Administering the RPC Server for CICS IPIC using the Command Central GUI

This document describes how to administer the EntireX RPC Server for CICS® IPIC, using the Command Central graphical user interface. It covers the following topics:

See also Administering the RPC Server for CICS IPIC using the Command Central Command Line. The core Command Central documentation is provided separately and is also available under Guides for Tools Shared by Software AG Products on the Software AG documentation website.

Logging in to Command Central

Open an Internet browser and specify the URL of the Command Central Server as follows: http://<Command_Central_host>:<Command_Central_port>. This takes you to the Command Central Login page.

On Windows you can also get to the Login page from the Command Central Start Menu entry.

Provide your user credentials in the Login page and click Log In. This takes you to the page Home > Instances:

graphics/admin-cc-gui_logon.png

Creating an RPC Server Instance

Start of instruction setTo create an RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance

  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Installations tab.

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_create-1.png

  2. Click on the desired installation, for example Local, where you want to add an RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance.

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_create-2.png

  3. Click the Instances tab.

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_create-3.png

  4. Click the graphics/gui_plus.png button in the upper right corner above the list and choose EntireX RPC Server for CICS® IPIC.

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_create-4.png

  5. In the Create Instance wizard, fill in the fields in the main screen and in the Server, Broker and CICS tabs.

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_create-5a.png

    Main Screen

    Parameter Description
    Instance name Required. Name of the runtime component, for example "MyRpcServer".
    Register Windows Service for automatic startup Optional. Register Windows Service for automatic startup. Default is not checked. If this parameter is checked, the RPC server can be controlled by the Windows Service Control Manager.

    Server Tab

    Parameter Description
    RPC Server address Required. The case-sensitive RPC server address has the format: CLASS/SERVER/SERVICE.
    Administration port Required. The administration port in range from 1025 to 65535.

    Broker Tab

    Parameter Description
    Connection
    Transport Transport over TCP or SSL. Default is TCP.
    Broker host Required. EntireX Broker host name or IP address. See Using the Broker ID in Applications in the RPC Programming documentation.
    Broker port Required. Port number in range from 1025 to 65535.
    SSL trust store Optional. Specifies the location of the SSL trust store.
    Credentials
    User Optional. The user ID for secured access to the broker.
    Password Optional. The password for secured access to the broker.

    CICS Tab

    Here you can modify the CICS IPIC settings for the RPC Server for CICS IPIC. As a prerequisite CICS IPIC must be configured, see Preparing IBM CICS for IPIC.

    Parameter Description
    Connection
    Transport Use TCP or SSL to communicate with CICS IPIC.
    CICS host Host name or IP address where CICS is running.
    CICS port TCP or SSL port number (1-65535) of CICS IPIC.
    CICS transaction ID Transaction ID (1-4 chars). Name of the CICS mirror transaction that will receive transactions.
    CICS encoding Specify the appropriate EBCDIC encoding used by your CICS installation. Default is codepage cp037 with full Latin-1 character set.
    Credentials
    RACF user ID The user ID (max. 8 chars) as defined in your underlying mainframe security system (e.g. RACF).
    RACF password Password/passphrase as defined in your underlying mainframe security system (e.g. RACF).

  6. Press Next to get to the Summary page to verify your input.

  7. Press Finish.

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_create-7.png

    The new instance myRpcServer appears in the list.

Configuring an RPC Server Instance

Start of instruction setTo configure an RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance

  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab.

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_config-1.png

  2. Click on the link associated with this instance to select the RPC server instance you want to configure.

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_config-2.png

  3. Click the Configuration tab. EntireX supports the following configuration types, which are presented in a drop-down box when you click the down arrow below the Configuration tab label:

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_config-3.png

    Note:
    All configuration changes require a restart of the instance to take effect.

  4. Click Edit to modify the parameters on your selected configuration type.

  5. Click Test to check the correctness of your input or Apply to save your changes.

The configuration options are described in more detail below:

Broker

Parameter Description
Connection
Transport Transport over TCP or SSL. Default is TCP.
Broker host Required. EntireX Broker host name or IP address. See Using the Broker ID in Applications in the RPC Programming documentation.
Broker port Required. Port number in range from 1025 to 65535.
SSL trust store Optional. Specifies the location of the SSL trust store.
SSL trust password Optional. The password of the SSL trust store.
SSL verify server Optional. The RPC server as SSL client checks the identity of the broker as SSL server.
FIPS-140 mode Optional. Enable FIPS-140 compliant SSL communication. Default is no.
Credentials
User Optional. The user ID for secured access to the broker.
Password Optional. The password for secured access to the broker.

CICS

Here you can modify the CICS IPIC specific parameters.

Parameter Description
Connection
Transport Use TCP or SSL to communicate with CICS IPIC.
CICS host Host name or IP address where CICS is running.
CICS port TCP or SSL port number (1-65535) of CICS IPIC.
CICS transaction ID Transaction ID (1-4 chars). Name of the CICS mirror transaction that will receive transactions.
CICS application ID Client Application ID (max. 8 chars) to match target IPCONN. See your IBM documentation for more information.
CICS network ID Client Network ID (max. 8 chars) to match target IPCONN. See your IBM documentation for more information.
CICS encoding Specify the appropriate EBCDIC encoding used by your CICS installation. Default is codepage cp037 with full Latin-1 character set.
CICS SSL trust store Specifies the location of the SSL trust store.
CICS SSL trust password The password of the SSL trust store.
CICS SSL verify server The RPC server as SSL client checks the identity of CICS as SSL server.
CICS socket timeout Timeout (in seconds) for CICS. Default is 20 seconds.
CICS send sessions Number of simultaneous transactions (1-999) allowed over the CICS connection. See your IBM documentation for more information.
Credentials
RACF user ID The user ID (max. 8 chars) as defined in your underlying mainframe security system (e.g. RACF).
RACF password Password/passphrase as defined in your underlying mainframe security system (e.g. RACF).
Use PassTicket (1) Use PassTicket instead of password.
Application name Required if PassTicket is to be used instead of a password. Application name (1-8 chars) as defined in your RACF system. This property is ignored if RACF password is set.
Secured signon key Required if PassTicket is to be used instead of a password. Secured signon key as defined in your RACF system. Must be exactly 16 characters long.

