The MAS drivers provide connectivity to mainframe systems with both an ODBC (Open DataBase Connectivity) and a JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) API. The ODBC and JDBC drivers provide the following:
Many Web-based applications that access DB2 UDB for OS/390 require support for the stored procedures in DB2. The MAS Mainframe Agent and MAS drivers provide full support for DB2's stored procedures, which enable JDBC applications to call COBOL, C/C++, PL/I, or Assembler programs that access DB2 as well as CICS/TS, IMS/TM, IMS/DB, ADABAS, VSAM, Natural, IDMS Database, and more.
In the Windows environment, the ODBC application interfaces directly with the driver manager provided freely by Microsoft. This driver manager is responsible for actually loading the ODBC driver and invoking the ODBC APIs; the application does not contain any static reference to the driver.
In the UNIX environment, ODBC driver managers are generally not available unless purchased from third-party vendors. Because most UNIX applications tend to be larger in scope and complexity, an application rarely needs to switch from one DBMS to another to take advantage of the standardized ODBC API interface. In most cases, the application is designed to connect to one DBMS type. For this reason the driver manager is unnecessary and often introduces another point of failure in an already complex client/server design.
The MAS ODBC drivers are designed to allow the application to bypass the driver manager and be linked with the driver libraries directly. However, in rare cases when a driver manager is required, a few simple steps can be taken to allow it to work.
The MAS ODBC driver implements Level 2 of the ODBC specification and supports many of the current Level 3 applications. It also provides ODBC access to non-relational OS/390 data sources such as those that access existing IMS transactions, CICS programs, and VSAM and ADABAS data, or via customer-written OS/390-resident programs. The MAS ODBC driver is used with client/server applications, 3-tier Web servers, EIS, ad hoc query tools, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions, EAI, and data warehouses that are ODBC compliant.
The MAS JDBC driver enables Java applications to integrate Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS) data and transactional sources through the JDBC API. JDBC is designed for use by Java database applications.
The JDBC driver is JDBC 2.0 compliant and supports JDK 1.2.3 (J2EE) and Java servlets. Specifically, it supports access and integration of OS/390 resident data and transactions using the standard JDBC API for access to data in DB2 Universal Database (UDB) for OS/390, ADABAS, VSAM, IMS/DB, IMS/TM, CICS/TS, and more.