Changes to externals in this release

CICS® Transaction Server for z/OS®, Version 5 Release 5 changes a number of externals, including commands, transactions, resources, system initialization parameters, messages, trace and user exits.

For a summary of changes across all supported releases, see Changes between releases in the Upgrading information.

Table 1. Changes between releases. . These changes are not exclusive to each of the roles shown; some will be of interest across roles
For application programmers For system programmers
Changes to the CICS API Changes to installing
Changes to resource definitions Changes to resource definitions
Changes to the CICS utilities Changes to the CICS utilities
Changes to the CICS assistants Changes to messages and codes
Changes to messages and codes Changes to compiler and translator support
Changes to event processing adapters and formats Changes to SIT parameters
Changes to compiler and translator support Changes to JVM profiles
Changes to JVM system properties Changes to control tables
  Changes to CICS SPI
  Changes to CICS EXCI
  Changes to XPI functions
  Changes to CICS-supplied transactions
  Changes to CICS monitoring
  Changes to statistics
  Changes to GLUEs and TRUEs
  Changes to user-replaceable programs
  Changes to CICSPlex SM resource tables
  Changes to CICSPlex SM WUI server initialization parameters
  Changes to CICSPlex® SM
  Changes to toggle-enabled features

Changes to installing

  • The Java™ components that were included within FMID JCI710D at CICS TS V5.4 are moved into the base FMID HCI7200.
  • DFHALLOC, DFHINST1 and DFHINSTA jobs have been changed to allocate the following PDSs with BLKSIZE=0 rather than the previous BLKSIZE=400®:
    • ADFHCOB
    • ADFHC370
    • ADFHPL1
    • SDFHCOB
    • SDFHC370
    • SDFHPL1
  • Service APAR PH29332: DFHEITAB and DFHEITBS modules are not LPA eligible.
  • Service APAR PH39798: Support for installing maintenance-supplied newest release CICS Type 3 SVC and DFHIRP modules. See Installing newest release CICS Type 3 SVC and DFHIRP modules supplied through maintenance.

Changes to the CICS API

Table 2. Changes to EXEC CICS commands in this release
API This release
ASSIGN CHANGED: New parameter LOCALCCSID returning the fullword binary Coded Character Set Identifier (CCSID) used for the CICS region.

New parameters TNADDR, TNIPFAMILY, and TNPORT, returning the IPv4 or IPv6 address and port of the TN3270 client.
CHANGE PASSWORD
Service CHANGED with APAR:
  • APAR PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1, indicating that the PASSWORD field, the NEWPASSWORD field, or both are blank.
  • APAR PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17, indicating that the USERID is not authorized to use the application.
CHANGE PHRASE
Service CHANGED with APAR:
  • APAR PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1, indicating that the PHRASE field, the NEWPHRASE field, or both are blank.
  • APAR PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17, indicating that the USERID is not authorized to use the application.
DELAY CHANGED: New condition NORMAL with RESP2 value 23 to indicate that the DELAY request was canceled by another task that issued a CANCEL REQID command specifying the unique identifier used by the issuing task.
DELETE THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.
ENDBR THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.
FREEMAIN CHANGED: New INVREQ with RESP2 value 3 to indicate that an attempt to release CICS-maintained storage has been rejected.
FREEMAIN64 CHANGED: New INVREQ with RESP2 value 3 to indicate that an attempt to release CICS-maintained storage has been rejected.
GETNEXT CONTAINER (CHANNEL) CHANGED: A container performance improvement introduced in this release changes the order in which containers are returned. You should modify existing applications that reply on the order in which containers are returned, as instructed in Upgrading applications.
QUERY SECURITY CHANGED:
  • Performance improvement. The number of TCB switches has been reduced if more than one access level is specified on the command.
  • Extended with new option USERID to support querying whether a user ID other than the terminal user has access to specified resources.
READ THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.
READNEXT THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.
READPREV THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.
RECEIVE CHANGED: The command behavior after a TERMERR condition is changed. Any action, other than a FREE, on the conversation that caused the TERMERR condition results in another TERMERR condition instead of an ATCV abend.
RESETBR THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.
REWRITE THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.
SEND CHANGED: The command behavior after a TERMERR condition is changed. Any action, other than a FREE, on the conversation that caused the TERMERR condition results in another TERMERR condition instead of an ATCV abend.
SPOOLWRITE CHANGED: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value 1, issued when a surrogate security check failed on the user ID specified on the job card.
START CHANGED:
  • New condition INVREQ with RESP2 value 400 to indicate that the a START request has been rejected because the threshold for an AID system rule has been exceeded.
  • If the transaction to be started is defined as dynamic, the distributed router will be invoked only if a valid distributed routing program name is specified. If omitted, the DSRTPGM system initialization parameter assumes a value of NONE by default, and the distributed router is not invoked; while in previous releases the START command invoked the IBM®-supplied routing program DFHDSRP.
  • If the transaction is defined with DYNAMIC(YES), then it is eligible for dynamic routing without the need to specify ROUTABLE(YES).
STARTBR THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.
STARTBROWSE CONTAINER (CHANNEL) CHANGED: A container performance improvement introduced in this release changes the order in which containers are returned. You should modify existing applications that reply on the order in which containers are returned, as instructed in Upgrading applications.
VERIFY PASSWORD CHANGED: New parameter GROUPID to support password verification against the group ID in addition to the user ID and password that are recorded by the external security manager.
Service CHANGED with APAR:
  • APAR PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1, indicating that the PASSWORD field is blank.
  • APAR PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17, indicating that the USERID is not authorized to use the application.
VERIFY PHRASE CHANGED: New parameter GROUPID to support password phrase verification against the group ID in addition to the user ID and password phrase that are recorded by the external security manager.
Service CHANGED with APAR:
  • APAR PH23078: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 1, indicating that the PHRASE field is blank.
  • APAR PH31270: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 17, indicating that the USERID is not authorized to use the application.
WEB CONVERSE Service CHANGED (APAR PH25067): Enhanced to support the PATCH method.
WEB SEND (Client) Service CHANGED (APAR PH25067): Enhanced to support the PATCH method.
WRITE THREADSAFE: The command is threadsafe if it refers to a coupling facility data table.
WRITEQ TD CHANGED: New NOTAUTH with RESP2 value of 102, indicating a surrogate security check failure.