Notes:

  1. By default, PassTickets can only be used once during a one-second time interval. They are protected against replay. This limits the workload to one request per second.

    Warning:
    IBM provides a mechanism to bypass the PassTicket's replay mechanism, allowing higher workloads, but this introduces security risks. The option to bypass the PassTicket's replay mechanism should only be used in secure environments where access to generated PassTickets is limited to a secure or internal network. See your IBM documentation for more information.

Configuration File

Here you can view/edit the configuration file of the RPC Server for CICS IPIC.

Licenses

Here you can view/set the license file in the EntireX installation. For details see Import Product License Keys for Instances or Components under Getting Started with Command Central in the separate Command Central documentation under Software AG Suite & Cross-Product Guides.

Note:
The license file is used for all EntireX instances in this installation.

Monitoring KPIs

Here you can modify margins of monitored key performance indicators (KPIs) available for the RPC Server for CICS IPIC: Active Workers and Busy Workers.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) enable you to monitor the health of your RPC Server for CICS IPIC. The following KPIs help you administer, troubleshoot, and resolve performance issues:

KPI Setting
Absolute number of Active Workers entirex.generic.kpi.1.max=20
Critical alert relative to maximum entirex.generic.kpi.1.critical=0.95
Marginal alert relative to maximum entirex.generic.kpi.1.marginal=0.80
Absolute number of Busy Workers entirex.generic.kpi.2.max=20
Critical alert relative to maximum entirex.generic.kpi.2.critical=0.95
Marginal alert relative to maximum entirex.generic.kpi.2.marginal=0.80

Do not change the other properties!

Server

Here you can specify the RPC Server settings.

Parameter Description
RPC Server
RPC Server address Required. The case-sensitive RPC server address has the format: CLASS/SERVER/SERVICE.
Administration port Required. The administration port in range from 1025 to 65535.
Reconnection attempts Required. Number of reconnection attempts to the broker. When the number of attempts is reached and a connection to the broker is not possible, the RPC Server stops.
Worker Scalability
Worker model You can either have a fixed or dynamic number of workers. Default is dynamic (true). For more information see Worker Models.
Fixed number Required. Fixed number of workers. Must be a number in range from 1 to 255.
Minimum number Required. Minimum number of workers. Must be a number in range from 1 to 255.
Maximum number Required. Maximum number of workers. Must be a number in range from 1 to 255.

Trace Level

Here you can set the trace level of the RPC Server for CICS IPIC.

Parameter Value Description
Trace level 0-3 One of the following levels:
0 - None - No trace output (default).
1 - Standard - Minimal trace output.
2 - Advanced - Detailed trace output.
3 - Support - Support diagnostic. Use only when requested by Software AG Support.

Viewing the Runtime Status

Start of instruction setTo view the runtime status of the RPC server instance

  • In the Command Central Home page, click the Instances tab and select the RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance for which you want to see the runtime status (same as Step 1 under Configuring a Broker Instance).

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_runtimeStatus.png

    The visual key performance indicators (KPIs) and alerts enable you to monitor the RPC Server for CICS IPIC's health.

    KPI Description
    Active Workers Number of active workers.
    Busy Workers Number of busy workers.

Starting an RPC Server Instance

Start of instruction setTo start an RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance from the Instances tab

  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab.

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_start-1.png

  2. Select the status, and from the context menu choose Start.

Start of instruction setTo start an RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance from its Overview tab

  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab and select the RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance you want to start (same as Step 1 under Configuring a Broker Instance).

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_start-2.png

  2. Select the status, and from the context menu choose Start.

Stopping an RPC Server Instance

Start of instruction setTo stop an RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance from the Instances tab

  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab.

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_stop-1.png

  2. Select the status, and from the context menu choose Stop.

Start of instruction setTo stop an RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance from its Overview tab

  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab and select the RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance you want to stop (same as Step 1 under Configuring a Broker Instance).

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_stop-2.png

  2. Select the status, and from the context menu choose Stop.

Inspecting the Log Files

Start of instruction setTo inspect the log files of an RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance

  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab, then click the link associated with the RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance for which you want to inspect the log files (same as Step 1 under Configuring a Broker Instance).

  2. Click the Logs tab:

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_logFiles-2.png

  3. In the Alias column, click the link of the log file you want to inspect, for example server.log:

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_logFiles-3.png

Changing the Trace Level Temporarily

Start of instruction setTo temporarily change the trace level of an RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance

  1. In the Command Central home page, click the Instances tab then click the link associated with the RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance for which you want change the trace level temporarily (same as Step 1 under Configuring a Broker Instance).

  2. In the Administration tab, select the trace level and press Update.

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_admin-3.png

Note:
If you want to set the trace level permanently, see Trace Level under Configuring an RPC Server Instance.

Deleting an RPC Server Instance

Start of instruction setTo delete an RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance

  1. In the list of EntireX RPC Server for CICS® IPIC instances for your selected installation (for example Local), select the instance you want to delete and click the graphics/gui_minus.png button in the upper right corner above the list.

    graphics/admin-cc-gui_delete.png

  2. Click OK to confirm the uninstall of this RPC Server for CICS IPIC instance.

  3. In the next window, click Finish. The selected instance is removed from the list.