Release notes for CICS Deployment Assistant for z/OS (CICS DA) Version 5.2 plug-in

Copyright statement

(C) Copyright IBM® Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. For legal information, see https://www.ibm.com/legal/copyright-trademark

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What's new in this release?

CICS® DA Version 5.2 adds further enhancements:
  • The ability to clone an unmanaged CICS region.
  • Provision of an externalized API. REXX and JavaScript samples are supplied in the samples directory of the CICS DA server installation.
  • The ability to compare two CICS regions.
  • Discovery of TCP/IP ports.
  • Support for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) SP800-131a security standard.
  • New options when cloning a CICS region.
  • Ability to discover the GRPLISTs specified for each of the discovered CICS regions.
  • Validation of template XML files.
  • Ability to stop the CICS DA server by using the console modify command.
  • More diagnostic messages and logging.

For more information about these enhancements, see the What's New topic in the CICS DA User Guide in the plug-in Help.

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System requirements and prerequisites

The CICS Deployment Assistant system requirements are listed on the System requirements page on the CICS Deployment Assistant for z/OS® website.

You must install and configure the CICS Deployment Assistant for z/OS version 5.2 server before you can use the plug-in. For more information about installing and configuring the server, see CICS Deployment Assistant for z/OS, V5.2 in the IBM Knowledge Center.

The CICS DA Version 5.2 plug-in must be installed in the CICS Explorer® Version 5.2.

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Downloading and installing the CICS DA plug-in

Note: If you installed CICS Explorer by using the IBM Installation Manager, do not use the following procedure. Instead, you can use Installation Manager to install the CICS DA plug-in. The download page on the CICS Explorer website contains the URL for the composite update site. You must add the URL to the Installation Manager Preferences - Repositories page. Click the Install option in the Installation Manager wizard, and follow the prompts to install the CICS DA plug-in.
To download the CICS DA plug-in from the CICS Explorer download website:
  1. Click the CICS DA plug-in download link.
  2. Save the compressed file in a temporary directory. Do NOT extract the file. The CICS Explorer extracts the contents automatically.
To install the CICS DA plug-in in the CICS Explorer:
  1. Start the CICS Explorer.
  2. From the main menu, click Help > Install New Software.
  3. In the Install window, click Add. The Add Repository archive dialog box is displayed.
  4. In the Add Repository dialog, click Archive.
  5. In the Repository archive window, locate and select the CICS DA plug-in compressed file that you downloaded previously, and click Open.
  6. In the Add Repository dialog, click OK. The IBM CICS Deployment Assistant Plugin is listed in the Install window.
    If the message Duplicate location is displayed, one of the following reasons apply:
    1. If this is your first attempt to install the CICS DA plug-in in CICS Explorer 5.2, you have installed CICS Explorer in a directory that contains residual information from a previous installation. Install CICS Explorer again in an empty directory, then install the CICS DA plug-in again.
    2. You have previously installed, or prepared to install, the plug-in at this location, and CICS Explorer has saved the location details. Cancel the Add Repository dialog. In the Install window, use the Work with field to select the location that contains the plug-in to install, then continue with the next step.
  7. Select IBM CICS Deployment Assistant Plug-in in the list and click Next.
  8. Click Next to confirm the installation.
  9. Review the license and click the relevant radio button. Click Finish to complete the installation, or Cancel if you do not accept the license.

    If you accepted the license, the CICS DA plug-in is installed into CICS Explorer. You are prompted to restart CICS Explorer, which ensures that the plug-in starts in a clean environment.

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Getting started

When CICS Explorer restarts, the CICS Explorer perspective is displayed. To open the CICS DA perspective, either click the Open Perspective toolbar icon, or click Window > Open Perspective > Other in the main menu. In the Open Perspective window, select CICS DA then click OK.

If you are not familiar with the CICS DA plug-in, you can read the Getting Started information in the help documentation. To display the Getting Started information for the CICS DA plug-in, click Help > Help Contents > CICS Deployment Assistant User Guide > Getting started with CICS DA.

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Known issues and limitations

The following limitations exist in the CICS DA Version 5.2 plug-in:
  • If you run discovery, and later change the APPLID of a CICS region but do not change the CSYSID, the next time you run discovery, the CICS region is shown twice. The region with the new APPLID is shown as an unmanaged CICS region. The region with the old APPLID is shown as a managed CICS region. To resolve the problem, you must delete both regions from the model and then run discovery again.
  • If you change the JOBNAME of a CICS region and then restart the region, CICS DA does not recognize it as the same region and the region is shown as stopped. You must run discovery again to update the mapping of the region to the new JOBNAME.
  • When you clone a CICS region, sometimes CICS DA cannot identify whether the CICS region is running. In this situation, CICS DA issues the message CPHSE0041E Unable to read JESJCL output step for job name xxxx, job ID yyyy. If you see this message, check that the CICS region is running, then try the operation again.
  • CICS DA does not support all the new features of JCL that are introduced in z/OS Version 2.1. If you have upgraded to z/OS 2.1, and have changed your jobs to include the new features, the clone operation might not be successful.

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