A brief introduction to CICSPlex SM

CICSPlex® SM is a CICS® system-management tool. That is, it provides CICS operators and CICS system administrators with:

The major functions of CICSPlex SM are:

The components of CICSPlex SM

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.

The CICSPlex SM Starter Set

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.)

Figure 1. The components of a CICSPlex SM environment
 This diagram illustrates the components of a typical CICSPlex SM environment consisting of multiple MAS systems and 3 MVS/ESA images. These components are described in the preceding section.

[[ Contents Previous Page | Next Page Index ]]