What is IBM CICS Transaction Server Operator Collection?
IBM CICS Transaction Server Operator Collection (CICS TS Operator Collection) is an Ansible® Operator collection that provides automation for the provisioning of CICS TS regions in z/OS® environments. IBM CICS TS Operator is a suboperator of z/OS Cloud Broker.
The CICS TS Operator Collection can be imported into z/OS Cloud Broker running on Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform. After you import and configure the CICS TS Operator Collection, z/OS Cloud Broker creates an IBM CICS TS Operator in Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform for you.
The CICS TS Operator Collection abstracts the complexity of certain CICS TS system configuration and administration tasks and provides support for CICS TS provisioning operations from Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. With IBM CICS TS Operator, system administrators and application developers can self-provision an instance of CICS TS region in just a few clicks and manage CICS TS resources that are defined in the operator collection. This empowers developers to interact directly with z/OS and CICS TS resources without the need for any deep z/OS and CICS skills. It can create a more consistent system management experience in development and test environments, accelerating time to market and delivery of new development features.
What can you do with IBM CICS TS Operator?
- Self-provision a CICS TS runtime with system resources and have a CICS TS environment (typically referred to as a CICS TS region) in a z/OS instance (typically referred to as a z/OS endpoint).
- Deprovision instances of CICS TS regions on a z/OS endpoint.
- Provision a CICS TS region as a CICS System Management Single Server (SMSS) so that you can use CICS Explorer® to connect to this region and perform administration operations.
- Provision a CICS TS region at a release level of your choice. IBM CICS TS Operator provides support for all in-service releases of CICS TS.
How does IBM CICS TS Operator work?
From z/OS Cloud Broker, you can import CICS TS Operator Collection. This collection is then used to generate IBM CICS TS Operator instances into Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.
An instance of IBM CICS TS Operator is associated with one or more selected z/OS endpoints, as determined by the CICS TS Operator Collection configuration in z/OS Cloud Broker. Each z/OS endpoint represents a specific z/OS environment. You can then use the CICS TS Operator instance to provision a CICS TS region in the z/OS environment of your choice. The instances of CICS TS regions are of the CICSTSRegions resource type.
The following diagram explains how IBM CICS TS Operator is used as a suboperator of z/OS Cloud Broker to support CICS TS provisioning operations from Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. For a holistic explanation of how the products work across Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform and z/OS, see IBM Z® and Cloud Modernization Stack: How it works.
