Deployment analysis of resource definitions

Deployment analysis is the analysis of resource definitions that are installed in an active CICS® region, resource definitions that CICS would install when cold starting a region, and the differences between these sets of resource definitions.

Runtime, candidate, and CICS definitions

CICS Configuration Manager batch deployment analysis reports enable you to list or compare the following sets of resource definitions:

Runtime resource definitions
A set of installed resource definitions that CICS Configuration Manager collects from an active CICS region.
Candidate resource definitions
A set of resource definitions that CICS would install when cold starting a CICS region. CICS Configuration Manager collects candidate resource definitions from the following sources:
  • A CSD file. CICS Configuration Manager collects from a CSD file the resource definitions that belong to a specified set of groups. This set of groups is known as a group sequence. The group sequence is similar to the CICS system initialization parameter GRPLIST, but allows more flexibility: it can contain a combination of lists and individual groups.
  • A CICSPlex® SM data repository. CICS Configuration Manager collects from a data repository the resource definitions that belong to a specified context and scope.
  • A combination of these two sources.

    If you want to compare the set of resource definitions in an active CICSPlex SM-managed region with the set of candidate resource definitions that would be installed after a cold start, then you need to collect candidates from both the CSD file and the CICSPlex SM data repository. When you cold start a CICSPlex SM-managed region, the region must, at a minimum, install from a CSD file the CICS-supplied resource definitions that enable the region to run the CICSPlex SM agent. For example, resource definitions in the list DFHLIST. The region might also install some application-specific resource definitions from the CSD file. For example, resource definitions specified by the CICS system initialization parameter GRPLIST. Then the CICSPlex SM agent installs additional resource definitions from the CICSPlex SM data repository.

    If your site installs only the CICS-supplied resource definitions from CSD files, with all application-specific resource definitions coming from a CICSPlex SM data repository, then you might choose to collect candidates from the data repository only, and ignore the candidates in the CSD files. When comparing the candidates with a set of runtime resource definitions, you can specify a filter to suppress report items for the missing candidate CICS-supplied (DFH*) resource definitions.

Start of changeCICS definitionsEnd of change
Start of changeA set of resource definitions defined in a CSD file. A CICS definitions compare report compares the resources in two CSD files and shows the differences between those resources.End of change

Types of deployment analysis report

You can produce deployment analysis reports to:

  • List a set of runtime or candidate resource definitions
  • Compare two sets in any combination:
    • Two sets of runtime resource definitions
    • Two sets of candidate resource definitions
    • A set of runtime resource definitions with a set of candidate resource definitions
    • Start of changeTwo sets of CICS definitionsEnd of change

You can compare sets of resource definitions across any CICS releases supported by CICS Configuration Manager.

The following figure shows the different types of deployment analysis report, and the sets of resource definitions that they list or compare:

Start of change
Figure 1. Deployment analysis reports: the resource definitions that each type of report lists or compares
Begin figure description. The figure is described in the surrounding text. End figure description.
End of change

Listing or comparing these sets of resource definitions helps you to answer questions about your CICS environment, and avoid potentially costly surprises caused by unexpected differences.

The following table describes the different types of deployment analysis report:

Table 1. Deployment analysis report types
Report type What the report does Questions that the report helps answer
Cold start compare Compares a set of runtime resource definitions (installed in an active CICS region) with a set of candidate resource definitions (stored in a CSD file, a CICSPlex SM data repository, or a combination of the two). What will be the effect of a cold start?

This report helps you understand the difference that a cold start would make to the resource definitions installed in an active CICS region if you were to cold start that region using a particular set of candidate resource definitions.

This report identifies anomalies where candidate resource definitions are new, missing, or differ from the runtime resource definitions. This report also identifies duplicate candidates, and candidates that rely on definitions that do not exist, or would not yet have been installed.

For example, suppose that you have just created resource definitions that you have organized into a list in a CSD file. What would be the difference between cold starting a CICS region from the lists used previously, and cold starting the region with new lists?

Candidates compare Compares two sets of candidate resource definitions (stored in a CSD file, a CICSPlex SM data repository, or a combination of the two). Are the candidates for two CICSPlex SM scopes, two CSD lists, or a scope and a list the same? Will moving a group to a different position in a list create problems?

This report helps you understand how the resource definitions that CICS would install in a cold started region would differ depending on the set of stored resource definitions used.

