An overview of the CICSPlex SM API

The CICSPlex® SM application programming interface (API) provides you with access to CICS® system management information and allows you to invoke CICSPlex SM services from an external program.

The API can provide a single interface for programs designed to monitor and control the CICS systems in your enterprise. In addition, the API provides an interface to CICSPlex SM itself. So you can also write programs to access the administrative functions that control the way CICSPlex SM operates.

Some typical uses of the API include:
  • Monitoring key resources in your CICS environment.
  • Changing the status of CICS resources relative to other conditions in your enterprise.
  • Controlling the flow of change to your CICS environment.
  • Passing the information provided by CICSPlex SM to an automation product.
  • Developing alternative display and report formats for CICS and CICSPlex SM data.
  • Processing CICSPlex SM notifications about events such as:
    • Real-time analysis thresholds being reached
  • Creating and maintaining CICSPlex SM definitions for Business Application Services, for workload management, real-time analysis, and resource monitoring.
  • Creating and maintaining CICS resource definitions in the CICSPlex SM data repository.
Depending on the query structure a CPSM API command can be executed and satisfied in the CMAS, or routed to every MAS within the scope of the command. Where the request is routed to a MAS it is processed by the CPSM CONL transaction or if so configured offloaded to an instance of the CPSM CONA transaction.
Note: By default, CPSM API requests directed to a MAS run at a priority of 255, and issuing numerous and frequent CPSM API requests can impact workload that is running at a lower priority. However, there is a way to lower the priority of CPSM API requests:
  • CPSM transaction CONL, which by default handles most requests that are directed to the MAS through the API, WUI, and RTA, runs at priority 255 (unchangeable).
  • CPSM API requests can be offloaded to transaction CONA, and their priority changed by specifying MASALTLRTCNT in EYUPARM. For more information, see Controlling the number of long running tasks in a MAS.
It is also possible to offload some RTA processing to the COIR transaction, by requesting a separate task in the RTA EVALDEF. The priority of the COIR task can be adjusted by using the COIRTASKPRI CPSM system parameter. For more information, see CICSPlex SM system parameters.