Introduction to the CICS Explorer
The CICS Explorer is
a system management tool for use by system administrators and
operators. It is designed to provide a simple, easy-to-use way of
managing CICS Transaction Server (CICS TS) systems.
The CICS TS can run in a partition of z/VSE or a region of z/OS.
The CICS Explorer is based on the Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP), which is an application that uses the windowing and GUI features of the operating system (for example, drag and drop) and is integrated with the operating system’s component model. The same CICS Explorer is used for accessing CICS® systems running under both z/VSE and z/OS.
The CICS Explorer interacts with its
server-part running on z/VSE or z/OS. The CICS Explorer server-part on z/VSE consists of:
- A client interface which manages incoming requests to the CICS TS, and outgoing responses from the CICS TS.
- A system interface that executes the incoming requests.
The main advantages of using the CICS Explorer are:
- You can manage your CICS systems, perform tasks, and present information in an integrated and common way instead of (as previously) having to use various stand-alone graphical and non-graphical user interfaces.
- You can use your own plug-ins and future CICS tools, providing they have been integrated into the Eclipse RCP.
When using the CICS Explorer, the general
program flow is as follows:
- The CICS Explorer uses the CICS Web Interface (HTTP format) to connect to a CICS TS and send a request.
- The CICS TS receives the CICS Explorer request and converts this (HTTP) request into an EXEC CICS command or a Control Information Query.
- The results from executing the EXEC CICS command or Control Information Query are converted back into HTTP format and are returned to the CICS Explorer.
- The CICS Explorer Workbench displays the results in the views (shown in Figure 1). In doing so, the CICS Explorer recognizes whether the connected CICS TS is running under z/VSE or z/OS, and adjusts the views accordingly.
You might also wish to view the information about the CICS Explorer on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CICSExplorer