Deploying a CICS bundle

You can deploy a CICS® bundle by exporting it directly to a z/OS® UNIX System Services (z/OS UNIX) file system from CICS Explorer®. Use a BUNDLE resource to locate the bundle in zFS and dynamically create the resources from the bundle in the CICS region.

About this task

When you have created a CICS bundle in CICS Explorer, you must export it to a z/OS UNIX file system to make it available in CICS. You can deploy a CICS bundle project individually or with a management bundle. For example, if the bundle project is part of an application to be deployed on a platform, you can deploy it with the application bundle by exporting the Application project. The steps in this task explain how to deploy a CICS bundle individually.

Note: If you are not authorized to deploy the bundle directly to a z/OS file system, you can export the CICS bundle project as a compressed file to your local file system. For more information, see Exporting a CICS bundle project to your local file system. However, this option does not apply to a CICS bundle project that contains an OSGi bundle.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the Project Explorer.
  2. Right-click your CICS bundle project and click Export to z/OS UNIX File System. You can now choose to export to the home directory of your platform or to a specific location in the file system.
  3. Click one of the following buttons to specify where to export the application:
    • Export to the home directory of a Platform. If you select this choice, click Next, then complete the following steps:
      1. Select the application to export (the field is pre-filled with the current selection if applicable).
      2. Select the destination platform for the export.
      3. Click Next.
      4. Select the FTP connection to use for the export. When you make a selection, the connection is established, and the wizard checks for the bundles and applications subdirectories of the platform home directory using that connection.
      5. Click Finish.
    • Export to a specific location in the file system. If you select this option, click Next.
  4. In the Connection field, select either an existing connection to an FTP port by clicking the twistie, or click the connection text hyperlink to define a new connection of type System z - FTP.
  5. In the Parent Directory field, specify the name of a z/OS UNIX file system directory as a target for the transfer. This can be a new or an existing directory. When you type the name of a directory folder, the directory tree is refreshed and this folder, if it exists, is shown as the root. If you double-click a folder, this folder becomes the root of the tree. Alternatively, you can select from the tree and navigate to the directory.

    The Bundle Directory field shows the target directory for the exported bundle. By default, the bundle directory name uses the bundle ID and the version. If you have not specified an ID or version, the name of the bundle is used. You can overtype the directory name to change it.

  6. Optional: Select the Clear existing contents of Bundle directory check box to remove any folders and files in the target directory before performing the file transfer. If you do not select the check box and a folder by that name exists, the export does not take place.
  7. Click Finish.

Results

The bundle project is exported to the target directory on z/OS UNIX.

What to do next

Define and enable a BUNDLE resource for the CICS bundle. You can create a definition by opening the Bundle Definitions view. When the BUNDLE resource is enabled, CICS reads the manifest in the bundle directory and dynamically creates the CICS resources. It also checks that any dependencies are present in the CICS region. For more information about bundle resources, see BUNDLE resources in the CICS TS V5.2 product documentation.

Note: When you have created and deployed your CICS bundle project using the CICS Explorer, you must ensure proper management of the project source. The CICS bundle cannot be reconstructed from the exported data in zFS, and a failure of your workstation might cause the data to be lost. You can use the Export function of CICS Explorer to export the project and check it in to a source code management system.
Parent topic: Working with bundles