Programs that connect to a previous release of CICSPlex SM

CICSPlex® SM API programs that use the CONNECT verb specifying a VERSION keyword for a previous release of CICSPlex SM can experience significant increases in both CPU consumption by the CMAS address space and data space storage use by the Environment Services System Services (ESSS) address space.

API programs that specify a CRITERIA string to limit the size of a result set on a GET or PERFORM OBJECT request, or use the SPECIFY FILTER verb, can experience the increase in CMAS CPU and ESSS storage. Batch job run times might also increase.

You are not required to recompile your CICSPlex SM API programs when you upgrade to the new release. However, if you do not recompile affected programs, the CMAS has to convert the records from the current release format to the level specified on the VERSION keyword on the CONNECT verb. This transformation process is highly intensive for CPU and storage when the result set is very large, for example, 300,000 to 500,000 records. The increases are observed in most cases when a criteria string is used to filter the result set; for example, specifying a criteria for the PROGRAM object using the NAME key for a specific or generic program. In this case, CICSPlex SM has to retrieve all program objects and return them to the CMAS where the API is connected, transform the records to the version of the API, and then apply the filtering.

If you recompile your programs to specify the VERSION keyword to match the current release of CICSPlex SM, this conversion does not take place, and storage and CPU consumption do not increase significantly.