Changes to resource definitions

Table 3. Changes to resource definitions in this release
Resource This release
DB2CONN CHANGED: A command thread is now used by CICS when CICS attempts to cancel a Db2® thread as part of purge or forcepurge processing of a CICS task.
TDQUEUE CHANGED: New attribute JOBUSERID specifies a user ID under which the JCL job submitted to the internal reader runs if the JCL includes a JOB card without specifying a USER parameter.
TRANCLASS CHANGED: The allowable characters for the name of a transaction class is expanded to be the same as that supported for the name of a transaction.
TRANSACTION CHANGED: The allowable characters for the transaction class attribute is expanded to be the same as that supported for the name of a transaction.
URIMAP Service CHANGED (APAR PH44683): Added support for enabling multiple client URIMAPs that point to the same endpoint (that is, the same host, port and path) in a CICS region.

Changes to the CICS utilities

Table 4. Changes to CICS-supplied utilities in this release
Utility This release
DFH$MOLS CHANGED: New options URIMAP and WEBSERVC added to control statement RESOURCE.
DFHSTUP CHANGED:
  • New fields Urimap Resource Limit (MNGURIRL) and Webservice Resource Limit (MNGWEBRL) added to the Monitoring domain statistics.
  • DFHSTUP reports on the local system entry.
  • New field Peak aids in chain (A14EAHWM) added to the ISC/IRC system entry resource statistics.
  • New field Current® number of connections with pthreads (D2G_TCB_PROTECTED_CURRENT) added to the CICS Db2 global statistics.
  • New option POLICY, NODEJSAPP on SELECT TYPE and IGNORE TYPE control parameters.
DFH0STAT CHANGED:
  • DFH0STAT reports on the local system entry.
  • New field Peak aids in chain (A14EAHWM) added to the Connections and Modenames report.
  • New field Current number of connections with pthreads (D2G_TCB_PROTECTED_CURRENT) added to the Db2 Connection report.
  • DFH0STAT reports on NODEJSAPP resources.

Changes to the CICS assistants

Table 5. Changes to the CICS web services assistants, XML assistants, and JSON assistants in this release
Assistant This release
DFHJS2LS CHANGED:
  • MAPPING-LEVEL and MINIMUM-RUNTIME-LEVEL now accept 4.2 and 4.3.
  • New parameters: ADDITIONAL-PROPERTIES-DEFAULT, ADDITIONAL-PROPERTIES-MAX, and ADDITIONAL-PROPERTIES-SIZE.
  • JSON schema to high-level language mapping now supports oneOf, anyOf, allOf and not keywords.
DFHLS2JS CHANGED:
  • MAPPING-LEVEL and MINIMUM-RUNTIME-LEVEL now accept 4.2 and 4.3.
  • The TRUNCATE-NULL-ARRAY-VALUES parameter has a new option PACKEDZERO, which instructs the assistant to treat a positive signed packed decimal zero (0x0C), a negative signed packed decimal zero (0x0D), or an unsigned packed decimal zero (0x0F) as empty.
DFHLS2SC CHANGED:
  • MAPPING-LEVEL and MINIMUM-RUNTIME-LEVEL now accept 4.2 and 4.3.
  • The TRUNCATE-NULL-ARRAY-VALUES parameter has a new option PACKEDZERO, which instructs the assistant to treat a positive signed packed decimal zero (0x0C), a negative signed packed decimal zero (0x0D), or an unsigned packed decimal zero (0x0F) as empty.
DFHLS2WS CHANGED:
  • MAPPING-LEVEL and MINIMUM-RUNTIME-LEVEL now accept 4.2 and 4.3.
  • The TRUNCATE-NULL-ARRAY-VALUES parameter has a new option PACKEDZERO, which instructs the assistant to treat a positive signed packed decimal zero (0x0C), a negative signed packed decimal zero (0x0D), or an unsigned packed decimal zero (0x0F) as empty.
DFHSC2LS CHANGED:
  • MAPPING-LEVEL and MINIMUM-RUNTIME-LEVEL now accept 4.2 and 4.3.
  • New parameters: ADDITIONAL-PROPERTIES-DEFAULT, ADDITIONAL-PROPERTIES-MAX, and ADDITIONAL-PROPERTIES-SIZE.
DFHWS2LS CHANGED:
  • MAPPING-LEVEL and MINIMUM-RUNTIME-LEVEL now accept 4.2 and 4.3.
  • New parameters: ADDITIONAL-PROPERTIES-DEFAULT, ADDITIONAL-PROPERTIES-MAX, and ADDITIONAL-PROPERTIES-SIZE.
  • Service APAR PH21097: This web services assistant has been updated to set the required Java properties to support use of SAF keyrings. See this information for guidance on how to use SSL parameters SSL-KEYSTORE and SSL-TRUSTSTORE for DFHWS2LS.

