Jumping slightly ahead, let's assume for sake of argument the application in question "would not work correctly as-is" in a CICSplex. When then?
It's not typically a "hard stop." It depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Let's suppose, for example, that you have an MQ channel interface logically in front of the CICS-hosted application in question. It's possible that implementing an MQ shared queue -- one of the many possible Sysplexed services -- could, all by itself, provide substantial value. If the single CICS region (or single set of regions) hosting this application is(are) offline -- perhaps because a whole z/OS LPAR is undergoing maintenance -- MQ could still be receiving messages and queuing them up for processing when the application comes back online. And that could still be really useful in business service terms. In this scenario you could also probably automate "flip flop" of the single CICS region (or single set of regions) across LPARs to minimize service interruptions, even with a "CICSplex hostile" application. MQ holds the incoming work across switchovers. The queue/channel interface is continuously available, though when there's a switchover in back the outbound response might be slightly delayed. Not "perfect," but not so bad! That's just an example, and there are many variations. I simply wanted to make the point that even if it's "the end of the world" (so speak), and the application in question is just awfully designed and relatively difficult to cure (hopefully not!), you still might have some reasonably or even tremendously useful options to explore. "It depends." (But hopefully this whole hypothetical is moot in your particular situation.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy Sipples IT Architect Executive, Industry Solutions, IBM z Systems, AP/GCG/MEA E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
