IBM Support

History of CICS Transaction Server

Question & Answer


Question

What is the history of the CICS Transaction Server (CICS TS) releases and when did CICS development move to the Hursley Labs?

Answer

Following is a brief history of CICS. See Announcement Letters for CICS products for a more complete list of enhancements provided in each new release of CICS.


1968

CICS/OS introduced as program offering

  • Designed to support 50 BTAM terminals
  • Supported out of Palo Alto, CA
  • Not expected to last more than a few years
  • Assembler macros that supported a limited number of functions

1974

CICS/VS 1.0

  • Single address space or partition monitor
  • Introduction of management functions
  • Support for DOS/VS, OS/VS1, and OS/VS2
  • Macro Level only
  • HLL supported through pre-processor

1976

CICS/VS 1.3

  • Support moved to Hursley in exchange for PL/1
  • Introduction of command level
  • Introduction of recovery/restart

1978

CICS/VS 1.4

  • Introduction of ISC
  • IBM Statement: New functions will be through command level

1980

CICS/VS 1.5

  • Introduction of MRO

1983

CICS/VS 1.6, and 6 months later 1.6.1

  • Introduction of RDO for PPT and PCT entries
  • Last release to provide the same functionality across all operating systems
  • XA functions are provided
  • VSAM subtasking introduced

1986

CICS/VS 1.7

  • AUTOINSTALL + JES Spool Interface support introduced
  • VTAM terminals now RDO definable
  • ISAM support dropped
  • File control program and other management module rewritten
  • The new code became OCO
  • IBM again warns its customers about Macro Level

1987

CICS/MVS 2.1

  • Some performance improvements over 1.7
  • Introduction of XRF

1989

CICS/ESA 3.1.1

  • Macro Level support dropped for HLL programs
  • Totally new architecture
  • Multiple TCBs
  • Many old functions dropped

1991

CICS/ESA 3.2

  • Macro Level support dropped for all languages
  • Another rewrite for DFHFCP
  • CICS security as known (DFHSNT) is eliminated
  • More old functions are dropped

1992

CICS/ESA 3.3

  • Storage protection feature for CICS/ESA domain storage
  • Introduction of Dynamic Link function
  • Shared Data Tables
  • Distributed Program Link
  • Front End Programming Interface

1994

CICS/ESA 4.1

  • Transaction Isolation (Storage protection)
  • MRO using Enhanced Cross System Coupling Facilities (XCF)
  • Dynamic transaction routing among Parallel Transaction Server
    machines

1995

CICS/VSE 2.3

  • Enhanced programmer interfaces allowing for the replacement of macro level calls
  • Support for LE for VSE/ESA and associated languages
  • A tool to aid in the migration of customers from the use of internal CICS security to an external security manager (ESM)

1996

CICS Transaction Server for OS/390 1.1

  • A new domain for logging and journaling - the CICS log manager
  • A new domain for recovery - the CICS recovery manager
  • A new domain for temporary storage
  • RDO for transient data destinations
  • Addition of the EXEC CICS CREATE SPI command for the creation of CICS resource definitions for a sysplex-wide systems management product

1997

CICS Transaction Server for OS/390 1.2

  • Introduction of DASDONLY logging

1998

CICS Transaction Server for OS/390 1.3

  • Parallel Sysplex support
  • Coupling facility data tables
  • RDO for temporary storage
  • Long temporary storage queue names
  • Autoinstall for consoles
  • CICS business transaction services (BTS)
  • Open transaction environment (OTE)
  • Support for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
  • Support for IIOP requests inbound to Java application programs.


2000

CICS Transaction Server for VSE/ESA 1.1.1

  • Exploitation of ESA/390 subsystem storage protection
  • Extensive Virtual Storage Constraint Relief
  • Expanded Application Programming Support including a new External CICS Interface (EXCI) and a Front End Programming Interface (FEPI)
  • System Management enhancements including Resource Definition Online (RDO) for files
  • Shared data tables for improved performance and availability
  • The CICS Web Interface (CWI) which provides direct access to CICS applications from the World Wide Web environment. This will be available from the first quarter of 2000
  • The CICS 3270 Bridge, which provides an interface to run 3270-based CICS transactions without a 3270 terminal.
  • Inclusion of REXX for CICS, from the fourth quarter of 1999.
  • Inclusion of CICS/DDM as an optional no-charge feature
  • Inclusion of Report Controller Facility (RCF) without extra charge.