Changes to messages and codes

Table 6. Changes to messages and codes in this release
New messages Changed messages Removed messages
  • DFH7281 indicates that a command has been found which has been disallowed by translator rule.
  • DFH7282 indicates that a command has been found which has been flagged as requiring a warning by a translator.
  • DFH7283 indicates that a command has been found which contains a keyword which has been disallowed by a translator rule.
  • DFH7284 indicates that a command has been found which contains a keyword which has been flagged as requiring a warning by a translator rule.
  • DFH7286 indicates that a command has been found which contains a keyword which has been disallowed by translator rule.
  • DFH7287 indicates that a command has been found which contains a keyword which has been flagged as requiring a warning by a translator rule.
  • DFH7289 indicates that a command has been found which contains a keyword which has been disallowed by IBM.
  • DFH7290 indicates that the translator has issued a message because a command was flagged for warning by a translator rule.
    
 
  • DFHAM4852 now also warns against defining a resource with a name that starts EYU.
  
 
  • DFHCA4852 now also warns against defining a resource with a name that starts EYU.
  
  • DFHFC6045 indicates that an invalid interval value was specified for transaction CFCT.
  • DFHFC6046 indicates that CICS has detected that a VSAM file that is defined with the LOGREPLICATE attribute was opened.
    
 
  • DFHH0002 includes new response code 0809, which indicates that surrogate user checking for spool jobs is disabled.
  
 
  • DFHIS1002 provides error code X'errorcode, indicating the exception trace point ID that uniquely identifies what the error is and where the error was detected.
  
  • DFHMP2018 indicates that an invalid name or value was specified for a static data item in a policy rule.
  • DFHMP3013 indicates that a threshold specified in a system rule has been exceeded.
  • DFHMP3014 indicates that a threshold specified in a system rule deployed with a CICS platform has been exceeded.
  • DFHMP0002 is issued for errors that occurred in DFHMPST.
  • DFHMP2006 is issued also if an event name contains invalid characters.
  • DFHMP3009 emits application context information for programs or bundles when a program enable status rule, bundle available status rule, or bundle enable status rule is triggered for a program or bundle deployed with a CICS application.
  • DFHMP3010 emits application context information for programs or bundles when a program enable status rule, bundle available status rule, or bundle enable status rule is triggered for a program or bundle deployed with a CICS application.
  
  • Service DFHMQ0126 (APAR PH22136) indicates that a temporary error occurred when a CKTI trigger monitor attempted to issue an MQOPEN of an initiation queue. The trigger monitor will retry in one minute.
  • Service DFHMQ0127 (APAR PH22136) indicates that a temporary error occurred when a CKTI trigger monitor attempted to issue an MQGET from an initiation queue. The trigger monitor will retry in one minute.
  • Service DFHMQ0128 (APAR PH22136) indicates that following a temporary error, a CKTI trigger monitor has resumed normal processing.
  • Service DFHMQ0795 (APAR PH15075) indicates that the CICS-MQ bridge has retrieved a message that has been previously marked and the mark browse interval has expired.
  • Service DFHMQ0796 (APAR PH22136) indicates that following a temporary error, a CKBR bridge monitor has resumed normal processing.
    
  • DFHRL2105 indicates that the deployment of a bundle cannot continue because an existing installed bundle has the same ID in the specified scope.
    
  • Service DFHRM0240 (APAR PH03691) indicates the local log name that is set during CICS initialization and sent to a remote system when CICS establishes an APPC or IRC connection.
  • Service DFHRM0241 (APAR PH03691) indicates a log name that has been set for an APPC or IRC connection.
  • Service DFHRM0242 (APAR PH03691) indicates a log name that has been deleted for an APPC or IRC connection.
  • DFHRM0316 is issued by DFHRMUTL if it detects it is running on an unsupported operating system level for this release of CICS.
  • DFHRM0317 is issued by DFHRMUTL if it detects it is running on an unsupported hardware level for this release of CICS.
    
  • DFHSI1591 indicates that an attempt to attach transaction CFCT failed and that CICS is terminated with a dump.
    
  • DFHSJ0006 indicates that the initial pthread TCB for NODEJSAPP resource nodejsapp has abended unexpectedly.
  • Service DFHSJ0007 (APAR PH24443) indicates that an unexpected signal has been received by the JVM server.
  • Service DFHSJ0008 (APAR PH24443) indicates that the JVM server has unexpectedly terminated and is now in an unusable state.
  • Service DFHSJ0938 (APAR PH22887) indicates that the JVM server failed to start.
  • Service DFHSJ1007 (APAR PH12280) is updated to reflect changed system action when CICS detects that an abend has left a JVM in an inconsistent state.
  • DFHSJ1201 now also applicable to NODEJSAPP resources.
  • DFHSJ1202 now also applicable to NODEJSAPP resources.
  
  • DFHSJ1300 indicates that a NODEJSAPP has been created and is now in the ENABLING state.
  • DFHSJ1301 NODEJSAPP nodejsapp was not created.
  • DFHSJ1302 indicates that NODEJSAPP nodejsapp was not discarded.
  • DFHSJ1303 indicates that the state of a NODEJSAPP resource has been changed.
    
  • DFHSJ1304 E indicates that the processing for a NODEJSAPP resource has ended abnormally.
  • DFHSJ1305 E indicates that CICS has attempted to send a USS signal to a process, and has received an error response.
  • DFHSJ1306 E indicates that CICS cannot load or process the requested LE RUNOPTS module.
  • DFHSJ1307 I indicates that CICS has attempted to stop a NODEJSAPP process by sending it a SIGTERM signal and then waiting for it to end.
  • DFHSJ1308 I indicates that the processing for a NODEJSAPP resource has ended abnormally.
    
