When to use the CICS bridge
The CICS bridge allows an application to run a single CICS program or a 'set' of CICS programs (often referred to as a unit of work). It caters for the application that waits for a response to come back before it runs the next CICS program (synchronous processing) and for the application that requests one or more CICS programs to run, but doesn't wait for a response (asynchronous processing).
The CICS bridge also allows an application to run a 3270-based CICS transaction, without knowledge of the 3270 data stream.
The CICS bridge uses standard CICS and WebSphere MQ security features and you can configure it to authenticate, trust, or ignore the requestor's user ID.
Given this flexibility, there are many instances where we can use the CICS bridge. For example, when you want to do any of the following:
- Write a new WebSphere MQ application that needs access to logic or data (or both) that reside on your CICS server.
- Run CICS programs from a Lotus Notes application.
- Access your CICS applications from your WebSphere MQ Classes for Java client application
System configuration for the CICS bridge
When you are setting your system up, you should ensure that:
- Both WebSphere MQ and CICS are running in the same z/OS image.
- The WebSphere MQ request queue is local to the CICS bridge, however the response queue can be local or remote.
- The CICS bridge tasks normally run in the same CICS as the bridge monitor. The user programs can be in the same or a different CICS system.
- CICS transaction routing can be used, if the CICS system is CICS Transaction Server V2.2 or higher.
- The WebSphere MQ-CICS adapter is enabled.
- A specific CICS system can be referenced in the MQCIH header.
When using shared queues, it is possible to use multiple bridge monitors on the CICS bridge in multiple CICS regions, however all bridge monitors must be associated with WebSphere MQ v6 queue managers.