Classifying CICS regions with region tagging
CICS® region tags allow you to classify regions based on the assigned APPLID, region user ID, and job name for the region. You can then use these region tag definitions to aid with auditing, running CICS health checks, or providing categorization information for operators. Region tagging is optional for use in CICS.
Why use region tagging?
- Displaying information for operators
- Operators or other users with valid access can use INQUIRE TAG to identify the region tags in use, which you configure based on your existing naming conventions.
- Auditing
- Auditors can more easily determine the region usage.
- Configuring CICS health check exclusions
- You can define the following exclusions in the region tagging file. The two types of exclusion
are independent of each other.
- Excluding regions from running all health checks. For example, you might exclude regions that are defined as Development or Sandpit.
- Excluding specific health checks from running for all regions. For example, you might want to
disable the health check that detects whether the SIT parameter XPCT is set to
No.
How to configure region tags?
You specify region tags in a region tagging file named cicstags.yaml. CICS provides three types of tags for you to classify regions: region type (e.g. TOR, AOR), region usage (e.g. Development, Sandpit, Production), and application (e.g. Banking, Travel). You can also define custom tags to meet your needs. Each tag contains matching criteria that identify a group of regions based on their APPLID, region user ID, or region job name.
CICS then identifies regions that match the criteria using the matching algorithm and tag them accordingly. You can then define health check exclusions (in the same file) or manage the regions based on the defined tags.
For instructions on how to configure the region tagging file, see Setting up CICS region tags.