Release notes for IBM CICS Explorer for Aqua V3.11

Copyright statement

(C) Copyright IBM® Corporation 2008, 2020. All rights reserved. For legal information, see Copyright and trademark information.

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As of 12 June, 2020, IBM CICS Explorer® is branded to include the version of the IBM Explorer for z/OS® (z/OS Explorer) platform it's based on. As a result, the formerly-know-as CICS Explorer V5.4.0 is referred to as IBM CICS Explorer for Aqua V3.1. CICS Explorer for Aqua V3.1 and later can connect to all CICS® TS versions, but some features in CICS TS V5.6 are only available in CICS Explorer for Aqua V3.2.

What's new in CICS Explorer for Aqua V3.1

What's new in Fix Pack 5.4.0.11
More system rules are available for the policy definition editor. You can now use the policy definition editor to define system rules for:
  • Bundle available status
  • Bundle enable status
  • IPIC connection status
  • MRO connection status
  • Program enable status
For more information, see Policy conditions.
What's new in Fix Pack 5.4.0.6
With the enhanced policy definition editor, you can complete the following tasks when defining the event action for a policy rule:
  • Associate static data with the event
  • Customize the file name of the exported specification by defining an event name
For more information, see Creating and deploying a policy in a CICS bundle project.
What's new in Fix Pack 5.4.0.4

CICS Explorer allows you to connect to CICS systems with multi-factor authentication (MFA) for enhanced sign-on security.

To use multi-factor authentication, you must connect to a WUI region at CICS TS V5.4 with APAR PI87691 or later that has been configured to use the CMCI JVM server, as described in Configuring for CICS Explorer sign-on with Multi-Factor Authentication.

For more information, see Multi-factor authentication (MFA) credentials for CICS Explorer connections.

What's new in Fix Pack 5.4.0.3
The policy definition editor is enhanced as follows:
  • You can export event specifications from a policy rule if it is defined with an event action. For instructions, see Exporting event specifications from a policy.
  • You can now define policy system rules to be installed into CICS regions running CICS TS 5.1 through CICS TS 5.3. APAR PI83667 must be applied to the CICS region for the system rules to be installed into that CICS region.

Usability with policy rule creation is enhanced. For a CICS local file or transaction class resource, you can create a policy rule by navigating to the corresponding resource view, right-clicking the resource, and selecting Create policy.

CICS Explorer now provides the ability to connect to a z/VSE® 6.2 system to browse and process supported resources. For more information, see z/VSE and Using the IBM CICS Transaction Server Enhancements.

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System requirements and prerequisites

For information about CICS Explorer system requirements, see CICS Explorer Detailed System Requirements.

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Installing CICS Explorer

For information about CICS Explorer installation options, see CICS Explorer downloads.

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Starting CICS Explorer

To start CICS Explorer, double-click the file zosexplorer.exe (zosexplorer on Linux® or macOS), in a subdirectory called zosexplorer. The first time CICS Explorer starts, the welcome screen is displayed.

CICS Explorer uses a local workspace folder to save its data and configuration files. By default, the workspace folder is called .zosexplorer and is stored in your user directory.

If you do not want to update your default workspace, start CICS Explorer with a different workspace by using the -data option to specify a new target path for the workspace. For example, to start CICS Explorer and create a new workspace in the location c:\my_cicsexplorer_workspace, use the following command:

C:\zosexplorer\zosexplorer.exe -data c:\my_cicsexplorer_workspace

For instructions to start CICS Explorer with a different workspace by using a CICS Explorer shortcut, see Changing the CICS Explorer workspace location.

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Upgrading CICS Explorer and associated workspaces

CICS Explorer for Aqua V3.1 is based on a different release of Eclipse than previous versions of CICS Explorer, so you must install a new copy of CICS Explorer rather than attempting to upgrade a previous installation.

To reuse the workspace of a previous version of CICS Explorer, take a backup first. Alternatively, you can preserve the old workspace by creating a copy of the workspace and renaming it for your new version of CICS Explorer. For instructions, see Changing the CICS Explorer workspace location.

If your workspace was created by using CICS Explorer Version 5.3 or earlier and has a target platform that is created for Java™ EE and Liberty development, you must delete and re-create this target platform because the internal path to the required files has been updated.

