Defining the CICS EXCI CONNECTION and SESSIONS resources

Instead of using the DTCN API, Debug Profile Service can be set up to use external CICS interface (EXCI) to manage debug profiles stored in the region’s repository. Define a CICS CONNECTION resource and a CICS SESSIONS resource for every CICS region that you want Debug Profile Service to access.

To aid with the configurations, use IBM z/OS Debugger CICS CSD Resource Definitions EQAW.SEQASAMP(EQACCSD) sample file, and submit sample job EQAW.SEQASAMP(EQAWCCSD) to create the CONNECTION and SESSIONS definitions for every CICS regions. For more details, see steps 1 and 2 under Adding support for debugging under CICS. Debug Profile Service API can start to successfully communicate with the target CICS region once those steps are completed.

For more details, complete the following steps for every region that users access:

Ensure the following CICS System initialization parameter are set for each CICS region:

GRPLIST

The group, defined in the service must be in the startup GRPLIST, so that the listener starts when CICS starts. For example, if EQAW.SEQASAMP(EQACCSD) group name is EQA and list name is EQALIST then EQALIST must be appended to GRPLIST= ( DFHLIST,TIVLIST,EQALIST).

SEC

Change the SEC=YES for authentication support.

Use the following CEDA command to define a CONNECTION resource in a group:

CEDA DEF CONNECTION(connection-name) GROUP(group-name)

The following list explains what values to use for some of the key fields:

Key field	Value
Connection (`connection-name`)	Name of the connection. Specify a name that is 4 characters or less. For example, `DPSC`.
Group(`group-name`)	Name of the group. Specify a name that is 8 characters or less. For example, `EQA`.
Netname	`EQAPROF`
ACcessmethod	`IRC`
PRotocol	`EXCI`
COnntype	`SPECIFIC`
INservice	`YES`
ATtachsec	`LOCAL`

Use the following CEDA command to define a SESSIONS resource in a group:

CEDA DEF SESSIONS(sessions-name) GROUP(group-name)

The following list explains what values to use for some of the key fields:

Key field	Value
Sessions(`sessions-name`)	Name of the session. Specify a name that is 4 characters or less. For example, `DPSC`.
Group(`group-name`)	Name of the group. Use the same group name as in the CONNECTION resource definition. For example, `EQA`.
COnnection	Name of the connection. Use the same connection name as in the CONNECTION resource definition.
PRotocol	`EXCI`
RECEIVEPfx	`<`
RECEIVECount	`200`

Verify that CONNECTION(connection-name) and SESSIONS(sessions-name) are defined:
```
CEDA DISPLAY GROUP(group-name)
```
Use the following CEDA command to install the CONNECTION and SESSIONS resource definitions in the group:
```
CEDA INS GROUP(group-name)
```
Restart the CICS region for the changes to take effect.
- Ensure that the Debug Profile Service API dtcn.port configuration file is updated with the APPLID that identifies the CICS region and port number of -1, which tells Debug Profile Service API to use CICS EXCI interface.
- Ensure that the high-level qualifier for the CICS EXCI load library SDFHEXCI is defined in EQAW.SEQASAMP(EQAPROF).
To verify the installation up to this point, login to the Profile Management web UI. The UI will attempt to query the target CICS region name. If no errors are reported, then Debug Profile Service was successful at querying a debug profile with CICS EXCI.