  • DFHSJ1400 indicates that the Liberty JVM server failed to start because no default Liberty angel process is available.
  • DFHSJ1401 indicates that the Liberty JVM server failed to start because the named Liberty angel process is unavailable.
  • DFHSJ1402 indicates that no default Liberty angel process is available, and CICS will verify the availability of the Liberty angel process again in 30 seconds. After five retries, the operator is given the option to continue trying or to disable the JVMSERVER resource.
  • DFHSJ1403 indicates that the named Liberty angel process is unavailable, and CICS will verify the availability of the Liberty angel process again in 30 seconds. After five retries, the operator is given the option to continue trying or to disable the JVMSERVER resource.
    
  • DFHSJ1404 is issued after five unsuccessful attempts by CICS to verify that a running Liberty angel process is available for Liberty JVM server startup. It prompts the operator to decide whether to continue waiting for the Liberty angel process to be available or to disable the JVMSERVER resource.
  • DFHSJ1407 indicates that more than one user-agent allowlist file has been defined to the CMCI JVM server and the first file will be used.
  • DFHSJ1408 indicates that there is an issue with the user-agent allowlist file defined to the CMCI JVM server and no access to the CMCI is allowed.
  • DFHSJ1409 indicates that the current cache of allowlisted user-agent values will be deleted and the user-agent allowlist file will be reparsed following a create, modify, or delete operation to the file.
    
  • DFHSJ1410 indicates that a user-agent has been added to the allowlist cache.
  • DFHSJ1411 indicates that processing of the user-agent allowlist file has completed successfully, and allowlisted user-agents are allowed to access the CMCI.
  • DFHSJ1412 indicates that a user-agent has been denied access to the CMCI because it is not listed in the user-agent allowlist file.
  • DFHSJ1413 indicates that user-agent allowlist processing has been disabled, and no access to the CMCI JVM server is allowed.
  • DFHSJ1414 indicates that the CMCI JVM server is available to process HTTP connections.
    
 
  • DFHSM0102 now indicates the tranid and trannum of the transaction whose storage has been violated.
  
  • Service DFHSO0200I (APAR PH40930) is issued when the CICS sockets listener task starts accepting inbound TCP/IP connections.
  • Service DFHSO0201I (APAR PH40930) is issued when the CICS sockets listener task stops accepting new inbound HTTP connections.
  • Service DFHSO0202I (APAR PH40930) is issued when the CICS sockets listener task stops accepting all inbound TCP/IP connections.
    
  • DFHTD0387 is issued after DFHTD0386 and asks for a GO or CANCEL response to continue or terminate CICS initialization.
    
 
  • Service DFHTF0200 (APAR PH25397) has been updated to explain how to correctly process the decimal field position that is returned with the message.
  
  • Service DFHWB0112 (APAR PH45703) indicates that there was a problem processing the defaultciphers.xml file.
    
  • DFHWU4303 indicates that the level of CICS Explorer® is not allowed to be connected to the CMCI.
    
  • DFHXM0612 indicates that an application entry point is unavailable because the specified transaction was deleted or replaced.
   
  • DFHXS1404 indicates that system initialization failed because the region user ID did not have authority to access one or more category 1 transactions at startup.
  • DFHXS1113 also indicates category 1 transactions that the region user ID does not have authority to access at startup.
  • DFHXS1402 also indicates CICS regions that are not configured to support the Kerberos service.
  
  • EYUBM0349W indicates that the specified resource definition for the named CICSplex cannot be found in the data repository.
    
  • Service EYUCP0208E (APAR PH17586) indicates that the delete and re-add of a CMAS failed.
  • EYUCS0109I indicates that the connection to the specified CMAS could not be completed.
    
 
  • EYUPN0005W text insert is now spelled DBCTL rather than DBCTRL when IMS DBCTL stall occurs.
  
  • EYUVS0215E indicates that an attempt to create the named JVM server failed.
  • EYUVS0216I indicates that the CMCI JVM server has been successfully installed.
  • EYUVS0218E indicates that the named CMCI JVM server has been installed but could not be enabled.
  • EYUVS0219I indicates that the named CMCI JVM server has been installed and enabled successfully for the CMCI.
  • EYUVS0220E indicates that an attempt to disable and discard an existing CMCI JVM server failed.
  • EYUVS0221E indicates that the resources required to run the GraphQL interface could not be installed.
  • EYUVS0222I indicates that the CICS GraphQL Interface has been successfully enabled.
  • EYUVS0223I indicates that the CICSPlex SM WUI region is waiting for an installed CMCI JVM server to become enabled.
    
  • EYUXE0048E indicates that CMAS initialization is not supported on this operating system level.
  • EYUXE0049E indicates that CMAS initialization is not supported on this hardware level.
    
Table 7. Changes to abend codes in this release
New abend codes Changed abend codes Removed abend codes
  • AMQO occurs when a user transaction attempts to invoke program DFHMQTSK.
    
  • ANJ1 occurs when an attempt is made to run the CICS internal task CNJL as a user transaction.
    
  • ANJ2 occurs when an unexpected error is encountered in the CNJL transaction.
    
  • ANJ3 occurs when an attempt is made to run the Node.js worker task CNJW as a user transaction.
    
  • ANJ4 occurs when an unexpected error is encountered processing a local Node.js call to CICS.
    
  • Service ARZR (APAR PH30791) occurs when a request stream task encountered a failure while trying to join with an existing target request stream task.
    

Changes to compiler and translator support

Table 8. Changes to compiler and translator support in this release
Compiler This release
CICS translator WITHDRAWN: The CICS translator no longer inserts the COBOL LIB parameter into the CBL card when compiling COBOL programs.

CHANGED: The CICS translator can now process the restricted commands parmlib member DFHAPIR, which contains rules that identify restricted CICS API and SPI commands. During translation, the CICS translator detects whether source programs are using any of the restricted commands and keywords, and will generate warning or error messages in case of violation.

