What's New

This document covers the following topics:

Security Enhancements

  • Broker Administration
    EntireX Broker now supports SSL-encrypted JMX communication with authentication when you use the Broker Administration client (etbsrv).
    For more information see Enabling SSL and Authentication for JMX under Setting up Broker Instances in the Linux | Windows Administration documentation.

  • APF Enhancement
    APF authorization is no longer required for the EXX library under z/OS. This means that clients and servers no longer have to work with an authorized library. See also z/OS Installation under Other Changes and Enhancements.

  • PKCS#12 Support
    The SSL parameter trust_store specifies the file name of a PKCS#12 certificate store that needs a password for unlocking. This password is set by the new SSL parameter trust_passwd. See SSL/TLS Parameters for SSL Clients under SSL/TLS, HTTP(S), and Certificates with EntireX in the platform-independent Administration documentation.

  • Passphrases in CICS Scenarios
    Passphrases are supported using CICS IPIC connections and CICS Socket Listener connections, see EntireX Adapter Enhancements and EntireX RPC Server Enhancements in this section.

  • Authorization Rule Enhancements

    • z/OS Support
      Authorization rules are now also supported by EntireX on platform z/OS.

    • Changed Behavior
      If section DEFAULTS=AUTHORIZATION-RULES is defined in the broker attribute file, this has precedence over other security settings:

      • z/OS
        Attribute file settings take precedence over RACF and any authorization rules in RACF are ignored.

      • Linux, Windows
        Attribute file settings take precedence over LDAP and any authorization rules in the LDAP repository are ignored.

    • Refresh Rules from Attribute File
      With new command REFRESH-RULES, currently active rules are replaced by new rules from section AUTHORIZATION-RULES of the broker attribute file. See ETBCMD: Executable Command Requests in the EntireX Broker documentation.

    See Authorization Rules in the platform-independent Administration documentation.

Increased Platform Support

EntireX now supports the following additional platforms:

  • z/OS 2.6

  • CICS 6.1

  • Linux Red Hat 9 (Intel x86 only)

  • Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022

  • IMS version 15.2

REST Enhancements

  • CI/CD Scenarios - Creating or Updating Connections using the REST API
    Creating or Updating Connections using the REST API has been simplified, see EntireX Adapter Enhancements in this section. This new feature is particularly useful with regards to automation of development processes.

  • REST Inbound Scenarios - REST Clients calling COBOL or Natural
    The Designer has been enhanced to allow easier extraction of COBOL or Natural sources and modeling to REST APIs without a request body. These REST APIs use the HTTP method GET and transfer their input parameters as URL parameters. See API Modeling with the IDL Extractor for COBOL and IDL Extractor for Natural.

EntireX Adapter Enhancements

  • New Connection Type CICS IPIC
    The EntireX Adapter has been enhanced with connections to CICS IPIC. This connection enables you to call CICS interface types Channel Container and DFHCOMMAREA programs without installing EntireX components on the mainframe (Zero Footprint). See Enhanced CICS Support in this section and Connection Parameters for CICS IPIC Connections in the EntireX Adapter documentation.

    Use a Secure Autoinstalled IPIC Connection to check Passphrases, Passwords and PassTickets in the CICS back end.

  • CICS Socket Listener Connections
    CICS Socket Listener connections have been enhanced to support Passphrases in the CICS back end. See Connection Parameters for CICS Socket Listener Connections (Adapter Connections) | Creating or Updating Connections using the REST API in the EntireX Adapter documentation.

  • Creating or Updating Connections using the REST API
    Handling of sensitive data such as passwords/passphrases has been enhanced. We now strongly recommend using encryption inside a JSON document. This new feature is described under Password Encryption in the EntireX Adapter documentation.

  • Simplified REST APIs
    A new service is provided to create/update simplified REST APIs without a payload, just using the HTTP method GET. See parameter resourceName under Creating or Updating Connections using the REST API in the EntireX Adapter documentation.

Enhanced CICS Support

  • Calling CICS interface type Channel Container with Zero Footprint
    Programs with CICS interface type Channel Container can be called without installing EntireX components on the mainframe (Zero Footprint) using

    In addition to Channel Container, DFHCOMMAREA programs are also supported. See Connecting COBOL under Common Integration Scenarios.

  • CICS Socket Pool for Broker Stub CICSETB
    The Socket Pool allows you to reuse TCP/IP socket connections across multiple Broker calls. Reusing sockets saves resources and speeds up Broker calls. See CICS Socket Pool for CICSETB under Administering Broker Stubs in the z/OS Administration documentation.

