CICS twitter, blog, facebook, newsletter, forum, wiki, and newsgroup information

• CICS on Twitter
• WebSphere and CICS Support Blog
• WebSphere and CICS Support on Facebook
• CICS on Facebook
• CICS and CICS Tools Support Newsletter (Featured documents)
• CICS-L Mail List Facility
• CICSdev developer community and forum
• CICS Explorer forum
• CICS, CICSplex, and the CICS cloud Blog (Hursley)
• CICS Tools Wiki
• CICS Newsgroups

CICS on Twitter

CICS Transaction Server (CICS TS), CICS Tools, and CICS Transaction Gateway (CICS TG) support news is now available on Twitter. You can follow IBM_CICS on Twitter to find news, updates, and other information for the CICS products. Twitter is a real-time short messaging service, and it is another way that you can stay informed about CICS. The group monitoring the Twitter account will do their best to respond to your comments. This is not another support channel so the group does reserve the right to not answer your questions or point you back to the IBM support team.

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WebSphere and CICS Support Blog

The WebSphere and CICS Support Blog is written by a group of people in IBM Support and beyond who work on WebSphere and CICS products. This blog provides technical information for the WebSphere and CICS suite of products. WebSphere and CICS have many individual products, so for the purposes of this blog, it will focus on some key areas, specifically WebSphere Application Server, MQ, DataPower, CICS and CICS Tools. If you are interested in the Business Process Management products, see the IBM Business Process Management Products Support Blog.

To see only the entries for CICS, you can click on "CICS" in the tag cloud on the blog, or you can use this tagged link. The group monitoring the blog will do their best to respond to your comments. This is not another support channel so the group does reserve the right to not answer your questions or point you back to the IBM support team.

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WebSphere and CICS Support on Facebook

The IBM WebSphere and CICS Support Facebook Page provides a unique community of customers, support personnel, developers and others curious about WebSphere and CICS solutions. If you want to find high quality technical content, engage in technical discussions, or simply stay up to date with the latest WebSphere and CICS news then join us today! The group monitoring the Facebook page will do their best to respond to your comments. This is not another support channel so the group does reserve the right to not answer your questions or point you back to the IBM support team.

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CICS on Facebook

The IBM CICS Facebook Page is a page dedicated to the world's favorite transaction processor. The "I Love CICS" Facebook Fan Page has been moved to this new location. The page is managed by the CICS team in Hursley and you can discuss, share, and learn about all things CICS. The group monitoring the Facebook page will do their best to respond to your comments. This is not another support channel so the group does reserve the right to not answer your questions or point you back to the IBM support team.

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CICS and CICS Tools Support Newsletter (Featured documents)

The Support Newsletter for CICS Transaction Server and CICS Tools features the most requested documents as well as those identified as valuable in helping answer your questions related to CICS Transaction Server for z/OS (CICS TS) and the CICS Tools. See the Featured documents for the most recent Support Newsletter. The Support Newsletter is emailed to subscribers on a quarterly basis in March, June, September, and December. If you would like to subscribe, see the instructions in the IBM Support Newsletter Knowledge Collection.

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CICS-L Mail List Facility

A Mail List facility is available for CICS users. It is hosted on a Listserver managed by the University of Georgia, USA. Once subscribed, a user can e-mail to the mail list and the submission will be distributed to all other subscribers.

To subscribe, send an e-mail to listserv@listserv.uga.edu with the subject line "subscribe CICS-L". You will then be sent a confirmation note that you will need to reply to.

Once subscription is complete, you can send submissions by sending an e-mail to the mailing list, the address of which is CICS-L@listserv.uga.edu.

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CICSdev developer community and forum

The CICSdev community is the place to discuss, share and learn about developing for CICS. It is primarily for CICS Developers rather than CICS System Programmers, although of course, everyone is welcome to contribute. You are encouraged to discuss, share, and learn about developing CICS Applications in this community. You can hold more detailed discussions about the latest CICS news and developments. Subscribe to threads and receive email notifications when a member replies to your post or follow the RSS feeds and never miss an update again. This forum is moderated by CICS architects, developers, and testers. The group monitoring the forum will do their best to respond to your comments. This is not another support channel so the group does reserve the right to not answer your questions or point you back to the IBM support team.

