How BMC AMI Energizer for IMS Connect works

How IMS Connect base functionality works

IMS Connect is an integral part of the IBM web-enablement of IMS data:

• IMS Connect supports multiple datastores (IMS systems), multiple IMS releases, and multiple environments.
• IMS Connect uses TCP/IP socket calls or MVS program calls (LOCAL option) to allow clients to exchange messages with IMS datastores by using the IMS Open Transaction Manager Access (OTMA). IMS Connect can communicate with multiple clients and multiple datastores across a sysplex.
• IMS Connect runs in its own address space as a job or as a started task. Because IMS Connect uses XCF services to communicate with IMS/OTMA, IMS Connect does not have to be present on the same MVS image as the datastore.

For more information, see the IBM IMS Connect documentation.

How Energizer expands base IMS Connect functionality

Energizer expands the base functionality of IMS Connect and is tightly integrated in the base code. Depending on the Energizer features that you enable, Energizer can perform the following actions:

• Dynamically activate and deactivate exits and message IDs:
  • If the exit and message ID are not active, the request is rejected.
  • If you have written your own exits, Energizer invokes the exits.
  • If Energizer security is enabled at the IMS Connect level, exit security can be handled as part of the virtual message exit processing.
• Call the WorkLoad Governor to verify that the current message volume falls within the defined rates.
  If the volume is too high, an error message is issued and messages over the limit are rejected.
• Handle datastore routing
  If routing is active, Energizer checks for affinities to determine acceptable datastores. Energizer then uses load balancing and datastore availability to choose the datastore that is best able to process the message.
• Record statistical and diagnostic information
• Handle ODBM routing
  If ODBM routing is active, Energizer can load balance ODBM DRDA requests and provide ODBM/datastore availability.

How Energizer simplifies message and exit processing

To process messages with IMS Connect, you must write your own in-house exits. Without Energizer, you must use assembler language routines to write the exits. This requires not only assembler language expertise, but also time to write and maintain the exits. With limited in-house resources, writing and maintaining exits, configuring the best parameters, monitoring for potential problems, tracking system changes, and managing e-transactions are difficult and labor intensive. If in-house expertise or resources are lacking, many of these critical functions cannot be accomplished without system outages or degradation of performance.

In contrast, you can use Energizer to use descriptive, interactive dialog boxes on the console to simplify message and exit processing. You can perform the following tasks:

• Create and maintain message exits without writing assembler language routines
• Define your existing message exits that were written in assembler language to use the advanced features of Energizer
• Dynamically reload exits and processing options without recycling IMS Connect
• Provide enhanced security at the IMS Connect level
• Route transactions and balance the workload among active datastores
• View statistical information in charts or tabular format for transactions, exits, and datastores
• Prevent rogue applications and runaway transactions from overloading your system
• Locate where a problem occurs, understand the transaction workflow, or collect information about peak loads by specifying which tracing options to record