CSD groups and lists

In a CICS® CSD file, groups provide a method of collecting related resources together, while lists contain a list of groups that CICS installs at an initial or cold start. You can use CICS Explorer® with a CICS TS Version 4 or later system to view groups, lists, and their contents in an individual CICS CSD file.

Each CICS region has its own, or a shared, CSD file. Before you can view the contents of the CSD file for a specific CICS region, you must set the scope of the CICS Explorer to the CICS region by selecting the CICS region in the CICSplex Explorer or CICSplex Repositories view.

The contents of the CICS CSD file are displayed in the following views:

Groups in the CSD file (CSDGROUP) are displayed in the Resource Group Definitions view, accessible from the Definitions menu.
Lists in the CSD file (CSDLIST) are displayed in the Group List Definitions view, accessible from the Definitions menu.
Resource definitions in the CSD file are displayed in the appropriate resource definition view. For example, to see all the program definitions in the CSD, open the Program Definition view. The view displays only the program definitions that are in the CSD for the selected CICS region.

You can also display the groups and lists in the CICSplex Repositories view in the following way:

Select the CICSplex Repositories view.
Expand the CICSplex to show the CICS regions in the CICSplex.
Expand the CICS region whose CSD file you want to explore. The expanded list displays the groups and lists in the CSD file for that CICS region.
Select a group and open a resource definition view to display the resources in that group. For example, to see all the program definitions in the selected group, open the Program Definition view. Only the program definitions in that group are displayed.
Select a list and open the Resource Group Definition view to see all the groups in the selected list. Only the groups in the selected list are displayed.

Every resource definition in a CSD file is associated with a CICS group. The group name is displayed in the CSD Group column in the resource definition view. This column is not displayed by default in the resource definition view, but you can add it. For details, see Adding or removing columns in specific views.