Collecting and checking candidate resource definitions
When collecting candidates, CICS® Configuration Manager uses the same rules as CICS when selecting which resource definitions to install after a cold start:
- When collecting from a CSD file: the rules of precedence regarding
the order of lists, including generically named lists, that CICS selects via the system initialization
parameter (SIT) GRPLIST, and the order of groups in those lists.
CICS Configuration Manager allows you to specify lists in similar manner to the GRPLIST SIT parameter. However, CICS Configuration Manager provides more flexibility than the GRPLIST SIT parameter, enabling you to easily simulate and test changes in group sequence. You can specify more than four lists in the group sequence, and you can add individual groups to the sequence, simulating the effect of those groups being in the startup lists without actually having to edit the lists. For details, see the GROUP and GRPLIST parameters of the DEPLOY command.
- The rules of precedence regarding duplicate resource definition names.
- CICSPlex® SM only: the effect of RASGNDEF (resource assignment) resource definitions on a cold start (selection of resource definitions; local and remote resource definitions; modification of resource definition attributes).
- When collecting from a combination of CSD file and CICSPlex SM data repository, CICS Configuration Manager follows the same order that CICS follows at cold start: CSD file first, then CICSPlex SM data repository.
CICS Configuration Manager performs various checks to verify whether candidates will actually be installed, and includes the results of these checks in the deployment analysis report. These checks include:
- Duplicate checks
- When collecting a set of candidate resource definitions from a CSD file, or a combination of CSD file and CICSPlex SM data repository, the deployment analysis reports notify you of any duplicate resource definitions in the set, including which duplicate, if any, CICS would install, and why the others would be not installed.
- Referential integrity checks
- In some cases, CICS installs
a resource definition only if another required resource definition
has already been installed. For example, before installing DB2® entries you must install a DB2 connection. The deployment analysis
reports include error messages to notify you of cases where a resource
definition would not be installed because it requires a resource definition
that is not yet installed.
In other cases, CICS installs a resource definition even if it requires a resource definition that has not yet been installed. For example, CICS will install a transaction even if the program to which it refers has not yet been installed (the program might be autoinstalled on-demand). The deployment analysis reports include warning messages to notify you of cases where a resource definition would be installed even though it requires a resource definition that is not yet installed.
When collecting candidate resource definitions from a CSD file, you must specify the system ID (SYSID) of the CICS region where, for the purposes of deployment analysis reporting, the candidate resource definitions would be installed. This enables the report to handle any candidate resource definitions that specify remote system (REMOTESYSTEM) attribute values:
- If the REMOTESYSTEM attribute value matches the SYSID that you specify for the report, the report interprets the resource definition as a local resource definition.
- Otherwise, the report interprets the resource definition as a remote resource definition.
Whether the report interprets a resource definition as local or remote is especially significant for comparison reports, which notify you when a resource definition has been installed locally in one set of resource definitions, but as a remote resource definition in the other set.