Command Central Enhancements

  • c-tree Configuration of EntireX Broker Persistent Store
    You can now use Command Central to configure a persistent store of type c-tree. You can edit maximum size, page size, and path of the c-tree persistent store using the Command Central GUI or command line. See Configuring a Broker Instance > Persistent Store using the Command Central GUI | Command Line.

Designer Enhancements

  • API Modeling with the IDL Extractor for COBOL and IDL Extractor for Natural
    The COBOL Mapping Editor and Natural Mapping Editor now support API modeling where group data items from the extracted source can be excluded in the extracted IDL (API), but the subordinated data items remain. This allows you to set IDL directions (IN, OUT) correctly, with the following advantages:

    • Reduced payload, which means less traffic at runtime.

    • The extracted API is simplified. For REST inbound scenarios, this means you can model the REST API more easily to simple HTTP GET methods without any input payload. With the GET method, REST clients transfer level-1 input parameters as simple URL parameters - there is no request body.

    More information:

  • XML Mapping Editor
    In the XML Mapping Editor, the Fault Document generation has been aligned to the SOAP 1.1 specification, that is, the default value generation for faultActor is removed.

  • EntireX XML Tester
    The EntireX XML Tester supports EntireX parameters defined in WSDL corresponding with XMM or AAR. These parameters are added to the EntireX Parameters setting and can be used in a request document or as an HTTP header. The sample generation reflects this setting. See EntireX XML Tester in the XML/SOAP Wrapper documentation.

  • Integration Server Wrapper Wizard
    With the Integration Server Wrapper Wizard you can now create a new package in the package selection area of the pages Define Adapter Services for... and Define Adapter Listener for.... See Step 4a: Create a Connection and Related Adapter Services or Step 4c: Create a Connection and Related Adapter Listener in the Integration Server Wrapper documentation depending on the selected connection type.

EntireX RPC Server Enhancements

  • New RPC Server for CICS IPIC
    The EntireX RPC Server for CICS® IPIC allows standard RPC clients to communicate with CICS programs running on IBM CICS® without installing EntireX components on the mainframe (Zero Footprint). The CICS interface types Channel Container and DFHCOMMAREA are supported. graphics/toc_closed.png More info

    See also Enhanced CICS Support in this section.

    Use a Secure Autoinstalled IPIC Connection to check Passphrases, Passwords and PassTickets in the CICS back end.

  • RPC Server for CICS Socket Listener
    The RPC Server for CICS Socket Listener has been enhanced to support Passphrases in the CICS back end. See Administering the RPC Server for CICS Socket Listener using Command Central (GUI | Command Line), or using Local Scripts.

EntireX Broker Enhancements

  • Load Library Enhancements
    On z/OS, modules ETBFATTR and USRSEC have been moved from EXX109.MVSLOAD to EXB109.MVSLOAD.

    Alias BROKER31 and module BROKERZ are no longer needed and have been removed from EXX109.MVSLOAD.

  • Stub Trace Enhancements
    Broker stubs NATETB23 and NATETBZ now support trace. See Administering Broker Stubs in the z/OS Administration documentation.

Other Changes and Enhancements

  • z/OS Installation
    Only the EXB load library requires APF authorization. See Step 4: Authorize and Assign the Broker STEPLIB Data Sets in the z/OS Installation documentation.

  • Relocation of SAGTOKEN
    In previous versions, the SAGTOKEN utility was delivered in the EXX load library. It is now delivered in the EXB load library. You may need to adapt your JCL scripts accordingly. See SAGTOKEN Utility under Administering Broker Stubs in the z/OS Administration documentation.

  • Relocation of Executables
    In previous versions, the following executables were delivered in the EXB load library:

    • BCOC, BCOS
    • ETBCMD, ETBINFO
    • ETBNATTR
    • EXXMSG

    They are now delivered in the EXX load library. You may need to adapt your JCL scripts accordingly.

  • ICU Support
    EntireX Broker now supports ICU 63.2 on platforms z/OS, Linux and Windows.

  • Com-plete Stub COMETB
    A member with the name DEFAULT in the EXAENV environment store may contain global variables valid for all users. See EXAENV Environment Store under Administering Broker Stubs in the z/OS Administration documentation.

  • Maximum Number of Worker Tasks Increased
    For broker attributes NUM-WORKER, WORKER-MAX, WORKER-MIN, the maximum number of worker tasks has been increased from 32 to 64. The check of the attributes has been simplified. Only WORKER-MIN greater than WORKER-MAX is rejected.

  • Trace Utility under Windows
    The EntireX Trace Utility is now started with traceutility.bat (formerly: exxtracutil.exe). See Using the Tool in the Windows Administration documentation.