it works: CICS security discovery in CICS documentation. |
What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.35
New Function | Description |
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CICS Explorer can connect to CICS TS 6.2 |
As of Fix Pack 5.5.35, CICS Explorer can connect to CICS TS 6.2 regions, but does not support the new features introduced with CICS TS 6.2. For detailed information about the compatibility of CICS Explorer, see Table 1.
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New LU 6.2 Mode Names view to display information about available LU 6.2 mode names | This view displays LU 6.2 mode names that are available in the current context and allows you to view the details of each mode name. For more information, see LU 6.2 Mode Names view. |
What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.34
New Function | Description |
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New Bridge Facilities view to display information about available 3270 bridge facilities | The bridge facilities provide virtual 3270 terminals used by the 3270 bridge mechanism to simulate a real 3270 for running a CICS 3270 application in a bridged environment. This view displays 3270 bridge facilities that are available in the current context and allows you to view the details of each bridge facility. For more information, see Bridge Facilities view. |
What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.33
New Function | Description |
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Enhancement to the Policy Definition editor |
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What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.25
New Function | Description |
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CICS Explorer is now available on an Eclipse 2022-03 release train | CICS Explorer Fix Pack 5.5.25 is available on the Aqua 3.3 release train, based on Eclipse 2022-03. |
What's New in Fix Pack 5.5.23
New Function | Description |
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Marketplace only
CICS Explorer can now be installed from Eclipse Marketplace |
You can now install CICS Explorer from Eclipse Marketplace, in addition to existing installation methods. This offers more flexibility by allowing you to use a later version of Eclipse than Photon (4.8), enabling use of more recent Java™ versions such as Java 17. For more information, see Downloading and installing CICS Explorer. |
Enhancement to JVM Servers view
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You can now generate a stack trace of the Java thread that is running a CICS task to help with problem determination. When you select the JVM Servers view, the thread running the task is located. A stack trace is generated and written to the JVM log file (dfhjvmlog). option from theYou can use this option to understand in what method a Java application is suspended, and how that method was started. For more information, see JVM Servers view. |
Enhancement to the Policy Definition editor
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Enhancement to the Event binding editor | CICS event processing support has been expanded such that application events now support the PUT64 CONTAINER capture point. You can now select PUT64 CONTAINER as an
application capture point on the tab in the Event binding editor when defining capture
specifications. The PUT64 CONTAINER capture point requires a minimum schema level of 5.0. For more information, see Capture Point tab. |
New CSD Map view to show related resources in the CICS system definition data set | In addition to definitions in the CICSPlex® SM data
repository, the Map view can now show related resource definitions in the CICS system definition data set (CSD) too, making it easier to understand and visualize the relationships between lists, groups, and resource definitions in the CSD. The Map view for resource definitions in the CSD is supported in CICS Explorer Fix Pack 5.5.23 or later and CICS Explorer on Eclipse Marketplace. In CICS, the CMCI JVM server provides the underlying CMCI GraphQL API that supports the Map view. In CICS Explorer, to enable the Map view for resource definitions in the CSD, the CICS region that CICS Explorer connects to must be at CICS TS 6.1 or later and be configured to use the CMCI JVM server. For instructions, see Setting up CMCI in CICS TS documentation. For more information, see Viewing related CSD resource definitions in the Map view. |
New Security Request Recordings view to show the available security request recording entries | Security request recording (SRR) is a new feature to aid in resolving security issues.
Sometimes the error messages that are presented are not sufficient to resolve an issue. A security
request recording identifies origin data to aid data capture that assists system programmers in
investigating whether security is configured as needed. Use the Regions view to
select the regions for which you want to capture a security request recording using the
. Recordings are
then available for view by using the Security Request Recordings view. For more information, see Working with CICS security. |
What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.22
New Function | Description |
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CICS Explorer can connect to CICS TS 6.1 |
As of Fix Pack 5.5.22, CICS Explorer can connect to CICS regions up to CICS TS 6.1. For detailed information about the compatibility of CICS Explorer, see Table 1.
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What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.20
New Function | Description |
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Resource aggregation in single CICS regions |
Available with APAR PH35122, the aggregation function that was supported for CICSPlex SM environments is available in single CICS regions too. With aggregation, you can merge resource records together to display a summarized view for one or more attributes in any resource view. Aggregation helps you identify similarities and differences in a set of CICS resources. To enable aggregation in CICS, the single CICS region must be at CICS TS 5.6 with APAR PH35122, or a later release. It also needs to be configured to serve as a CICS System Management Single Server (SMSS) by using a CMCI JVM server. The CMCI JVM server provides the underlying CMCI GraphQL API that supports the aggregation function. For more information, see Aggregating data in a resource view. |
Connecting to a single CICS region with multi-factor authentication (MFA) for enhanced security |
Available with APAR PH35122, the MFA sign-on that was supported for CICSPlex SM environments is available in single CICS regions too, allowing enhanced security for sign-on to single CICS regions. To enable MFA sign-on in a single CICS region that your CICS Explorer connects to, make sure the region is at CICS TS 5.6 with APAR PH35122, or a later release. You must also configure a CMCI JVM server in the region to turn it into a CICS System Management Single Server (SMSS). For more information, see Multi-factor authentication (MFA) credentials for CICS Explorer connections. |
What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.19
As of CICS Explorer Fix Pack 5.5.19, fix packs are referred to as v.r.f (5.5.19) instead of v.r.m.f (5.5.0.19) to align with the way that the version is displayed within Eclipse.
