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 virtualized z/OS® environments that are deployed by IBM Wazi Sandbox or IBM Extended z/OS ADCD for Z Development and Test Environment. The CICS TS Operator Collection is made available as part of IBM Z® and Cloud Modernization Stack.

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 on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. With the IBM CICS TS Operator, system administrators and application developers can self-provision an instance of a 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 the IBM CICS TS Operator?

With the IBM CICS TS Operator, you can:
  • Self-provision a CICS TS runtime with system resources and have a CICS TS environment (CICS TS region) in a z/OS instance that is deployed by IBM Wazi Sandbox or IBM Extended z/OS ADCD for Z Development and Test Environment.
  • Deprovision instances of CICS TS regions on a z/OS endpoint.

How does the IBM CICS TS Operator work?

From z/OS Cloud Broker, you can import the CICS TS Operator Collection. This collection is then used to generate the IBM CICS TS Operator into Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.

An instance of the 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. A z/OS endpoint is a virtual z/OS environment that is deployed by IBM Wazi Sandbox or IBM Extended z/OS ADCD for Z Development and Test Environment. You can then use the CICS TS Operator to provision a CICS TS region in the z/OS environment. The instances of CICS TS regions are of the CICSTSRegions resource type.

The following diagram explains how the IBM CICS TS Operator is used as a suboperator of z/OS Cloud Broker to support CICS TS provisioning from Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. For a holistic explanation of how the products in IBM Z and Cloud Modernization Stack work across Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform and z/OS, see IBM Z and Cloud Modernization Stack: How it works.

Figure 1. High-level architecture diagram for IBM CICS TS Operator
High-level architecture diagram showing the IBM CICS TS Operator, a suboperator of z/OS Cloud Broker, being used to provision multiple CICS TS regions in a z/OS endpoint.