For example:

  • Suppose that you are migrating to a new CICS release, and you have upgraded your CSD files, or copied resource definitions from your old CSD files to new CSD files. What would be the difference between cold starting a CICS region from the old CSD files, and cold starting from the new CSD files?
  • Suppose that you have migrated your application resource definitions from CSD files to a CICSPlex SM data repository. Will cold starting a CICS region using the resource definitions stored in the data repository produce the same result (same set of resource definitions installed in the region) as cold starting from the old CSD files?
Start of changeCICS definitions compareEnd of change Start of changeCompares the resource definitions in two CSD files.End of change Start of changeWhat are the significant differences between two CSD files?

This report is useful when you want to see only the differences between two CSD files without duplicate checks or referential integrity checks.

End of change
Runtime resources compare Compares two sets of runtime resource definitions (installed in two active CICS regions). Are my cloned CICS regions the same?

This report helps you understand why two CICS regions, which you believe should have identical installed resource definitions, are exhibiting different behavior.

For example, have CEMT SET or INSTALL commands introduced differences into your "cloned" regions?

Runtime resources Lists a set of runtime resource definitions (installed in an active CICS region). What resource definitions are currently installed in this CICS region?

You can use this report to perform your own before/after analysis. For example, you can produce one report before cold starting a region, produce another after the cold start, and then run the comparison utility of your choice to analyze the differences between the two reports.

Candidates Lists a set of candidate resource definitions (stored in a CSD file, a CICSPlex SM data repository, or a combination of the two). Which resource definitions would CICS would install in a cold started region (based on the resource definitions stored in the specified CSD file, context, or combination of the two)?

In addition to listing candidate resource definitions, this report helps identify referential integrity ("consistency") issues between resource definitions, and issues caused by duplicate resource definitions.

Check Lists referential integrity issues in a set of candidate resource definitions (stored in a CSD file, a CICSPlex SM data repository, or a combination of the two). Are these candidate resource definitions (stored in the specified CSD file, context, or combination of the two) consistent with one another?

This report performs a superset of the consistency checks performed by the CICS CEDA CHECK command.

While CEDA CHECK is limited to performing consistency checks on a CSD file, you can produce this CICS Configuration Manager deployment analysis check report for resource definitions that are stored in a CSD file, a CICSPlex SM data repository, or a combination of the two.

The check report is identical to the candidates report, except that the check report contains checking results only, omitting the list of candidate resource definitions.

You can also perform these checks via the ISPF dialog. For details, see Checking the consistency of lists and groups

Cold start compare report

The deployment analysis report that compares a set of runtime resource definitions with a set of candidate resource definitions is known as a cold start compare report, because it helps answer the question: what will be the effect of cold starting a CICS region? Specifically, what is the difference between the set of resource definitions currently installed in an active CICS region, and the resource definitions that a CICS cold start would install from a CSD file (or CICSPlex SM data repository, or combination of the two)? Knowing the answer to this question helps you to systematically introduce required changes into your mission-critical CICS applications. Not knowing the answer risks introducing unexpected changes that can cause downtime.

The following figure illustrates the concept of a cold start compare report. You cold started a CICS region some time ago. Since then, the candidate resource definitions and runtime resource definitions might have been updated, introducing differences. What changes will the next cold start introduce?

Figure 2. Deployment analysis reports: what will be the effect of cold starting a CICS region?
Begin figure description. The figure is described in the surrounding text. End figure description.

Deployment analysis reporting process and components

The following figure shows how CICS Configuration Manager collects resource definitions for a deployment analysis report:

Start of change
Figure 3. Overview of deployment analysis reporting
Begin figure description. The figure is described in the surrounding text. End figure description.
End of change

To collect runtime resource definitions you must have installed in the region either:

 1 
The CICSPlex SM agent
 2 
The CICS Configuration Manager agent (for details, see Optional: Configure the agent for CSD-based CICS regions)

You can use a filter file to suppress specific conditions or resource definitions from deployment analysis reports. For details on creating a filter file, see Filtering resource definitions from deployment analysis reports.

To read the filter file, the CICS Configuration Manager server uses a transient data queue named CCVX. The server dynamically defines CCVX (replacing any existing definition) using the data set name of the filter file specified by the FILTERDATASET parameter of the DEPLOY command in the SYSIN control statements for the job.

If you specify the optional ddname CCVFLTEX in your report JCL, the job output includes a filter file that contains a filter statement for each item in the generated report. To suppress an item from future reports, copy and paste the corresponding filter statement from this file to your own filter file.