What's new in Fix pack 5.5.0.18
New Function | Description |
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Usability enhancement |
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What's new in Fix pack 5.5.0.17
New Function | Description |
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CICS Explorer can be installed on macOS Catalina and Big Sur releases | CICS Explorer for Aqua 3.2 can now be installed on macOS Catalina and Big Sur releases. To install and run it on these masOS releases, you must follow instructions in this technote to bypass the security restrictions. |
What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.0.15
New Function | Description |
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Enhancement to the Policy Definition editor | A new task rule, container storage, is available:
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What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.0.11
New Function | Description |
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Enhancement to the Policy Definition editor | You can now define the Transaction ID and User ID filters as rule conditions for task rules. This hence provides a simpler way of restricting your policy to certain user tasks, in addition to the policy scope and application entry point. For more information, see Policy rule conditions and Restricting a task rule policy to specific user tasks in a single CICS region. |
What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.0.9
New Function | Description |
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New editor and view for JVM server endpoints | The JVM Endpoints view and JVM Endpoint editor are
available for you to manage JVM server endpoints. JVM endpoints provide methods for remote access,
monitoring or management. Using the new view and editor, you can now view information of the JVM
endpoints, as well as enabling or disabling them. For more information, see JVM Endpoints view and JVM Endpoint editor. |
Enhancements to JVM Servers view and JVM Server editor | The JVM Servers view and JVM Server editor are
enhanced to allow you to better administer JVM servers.
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Enhancements to the Policy Definition editor |
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What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.0.7
New function | Description |
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Submitting a batched repository-update (BATCHREP) job | You can now create, update, remove, or review multiple definitions in the data repository by submitting a batched repository-update (BATCHREP) job in CICS Explorer, as in the CICSPlex SM Web User Interface (WUI). See Submitting a batched repository-update (BATCHREP) job. |
What's new in Fix Pack 5.5.0.3
New function | Description |
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Enhancements to the Policy Definition editor |
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What's new in 5.5.0
New Function | Description |
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Aggregation in resource views for CICSPlex SM environments |
With aggregation, you can merge resource records together to display a summarized view for one or more attributes in any resource view. Aggregation helps you identify similarities and differences in a set of CICS resources. For more information, see Aggregating data in a resource view. In CICS, the CMCI JVM server in a WUI region provides the underlying CMCI GraphQL API that supports the aggregation function. For more information, see How it works: CMCI GraphQL API. |
New Map view to show related CICSPlex SM resources |
The Map view shows related resources in a CICSplex, making it easier to understand the relationships between such resources. The Map view function supports Business Application Services (BAS) and definitional workload management (WLM) resources. You can open it from many views or editors that are related to those resources, for example, the CICSplex Explorer view. For more information, see Viewing related BAS resources in the Map view and Viewing related WLM resources in the Workload Map view. |
New Feature Toggles view available | The new Feature Toggles (FEATURE) view displays enablement and configuration settings for toggle-enabled features for your CICS region. For more information, see CICS feature toggles and continuous delivery and FEATURE Resource Table. |
New Global TCP/IP Statistics view available | The Global TCP/IP Statistics (TCPIPGBL) view displays information about CICS internal TCP/IP sockets support. For more information, see Global TCP/IP Statistics view. |
New Policy Rules view available | The Policy Rules (RULE) view displays information about policy rules. For more information, see Policy Rules view. |
New BAS Resource Assignments view available | The BAS Resource Assignments (RASGNDEF) view displays information about the
characteristics of resource definitions of a particular resource group and class, and how those
resources are to be assigned to and installed in a set of CICS systems. For more information, see BAS Resource Assignments view. |
Resource Group and Group List Definitions views changed for enhanced capabilities | To provide full resource view capabilities such as aggregation, grouping, quick filters, and
advanced view customization in the resource view, the Resource Group and Group List Definitions
views are replaced as follows:
Stability of these views is also improved. |
Enhancements to the Policy Definition editor |
You can now use the Policy Definition editor to define system rules for:
For more information, see Policy rule conditions. |
Usability enhancements |
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