Step 3a: Create Sysplex Application Group CICSAOR

You start with the creation of the sysplex application group CICSAOR because CICSAOR contains only applications that have already been defined (CICS1AR1, CPSMCMAS, CPSMWUI).

Before you begin

You may want to read the information in Creating a New Application Group to see some sample customization dialog panels before you continue this scenario.

Procedure

On the Entry Type Selection panel enter option 5 or APG. The Entry Name Selection panel is displayed with an empty list.
On the Entry Name Selection panel enter NEW CICSAOR at the command line. The Define New Entry panel for application groups is displayed. The Entry name field has already been filled with CICSAOR.
Fill in the Type field with SYSPLEX and the Nature field with BASIC.

Application groups can have one of three natures, depending on how many components must be available:

BASIC

In a BASIC application group all of its components must be available before the group is considered to be available.

MOVE

In a MOVE application group exactly one of its components must be available before the group is considered to be available. In MOVE groups you can specify alternative components to start if their primary component fail to start.

SERVER

In a SERVER application group any number of components can be specified that must be available before the group is considered to be available. In SERVER groups you can specify what should happen if their components fail to start.

The nature of an application group can be changed later on. However be careful with such a change, because the role of the application group will change too (and definitions made for a MOVE group, for example, may not be appropriate for a SERVER group).

In this scenario, the application group consists of three applications (CICS1AR1, CPSMCMAS, and CPSMWUI) that should all be available. You should therefore make it a BASIC Group.
Type CICSAOR in the Automation Name field.

The Automation Name is used as the first part of this application group resource name. It is recommended that you use the same name as the application group Entry name and Automation Name for better identification of application groups and resources that will be derived from them.

Note: If you do not specify an Automation Name, no resource is generated for the application group. Nevertheless, the application resources for all applications that are linked to this application group are created and become available for automation.
Press PF3 to exit the panel. The Policy Selection panel for Groups is displayed showing a message that the application group has been created.
On the Policy Selection panel select the WHERE USED policy item. The Where Used panel is displayed with sysplex group SYSPLEX1.
Select the sysplex group and press PF3. You briefly see the Command Progress Display pop-up window, showing that the resource has been created, before it disappears automatically.
You can see the generated resources in the GENERATED RESOURCES policy item of the application group. Return to the Policy Selection panel for CICSAOR.
Background:
- A Sysplex Application Group resource is created automatically if there is an Automation Name for the application group, and there is a link to a sysplex group.
- Only one resource is created (rather than one resource per system) and the resource name does not have a system identifier.
CICSAOR has an Automation Name; therefore a resource for this application group is generated.

The current configuration with application group CICSAOR is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Scenario: Current Configuration with Sysplex Application Group CICSAOR
On the Policy Selection panel for CICSAOR select the APPLICATIONS policy item. This displays the Applications for ApplicationGroup panel with all of the applications.
Select CICS1AR1, CPSMCMAS, and CPSMWUI and press PF3 (END) to return to the Policy Selection panel for CICSAOR.
Application resources are generated when applications are linked to systems. This is the case for CICS1AR1, CPSMCMAS, and CPSMWUI, which are now linked to systems SYSTEM1, SYSTEM2, and SYSTEM3 via sysplex application group CICSAOR.

So for each application three resources are generated and linked to the application group resource: one application resource for each linked system.

Again, you see the Command Progress Display pop-up window telling you that the resources are being created. For example, for CICS1AR1, the following resources are generated:
```
CICS1AR1/APL/SYSTEM1
CICS1AR1/APL/SYSTEM2
CICS1AR1/APL/SYSTEM3
```
Note: These application resources are deleted if one of the following happens:
- The application is deleted.
- The application group CICSAOR is deleted.
- Other parts of the link chain APL-APG-GRP-SYS are deleted or delinked (that is, if SYSPLEX1 or any of the systems SYSTEM1, SYSTEM2, or SYSTEM3, or the links between them are deleted).
The current links are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Scenario: Current Configuration with Applications CICS1AR1, CPSMCMAS, CPSMWUI

On the Policy Selection panel for CICSAOR select the RESOURCES policy item. This displays the Select Resources panel with 9 application resources selected, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Scenario: Resources for the CICSAOR Sysplex Application Group

   COMMANDS  ACTIONS  HELP                                                      
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
 AOFGARS3                        Select Resources               Row 1 to 9 of 9 
 Command ===>                                                   SCROLL===> CSR  
                                                                                
 Entry Type  : ApplicationGroup       Entry Name : CICSAOR                      
 Sysplex     : SYSPLEX1                                                         
                                                                                
   Number of selected Resources . . : 9                                         
   Show all Resources . . . . . . . . NO        YES NO                          
   Show only Resources with String. .                                           
                                                                                
 Action    Status      Resource Name             Entry Name                     
           SELECTED    CICS1AR1/APL/SYSTEM1      CICS1AR1                       
           SELECTED    CICS1AR1/APL/SYSTEM2      CICS1AR1                       
           SELECTED    CICS1AR1/APL/SYSTEM3      CICS1AR1                       
           SELECTED    CPSMCMAS/APL/SYSTEM1      CPSMCMAS                       
           SELECTED    CPSMCMAS/APL/SYSTEM2      CPSMCMAS                       
           SELECTED    CPSMCMAS/APL/SYSTEM3      CPSMCMAS                       
           SELECTED    CPSMWUI/APL/SYSTEM1       CPSMWUI                        
           SELECTED    CPSMWUI/APL/SYSTEM2       CPSMWUI                        
           SELECTED    CPSMWUI/APL/SYSTEM3       CPSMWUI

On the Select Resources panel for CICSAOR, deselect the three resources on SYSTEM1, because CICS® should not run on SYSTEM1. Type an M (the action code for REMOVE) in the Action column in front of each resource that you want to remove from the group.
When you press Enter, the Number of selected Resources field is now 6.
Press PF3 (END) to return to the Policy Selection panel for CICSAOR.
Select the APPLGROUP INFO policy item to display the Application Group Information panel for CICSAOR.
Press PF8 to scroll to the bottom of the input field section and change the Automatically link Application-Resources field to NO.
You need to do this because the application group definitions are now complete. Further modifications within the sysplex should not affect the completed resource selections on the Select Resources panel.
Background:
- You should set this input field to NO if the definition of an application group resource (with its linked applications, its nature and its behavior and so on) is complete. This prevents any possible changes in the automation policy, such as changed system links or application links, from having an influence on this application group resource.
- If this field is set to YES, the application group resource will be changed if system links or application links occur. That is, the number of generated application resources or linked application resources, and possibly the behavior of the application group resource will change. For example, if you link another system to SYSPLEX1, this produces three more resources in the CICSAOR application group, one for each linked application.
- Later on, you will specify preference values for application resources, where automatically generated resources with their default preferences could adversely affect your completed application group definition.
Press PF3 until you return to the Entry Name Selection panel.
The CICSAOR application group is now complete. If a start request is issued against CICSAOR, start requests for CICS1AR1, CPSMCMAS, and CPSMWUI are also automatically issued on SYSTEM2 and SYSTEM3.