Platforms in a cloud environment
Platforms are CICS® resources that provide a layer of abstraction to decouple applications from the underlying region topology. A platform contains one or more region types, each of which contains one or more CICS regions. For agile service delivery, an application can be dynamically deployed to the relevant region types within a platform, and removed again when no longer needed. Platforms can be used to deploy policies, to limit and control resources, and to provide application separation.
- You can manage legal requirements for specific geographies.
- You can manage applications, resources, and policies as a group.
- You can manage system characteristics in one place.
- You can monitor applications or system resources as a group.
- You can monitor platforms as a logical whole, helping users to manage resource usage and process internal charge-back billings.
- You can easily drill down to the resource consumption of individual resources.
- You can create new CICS region definitions to be part of a platform.
- You can undertake problem determination starting with the overall platform and drilling down to individual applications, resources, and policies.
A platform provides a point of control for deploying, managing, and monitoring the lifecycle of several groups of CICS regions as a single entity.
You use the CICS Cloud perspective in the CICS Explorer® to create a CICS platform bundle, which describes the content of a platform. This management bundle format is a different format from a standard CICS bundle, and it is common across platform, application, and application binding bundles. The platform bundle identifies the platform home directory containing the files for the platform.
You can install standard CICS bundles with a platform, to provide them at startup to all regions participating in the platform. The platform bundle contains a list of CICS bundles that are deployed with the platform.
For more information, see Setting up a platform.
Creating a platform
A platform includes one or more region types. Region types are used to classify and contain CICS regions according to their type. For example, all CICS regions that handle connections to DB2® could belong to the same group.
You can use the CICS Explorer to create a CICS platform project that describes a new topology, including the region types in the platform, the CICS regions in each region type, and the services that the platform makes available to applications. For created region types, you create new CICS region definitions for CICS regions that will be part of the platform.
You can clone certain region attribute values for all the CICS regions in a created region type by specifying the attributes at a region type level. Only CICS regions whose definitions have the same values specified for those attributes, or have no values specified for those attributes, can be part of that region type.
You can share CICS regions in a platform with multiple region types, in the same platform, or with other platforms. For example, you can share CICS regions between a number of platforms, or use the same CICS region in multiple region types in the platform.
As well as creating new region types and new CICS region definitions for your platform, you can adopt CICS system groups (CSYSGRPs) and CICS regions from an existing CICSPlex® SM topology as region types. A single platform can include both created region types and adopted region types.
Reusing an existing topology as a platform
You can map an existing CICSPlex SM topology to region types in a platform. The CICS system group definitions (CSYSGRPs) are adopted as region types in the platform, and the CICS regions in each group become adopted regions in the platform. The CICS platform bundle lists the set of region types that are adopted for the platform.
When evaluating your existing systems for possible candidates to become a platform, look for any top-level groups that contain two or more system group definitions (CSYSGRPs) and multiple CICS regions. The top-level group could potentially be a good candidate for becoming a platform, and the CSYSGRPs could potentially be good candidates for region type adoption.
Deploying and managing the lifecycle of platforms
To deploy a platform, you export the platform bundle to the zFS home directory for the platform, and use the CICS Explorer to create a platform definition in the data repository of the CICSplex where the platform is configured. The platform definition is a CICSPlex SM PLATDEF resource definition, which points to the platform bundle in the platform home directory in zFS.
When you install the platform definition into the target CICSplex where you want to run the platform, CICSPlex SM uses the information in the platform bundle to install the platform into the CICSplex, and CICSPlex SM installs any CICS bundles that are deployed with the platform. The CICS bundles that are installed are tracked in more detail by management part (MGMTPART) resources.
When you install a platform definition, a PLATFORM resource is created to represent the platform bundle, and you can use this resource to remove a platform as a single entity. When you discard the PLATFORM resource, the CICS bundles that were deployed with the platform are discarded.
Platform scalability
CICS regions can be added to a platform or removed from a platform to modify the architecture and to meet fluctuations in capacity requirements. You can also share CICS regions in a platform between multiple region types.
For a platform bundle that you have not yet installed, use the platform descriptor editor in the CICS Explorer to add, remove, or modify region types, to add, remove, or share CICS regions in the region types, and to change the definitions of created CICS regions. You can also add, remove, and deploy CICS bundles containing services that the platform makes available to applications.
For an installed, active platform, use the CICS Explorer to add CICS regions to the platform, or remove them from it, or share them between multiple region types. A CICS region must be inactive when you add it to an active platform or remove it from an active platform. When a new CICS region is added to a platform and started, the CICS bundles for the applications deployed on the platform are automatically installed in the CICS region.
Monitoring deployed platforms
You can use the CICS Cloud perspective, the Cloud Explorer view, the System Group Definitions view, and the CICS SM perspective in the CICS Explorer to monitor your deployed platforms.
The Cloud Explorer view in the CICS Cloud perspective displays your deployed platforms and applications, either as a platform hierarchy or as an application hierarchy. You can check the status of the platforms and applications, and the status of each CICS region that is part of the platform. You can also view and work with the CICS bundles that are installed for each region type.
Using policies on platforms in a cloud environment
Platforms can be managed dynamically by applying policies during runtime. CICS performs the action that is specified in the policy when tasks that are running exceed defined thresholds for resource usage. You can deploy the policy with a scope of a platform, an application, or an individual operation within an application, depending on the rule type defined in the policy. For more information about policies, see CICS policies.