2001

CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 2.1

  • Support for the industry-standard Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) architecture, enabling CICS to act as an EJB server
  • Facilities for the generation of new EJB applications, or for the reuse or incorporation of existing applications and data in an EJB solution
  • Enhancements to the facilities for network connectivity and to Java programming under CICS
  • Extensions to facilities for applications based on procedural programming models
  • Significant extensions to CICSPlex SM

2002

CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 2.2

  • Enhanced support for Enterprise Java, and session bean support that conforms to the J2EE Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) architecture.

2003

CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 2.3

  • Enhanced Java capability including performance improvements, support for Java SDK 1.4, the Common Client Interface (CCI) Connector for CICS TS, and the addition of CICS Web Support to the JCICS classes
  • Improved support for development of applications, including interactive debugging
  • Further connectivity options, including new security functions, and the recently-introduced SOAP for CICS optional feature
  • Enhancements in the area of availability, including workload balancing of the 3270 Bridge using CICSPlex(R) SM
  • Important performance improvements in CICS-DB2 attachment

2005

CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 3.1

  • Major new capabilities are provided in the areas of Web services, HTTP function, and security
  • C/C++ capability is enhanced by support for XPLink
  • CICS Web API commands are now threadsafe
  • OTE function has been extended
  • Language Environment-enabled Assembler applications are supported
  • A new mechanism is provided for inter-program data transfer
  • The Information Center has moved to the Eclipse platform
  • Functional and usability improvements are provided to the CICSPlex SM Web User Interface, enabling systems to be fully managed without the TSO End User Interface
  • New batch update mechanism is provided for the CICSPlex SM data repository

2007

CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 3.2

  • Application Connectivity
    • Web services standards, interoperability profiles, large messages, and data mapping
    • Intercommunications over TCP/IP
    • HTTP and TCP/IP management and performance
  • Application Reuse
    • 64-bit storage for CONTAINER data
    • CICS integrated translator support for C and C++
    • Java enhancements
  • Service Management
    • On-line management of program libraries
    • Enterprise Workload Manager
    • CICSPlex SM Web User Interface help, usability, and MAP support
    • CICS-WMQ adapter installation and management
  • Architectural Enhancements
    • Capacity of VSAM ESDS files >4GB, shared data tables >2GB, and CICS regions in a Sysplex
    • Trace, monitoring, and statistics
    • Threadsafe core APIs for accessing VSAM files, journals, and WebSphere MQ

2009

CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 4.1

  • Non-invasive detection and emission of business events from CICS applications provides insight into business behavior
  • Atom feeds and RESTful interfaces enable existing CICS programs and resources to participate in mashups, Web 2.0 and other situational applications
  • The CICS Explorer simplifies the development and management of traditional and modern applications and provides an integration point for IBM and third-party tools
  • A wide range of other technical and operational capabilities, including many requirements raised by individual customers and user communities

2011
CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 4.2

Delivers value and significant innovation in five main technical focus areas, and satisfies over fifty customer and user group requirements. It delivers a smarter transaction processing experience for our customers:

  • Events
    • New system events
    • Improved event lifecycle management
    • New assured events
  • Java™
    • New 64-bit Java runtime environment
    • New multithreaded Java applications in JVM environment, with support for OSGi bundles
    • New Eclipse-based SDK
    • New Java runtime support of copybook importers
  • Connectivity
    • New Java Axis2 engine for web services
    • New web services offload to System z Application Assist Processor (zAAP)
    • New Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) connection management
    • Enhanced IP interconnectivity (IPIC) capability to include function shipping
  • Management
    • New CICS transaction tracking
    • Enhanced workload management
    • New 100-character password phrases
  • Scalability
    • New threadsafe function shipping
    • New threadsafe IBM Information Management System (IMSTM) interface
    • New threadsafe CICS commands
    • New key CICS functions 64-bit enabled
    • New threadsafe performance option
    • Enhanced CICS VSAM local shared resource (LSR) performance options

2012
CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 5.1

Satisfies over one hundred user requirements that help drive operational efficiencies while increasing service agility, moving you towards a service delivery platform for cloud computing.

