Launch Information

V5.3

CICS TS for z/OS V5.3 Overview

In this booklet

Service AgilityOperational EfficiencyCloud with DevOpsGet a helping hand with CICS

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A few words" I'm delighted to announce the latest release ofIBM CICS Transaction Server, shaped by ourlargest ongoing client feedback programmethrough deep design partnerships with over 30clients.

Their input prior to the release's conception andongoing feedback through our continuousdelivery was invaluable. I believe our clients willsee a marked difference in this release that notonly demonstrates significant value, but thecontinued ability of CICS to deliver in the cloudand mobile era. "

Michael PereraVP z Systems Software

CICS Transaction Server for z/OS

Can't wait that long?The CICS TS V5.3 open beta is still available to try.Check it out at ibm.biz/cicsopenbeta

V5.3 Overview

CICS TS provides enterprise-grade, mixed languageapplication serving.

CICS TS V5.3 continues to build upon 3 key areas of Service Agility, Operational Ef ciency and Cloud.Designed to help you do more, with less.

In addition to major enhancements to these core V5themes, we are introducing game-changing DevOpsfunctionality through the Build Toolkit, DFHDPLOYand the CICS TS plug-in for IBM UrbanCode Deploy.This enables you to increase speed whilst reducingrisk.

So when can you get your hands on it?The planned availabity date for IBM CICS TransactionServer for z/OS V5.3 is:

December 11th 2015

V5.3 enhancements help make CICS a world classJava application server, with support for Java 8, JEE6web pro le, Liberty z/OS Connect, and the ability forJava applications to use the standard JCA interfaceto invoke traditional CICS programs.

Enhanced Interoperability

Liberty pro le users can now manage and monitor applications and system objects with the JMX clientAPI, or remotely using tools such as the JConsole monitoring tool included in Java SE. AdministratingJVM servers has also been improved by simpli yingthe process of managing log les.

Simpli ed Management

CICS TS V5.3 expands our support for the WebSphereLiberty pro le with the following features now available:

Additional Liberty pro le features

Contexts and Dependency Injection (CDI) Managed Beans

Java Persistence API (JPA) - JDBC type4 onlyJava Message Service (JMS) 1.1 support with the WebSphere embedded messaging engine

Java EE Connector Architecture (JCA) MongoDB

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)registry

Session Persistence- JDBC type4 onlyJMX Connector

Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) Lite subset MonitoringOpen Service Gateway initiative (OSGi) Console REST connector (for

JMX)

Service AgilityBuild and deploy the modern and traditionalapplications you need to support your business

Web services are one of the most popular methods ofinteracting with CICS. To support this, V5.3 deliverssigni cant optimizations to reduce the CPU & memoryoverhead for most SOAP and JSON-based HTTP CICSweb services, by removing the need for an intermediateweb attach task (CWXN) during pipeline processing.

Web service optimizations

CICS V5.3 includes a number of improvements toreduce your CPU overhead, including reduced lockcontention within monitoring, the use of prefetch andover 30 existing SPI commands being made threadsafe.

CICS bene ts from the improved performance inhardware such as the new z13, as well as being ableto exploit hardware instructions and capabilites fromthe new pre-req of an IBM z9.

Performance improvements

V5.3 allows for greater insight with reduced overhead. A number of metrics are now in global CICS statistics and are captured without needing CICS monitoring active.Ef ciencies introduced in the CICS trace facility & CICSmonitoring facility also help ensure overheads are kept to a minimum.

CICS Transaction tracking has been extended to thosestarted via the CICS-WebSphere MQ bridge, to help withproblem determination, reporting, and auditing.

Enhanced metrics

Operational Ef ciencyRun and manage your systems of record withincreased system capacity and the capabilityto achieve more with less

The CICS build toolkit enables CICS Cloud applications,bundles & OSGi Java components to be automaticallybuilt from source code, dramatically reducing time andeffort required. Substitution variables can also be usedto deploy to different target environments such asdevelopment & production, to enable re-use of scripts.

Automated builds

Once built to zFS, CICS projects can now be programmatically deployed across CICS systemsthrough the new DFHDPLOY batch utility. It can be usedto set their desired state, such as 'enabled', and beused to undeploy when no longer required.

Scripted deployments

IBM UrbanCode Deploy orchestrates and automatesthe deployment of applications, middlewarecon gurations, and database changes. The CICS TSplug-in enables CICS applications to be part of thesesystem orchestrations to enable a true DevOpsapproach for your z Systems solutions.

UrbanCode Deploy Support

In addition to the new DevOps capabilities, core CICScloud technologies have been enhanced. Includingnew threshold policy options, support for transactionentry points in CICS cloud applications, automaticrecovery of application state across CICS restartsand enhanced DB2 support.

Enhanced cloud enablement

Cloud with DevOpsSimplify system management and facilitaterapid application deployment