CICSPlex® SM is a CICS® system-management tool. That is, it provides CICS
operators and CICS system administrators with:
- A single-system image of the enterprise CICS systems
- A single point of control from which CICS systems and their resources
can be managed
The major functions of CICSPlex SM are:
- The operations functions, which can provide CICS master-terminal (CEMT)
and other, related functions to all CICS systems
- The monitoring functions, which collect data about the performance of selected
CICS resources at user-defined intervals
- Business Application Services (BAS), which enables CICSPlex SM to manage CICS resources in terms of the
business application to which they belong, rather than their physical location
in the CICSplex
- The workload management functions, which balance the CICS workload dynamically across
specified CICS systems
- The real-time analysis functions, which compare the status of selected resources with
user-specified norms for those resources, and report exceptions
Terms that occur in every discussion of CICSPlex SM include:
- CAS
- The CAS (coordinating address space), of which there is usually one
in each MVS™ image on which CICSPlex SM is installed, is an MVS subsystem that supports
the user interface to CICSPlex SM. When there are multiple CASs in an enterprise,
they are usually connected to each other, either directly or indirectly. When
you sign on to CICSPlex SM, you are automatically connected to a CAS, which in
turn connects to a CMAS.
- CMAS
- The CMAS (CICSPlex SM address space) is the main component of any CICSPlex SM environment.
It supports all of the functions of CICSPlex SM, and maintains a data repository
of CICSPlex SM data. There is usually one CMAS on each MVS image on which CICSPlex SM
is installed. When there are multiple CMASs in an enterprise, they are
usually connected to each other, either directly or indirectly. A CMAS
manages one or more MASs.
- MAS
- The MAS (managed application system) is a CICS system on the same MVS image as the CMAS
by which it is managed.
- CICSplex
- A CICSplex is a collection of CICS systems that is managed as a single
entity by CICSPlex SM. A CICSplex can include every CICS system in the enterprise.
Alternatively, an enterprise can define multiple, mutually exclusive CICSplexes.
- CICS system group
- A CICS system group is a subset of the CICS systems in a CICSplex. A CICSplex
can include any number of CICS system groups, and a CICS system can belong
to multiple CICS system groups in a single CICSplex.
- Context and scope
- The context and scope together identify the resources to be affected
by commands you issue while using CICSPlex SM. For example, the context of a session
could be a particular CICSplex, and the scope, which is a subset of the context,
could be three CICS systems belonging to the CICSplex. Context and scope are
described in more detail in Starting and ending a CICSPlex SM session.
CICSPlex SM includes a Starter Set of CICSPlex SM
definitions and other resources. One of the purposes of the Starter Set is to
provide new CICSPlex SM users with an opportunity to use the CICSPlex SM user interface.
If the Starter Set has been installed in your enterprise, you might want to use
it to test some of the functions and commands described in this book, and
in other books in the CICSPlex SM library.
Figure 1 shows the main components of a CICSPlex SM environment
and illustrates how they relate to each other. (As an aside, the structure
shown in Figure 1 is that of the Starter Set.)
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