Administering the RPC server for IMS Connect using the Command Central GUI

Learn how to administer the EntireX RPC Server for IMS Connect, using the Command Central graphical user interface.

See Administering the RPC server for IMS Connect using the Command Central command line.

Logging in to Command Central

To login to Command Central:
  1. Open an Internet browser and specify the URL of the Command Central Server as: http://<Command_Central_host>:<Command_Central_port>.

    This takes you to the Command Central Login page.

    On Windows you can also get to the Login page from the Command Central Start Menu entry.

  2. Provide your user credentials in the Login page and click Log In. This takes you to the page Home > Instances:
    Command Central Instances

Creating an RPC server instance

To create an RPC server for IMS Connect instance:
  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Installations tab.
  2. Click on the desired installation, for example Local, where you want to add an RPC Server for IMS Connect instance.
    Local
  3. Click the Instances tab.
    Instances tab
  4. Click the add button in the upper right corner above the list and choose EntireX RPC Server for IMS Connect.
  5. In the Create Instance wizard, fill in the fields in the main screen and in the Server, Broker and IMS Connect tabs.
    Table 1. Main screen
    Parameter Description
    Instance name Name of the runtime component, for example myBroker.
    Register Windows Service for automatic startup Register Windows Service for automatic startup. Default is not checked. If this parameter is checked, the RPC server can be controlled by the Windows Service Control Manager.
    Table 2. Server tab
    Parameter Description
    RPC Server address The case-sensitive RPC server address has the format: CLASS/SERVER/SERVICE.
    Administration port The administration port in range from 1025 to 65535.
    Table 3. Broker tab
    Parameter Description
    Connection
    Transport Transport over TCP or SSL. Default is TCP.
    Broker host EntireX Broker host name or IP address. See Using the Broker ID in applications in the RPC Programming documentation.
    Broker port Port number in range from 1025 to 65535.
    Credentials
    User The user ID for secured access to the broker.
    Password The password for secured access to the broker.

    You can modify the IMS Connect settings for the RPC Server for IMS Connect.

    Table 4. IMS Connect tab
    Parameter Description
    Connection
    Transport Use TCP or SSL to communicate with IMS Connect.
    IMS host Host name or IP address where IMS Connect is running
    IMS port TCP or SSL port number where IMS Connect is listening.
    IMS data store ID Data store ID. Name of the IMS system that will receive transactions.
    IMS encoding Specify the appropriate EBCIDIC encoding used by your IMS Connect. This codepage is also used when communicating with the EntireX Broker. Default cp037 is EBCDIC codepage with full Latin-1 character set.
    Credentials
    RACF user ID The user ID (max. 8 chars) as defined in your underlying mainframe security system (e.g. RACF).
    RACF password Password (max. 8 chars) as defined in your underlying mainframe security system (e.g. RACF).
  6. Press Next to get to the Summary page to verify your input.
  7. Press Finish.
    Finish

    The new instance myRpcServer appears in the list.

Configuring an RPC server instance

To configure an RPC server for IMS Connect instance:

  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab.
  2. Click on the link associated with this instance to select the RPC server instance you want to configure.
  3. Click the Configuration tab. EntireX supports the following configuration types, which are presented in a drop-down box when you click the down arrow below the Configuration tab label:
    Note: All configuration changes require a restart of the instance to take effect.
  4. Click Edit to modify the parameters on your selected configuration type.
  5. Click Test to check the correctness of your input or Apply to save your changes.
The configuration options are described in the following sections:

Broker

Table 5. Broker
Parameter Description
Connection
Transport Transport over TCP or SSL. Default is TCP.
Broker host EntireX Broker host name or IP address. See Using the Broker ID in applications.
Broker port Port number in range from 1025 to 65535.
SSL trust store Specifies the location of the SSL trust store.
SSL trust password The password for the SSL trust store.
SSL verify server The RPC server as SSL client checks the identity of the broker as SSL server.
FIPS-140 mode Enable FIPS-140 compliant SSL communication. Default is no.
Credentials
User The user ID for secured access to the broker.
Password The password for secured access to the broker.

Configuration file

You can view or edit the configuration file of the RPC Server for IMS Connect.

IMS Connect

You can modify the IMS Connect settings for the RPC Server for IMS Connect.

Table 6. IMS Connect parameters
Parameter Description
Connection
Transport Use TCP or SSL to communicate with IMS Connect.
IMS host Host name or IP address where IMS Connect is running
IMS port TCP or SSL port number where IMS Connect is listening.
IMS data store ID Data store ID. Name of the IMS system that will receive transactions.
IMS encoding Specify the appropriate EBCIDIC encoding used by your IMS Connect. This codepage is also used when communicating with the EntireX Broker. Default cp037 is EBCDIC codepage with full Latin-1 character set.
IMS socket timeout Socket timeout for connection to IMS Connect (in milliseconds).
IMS SSL trust store Specifies the location of the SSL trust store.
IMS SSL trust password The password for the SSL trust store.
IMS SSL verify server The RPC Server as SSL client checks the identity of IMS Connect as SSL server.
Credentials
RACF user ID The user ID (max. 8 chars) as defined in your underlying mainframe security system (e.g. RACF).
RACF password Password (max. 8 chars) as defined in your underlying mainframe security system (e.g. RACF).
Use PassTicket (1) Use PassTicket instead of password.
Application Name Required if PassTicket is to be used instead of a password. Application name as defined in your RACF system. This property is ignored if RACF password is set.
Secured signon key Required if PassTicket is to be used instead of a password. Secured signon key as defined in your RACF system used for local PassTicket generation. In this case, ims.dcas.host must not be defined, otherwise an error will prevent the start of the server. Secured signon key must be exactly 16 characters long.
Exit
IMS Connect exit Use Old or New.
IMS Connect exit name If left blank, the following defaults will be used: *SAMPLE* for old exit, *SAMPLE1* for new exit.
(1)By default, PassTickets can only be used once during a one-second time interval. They are protected against replay. This limits the workload to one request per second. 
CAUTION:
IBM provides a mechanism to bypass the PassTicket's replay mechanism, allowing higher workloads, but this introduces security risks. The option to bypass the PassTicket's replay mechanism should only be used in secure environments where access to generated PassTickets is limited to a secure or internal network. See your IBM documentation for more information.

