Platform directory structure in z/OS® UNIX

The default location for deployed CICS® platform artefacts is the directory /var/cicsts/CICSplex/platform1/, where CICSplex is the name of the CICSplex where the platform is installed, and platform1 is the name of your platform. This location is called the platform home directory.

The platform home directory contains a standard directory structure, with directories for the platform bundle itself, and for the applications, application bindings, and CICS bundles that are associated with the platform. For instructions to create a platform home directory, see Preparing zFS for platforms.

Standard structure for platform home directory

The following example shows the standard structure for the platform home directory. 
/var/cicsts/CICSPLX1/
                    /platform1/applications/..
                              /bindings/.. 
                              /bundles/.. 
                              /platform/platform1 
                    /platform2/..
           /CICSPLX2/..
Figure 1. Standard platform home directory structure
The image shows the platform directory structure explained in the preceding example. The directories /, var, cicsts, and CICSPLX1 comprise the default zFS location. The directory platform1 (PLATHOME), and its subdirectories platform, applications, bindings, and bundles are created during export of the platform bundle. The subdirectories platform1 (PLATDIR) under the platform directory, application1_1.0.0 and application2_1.0.0 (APPLDIR) under the applications directory, and binding1_1.0.0 (BINDDIR) under the bindings directory, contain system management bundles. The subdirectories bundle1_1.0.0, and bundle2_1.0.0 contain regular CICS bundles.

Platform home directory (PLATHOME)

The platform home directory (PLATHOME) is the directory in zFS where application bundles, application binding bundles, and CICS bundles are stored in subdirectories, ready to be deployed. The platform bundle is also stored in a subdirectory of this directory. Each platform has its own home directory.

The default platform home directory is /var/cicsts/CICSplex/platform1/, where CICSplex is the name of the CICSplex where the platform is installed, and platform1 is the name of your platform. Keep this default as a best practice. If you need to use a different directory as the platform home directory, you must change the platform bundle to specify the alternative directory name using the platform descriptor editor after you create the CICS Platform project.

In the platform home directory, a number of different directories hold the different resources. These directories are exported from CICS Explorer®:
  • applications contains application bundles.
  • bindings contains application bindings for this platform.
  • bundles contains CICS bundles. These bundles might be used in applications or as part of the platform.
  • platform contains the platform bundle.

Platform directory (PLATDIR)

The platform directory (PLATDIR) is the location of the platform bundle. It is a subdirectory of the platform home directory in zFS, at /var/cicsts/CICSplex/platform1/platform/platform1.

The platform directory contains the exported platform project. The exported platform project contains the META-INF directory and subdirectories containing the bundles.xml, deployment.xml, manifest.xml, platform.xml, regions.xml, regionTypes.xml, and regionTypeLinks.xml files.

Any bundles deployed as part of the platform are copied to the /bundles subdirectory.

Applications directory

The applications directory is the location of the CICS application bundles. The application directories are created during platform export in the CICS Explorer.

The applications directory can be found at /var/cicsts/CICSplex/platform1/applications/.

The application directory contains one directory for each deployed application (APPLDIR). This contains the META-INF directory and subdirectories containing applications.xml, bundles.xml, and manifest.xml files.

Any bundles deployed as part of an application are copied to the /bundles subdirectory.

Bindings directory

The bindings directory is the location of the application bindings. The binding directories are created during platform export in the CICS Explorer.

The bindings directory can be found at /var/cicsts/CICSplex/platform1/bindings/.

The bindings directory contains one directory for each deployed application binding (BINDDIR). This contains the META-INF directory and subdirectories containing appbinding.xml, bundles.xml, deployment.xml and manifest.xml files.

Any bundles deployed as part of an application binding are copied to the /bundles subdirectory.

Bundles directory

The bundles directory is the location of the CICS bundles. The bundles directory is created during platform export in the CICS Explorer.

The bundles directory can be found at /var/cicsts/CICSplex/platform1/bundles/.

The bundle directory contains CICS bundles exported from CICS Explorer. These bundles might be used in applications or as part of the platform.