  • Driving operational efficiencies:
    • Greater capacity is delivered through significant vertical and horizontal scalability enhancements.
    • Managed operations are provided through the introduction of policies, that deliver automated control over critical system resources.
    • Increased availability enhancements reduce the need for planned outages.
    • Deeper insight into performance and compliance information can help to tune and audit system usage.
  • Increasing service agility:
    • First-class applications enable the creation of agile services from existing assets by using a new declarative application resource.
    • First-class platforms enable the creation of agile service delivery runtimes by using a new declarative platform resource.
    • Modern interfaces enable you to build rich web experiences for critical applications. A new production-ready web container in CICS provides CICS qualities of service, and is built on the WebSphere Application Server Liberty profile for compatibility.
    • Foundational enhancements extend the core CICS capabilities.

CICS TS V5.1 also introduces a wide range of other technical and operational capabilities.

In January of 2012, IBM also introduced CICS Transaction Server for z/OS Developer Trial V4.2. This is a 'try-before-you-buy' edition of CICS Transaction Server for z/OS.


2014
CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 5.2
Satisfies over one hundred user requirements that help drive operational efficiencies while increasing service agility, moving you towards a service delivery platform for cloud computing.

  • Service agility:
    • CICS TS V5.2 significantly enhances the portability of web applications into CICS, by upgrading IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty Profile to Version 8.5.5 and supporting a broader set of its features.
    • Service oriented architecture (SOA) support is extended by integrating the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) and Representational State Transfer (REST) capabilities, introduced in the CICS TS Feature Pack for Mobile Extensions, into CICS TS V5.2. This makes it easier to interact with mobile devices and mobile-optimized gateways, such as IBM Worklight Server.
  • Operational efficiency:
    • The number of supported policy thresholds is expanded to cover an increased number of threshold types, safeguarding critical runtime resources. This enables a wider range of service-level agreement thresholds to trigger automatic actions.
    • The integration of CICS applications with distributed security standards has been simplified by incorporating the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) support, introduced in the CICS TS Feature Pack for Security Extensions, into CICS TS V5.2. Also introduced is support for Kerberos security tokens and stronger cryptographic ciphers. SAML support is provided for both inbound and outbound use of SAML tokens, and SAML tokens can now be augmented by adding new attributes.
    • A transaction channel allows applications to be able to use containers throughout the transaction without the need to restructure COMMAREA-based programs. Performance enhancements include a reduction in 31-bit storage usage for web services and an increase in threadsafe support.
  • Cloud enablement:
    • Major advances are made in the area of cloud enablement, to enhance application lifecycle management by allowing different versions of a multi-program application to run concurrently, and simplify deployment of application updates or to easily rollback to an earlier version if required.
    • Application versioning assists with the consolidation of applications onto fewer CICS regions.
    • Platforms are enhanced to define and create new 'top down' topologies, and to add and remove regions from installed platforms.
    • Twice as many traditional CICS resources can be defined and managed in CICS bundles, compared to previous CICS TS releases.


CICS Explorer V5.2 also adds support for the new and enhanced capabilities of CICS TS V5.2.

IBM also introduced CICS TS Developer Trial V5.2 (a 'try-before-you-buy' edition of CICS TS) and CICS TS Value Unit Edition (VUE) V5.2 that offers a one-time-charge (OTC) price metric for eligible workloads that are deployed in qualified System z New Application License Charge (zNALC) logical partitions (LPARs).

IBM also updated five core foundational CICS tools (and the Optimization Solution Pack): CICS Configuration Manager for z/OS V5.2, CICS Deployment Assistant for z/OS V5.2, CICS Interdependency Analyzer for z/OS V5.2, CICS Performance Analyzer for z/OS V5.2, CICS VSAM Recovery for z/OS V5.2, CICS Optimization Solution Pack for z/OS V5.2


2015 November
CICS Transaction Server for z/VSE 2.1

Shipped with z/VSE V6.1 and can only be used with z/VSE V6.1. CICS TS for z/VSE V2.1 replaces CICS TS for VSE/ESA V1.1.1 1. It delivers:

  • Update and control capabilities to CICS resources for the CICS Explorer system management tool.
  • New API to enable the transfer of large amounts of data between CICS applications to meet the needs of growing workloads.