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CICS Explorer forum

IBM CICS Explorer - the New Face of CICS - provides rich CICS views, data, methods, and is the integration point for CICS tooling.

The CICS Explorer forum enables the CICS Explorer user community to interact with each other and with the CICS Explorer development team on questions and issues related to the CICS Explorer. Use this forum to better understand the CICS Explorer, to debug problems, to make requests, and to get answers. This forum is moderated by CICS Explorer architects, developers, and testers. The group monitoring the forum will do their best to respond to your comments. This is not another support channel so the group does reserve the right to not answer your questions or point you back to the IBM support team.

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CICS, CICSplex, and the CICS cloud Blog (Hursley)

The CICS, CICSplex, and the CICS cloud Blog is a developerWorks blog from the CICS team in Hursley, England. Expect thoughts, tips, examples and discussion about CICS, CICSPlex SM, and the CICS cloud on System z. The MasterTerminal Blog has been sunset.

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CICS Tools Wiki

This IBM CICS Tools Wiki provides fast access to resources and information for CICS Tools. In addition to a search box for the site, you can find News, view a Question and Answer page, find out about attending Technical Clinics or submit a requirement for a change to one of the CICS Tools.

The IBM CICS Tools family helps to increase business flexibility and development efficiency by accelerating deployment of new CICS workloads on System z and streamlining CICS version-to-version migration efforts.

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CICS Newsgroups

Disclaimer: These free newsgroups do not offer any formal IBM product support. They are intended for user-to-user communication. IBM might or might not be actively participating in these discussions.

IBM has provided the following NNTP newsgroups:

	news://news.software.ibm.com/ibm.software.cics.z-os
	This newsgroup is for general discussion of CICS Transaction Server for z/OS, its predecessors and associated products.

	news://news.software.ibm.com/ibm.software.cics.z-os.soap
	This newsgroup is for general discussion of the SOAP for CICS SupportPac technology preview.

	news://news.software.ibm.com/ibm.software.cics.txseries
	This newsgroup is for discussion of the CICS functions within TXSeries.

If you are new to the newsgroups, refer to the following information:

• Guide to accessing and using IBM newsgroups
• Frequently asked questions about newsgroups

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Guide to accessing and using IBM newsgroups

Select the web browser that you are using to see instructions for accessing the newsgroups:

• I am using Microsoft Internet Explorer
• I am using Mozilla Firefox

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To access a newsgroup in Microsoft Internet Explorer :
Internet Explorer has its own newsreader program called Microsoft Outlook Express. To join a newsgroup:

1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools > Mail and News > Read news. This will open Microsoft Outlook.
   
   
2. In Outlook Express, click Tools > Accounts.
   
   
3. From the News tab, click Add > News.
   
   
4. Enter your display nameand click Next.
   
   
5. Enter your e-mail addressand click Next.
   
   
6. Enter your News (NNTP) server, for example "news.software.ibm.com". Do not select the check box for "My news server requires me to log on". Click Next.
   
   
7. Click Finish.
   
   
8. From Outlook Express, click Tools > Newsgroups. The "Newsgroups Subscriptions panel" will display.
   
   
9. Select your server from the "Account(s)" window, for example "news.software.ibm.com". This will download a list of all newsgroups that are on the server. Select the newsgroup in the window that is displayed, for example "ibm.software.cics.z-os.soap".
   
   
10. Click Subscribe and then click OK.
    
    
11. After selecting the OK button, you are returned to Outlook Express to start reading your subscribed newsgroups. In the main display window, double-click the newsgroup name, for example "ibm.software.cics.z-os.soap". This will download the newsgroup messages to your computer.
    