Changes to event processing adapters and formats

Table 9. Changes to event processing adapters and formats in this release
EP adapter or format This release
CICS flattened event (CFE) format NEW: count of the number of capture data items, EPFE-ITEMCOUNT, added to EPFE header.
CICS container-based event (CCE) format NEW: count of the number of capture data items, EPFE-ITEMCOUNT, added to EPFE header.

Changes to SIT parameters

Table 10. Changes to system initialization parameters in this release
SIT This release
GMTRAN CHANGED: New options, EXIT or DISCONNECT, control whether to disconnect a terminal session when PF3 or PF15 is used. These options affect only the CICS-supplied sign-on transactions CESN or CESL.
GNTRAN CHANGED: New KEEP | DISCARD option, instructing CICS whether to attempt to keep a pseudo-conversation in use at a terminal that is the subject of a timeout sign-off, or to discard it.
HPO CHANGED: This parameter can now be specified in the PARM parameter on an EXEC PGM=DFHSIP statement or in the SYSIN data set.
KERBEROSUSER NEW: Specifies the user ID associated with the Kerberos service principal for the CICS region.
KEYRING Service CHANGED (APAR PH49253): The parameter accepts more formats of key ring names, which allows you to specify key rings that are not owned by the region user ID.
MINTLSLEVEL CHANGED: The default is changed to TLS12.
PLTPI CHANGED: Allows specification of the full name of a program list table as an alternative to a suffix.
PLTSD CHANGED: Allows specification of the full name of a program list table as an alternative to a suffix.
USSHOME CHANGED: The NONE option is removed.

Changes to JVM system properties

Table 11. Changes to JVM system properties in this release
Property This release
-Dcom.ibm.cics.jvmserver.wlp.security.subject.create={true|false} Service NEW: Allows the user to turn off Java Subject creation when performing a LINK to Liberty.

Changes to JVM profiles

Table 12. Changes to JVM profiles in this release
Option This release
com.ibm.cics.jvmserver.cmci.user.agent.allow.list NEW: Only for the CMCI JVM server. Specify the location of the client allowlist file and enable allowlist processing in the CMCI JVM server.
com.ibm.cics.jvmserver.cmci.user.agent.allow.list.monitor.interval NEW: Only for the CMCI JVM server. Specify the interval of Liberty cache file monitoring checks performed by the CMCI JVM server.
com.ibm.cics.jvmserver.cmci.user.agent.allow.list.reject.text NEW: Only for the CMCI JVM server. Specify a custom response message to return to the user when a request to connect to the CMCI is rejected because the system management client being used is not in the client allowlist.
com.ibm.ws.zos.core.angelName CHANGED: Specify a named angel process for the Liberty JVM server to connect to upon startup.
com.ibm.ws.zos.core.angelRequired NEW: Enforce the requirement to connect to the Liberty angel process when the Liberty JVM server is being enabled.
PURGE_ESCALATION_TIMEOUT Service NEW (APAR PH12280), compatible with: All JVM Environments

New JVM server option to specify the interval between the disable actions that CICS performs when a JVM server encounters a TCB failure.

Changes to control tables

Table 13. Changes to resource definitions in this release
Resource This release
DFHMCT CHANGED:
  • New option URIMAP available on DFHMCT TYPE=INITIAL, to set a limit for URIMAP transaction resource monitoring
  • New option WEBSERVC available on DFHMCT TYPE=INITIAL, to set a limit for WEBSERVICE transaction resource monitoring
DFHPLT CHANGED: Assembled PLTs are no longer processed by CICS. Instead CICS reads the source of the tables from PARMLIB or DFHTABLE and uses it to control PLT processing. Ensure CICS has READ access to data sets in PARMLIB or DFHTABLE concatenations.
DFHXCOPT

Service CHANGED with APAR: The EXCI SURROGCHK parameter has been removed. Surrogate checking is always done. Specifying SURROGCHK=YES in the EXCI options table, DFHXCOPT, is accepted for compatibility.

Changes to CICS SPI

Table 14. Changes to the system programming interface commands in this release
Command This release
EXTRACT STATISTICS CHANGED: new option NODEJSAPP
INQUIRE ASSOCIATION Service CHANGED (APAR PH42306): Enhanced support for Liberty. The association data user ID value now reflects the final user ID value used in secure Liberty transactions, instead of the initial user ID.
INQUIRE CFDTPOOL THREADSAFE
INQUIRE CONNECTION CHANGED:
  • CONNECTION(data-value) now accepts the name of the local system.
  • New option AIDCOUNT returns the current number of automatic initiator descriptors (AIDs) that are in the AID chain for the connection.
  • New CVDA value DYNAMIC added to options CHANGEAGENT and INSTALLAGENT.
  • New CVDA value NOTAPPLIC added to options ACCESSMETHOD, AUTOCONNECT and SERVSTATUS.
INQUIRE FEATUREKEY NEW: Retrieves the value of a feature toggle.
INQUIRE MONITOR CHANGED:
  • New option URIMAPLIMIT returns the maximum number of URIMAPs that are specified on the WEB OPEN URIMAP command for which CICS is to perform transaction resource monitoring.
  • New option WEBSERVLIMIT returns the maximum number of WEBSERVICEs that are used for the INVOKE SERVICE command for which CICS is to perform transaction resource monitoring.
INQUIRE NETNAME CHANGED: New parameters TNADDR, TNIPFAMILY, and TNPORT, returning the IPv4 or IPv6 address and port of the TN3270 client.
INQUIRE NODEJSAPP NEW: Retrieves information about Node.js applications that are running in a CICS region.
INQUIRE SYSTEM CHANGED:
  • New option AIDCOUNT returns the current number of automatic initiator descriptors (AIDs) that are in the AID chain for the local system.
  • New option LASTCOLDTIME, returning the date and time of the last cold start of the CICS system since the last initial start.
  • New option LASTEMERTIME, returning the date and time of the last emergency start of the CICS system since the last initial start.
  • New option LASTINITTIME, returning the date and time of the last initial start of the CICS system.
  • New option LASTWARMTIME, returning the date and time of the last warm start of the CICS system since the last initial start.
  • New option PLTPIUSR, returning the user ID applicable to PLTPI processing.
INQUIRE TERMINAL CHANGED: New parameters TNADDR, TNIPFAMILY, and TNPORT, returning the IPv4 or IPv6 address and port of the TN3270 client.
INQUIRE WEBSERVICE CHANGED: MAPPINGLEVEL and MINRUNLEVEL now accept 4.2 and 4.3.
INQUIRE XMLTRANSFORM CHANGED: MAPPINGLEVEL and MINRUNLEVEL now accept 4.2 and 4.3.
PERFORM SHUTDOWN CHANGED: New PLTNAME option allows specification of a full PLT name.
PERFORM STATISTICS CHANGED: New option POLICY generates CICS policy rule statistics. New option NODEJSAPP generates statistics for NODEJSAPP resources.
SET CONNECTION CHANGED: CONNECTION(data-value) now accepts the name of the local system.
SET MONITOR CHANGED:
  • New option URIMAPLIMIT sets the maximum number of URIMAPs that are specified on the WEB OPEN URIMAP command for which CICS is to perform transaction resource monitoring.
  • New option WEBSERVLIMIT sets the maximum number of WEBSERVICEs that are used for the INVOKE SERVICE command for which CICS is to perform transaction resource monitoring.
SET TASK CHANGED: CICS processing of a task purge is enhanced to ensure that a Db2 cancel thread command is issued to cancel a thread that is active in Db2 at the time the task that is using the thread is purged or forcepurged.