Monitoring KPIs

Here you can modify margins of monitored key performance indicators (KPIs) available for the RPC Server for IMS Connect: Active Workers and Busy Workers.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) enable you to monitor the health of your RPC Server for IMS Connect. The following KPIs help you administer, troubleshoot, and resolve performance issues:

Table 7. Monitoring KPIs
KPI Setting
Absolute number of Active Workers entirex.generic.kpi.1.max=20
Critical alert relative to maximum entirex.generic.kpi.1.critical=0.95
Marginal alert relative to maximum entirex.generic.kpi.1.marginal=0.80
Absolute number of Busy Workers entirex.generic.kpi.2.max=20
Critical alert relative to maximum entirex.generic.kpi.2.critical=0.95
Marginal alert relative to maximum entirex.generic.kpi.2.marginal=0.80
Note: Do not change the other properties.

Server

You can specify the RPC Server settings.

Table 8. Server parameters
Parameter Description
RPC Server
RPC Server address The case-sensitive RPC server address has the format: CLASS/SERVER/SERVICE.
Administration port The administration port in range from 1025 to 65535.
Reconnection attempts Required. Number of reconnection attempts to the broker. When the number of attempts is reached and a connection to the broker is not possible, the RPC Server for IMS Connect stops.
Worker Scalability
Worker model You can either have a fixed or dynamic number of workers. Default is dynamic (true). For more information see Worker Models .
Fixed number Required. Fixed number of workers. Must be a number in range from 1 to 255.
Minimum number Required. Minimum number of workers. Must be a number in range from 1 to 255.
Maximum number Required. Maximum number of workers. Must be a number in range from 1 to 255.

Trace level

You can set the trace level of the RPC Server for IMS Connect.

Table 9. Trace level parameters
Parameter Value Description
Trace level 0-3 One of the following levels:0 - None - No trace output (default).1 - Standard - Minimal trace output.2 - Advanced - Detailed trace output.3 - Support - Support diagnostic. Use only when requested by IBM Support.

Viewing the runtime status

To view the runtime status of the RPC server instance:

In the Command Central Home page, click the Instances tab and select the RPC Server for IMS Connect instance for which you want to see the runtime status (same as Step 1 under Configuring a Broker instance).

Instances dashboard

The visual key performance indicators (KPIs) and alerts enable you to monitor the RPC Server for IMS Connect's health.

Table 10. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
KPI Description
Active Workers Number of active workers.
Busy Workers Number of busy workers.

Starting an RPC server instance

To start an RPC Server for IMS Connect instance from the Instances tab:
  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab.
  2. Select the status, and from the context menu choose Start.

To start an RPC server for IMS Connect instance from its Overview tab:

  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab and select the RPC Server for IMS Connect instance you want to start (same as Step 1 under Configuring a Broker instance).
  2. Select the status, and from the context menu choose Start.

Stopping an RPC server instance

To stop an RPC server for IMS Connect instance from the Instances tab:
  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab.
  2. Select the status, and from the context menu choose Stop.
To stop an RPC server for IMS Connect instance from its Overview tab:
  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab and select the RPC Server for IMS Connect instance you want to stop (same as Step 1 under Configuring a Broker instance).
  2. Select the status, and from the context menu choose Stop.

Inspecting the log files

To inspect the log files of an RPC server for IMS Connect instance:
  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab, then click the link associated with the RPC Server for IMS Connect instance for which you want to inspect the log files (same as Step 1 under Configuring a Broker instance).
  2. Click the Logs tab.
  3. In the Alias column, click the link of the log file you want to inspect, for example server.log:

Changing the trace level temporarily

To temporarily change the trace level of an RPC server for IMS Connect instance:
  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab then click the link associated with the RPC Server for IMS Connect instance for which you want change the trace level temporarily (same as Step 1 under Configuring a Broker instance).
  2. In the Administration tab, select the trace level and press Update.
    Update
Note: If you want to set the trace level permanently, see Trace level under Configuring an RPC Server Instance.

Deleting an RPC server instance

To delete an RPC server for IMS Connect instance:
  1. In the list of EntireX RPC server for IMS Connect instances for your selected installation (for example Local), select the instance you want to delete and click the minus button in the upper right corner above the list.
  2. Click OK to confirm the uninstall of this RPC Server for IMS Connect instance.
  3. In the next window, click Finish. The selected instance is removed from the list.