    
12. If you have problems, be sure to check your settings to make sure that they are all correct.

To access a newsgroup in Firefox:
The newsreader provided by Firefox is called Thunderbird. To join a newsgroup:

1. If you have not installed Thunderbird, install it from the http://www.mozilla.com site.
   
   
2. In Thunderbird, click Tools > Account Settings...".
   
   
3. Click the Add Account button. Select Newsgroup account, then enter your name and email address, then enter the newsgroup server, go with the default Account Name (if you want), then finish.
   
   
4. Click on Outgoing Server (SMTP) on the left side. Enter the SMTP outgoing mail server that you use, if you have one. (If you do not have a mail server, skip this step. If you use multiple SMTP servers, read this.)
   
   
5. Under the name of your newsgroup server (on the left side), select Server Settings. Use secure connection (SSL) and that Always ask for authentication when connecting to this server should only be selected if the server requires it. If you are not sure, you might have to experiment here. Click OK.
   
   
6. Click your newsgroup server on the left side of the main window. Click Manage newsgroup subscriptions in the main right window: this is where you will subscribe to all the different groups. You might need to click on the little "+" to see all the groups! Subscribe to everything you want.
   
   
7. Once you have subscribed (checked off) everything you want, click OK. Double click your newsgroup server on that left side to show you all the various forums and their messages. Click a forum to see a message inside.
   
   
8. To make a new post to a group, click the group, then click the Write (or Compose) button that is on top.
   
   
9. To reply to a post, select the particular message and click the Reply button up on top.
   
   
10. When you are reading posted topics, you might have to click on the "+" to expand the thread to see all the responses.
    
    

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Frequently asked questions about newsgroups

1. What is the purpose of the CICS newsgroups?
   
   These newsgroups are a place to share information and advice about IBM CICS products. IBM employees might monitor and participate in the discussion. These free newsgroups do not offer any formal IBM product support. They are primarily for user-to-user communication. You can also find useful support information at ibm.com/support.
   
   
2. What areas do the newsgroups cover?
   
   CICS for z/OS, and TXSeries for Multiplatforms.
   
   
3. What kinds of questions can I ask?
   
   At times, you might be unable to locate the information you need from the IBM Web site or the product documentation. In this case, the newsgroup is a good resource when you need a quick answer to a specific question. There might also be gaps in the troubleshooting documentation because of the many ways that you can configure your system; therefore, you may encounter a problem that is unique to your setup. Alternatively, you could be unable to access the product's online help if you have problems with your installation. Therefore, the newsgroup can also help get you started. Keep in mind, however, that if you receive advice from other users rather than from IBM, their systems might be configured differently from yours, and the same solution might not work for you. Please contact IBM support with any serious problems.
   
   
4. Does everything I post have to be in the form of an information request?
   
   No. You can also post statements about the software simply to share experiences with others. The newsgroup will also be a place to share tips and techniques you have discovered. All customer input helps IBM understand our audience and refine our products in accordance with changing needs.
   
   
5. How soon can I expect a response from IBM?
   
   IBM newsgroup monitors reply on a best-effort basis, depending on their workload. During periods of high activity, a monitor might only have time to answer questions once or twice a week, rather than on a daily basis. If you need an immediate answer, call software support at 1-800-IBM-SERV.
   
   
6. What is considered good net.etiquette on IBM CICS newsgroups?
   
   Apply common courtesy when posting messages and answering others. Excessive slang or sarcasm does not usually create the best results. You should frame your question or statement with a fair amount of information about what you have set up so far. If you simply ask, "Why doesn't the installation work?", any replies will have to ask you further questions about what version you are using or what you have already installed on your computer.
   
   
7. What kinds of postings are unacceptable?
   
   IBM reserves the right to delete any postings that contain abusive language or malicious insults. Please remember that you are not only writing to a screen, but to real, living people. Moderators will also delete any test messages or advertisements.
   
   Note: Please keep your postings topic related and do not cross-post to other newsgroups, so that users do not waste time solving problems in parallel.

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