Changes to CICS EXCI

Table 15. Changes to the external CICS interface (EXCI) commands in this release
Command This release
ENDBROWSE CONTAINER (EXCI) NEW: ends a browse of the containers that are associated with a channel.
GETNEXT CONTAINER (EXCI) NEW: browses the containers that are associated with a channel.
QUERY CHANNEL (EXCI) NEW: counts the number of containers that are in a channel.
STARTBROWSE CONTAINER (EXCI) NEW: starts a browse of the containers that are associated with a channel.

Changes to XPI functions

Table 16. Changes to XPI functions in this release
Command This release
Parameter domain XPI functions NEW: DFHPAIQX INQUIRE_FEATUREKEY inquires on the setting of a feature toggle.

Changes to CICS-supplied transactions

Table 17. Changes to CICS-supplied transactions in this release
Transaction This release
CDBE NEW: CICS Db2 attachment facility shutdown force transaction (category 1)
CDBF CHANGED: Now a Category 2 transaction.
CDBP NEW: CICS Db2 attachment facility shutdown quiesce transaction (category 1)
CDBQ CHANGED: Now a Category 2 transaction.
CEMN - CICS monitoring facility transaction CHANGED: Added options to set URIMAP and WEBSERVICE resource limits.
CEMT - main terminal CHANGED:
  • CEMT INQUIRE CONNECTION: CONNECTION(data-value) now accepts the name of the local system. New option AIDCOUNT returns the current number of automatic initiator descriptors (AIDs) that are in the AID chain for the connection.
  • CEMT INQUIRE MONITOR: New option URIMAPLIMIT returns the maximum number of URIMAPs that are specified on the WEB OPEN URIMAP command for which CICS is to perform transaction resource monitoring. New option WEBSERVLIMIT returns the maximum number of WEBSERVICEs that are used for the INVOKE SERVICE command for which CICS is to perform transaction resource monitoring.
  • CEMT INQUIRE SYSTEM: New option AIDCOUNT returns the current number of automatic initiator descriptors (AIDs) that are in the AID chain for the local system. New option PLTPIUSR, returning the user ID applicable to PLTPI processing. New option LASTCOLDTIME, returning the date and time of the last cold start of the CICS system since the last initial start.New option LASTEMERTIME, returning the date and time of the last emergency start of the CICS system since the last initial start.New option LASTINITTIME, returning the date and time of the last initial start of the CICS system.New option LASTWARMTIME, returning the date and time of the last warm start of the CICS system since the last initial start.
  • CEMT PERFORM SHUTDOWN: New PLTNAME option allows specification of a full PLT name.
  • CEMT PERFORM STATISTICS: New option POLICY generates CICS policy rule statistics.
  • CEMT SET CONNECTION: CONNECTION(data-value) now accepts the name of the local system.
  • CEMT SET MONITOR: New option URIMAPLIMIT sets the maximum number of URIMAPs that are specified on the WEB OPEN URIMAP command for which CICS is to perform transaction resource monitoring. New option WEBSERVLIMIT sets the maximum number of WEBSERVICEs that are used for the INVOKE SERVICE command for which CICS is to perform transaction resource monitoring.
  • CEMT SET TASK: CICS processing of a task purge is enhanced to ensure that a Db2 cancel thread command is issued to cancel a thread that is active in Db2 at the time the task that is using the thread is purged or forcepurged.
NEW:
CFCT NEW: Provides tie-up records for VSAM files to a replication log at specified intervals.
CKAM CHANGED: Reacts to MXT conditions.
CKBR

Service CHANGED (APAR PH22136): CKBR now handles temporary errors that occur when issuing MQOPEN and MQGET requests. Rather than terminating, CKBR will retry every minute for up to an hour. If the error is not resolved after an hour, the monitor transaction will then terminate.
CKTI

Service CHANGED (APAR PH22136): CKTI now handles abends produced when starting user transactions. If an abend occurs when the CKTI transaction attempts to start the user transaction, rather than terminating, CKTI will now send the trigger message to the dead-letter queue, and trigger monitor processing continues.

