The CICS BAC administration tools

CICS BAC requires a small amount of initial and some ongoing administration. To make the administration tasks as flexible as possible and offer you a choice of method of working, CICS BAC provides three administration tools. Because each tool provides virtually the same functionality, you have the option of choosing which tool or combination of tools fits best in your environment. The three methods, which are introduced briefly in the following topics, are:

You can choose to use one of the tools exclusively, or choose to use any combination of the three tools, even in the same MVS image. However, you need to be aware of data integrity considerations if you are using the ISPF administrative interface with, either of the other two (see Data integrity considerations).

The CICS BAC workstation administration client

CICS BAC provides a Windows-based workstation administration client that enables you to perform administration tasks from a Windows-based PC. The client communicates directly with a CICS BAC communication server through a TCP/IP connection. The CICS BAC communication server is responsible for passing on the requests to the appropriate CICS® region to be processed or, if CICS BAC is not active in the target region, processing the changes itself by directly accessing the appropriate CICS BAC control file.

For more general information about the workstation administration client, see CICS BAC workstation administration client. For detailed information about how to install and use the workstation administration client, see the CICS BAC Workstation User's Guide.

The CICS BAC ISPF administration interface

CICS BAC also provides an ISPF-based administration user interface that enables you to carry out CICS BAC administration tasks from a TSO/E ISPF session. Unlike the workstation administration client, the ISPF administration interface does not use the services of a CICS BAC communication server. Instead, it issues CICS EXCI requests to the CICS BAC request server if CICS BAC is active in the target CICS region. If CICS BAC is not active in the target CICS region, the ISPF administration interface processes requests directly by dynamically allocating and opening the target CICS region CICS BAC control file.

For an overview of the ISPF administration interface, see CICS BAC ISPF administration interface. The ISPF administration interface online help facility provides the information you need on how to complete the various CICS BAC ISPF panels. For information on how to get customize and started with the ISPF interface, see Setting up and starting the ISPF administration interface

File maintenance utility

CICS BAC provides a file maintenance utility that enables you to maintain a CICS region control file through an MVS batch job. You run the file maintenance utility as a batch job, which passes file maintenance commands to the CICS BAC request server in the target CICS region. If the target CICS region is down, or CICS BAC is not active, the file maintenance utility processes commands directly in the target CICS control file.

The file maintenance utility enables you to create and modify information in a CICS BAC VSAM KSDS control file. You can also list information held in a CICS region control file. For information about this batch utility, see CICS BAC file maintenance utility.