Overview of IMS Connect

IMS™ Connect provides high performance TCP/IP and local z/OS® communications between one or more IMS Connect clients and one or more IMS systems. IMS Connect supports both IMS DB and IMS TM systems.

IMS Connect enables:

ISC users to link with IBM® CICS® Transaction Server for z/OS over a TCP/IP connection.
MSC and OTMA users to send messages from one IMS system to another by using IMS-to-IMS TCP/IP connections.
Distributed clients to exchange messages with IMS DB by using TCP/IP connections and the Open Database Manager (ODBM) component of the IMS Common Service Layer (CSL).
Distributed clients to exchange messages with IMS TM by using TCP/IP connections and OTMA.
Local z/OS clients that use the local option with IMS TM Resource Adapter to exchange messages with IMS TM by using the z/OS Program Call (PC) function (also referred to as the local option) and OTMA.
IMS Operators that use IBM Management Console for IMS and Db2 for z/OS to issue commands to an IMSplex and receive command replies by using TCP/IP and the IMS Operations Manager (OM).

IMS Connect provides the following features:

Commands to manage the communication environment.
Assistance with workload balancing.
Reduced design and coding efforts for client applications.
Support for IMSplexes, which enables communications with other IMSplex members, such as:
- IMS for Intersystem Communication (ISC) and Multiple Systems Coupling (MSC) support
- IMS for Multiple Systems Coupling (MSC) support
- ODBM
- OM
Connectivity between IMS and CICS on ISC TCP/IP links.
Connectivity between IMS Connect instances, which supports IMS communications components, such as MSC and OTMA.
TCP/IP access to IMS application programs and operations on demand with advanced security and transactional integrity.
TCP/IP access for distributed applications to IMS databases on demand through clients such as the IMS Universal drivers and ODBM.
XML conversion support for certain IMS Connect clients, such as IMS Enterprise Suite SOAP Gateway and IMS Web 2.0 Solution for IBM Mashup Center. The IMS Connect XML conversion support converts input messages into the data structures expected by IMS application programs written in select programming languages, thereby eliminating the need to create or modify IMS application programs to process XML.

IMS Connect connects to IMS DB through ODBM for direct access to databases that are managed by IMS DB. IMS Connect connects to IMS TM for transaction processing support through Open Transaction Manager Access (OTMA).

Communications between IMS Connect and other IMSplex members, such as IMS for MSC support, ODBM, and OM, requires the use of the IMS Structured Call Interface (SCI).

IMS Connect performs router functions between its clients and IMS and IMSplex resources. Request messages that are received either from distributed clients through TCP/IP connections or from local clients through the z/OS program call interface are passed to an IMS system, referred to as a data store, through z/OS cross-system coupling facility (XCF) sessions. IMS Connect receives response messages from the data store and then returns them to the originating TCP/IP or local option clients.

If the data store terminates, the status of the data store is sent to IMS Connectfrom OTMA through XCF. If IMS Connect was connected to the data store when the data store terminated, when the data store is restarted, IMS Connect is notified and automatically reconnects to the data store. You do not need to manually reconnect to the data store.

Generally, the term data store refers to an IMS system. More precisely, however, the term data store represents the OTMA target member (tmember) connection to an IMS system. For example, an instance of IMS Connect can have multiple data store definitions for the same IMS system, in which case each data store represents a different OTMA tmember connection to that IMS system.

IMS Connect also supports callout requests from IMS application programs running in IMS dependent regions. IMS application programs issue callout requests to request data or services from a provider that is external to the IMS installation. During a callout request, IMS acts as a client and the external provider is the server.