CKTI now handles temporary errors that occur when issuing MQOPEN and MQGET requests. Rather than terminating, CKTI will retry every minute for up to an hour. If the error is not resolved after an hour, the monitor transaction will then terminate.
CNJL NEW: Listens for Node.js related notifications.
CNJW NEW: CICS pipeline Node.js inbound router.

Changes to CICS monitoring

Table 18. Changes to monitoring data in this release
Data This release
DFHCICS group Service CHANGED (APAR PH42306): Field 089 (USERID) is changed for Liberty such that the user ID value now reflects the final user ID value used in secure Liberty transactions, instead of the initial user ID.
DFHSOCK group NEW FIELDS: New field SOCONMSG indicates whether the task processed the first message for establishing a new connection for a client. You can use SOCONMSG to measure how often a new socket connection is created.
DFHWEBB group NEW FIELDS:
  • New field WBURIOPN indicates the total elapsed time that the user task was processing WEB OPEN URIMAP requests that are issued by the user task.
  • New field WBURIRCV indicates the total elapsed time that the user task was processing WEB RECEIVE requests and the receiving side of WEB CONVERSE requests that are issued by the user task.
  • New field WBURISND indicates the total elapsed time that the user task was processing WEB SEND requests and the sending side of WEB CONVERSE requests that are issued by the user task.
  • New field NJSAPPNM.
DFHWEBC group NEW GROUP: New field WBSVINVK indicates the total elapsed time that the user task was processing INVOKE SERVICE requests for WEBSERVICEs.

Changes to statistics

Table 19. Changes to statistics in this release
Statistics This release
CICS Db2 statistics CHANGED: New field Current number of connections with pthreads (D2G_TCB_PROTECTED_CURRENT), indicating the current number of connections that have protected threads.
ISC/IRC system entry statistics CHANGED:
  • Automatic initiate descriptors statistics now report on the local system.
  • Aids in chain (A14EALL) is changed from a half-word binary field to a full-word binary field. It is also moved and now follows field A14EMQPC in the statistics DSECT.
  • New field Peak aids in chain (A14EAHWM), indicating the peak number of automatic initiate descriptors that were present in the AID chain at any one time.
Monitoring domain statistics CHANGED: New fields Urimap Resource Limit (MNGURIRL) and Webservice Resource Limit (MNGWEBRL), indicating the maximum limit for URIMAP and WEBSERVICE transaction resource monitoring.
NODEJSAPP Statistics NEW: Statistics for Node.js applications.
Policy statistics NEW: Statistics are provided for CICS policy rules.
Transaction resource statistics CHANGED: New field: Abend Count (XMRAENDC).

Changes to GLUEs and TRUEs

Table 20. Changes to global user exits and task-related user exits in this release
Exit This release
XDTAD CHANGED: Exit programs must be made threadsafe and enabled at the exit point as threadsafe; otherwise, excessive TCB switching will occur for CFDT requests running on open TCBs.
XPCFTCH CHANGED: New field on UEPPCDS parameter, PCUE_INVOKING_PROGRAM_NAME

Changes to user-replaceable programs

Table 21. Changes to the user-replaceable programs in this release
Program This release
DFHWBOPT

Service NEW (APAR PH16992): Handler program that can be invoked to process HTTP OPTIONS requests.

Changes to toggle-enabled features

Table 22. Changes to toggle-enabled features in this release
Feature toggle This release
com.ibm.cics.cmci.jvmserver={true|false} NEW: Allows you to set up the CMCI without the CMCI JVM server. See Setting up CMCI with CICSPlex SM.
com.ibm.cics.container.hash={true|false} NEW: Allows you to revert to the ordering of returned containers that was provided before CICS TS 5.5.
com.ibm.cics.cpsm.bas.largecicsplex={true|false} Service NEW (APAR PH19761): Allows you to constrain large resource deployments lists for BAS to a single data space instead of spreading across multiple data spaces.
com.ibm.cics.cpsm.wlm.botrsupd.enabled={true|false} Service NEW (APAR PH14812): Allows you to disable updates to the Coupling Facility when the task load falls below the lower tier threshold of the CICSPlex SM tuning parameter, BOTRSUPD.
com.ibm.cics.cpsm.wlm.surgeresist={true|false} Service NEW (APAR PH30768): When applied to CICSPlex SM WLM routing regions, this feature toggle takes effect for the QUEUE and GOAL WLM algorithms when using CICSPlex SM sysplex optimized workload routing. It has no effect when applied to target regions.

When the feature toggle is set to true, surges of extremely high frequency, short duration transactions can be mitigated by reducing the likelihood that recently selected target regions are reselected. Enabling this feature toggle increases the average routing cost per transaction, but restores the routing behavior of CICSPlex SM before APAR PH30768 is applied. See Changes to CICSPlex SM sysplex optimized workload routing behavior.
com.ibm.cics.db2.origindata={true|false} Service NEW (APAR PH49408): Gives you the option to disable the passing of adapter origin data to Db2 for adapter tracking.
com.ibm.cics.db2.sharelocks={true|false} Service NEW (APAR PH31012): Enables CICS to pass an XID to Db2 and instruct Db2 to share locks between threads that pass the same XID. Using the same XID, other threads that originate from other CICS regions or from other transaction managers such as IMS TM can access Db2 in the same global unit of work (UOW).
com.ibm.cics.ds.freeussprocesses={true|false} Service NEW (APAR PH27111): This feature toggle is intended for use only under guidance from IBM Support. Relates to the handling of USS processes.
com.ibm.cics.http.options.handler={program_name} Service NEW (APAR PH16992): Allows you to specify the name of the HTTP Options handler program. See HTTP method reference for CICS web support.
com.ibm.cics.rls.delete.ridfld={true|false} Service NEW (APAR PH07596): Enables surrogate user checking for spool commands. See Surrogate user checking for spool commands in job submissions to the JES internal reader.
com.ibm.cics.spool.defaultjobuser={region|task} NEW: Allows you to change the default job user ID of a JOB card that is written using a SPOOLWRITE command without a USER parameter (the default is the CICS region ID) to be the signed-on user ID. See User ID used for JCL job submission when no job user ID is specified on the job card.
com.ibm.cics.spool.surrogate.check={true|false} NEW: Enables surrogate user checking for spool commands. See Surrogate user checking for spool commands in job submissions to the JES internal reader.
com.ibm.cics.tls.minimumkeystrength={1024|2048} Service NEW (APAR PH50175):

