Installing CICS Explorer locally versus remotely

You can install CICS Explorer® locally on your workstation, or remotely on a network drive so that it can be shared by multiple users.

The following table outlines where you can install the CICS Explorer product and the advantages and disadvantages of each option.

Location of CICS Explorer	Workspace location	Update method	Advantages	Disadvantages
Local on user's workstation	Local, including removable storage Remote network drive	Users must update their own software.	Starts quickly. Runs quickly. No remote network drive required.	Users need to get regular updates and install them, otherwise problems with earlier levels of software might occur.
Remote on a network drive	Local, including removable storage Remote network drive	Software is updated centrally.	CICS Explorer can be run from any workstation with network access. Centrally managed software; every user is at the same level. Runs quickly.	Slower to start; code is downloaded to user workstation before running. A network failure would prevent users from saving their CICS Explorer configurations. A network drive failure would stop all users from using CICS Explorer.

To install CICS Explorer on your local workstation, see Downloading, installing, and starting CICS Explorer.

Because CICS Explorer is based on the Eclipse platform, to install it on a network drive, follow the instructions in Eclipse multi-user installs. The IBM CICS Paper: Managing Enterprise-wide Deployment of IBM Explorer for z/OS or CICS Explorer also provides instructions on how to plan, install, and update CICS Explorer using a shared network drive.