******************************************************************************** CICS Explorer SupportPac README ******************************************************************************** The product documentation is integrated in the CICS Explorer product. This file contains important information about the CICS Explorer that might not be available in the product. The text version of this file is suitable for use with a screen reader or Braille device. Summary of topics ================= - Installing the product - Prerequisites - Downloading from the CICS Explorer SupportPac download website - Downloading the CICS Explorer for Windows - Downloading the CICS Explorer for Linux - Downloading the CICS tools plug-ins for CICS Explorer - Downloading the CICS Explorer SDK - Installing one or more CICS tools plug-ins in the CICS Explorer for Windows - Configuring CICS Explorer - Starting multiple instances of CICS Explorer - Getting started - Known issues and limitations - CICS Explorer limitations - CICS Management Client Interface limitations - CICS PA Explorer runtime memory - CICSPlex SM limitations - Operating system limitations - Help documentation limitations Installing the product ============== Prerequisites: -------------- The following levels of software are required to install the CICS Explorer. * Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista or Linux operating systems. You must install prerequisite PTFs on the following versions of CICS: *For CICS Transaction Server for z/OS Version 3 release 2: PTFs UK38402 and UK27327 * For CICS Transaction Server for z/OS Version 3 release 1: PTF UK27353 Refer to the Known issues and limitations section for further information. Downloading from the CICS Explorer Support Pac download website: =========================================== There are four files available for download: * cs1j.zip - CICS Explorer for Windows * cs1o.tar.gz - CICS Explorer for Linux * cs1n.zip - CICS tools plug-ins for CICS Explorer * cs1r.zip - CICS Explorer SDK If you are developing a third-party application to run as a plug-in in CICS Explorer, you must download the CICS Explorer SDK and install it into an existing Eclipse environment. You can not install the CICS tools plug-ins in the CICS Explorer SDK. If you are not developing applications, you must download the CICS Explorer for Windows or Linux, and the CICS tools plug-ins for CICS Explorer using the instructions below. The download page is at url: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=1083&uid=swg24020718 Downloading the CICS Explorer for Windows zip file from the website: ------------------------------------------------------- * Click the CICS Explorer for Windows download link. * Download the zip file and save it in a temporary directory, for example, c:\temp. * Extract the contents of the zip file to an empty directory of your choice, for example, C:\Program Files\Explorer_SupportPac. Ensure that the directory does not contain any "Rational Developer for system z" or Eclipse based files. Downloading the CICS Explorer for Linux file from the website: ------------------------------------------------------- * Click the CICS Explorer for Linux download link. * Download the archive file and save it in your home directory. * Extract the contents of the archive file and this will create a sub-directory called CICS_Explorer. Downloading the CICS tools plug-ins for CICS Explorer: ------------------------------------------- * Click the CICS tools plug-ins for CICS Explorer download link. * Save the zip file in a temporary directory, for example, c:\temp on windows, or your home directory on Linux. * Unpack the zip file. The zip file contains licenses and three further zip files, one for CICS-IA, one for CICS-CM, and one for CICS-PA. Do NOT unzip these three files. The CICS Explorer will extract the contents automatically. Downloading the CICS Explorer SDK: ------------------------------------------- * Click the CICS Explorer SDK download link. * Save the zip file in a temporary directory on your workspace, for example, c:\temp on Windows, or your home directory on Linux. Do NOT unzip the file. * Install the CICS Explorer SDK into your Eclipse environment. Installing one or more CICS tools plug-ins in the CICS Explorer: ========================================= * Launch the CICS Explorer by locating and double-clicking the cicsexplorer.exe file (cicsexplorer in Linux). The file is located in a subdirectory called CICS_Explorer. * Click Help on the CICS Explorer menu bar and click Software Updates in the drop-down menu. The Software Updates and Add-ons window is displayed. * Click the Available Software tab. * Click the Add Site button and in the Add Site dialog click the Archive button. The Repository archive dialog box is displayed. * Locate and select one of the CICS tools plug-ins zip files you downloaded and unpacked previously, and click Open. * Click OK in the Add Site dialog box. The dialog box closes and the list of tools are displayed in the Software Updates and Add-ons dialog box. * Select the check-box alongside the tool or tools you want to install. * Click the Install button. * In the Install dialog box, confirm the tool or tools to install by clicking Next. * 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 tools selected are installed into the CICS Explorer. Configuring the CICS Explorer: =================== Configuring CICS Explorer: ------------------------------ Note: If you previously installed the CICS Explorer and have not deleted the workspace, then this section can be ignored. Before installing the Explorer, ask your system administrator for the address of the host where CICS has been installed, and the connection details. If you are already using the CICSPlex SM WUI, this might be the host name and port number from the sign on page. If you want to connect to a CICS V4 system with read and update capability, you must setup the CICS management client interface (CMCI) in your CICSPlex SM or CICS environment. Details about setting up the CMCI are provided in the CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, Version 4 release 1 Information Center. * To launch the Explorer, locate and double-click the file cicsexplorer.exe (cicsexplorer on Linux), located in a subdirectory called CICS_Explorer. The Explorer welcome