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Getting started

The CICS Explorer help documentation is integrated with the product and also available with the CICS TS product documentation. The help includes a basic tutorial and instructions to configure a connection. To display the CICS Explorer basic tutorial, use one of the following methods:
  • From the welcome screen, click the Tutorials icon. The icon names are displayed when you hover over them.
  • From the menu bar, click Help > Help Contents > CICS Explorer User Guide > Getting Started > Basic tutorial.

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Enabling FIPS 140-2 cryptographic providers

CICS Explorer can use the FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic provider IBMJCEFIPS for cryptography.

Enable FIPS mode by:
  • Modifying the jre/java.security file to add:
    security.provider.2=com.ibm.crypto.fips.provider.IBMJCEFIPS
    and renumbering any following lines.
  • Modifying zosexplorer.ini to add these extra lines to the bottom of the file:
    -Dcom.ibm.jsse2.usefipsprovider=true
    -Dssl.SocketFactory.provider=com.ibm.jsse2.SSLSocketFactoryImpl
    -Dssl.ServerSocketFactory.provider=com.ibm.jsse2.SSLServerSocketFactoryImpl

For more information, see Enabling FIPS Mode in the IBMJSSE2 Provider.

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Known issues and limitations

The following limitations exist in CICS Explorer for Aqua V3.1:
  • For most CICS resource table views, the Properties view is not populated with data. To view the properties of a resource, double-click the record in the resource table view to display the attributes in an editor.
  • For a Java application in a Liberty or OSGi JVM server that is running a Java 7 or 7.1 JVM, the following error messages might occur if applications are built by using a Java 1.8 compiler:
    • CICS log:
      • DFHSJ0904 date time applid ???? CJSA DFHSJTHP Exception 'com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppErrorReport: javax.servlet.UnavailableException
      • DFHSJ1004 12/02/2015 16:55:33 IYK2Z32E CICSUSER An exception has been thrown by the route method of class com/ibm/cics/router/Router running in JVMSERVER name. Exception 'Could not resolve module: name[26] Unresolved requirement: Require-Capability: osgi.ee; filter:="(&(osgi.ee=JavaSE)(version=1.8))" '.
    • Liberty messages.log:
      • "java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: JVMCFRE003 bad major version; class=class, offset=6 com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.loadServlet 227" "javax.servlet.UnavailableException: SRVE0202E: Servlet [name]: name was found, but is corrupted: SRVE0227E: Check that the class resides in the proper package directory.
      • CWWKZ0404E: An exception was generated when trying to resolve the contents of the name. The exception text from the OSGi framework is: Unable to resolve IFileAdapter wrapping file with url wsjar:file:name: missing requirement org.apache.aries.subsystem.core.archive.OsgiExecutionEnvironmentRequirement: namespace=osgi.ee, attributes={},directives={filter=(|(&(osgi.ee=JavaSE)(version=1.8.0)))}, resource=IFileAdapter wrapping file with url wsjar:file:name!/name
    To resolve this problem, you must change your Java compiler compliance level for each required project:
    • For an OSGi bundle project:
      1. Open the OSGi Bundle manifest file (META-INF/MANIFEST.MF) in the editor.
      2. In the Execution Environments section, select JavaSE-1.8, then click Remove.
      3. In the Execution Environments section, click Add, select JavaSE-1.7, then click OK.
      4. Export the project again.
    • For a dynamic web project:
      1. Right-click the project, then click Properties.
      2. In the Contents pane of the Properties window, click Project Facets, then select Version 1.7 for the Java Project Facet.
      3. Click OK to rebuild the project, then export the project again.
  • Important: It is a limitation of Eclipse that before you can revert to a previous version of CICS Explorer, you must have access to an update site that contains the source code for the previous level. You can download the update site source code from the IBM Fix Central website, at Fix Central. For other useful information, see Ordering maintenance for IBM CICS Explorer and CICS Explorer plug-ins.
  • The Eclipse software update function does not fully support Eclipse update-sites secured with HTTP Basic Authentication. If you are connecting to an Eclipse update site that prompts for a user name and password, do not select the option to save your password when prompted because CICS Explorer does not provide a method to change your password after it is set. If the password is not saved, it must be entered each time the CICS Explorer connects to the update site. If a password is saved and later needs changing, manual editing of configuration files would be required.

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Resources

Ordering maintenance for IBM CICS Explorer and CICS Explorer plug-ins

1 Aqua refers to IBM Explorer for z/OS Aqua.