Sets the minimum key size allowed during TLS handshakes.
com.ibm.cics.web.defaultcipherfile={true|false} Service NEW (APAR PH45703):

Use defaultciphers.xml as a default set of ciphers for outbound web requests. See Default cipher file for outbound web requests.
com.ibm.cics.web.hsts.includesubdomains.TCPIPS={true|false} Service NEW (APAR PH55369): Controls whether to extend HTTP strict transport security (HSTS) to sub-domains of the specified TCPIPSERVICE.
com.ibm.cics.web.hsts.max-age.TCPIPS={seconds|-1} Service NEW (APAR PH55369): Sets HSTS for an individual TCPIPSERVICE to override the region wide setting.
com.ibm.cics.web.hsts.includesubdomains={true|false} Service NEW (APAR PH55369): Controls whether to extend HSTS to the sub-domains of the CICS server.
com.ibm.cics.web.hsts.max-age=seconds Service NEW (APAR PH55369): Activates and sets HSTS for a CICS region.

Changes to CICSPlex SM resource tables

Table 23. Changes to the resource tables provided by CICSPlex SM in this release
Resource table This release
CICSRGN CHANGED: New fields: AIDCOUNT, LASTCOLDTIME, LASTEMERTIME, LASTINITTIME, LASTWARMTIME, and PLTPIUSR.
CONNECT CHANGED: New fields: AIDHWM and AIDSF
DB2CONN CHANGED: New field TCBPROTCUR, indicating the current number of connections that have protected threads.
FEATURE NEW: Provides information about the feature toggles that are specified for the region.
HTASK CHANGED: New field TMRNJAPN, indicating the Node.js application name from which the task was started.
MONITOR CHANGED: New fields URIMAPLIMIT and WEBSERVLIMIT, indicating the maximum limit set for URIMAP and WEBSERVICE transaction resource monitoring
NODEJSAP NEW: Provides information about Node.js applications.
RULE

Service CHANGED (APAR PH07632): New values dbctlConnection, mqConnection and pipelineEnable added to RULETYPE field.

Service CHANGED (APAR PH45119): Attributes COUNT and TIME are changed to indicate the values since the region started instead of within the current statistics interval. New resource table attributes COUNTSTAT and TIMESTAT are added to indicate the values within the current statistics interval.
TASK CHANGED: New field TMRNJAPN, indicating the Node.js application name from which the task was started.
TDQDEF CHANGED: New field JOBUSERID, specifying a default job user ID for jobs to the JES internal reader.
TERMNL CHANGED: New fields: TNADDR, TNIPFAMILY, and TNPORT.

Changes to CICSPlex SM WUI server initialization parameters

Table 24. Changes to the WUI server initialization parameters used by CICSPlex SM in this release
WUIPARM parameter This release
TCPIPHOSTNAME Service DEPRECATED (APAR PH47103):

The hostname of the WUI server is the name of the host where the WUI is executing. It is no longer set by the TCPIPHOSTNAME WUI initialization parameter. The WUI uses relative URLs, and not embedded host names.

TCPIPHOSTNAME is still required, but the value is ignored. This parameter is retrained for compatibility and will be removed in a later release.
TCPIPHTTPHOST Service DEPRECATED (APAR PH47103):

The hostname of the WUI server is the name of the host where the WUI is executing. The WUI uses relative URLs, and not embedded host names.

If a value is specified on TCPIPHTTPHOST, it is ignored. This parameter is retrained for compatibility and will be removed in a later release.
TCPIPSSL CHANGED: New value ATTLSBASIC, to support Application Transparent Transport Layer Security (AT-TLS).

Changes to behavior of CICSPlex SM

Removed support for CICS TS 4.2 or earlier
As of 5.5, CICSPlex SM does not support CICS TS 4.2 or earlier.
Enhanced use of the regions z/OS WLM health value in CICSPlex SM workload routing decisions
The z/OS WLM health value of a region is now a more effective factor in CICSPlex SM workload routing decisions. When determining the target region to route workload to, CICSPlex SM workload management assigns penalizing weights in the routing algorithm based on the actual health value of each region. The higher the health value, the lower the penalizing weight assigned, so a region with a greater health value becomes more favorable as a target. In addition, a region with a health value of zero is now deemed as ineligible to receive work.
Record size increase of EYUHIST* data sets
The record size of EYUHIST* data sets has increased from RECORDSIZE(3536 3540) to RECORDSIZE(3620 3624). The EYUJHIST sample for creating and upgrading your CICSPlex SM history data sets has been updated to reflect this change.
Service Changes to CICSPlex SM sysplex optimized workload routing behavior
(APAR PH30768) The default behavior of CICSPlex SM workload management routing algorithms has been updated to increase the likelihood that work is routed to healthy, local target regions. This change applies only to the QUEUE and GOAL algorithms, not to the link neutral variants (LNQUEUE and LNGOAL). See Changes to CICSPlex SM sysplex optimized workload routing behavior for details.