screen is displayed. * Click the Define CICS systems icon on the welcome screen to open the connections window. * Enter the connection information provided by your system administrator as follows: Type The type of the system. There are two types available: "CICSPlex SM Data Interface" For connection to CICS V3 and V4 WUI servers providing read-only access . "CICS Management Interface" For connection to CICS V4 WUI servers or single CICS regions using the CICS management client interface (CMCI), providing read and update access . Name The local name used to identify this connection. The name can be anything you choose and is only used to help you distinguish between different connections. Host name The address of the server hosting your CICSPlex SM or CICS system. Port number The port used to access the server. User ID Your authorized user ID for the system. Password Your password for the system. If you leave this field blank, you must enter your password when the connection is attempted. Save password Clicking this box saves your password on your computer. * Click Apply. When you click Apply, the definitions are saved. You can cancel the process at any time before you click Apply, by clicking the Cancel button. This closes the Preferences view without saving the connection details. If you have clicked Apply, you must click Delete to remove the connection details. * Click Connect. When you click Connect, the CICS Explorer attempts to connect to the system you have configured. If you did not previously enter your password, you are asked to enter it at this time. If the connection is successful, the connection name appears in the lower right corner of the workbench window next to an icon. A green icon indicates a successful non-SSL connection, and a padlock icon indicates a successful SSL connection. If the connection is not successful, the connection name appears in the lower right corner of the workbench window next to a red icon, indicating the connection was not successful. An error message is displayed at the top of the Connections Preferences view providing a reason for failure. Check the values in the fields, correct any errors and click Connect to test the corrections. When connected, click the OK button to save the details and close the Connections Preferences view. You can now start using the Explorer. Starting multiple instances of the CICS Explorer: -------------------------------------- You can have more than one instance of CICS Explorer running at the same time. Each instance must have its own workspace, so additional instances of CICS Explorer must be started from a command line with the workspace name as a data parameter. For example to start a new instance of CICS Explorer from a command line, first change to the directory folder where the cicsexplorer.exe (cicsexplorer on Linux) program has been installed, then on the Windows operating system type the following command: cicsexplorer.exe -data "C:\Documents And Settings\username\.cicsexplorer2" On Linux, type: cicsexplorer -data ~/.cicsexplorer2 In both cases a new instance of CICS Explorer starts, using a new workspace called .cicsexplorer2. Getting started: ================ If you are not familiar with CICS Explorer you can read the Getting Started information in the help documentation. Click Help -> Help Contents to display the help for CICS Explorer and any CICS Explorer tools that are installed. Known issues and limitations =================== CICS Explorer limitations: -------------------- The column sorting function in the CICS Explorer is not enabled in this version. This is a temporary limitation which will be removed in a later version. CICS Management Client Interface limitations: ------------------------------------- Security is not fully implemented in the single server (SMSS) version of the CICS management client interface in the beta version of CICS V4.1. If the CICS region running SMSS has SEC=YES in the SIT, create and use a copy of transaction CWWU with CMDSEC/RESSEC=NO, and use transaction security to control access to CWWU. This limitation will be removed in the final version of the CMCI code. CICS PA Explorer runtime memory: --------------------------- If you are using csv files, this might cause OutOfMemory Exceptions when an inadequate Java heap size has been allocated. There is no hard rule to what needs to be allocated and many users will find that the default maximum heap size is perfectly sufficient. However it might be necessary in some circumstances to increase the value, following the examples below: In a Windows or Linux command line, change the directory to the one where the cicsexplorer.exe (cicsexplorer on Linux) file is located. Start the CICS Explorer by typing the following command: cicsexplorer -vmargs -Xmx512m Alternatively, you can modify the cicsexplorer.ini file in the CICS _Explorer subdirectory to add the following information: -vmargs -Xms128m -Xmx512m then start the CICS Explorer as normal. CICSPlex SM limitations: ------------------------ You must specify the initialization parameters "DEFAULTCMASCTXT" and "DEFAULTCONTEXT" when setting up a WUI server. Although these parameters are optional for CICSPlex SM, they are required for CICS Explorer. If these parameters are not specified no data will be displayed in CICS Explorer. Details of the initialization parameters can be found in the topic "Setting up a CICSPlex SM Web User Interface server" in the CICS Transaction Server for z/OS Installation Guide. Operating system limitations: ----------------------------- CICS Explorer has only been tested on Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Vista, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1, and Ubuntu 8.04 (LTS). Help documentation limitations: ------------------------------- Some help topics might contain details about function that are not currently available in this SupportPac. Some help topics might not be available in this SupportPac. Some extended help topics might not be available in this SupportPac. ******************************************************************************** (C) Copyright IBM Corporation 2008, 2009. All rights reserved. For legal information, see http://www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml ********************************************************************************