z/OS concepts for creating an integration node

Review the following concepts to understand what components and technologies are required to create an integration node on z/OS®, and where they are located.

Installation directory

The SMP/E installation places all the product executable files into a directory of a file system under UNIX System Services.

Components on z/OS

A component is a set of runtime processes that perform a specific set of functions, and comprises an integration node.

An integration node that is running has a control address space and one additional address space for each deployed integration server. When the control address space is started, the integration node component is started automatically. This behavior can be changed by an optional start parameter in the started task.

The component name is the external name of the component and is used, for example, in the IBM® Integration Toolkit.

Each component requires a name, which is usually the name of the started task that runs the component. This name is typically the queue manager name with a suffix of the facility; for example, MQP1BRK for the integration node.

Each component has its own runtime environment in UNIX System Services and needs its own WebSphere® MQ queue manager.

Component directory

The component directory is the root directory of the component's runtime environment.

The component directory is also referred to as ComponentDirectory in some instances within the code. Both the IBM Integration Bus administrator and the component require read and write access to the component directory.

An example directory for the integration node component is: /mqsi/brokers/MQP1BRK

For more information about mounting file systems and allocating space, including performance considerations, see Mounting file systems.

Component PDSE

On z/OS, the component PDSE contains jobs that are customized for a single component. These jobs are used to create and administer the component.

The members specific to a component type are copied from <hlq>.SBIPSAMP and <hlq>.SBIPPROC to the component PDSE. These members are then customized for the component.

The integration node started-task user ID requires read access to its component PDSE at run time.

You must not share a PDSE across more than one SYSplex or GRSplex.

XPLink

XPLink is a z/OS technology that is used by the C and C++ compilers to reduce the cost of function calling for programs that are written in these languages.

Many products, including IBM Integration Bus for z/OS, use XPLink technology to improve their performance. To ensure the highest possible performance gains, IBM Integration Bus requires as many as possible of the software components it uses to be XPLink-compliant. These components include the integration node, Java™ runtime, ODBC, and z/OS Language Environment®.

The IBM Integration Bus integration node was compiled by IBM to use XPLink technology and link-edited within the SMP/E environment to call the appropriate XPLink routines of the software components it uses. Normally, these XPLink-enabled components are configured during their customization, and the integration node needs only to locate the appropriate libraries to become XPLink-enabled.