AUTOMON®/RDO - OS390

A Better Way to Serve CICS Resources with Change Management Enhancements

  • OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
    OVERVIEW
  • FEATURES
    FEATURES
    FEATURES
    FEATURES
    FEATURES
    FEATURES
  • SUPPORTED PROTOCOLS
    SUPPORTED PROTOCOLS
    SUPPORTED PROTOCOLS
    SUPPORTED PROTOCOLS
    SUPPORTED PROTOCOLS
    SUPPORTED PROTOCOLS
  • REQUIREMENTS
    REQUIREMENTS
    REQUIREMENTS
    REQUIREMENTS
    REQUIREMENTS
    REQUIREMENTS

OVERVIEW

AUTOMON/RDO provides the services you need to manage your CICS resource definitions and your CICS environments effectively and efficiently. AUTOMON/RDO bridges the gap between what IBM offers and what you would expect in today's faster paced GUI type of online operation. CSD file processing by AUTOMON/RDO uses a standard CICS interface to ensure it only updates the CSD through the documented IBM paths of the CEDA transaction.

By using AUTOMON/RDO, you will be able to quickly add, delete, modify, find, display, and move resource definitions online with ease. Managing even very large systems is easy because AUTOMON/RDO provides directories built and maintained dynamically while you use the product. These directories give you immediate access and cross references to requested information. Information such as duplicate definitions, transactions associated with a program, all programs that end in specified character, or any other combinations of information are readily displayed. As systems grow, they become more complex and the amount of information that must be retained about their operation increases. The more organized and documented the resource definitions are, the less it costs to maintain them.

CICS needs information about your systems to operate properly. Information about your environment is presented to CICS as resource definitions. These definitions inform CICS about your programs and transactions, files and data, and your hardware, including terminals, printers, and communications links. Many of these definitions are dependent upon one another. The accuracy of information supplied is critical to the smooth operation of your CICS environment.

IBM introduced the idea of Resource Definitions Online (RDO) at CICS version level 1.6. RDO provides the capability of defining resources online with a specialized CICS transaction named CEDA (including CEDB and CEDC). Using the CEDA transaction, it is possible to define a resource to CICS online. However, IBM does not provide the services needed to easily maintain the CICS environment. The RDO offering by IBM does not provide effective methods for creating, managing, and displaying the resource definitions. Using only RDO from IBM yields only a small gain over resource definitions defined through batch processing for the old macro table generation.

AUTOMON/RDO introduces ways to easily document your work. Although RDO gives you a short description field, (starting at CICS release level 3.1) it is limited to just 58 characters. And for those of you operating release levels prior to CICS 3.1, there is no help from IBM. AUTOMON/RDO solves this problem by providing the standard 58 character descriptive field for all releases of CICS and a new 720 character documentation area for each definition.

Through the AUTOMON/RDO pop-up window techniques it is easy for you to keep the documentation current. When you want to read or update documentation about a definition, you press a key and a pop-up window displays it on your screen. It is displayed where you can still see important information about the definition; therefore, making it easy for you to read and update the documentation.

AUTOMON/RDO provides an interface with RDO which allows resources to be managed through temporary directories. From the displays of any of the directories, familiar CEDA commands may be issued directly to access resource definitions and perform functions. Multiple resource definitions may be selected and commands issued from the directory for any number of operations. The resource definitions are sequentially processed as each action is completed. AUTOMON/RDO displays all resource characteristics or attributes on a single screen making it easy to view and complete definitions. Since AUTOMON/RDO passes all operations to the CEDA transaction for actual update processing, AUTOMON/RDO upholds the same integrity and reliability of RDO. AUTOMON/RDO users quickly discover the benefits of enhanced capabilities.

Cross checks are easily made to find associations between such resources as programs and transactions, profiles and transactions, or terminals and typeterms. Resource definitions may be quickly located, sorted and browsed to determine if an existing resource definition can be modified, or copies made for new users--or deleted due to obsolescence. Using directories and search facilities of AUTOMON/RDO, the proliferation of duplicate definitions can be halted and existing duplicates removed.

Searches and queries employ masking techniques enabling you to quickly find and display the information you need about your CICS environment. Easy to read directory displays presented by AUTOMON/RDO help eliminate many of the common problems associated with the accidental overlay of production definitions during installs. Application programmers requesting information about definitions can easily find their own answers without disrupting the work of others. AUTOMON/RDO eases the tasks associated with CICS resource definitions.

By assigning field value limits, you can secure any attribute of a resource, allowing it to be modified only by authorized personnel. You can protect attributes or hide them altogether where desired.

Central Point of Control for Your CICS Environment

The sheer number of resources on a system can be overwhelming--and many data processing environments run multiple systems. AUTOMON/RDO allows the user to access and maintain definitions on remote systems from the local system. This gives an advantage of having the CICS environment organized as multiple systems, but accessed through a central point of control. AUTOMON/RDO provides online importing of resources from one system to another, including the documentation.

Using any of the first four of these protocols the operator can remain logged on to one CICS system and connect directly to a remote CICS system to perform any type of maintenance to the CSD of the remote system. In addition, the operator can remain logged on to the home system and perform Install commands, designating one or more remote systems as the target for the Install.

FEATURES

  • Central control panel
    Central Point of Control for multiple CICS regions
  • Mass deploy
    Online dynamic installs of lists, groups, partial groups, or individual resources in local or remote CICS regions.
  • Directory view
    Directory approach to dynamically organize and sequence resources by name and group for easy access, quick response queries, and mass changes.
  • Online import and export of CSD
    Online importing of resources between CSD's and powerful online export of resources to one or more remote regions.
  • CSD Change management
    Change control system for effective management of production resource maintenance.
  • User friendly online menu system
    Menu driven screens with pop-up windows, action bars, and pull-down menus all adhering to CUE/SEA standards.
  • User friendly field documentation
    Pop-up help windows on every field of every resource -- copy and paste values directly from help windows into fields.
  • Full featured text search engine
    Queries to locate information in the CSD -- searches for duplicate resource names.
  • DFHCSDUP compliance
    All modifications to DFHCSDUP are performed using IBM authorized RDO interfaces to insure integrity of data.
  • Online Help system
    Facilities to document and place descriptions on all resource types.
  • TSO interface
    TSO interface for MVS users. Direct connection from TSO to CICS/SEA.
  • Multiple connectivity options
    FEIN support. Export and Connect functions handle connectivity through FEIN or MRO/ISC.

SUPPORTED CONNECTION PROTOCOLS

  • Multiple Region Operation (MRO)
  • Inter-System Communication (ISC)
  • Front-end Processing Interface (FEPI)
  • TSO interface using EXCI Distributed Program Link (CICS 4.1 and above).
  • Batch interface using EXCI Distributed Program Link (CICS 4.1 and above).

REQUIREMENTS

  • Mainframe
    IBM z/Architecture and compatible
  • Operating System
    MVS/ESA
    OS/390 2.10 or later
    z/OS 1.8 or later 
  • Host System
    CICS Transaction Server 3.2 or later
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AUTOMON®/RDO - VSE