The EntireX IMS Connect RPC Server allows standard RPC clients to communicate with IMS MPP programs running on IMS version 9 and higher. The IMS Connect RPC Server transforms the RPCs from the clients into messages to IMS Connect v2.2. The IMS Connect RPC Server acts on one side as an RPC server and on the other side as a client for IMS Connect. The IMS Connect RPC Server is a Java-based component that can run on a different host to the one where IMS is running. This allows it to operate with a zero footprint of EntireX on the IMS host.

For existing COBOL MPP programs you can use the Software AG IDL Extractor for COBOL to generate the IDL file for the RPC clients. The list under DATA DIVISION Mapping under COBOL to IDL Mapping in the IDL Extractor for COBOL documentation discusses which clauses of COBOL syntax are supported and how these are handled by the extractor.

All source COBOL files have to exist locally for the IDL Extractor for COBOL. Remote extraction is not possible if there is no EntireX RPC server (batch or IMS) with extractor service enabled on the IMS host.

The IMS Connect RPC Server supports RPC clients in different programming languages.