CICS Explorer client supports the new and enhanced capabilities of CICS TS for z/VSE V2.1.

CICS TS for VSE/ESA V1.1.1 is still supported by IBM on z/VSE V5.


2015 December
CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 5.3

Builds on the capabilities that were delivered in earlier CICS TS V5 releases, and adds substantial new DevOps functionality. This release completes over 300 customer requirements for CICS TS Version 5.

New and enhanced capabilities are delivered in three main focus areas and four core capabilities:

  • Service agility. Focuses on enhanced support for Java and the WebSphere Liberty profile and includes:
    • Additional WebSphere Liberty profile features
    • Enhanced interoperability
    • Simplified management
    • Enhanced Java SE support
  • Operational efficiency. Includes performance optimizations, enhanced metrics, and additional security:
    • Web service optimizations
    • Performance improvements
    • Enhanced metrics
    • Additional security options
  • Cloud with DevOps. Includes new cloud and DevOps support to automate CICS deployments:
    • Automated builds
    • Scripted deployments
    • UrbanCode Deploy support
    • Enhanced cloud enablement


CICS Explorer V5.3 is updated to add support for the new and enhanced capabilities of CICS TS V5.3. This release makes it easier to see the CICS data that is required by providing enhanced customization options for table views, which can then be saved for future use.

CICS TS Value Unit Edition (VUE) V5.3 offers a one-time-charge (OTC) price metric for eligible workloads that are deployed in qualified z Systems New Application License Charge (zNALC) logical partitions (LPARs). The term Eligible Workload is defined as net new Java workload that executes within the CICS TS VUE Java Virtual Machine (JVM) server environment, on condition that the workload is qualified and approved through the zNALC qualification process. The OTC price metric provides an alternative pricing model for new CICS Java applications and new CICS Java-based, service enablement workloads. CICS TS VUE V5.3 is available through the normal ordering channels for IBM z/OS software. For more information, an IBM representative should be contacted.

CICS TS Developer Trial V5.3, a try-before-you-buy edition of CICS TS V5.3, has a zero-cost license charge and does not initiate any single version charging (SVC) period. The value that could be gained from a CICS TS upgrade can be assessed, before making an upgrade decision, by ordering this product. The CICS TS Developer Trial V5.3 is fully supported and can be upgraded to CICS TS V5.3 or CICS TS VUE V5.3 without the need for a full reinstallation.


2016 July
CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 5.3 - Continuous delivery - CD1

Builds on the capabilities that were delivered in earlier CICS TS V5 releases but with quarterly technology (or function) drops that can be downloaded and implemented at no extra charge without a full re-install. Delivered by APAR or web download.

Support for Liberty Java™ Enterprise Edition (EE) 7 Web Profile, in integrated mode

  • Support for Liberty Java EE 7 Full Platform, in a new standard mode
  • Remote development and testing of Java EE applications that use Java Connector Architecture (JCA) to call CICS programs
  • Improved zIIP offload eligibility for Liberty workloads
  • Support for embedding the separately licensed z/OS® Connect Enterprise Edition V2.0
  • Several other enhancements to CICS TS V5.3, including a new non- Java JSON parser and an updated CICS Explorer®


Additionally, a CICS TS V5.4 open beta offering is announced for customers to provide feedback on potential future capabilities.


2016 October
CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 5.3 - Continuous delivery - CD2

Builds on the capabilities that were delivered in earlier CICS TS V5 releases but with quarterly technology (or function) drops that can be downloaded and implemented at no extra charge without a full re-install. Delivered via APAR or web download.

  • Additional Java™ Enterprise Edition (Java EE) 7 features are supported in integrated mode Liberty.
  • The LINK and START commands now support invoking Java applications in a Liberty JVM server.
  • The Java developer experience is improved, when working with CICS bundles.
  • Additional CICS Explorer® views and view configuration options are provided.


