Implementing workload routing

To implement workload routing for a group of target regions, you must associate a routing region or a routing system group with a workload specification. Optionally, you can apply alternative routing to a specified group of transaction in the workload.

About this task

To use workload routing, you specify routing characteristics in the workload specification (WLMSPEC object). These characteristics apply to all of the transactions in the workload.

However, you can override these routing characteristics by supplying associated pairs of WLM definitions and transaction group definitions (WLMDEF and TRANGRP objects) that specify a specialized routing evaluation to be applied to one or more transactions. For workload routing, you specify a different routing algorithm in a transaction group definition. If you specify an alternative routing algorithm at the transaction group level, you can change workload routing characteristics dynamically without stopping routing regions.

Procedure

  1. If there is more than one routing region in a single workload, create a CICS® system group of those routing regions, using the CICS system group (CSYSGRP) object.
  2. Create a CICS system group of the target regions to which the routing regions can route transactions, again using CSYSGRP.
    This group could include every CICS system in the CICSplex.
  3. Create one workload specification for each workload in the CICSplex, using the workload management specification (WLMSPEC) object.
    In the workload specification:
    1. Specify the name of the target system group as the target scope value.
    2. Identify which routing algorithm to use for workload routing.
      You can use one of the following algorithms:
      • QUEUE
      • LNQUEUE
      • GOAL
      • LNGOAL
  4. Associate the routing region, or the routing system group, with the workload specification.
    You can have multiple workloads in a single CICSplex, but a routing region or group of routing regions can belong to only one active workload specification at a time.
  5. Optional: Override the routing algorithm for specific transactions in the workload by specifying a different routing algorithm in a transaction group definition.
    See Creating a transaction group.

    If you modify an installed transaction group, you must discard its associated WLM definition (WLMDEF) and then reinstall it, so that the transaction group named by the WLM definition is also refreshed. To change the routing algorithm type immediately without discarding and reinstalling the associated WLMDEF, you can use the Active workload transaction groups (WLMATGRP) views and the SET command to change the ALGTYPE attribute.