IMS connections

Open Transaction Manager Access (OTMA) is used to provide access to IMS from IBM® App Connect Enterprise.

OTMA uses the z/OS® Cross Coupling Facility (XCF) to provide access to IMS from an OTMA client. To access a service through XCF, you must specify a data store name on the IMS node.

IMS Connect is an OTMA client that exposes a TCP/IP interface. IBM App Connect Enterprise uses the IMS TM Resource Adapter, which connects to IMS through IMS Connect. To connect to IMS Connect, you must specify a host name and port number. If the IMS system is configured to authenticate users by using a System Authorization Facility (SAF) product, such as RACF®, you must specify a user ID and password. . For detailed information about how to configure IMS Connect for security, see the IMS Connect Security Support topic in the IBM Information Management Software for z/OS Solutions product documentation online.

The IMSRequest node can use an identity that is present on an input message, and propagate it to IMS, by using the Propagate property on the security profile that is defined for the node. For more information, see Propagating security credentials to IMS.

Some restrictions exist for the OTMA environment that affect the range of IMS applications with which IBM App Connect Enterprise can interact. For example, OTMA cannot update the IMS main storage database (MSDB) because it has read only access to the database. For detailed information about the restrictions for the OTMA environment, see the OTMA restrictions topic in the IBM Information Management Software for z/OS Solutions product documentation online.