Additionally, the CICS TS V5.4 open beta offering is refreshed to add major new and enhanced capabilities in the following areas:

  • Automated provisioning capabilities that now support the building and running of binary images
  • Improved control of applications by using the new asynchronous API
  • Ability for applications to pass channels and containers over External CICS Interface (EXCI)


The CICS TS V5.4 open beta offering is available now for clients to provide further feedback on potential future capabilities.


2017 January
CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 5.3 - Continuous delivery - CD3
Builds on the capabilities that were delivered in earlier CICS TS V5 releases but with quarterly technology (or function) drops that can be downloaded and implemented at no extra charge without a full re-install. Delivered via APAR or web download.

  • Enhancements to Java™ Enterprise Edition (Java EE) messaging in CICS Liberty JVM server
  • Support for IBM MQ as a JMS provider in CICS Liberty JVM server
  • Support for new deployment tasks in DFHDPLOY
  • CICS system autoinstall option for Language Environment® to simplify IBM z™/OS upgrades
  • New and enhanced CICS Explorer® capabilities


Additionally, the CICS TS V5.4 open beta offering is refreshed to add major new and enhanced capabilities in the following areas:

  • Enhanced CICS asynchronous API
  • Flow control at start-up and shutdown
  • CICSPlex® System Manager (SM) integration and resiliency


The CICS TS V5.4 open beta offering is available now for clients to provide further feedback on potential future capabilities.

The CICS provisioning toolkit, which was introduced in an earlier CICS TS V5.4 open beta offering, is enhanced and extended. It is now generally available as the IBM z/OS Provisioning Toolkit, V1.0.


2017 June
CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 5.4

Marketing exercise of re-branding as a mixed language application server. More than 400 customer requirements have now been satisfied in CICS TS V5.

Builds on the capabilities that were delivered in earlier CICS TS V5 releases and adds support for a number of programming concepts that are critical to a mixed language application hosting environment, and includes:

  • Support for applications written to the Java™ EE 7 Full platform specification
  • A powerful and new asynchronous API to extend programming language capabilities
  • Dynamic policy-based management of applications that span multiple languages
  • Enhanced security and resiliency of applications across all languages
  • API extensions that enable improved interoperability with batch applications
  • Enhanced management capabilities for applications that utilize IBM MQ for z/OS
  • Numerous enhancements to simplify or automate common workflows


CICS TS VUE V5.4 (Value Unit Edition) for new Java workloads with favorable pricing metrics also to be made available for June 16 2017

CICS TS Developer Trial, V5.4 is available as a try-before-you-buy edition of CICS TS V5.4 and has a zero-cost license charge. The value that could be gained from a CICS TS upgrade can be assessed, before making an upgrade decision, by ordering this product. The CICS TS Developer Trial V5.4 is fully supported and can be upgraded to CICS TS V5.4 or CICS TS VUE V5.4 without the need for a full reinstallation. To be made available June 16 2017.

The CICS provisioning toolkit beta that was delivered as part of the CICS TS V5.4 open beta program is renamed, enhanced, and made generally available as the IBM z/OS Provisioning Toolkit V1.0.

The IBM z/OS Provisioning Toolkit, V1.0, delivers a simple command line utility for the rapid provisioning of development environments. It is fully supported and available to existing clients of IBM z/OS V2.1, or later, at no additional charge. It can be downloaded direct from IBM.

 

2018 January

The continuous delivery model for CICS TS now further extends the capabilities with innovative new functions and additional enhancements. The following key features are part of this continuous delivery release of CICS TS V5.4:

  • Increased support in CICS TS for multi-factor authentication, for CICS management client interface (CMCI) and CICS Explorer®
  • Added support for static data in CICS policy events

Additionally, the following capabilities are introduced into prior CICS TS releases:

  • Policy system rules are introduced as the strategic replacement for the CICS system event technology on CICS TS V5.1 and later, by using APAR PI83667.
  • Support for static data in all CICS policy events is delivered on all releases of CICS TS V5, by using APAR PI88500.
  • Java™ EE 7 Full Platform in integrated-mode Liberty is made available on CICS TS V5.3, by using APAR PI77502.

Availability of the CICS TS V5.5 open beta offering

The CICS TS V5.5 open beta offering is available for clients who want to explore potential new CICS capability and assess the value to their business. It can be downloaded, at no charge

2018 April

IBM CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, a powerful, mixed-language application server, can process hundreds of thousands of business transactions every second. A Continuous Delivery (CD) model further extends the capabilities of CICS TS V5.4 with innovative new functions and additional enhancements, such as:

  • Support for Java™ Enterprise Edition (EE) based Eclipse MicroProfile 1.2
  • Enhanced Java EE security using OAuth 2.0, JavaScript™ Object Notation (JSON) Web Token, and OpenID Connect
  • Support for JSON mapping level 4.2 and JSON mapping level 4.3
  • Support for multi-factor authentication for CICS Management Client Interface (CMCI) enhancements

In addition, the CICS TS V5.5 open beta offering is updated with new functionality, which includes:

  • GraphQL API support to query workload management definitions
  • Controlling the use of CICS API and SPI commands and keywords
  • Enhanced management of IBM Db2® threads used by CICS TS tasks
  • Web client use of 64-bit (above-the-bar) buffers

The CICS TS V5.5 open beta offering is available for clients who want to explore potential new CICS capability and assess the value to their business. It can be downloaded, at no charge

2018 July

IBM CICS Transaction Server for z/OS is a powerful, mixed-language application server that can process hundreds of thousands of business transactions every second. This latest release of CICS TS V5.4 by using a Continuous Delivery (CD) support model further extends the capabilities with innovative new functions and additional enhancements, such as:

  • Add new policy system rules to:
    • Monitor the enable status of a PROGRAM resource.
    • Monitor the enable and availability status of a BUNDLE resource.
    • Monitor the status of a Multiregion operation (MRO) and IP interconnectivity (IPIC) CONNECTION resource.
    • Take an automated action when the state of a monitored resource changes.

In addition, the CICS TS V5.5 open beta offering is available for clients who want to explore potential new CICS capability and assess the value to their business. This latest release of the CICS TS V5.5 open beta offering is updated with new functionality, which includes:

  • Support for Node.js applications
  • Support for including common configuration into JVM server profiles
  • New Map view to show workload management relationships in CICS Explorer®
  • Enhanced inter-resource relationships in the new GraphQL API
  • Threadsafe access to coupling facility data tables
  • New policy system rules for monitoring PROGRAM, BUNDLE, and MRO and IPIC CONNECTION resources
  • Real-time monitoring of outbound web requests
  • Enhanced management of automatic initiator descriptors in the automatic initiate descriptor (AID) chain for local CICS systems
  • Improved security for JCL job submissions to the job entry subsystem (JES) internal reader

The CICS TS V5.5 open beta offering can be downloaded, at no charge

2018 December

IBM CICS Transaction Server for z/OS V5.5 provides enhanced capabilities for established programming concepts and builds upon on the language developments from earlier CICS TS releases. Version 5.5 delivers:

  • Support for JavaScript™ Node.js applications
  • Support for multiple IBM WebSphere® Liberty servers in the same CICS region connecting to a Liberty angel process
  • Support for including common configuration in JVM servers
  • CICS bundle status reflects Liberty application status
  • New option to wait for Liberty angel process to be ready
  • Enhancements to CICS Explorer® to provide more capability, and simplify and improve the user experience
  • A new GraphQL API for querying system configuration and inter-resource relationships
  • System management advancements that greatly improve control and ownership
  • Enhanced security and resiliency of applications across all supported languages
  • Greater API and SPI control with the use of commands and keywords

CICS Value Unit Edition V5.5

CICS TS Value Unit Edition (VUE) V5.5 delivers all of the speed, reliability and value of CICS TS with a one-time-charge (OTC) price model. Eligible workloads include Java applications that are deployed in qualifying IBM Z® New Application License Charge (zNALC) logical partitions (LPARs). These workloads can be integrated and managed alongside existing CICS TS workloads using CICSPlex SM.

CICS TS Developer Trial V5.5

CICS TS Developer Trial V5.5 is available as a try-before-you-buy edition of CICS TS V5.5 and has a zero-cost license charge. The value that could be gained from a CICS TS upgrade can be assessed, before making an upgrade decision, by ordering this product. CICS TS Developer Trial V5.5 is fully supported. It can be upgraded to CICS TS V5.5 or CICS TS VUE V5.5 without the need for a full reinstallation.


2020 June

CICS TS V5.6 delivers significant new capabilities to improve the developer experience, including the choice of APIs, frameworks, editors, and build tools, while at the same time providing updates in the key areas of security, resilience, and management. These new capabilities are presented under the following themes:

  • Developer experience
    • New support for Pivotal Spring Boot
    • New support for Jakarta EE 8
    • Enhanced CICS Java API
    • New Maven Central libraries for CICS Java application development
    • New plug-ins for Maven and Gradle to automate building CICS bundles
    • New deployment API to simplify CICS bundle deployment during development
    • New support for Node.js version 12
  • Security
    • Enhanced support for CICS TS as an HTTP client when using TLS
    • Enhanced VERIFY TOKEN command to process JSON Web Tokens
    • New CICS monitoring for security domain
  • Resilience
    • Improved reporting and action for z/OS short-on-storage conditions
    • Improved usage of BAS data space storage for large CICSPlex environments
    • Improved management of CICSPlex System Manager data space usage
    • Support for COMMAREAs up to 32 KB on distributed program links
  • Management
    • New and enhanced system programming interfaces to assist with JVM server administration
    • New Policy system rule types
    • New z/OS workload management health policy action
    • New support for IBM z/OS Workload Interaction Correlator

2022 April

CICS TS 6.1 delivers the following new capabilities:

  • Enhanced developer productivity
    • Support for Java 11, Jakarta Enterprise Edition 9.1, and Eclipse MicroProfile 5
    • Improvements to Java getting started documentation
    • Java annotation now available to define methods to link to OSGi Java applications
    • Bundle deployment, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and advanced IBM CICS Explorer® functions supported in single CICS regions
    • Maintain CICS resource configuration with application source using the CICS TS resource builder
  • Improved security and compliance management
    • New support for Transportation Layer Security (TLS) 1.3
    • Additional TLS monitoring and statistics
    • Support for Application Transparent Transport Layer Security (AT-TLS) monitoring and statistics
    • New messages to simplify diagnosis of TLS security problems
    • New messages associated with authorization errors to assist in identifying the user
    • Simplified diagnosis of sysplex-wide CICS security problems
    • New SMF 1154 type 80 record to simplify collection of compliance data for auditors
    • New CICS health checks for IBM Health Checker for z/OS
    • Customization of CICS health checks
    • Improved security documentation based on scenarios
    • Removal of the need for category 1 security definitions
    • New protection to guard against executing code in data-only memory
    • Addition of MFA authentication sign-on from CICS Explorer to a single CICS region
    • Enhanced information for the ASSIGN command
  • Reduced cost of management
    • Tagging of CICS regions to identify usage
    • Resource definition overrides
    • New compound condition system policy rule
    • New ALL option for selected policy task rules
    • Enhanced support for policy statistics
    • New system rule type for transaction dump threshold
    • Improved temporary storage expiry processing
    • Extended short on storage notification
    • Limit on concurrent TLS handshakes
    • Enhancements in support of Db2
    • Increased capacity of shared data tables
    • Enhanced CICS event processing support
    • Advanced CICS Explorer functions in single CICS regions
    • Enhanced performance monitoring
    • Enhanced API, SPI, and diagnostics
    • Improved recovery for Logger failures
    • CICS installation using z/OSMF Software Management
    • Ability to use an alternate IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty installation location

[{"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Product":{"code":"SSGMGV","label":"CICS Transaction Server"},"ARM Category":[{"code":"a8m0z00000007hnAAA","label":"CICS Transaction Server-\u003EMigration \/ Upgrade"}],"ARM Case Number":"","Platform":[{"code":"PF035","label":"z\/OS"},{"code":"PF038","label":"z\/VSE"}],"Version":"All Version(s)","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB35","label":"Mainframe SW"}}]

Product Synonym

CICS/TS CICS TS CICS Transaction Server CICS/VSE VSE z/VSE

Document Information

Modified date:
04 December 2023

UID

swg21025234