Addressing OLTP Solutions with CICS: The Transaction Server ... - Ibm

3.4.13 Security
3.4.14 Ongoing Monitoring
Consider the level of security that you need. CICS provides facilities for user
authentication and controlled access to transactions and resources. If these
facilities are sufficient, you can consider running without the use of DCE security
service. However, if you think the CICS facilities provide an inadequate level of
security, use the DCE security service to provide additional levels of security.
See 5.1.3, “DCE Security Service” on page 70 for more details.
Review each of the components of your system. It may be appropriate to have
different levels of security in different places. For example, connection
attachment security for sessions between the servers in a group of CICS regions
may be sufficient if they are on a secure LAN. For a remote cicsterm or region,
a higher level of security may be appropriate. The level will depend on the
perceived risk of electronic eavesdropping, as well as the sensitivity of the data
being transmitted.
Ongoing monitoring can assist in keeping the operations support team informed
as to how well the system is performing. Up-to-date and accurate information on
the state of CICS systems enables correct decisions to be made in the event of
any problems—and before users are fully aware of any impact. Thus it is
important to have some means of knowing on an ongoing basis the status of the
CICS systems and resources. The provision of this information must be planned.
It will not just happen. In a large OLTP environment, monitoring must be
automated. Individuals cannot monitor at the level of detail and scope that are
required.
CICS SM yet again can add significant value to the operation and management
of your CICS systems and resources. Through its event notification facility, the
status of key CICS systems or resources under its management can be
effectively monitored. Such monitoring can provide immediate notification of the
change in the state of a resource. A screen located in the operations area
provides staff with the ability to diagnose problems and react rapidly.
CICS for AIX also provides monitoring facilities: statistics at the system level,
and monitoring at the individual transaction level. Statistics aid the management
of resources such as files or queues. They also provide a useful snapshot of
peak activity so that you can see, for example, whether a storage limit is about
to be reached. Statistics collected on a regular and ongoing basis can provide
you with an understanding of the long-term behavior of your CICS systems.
They can assist in predicting behavior and thereby avoiding unpleasant
surprises: Is the volume of work steadily increasing or decreasing? Are the
peaks as intense as they were? Are the peaks likely to cause a problem
shortly?
The CICS monitoring facility provides a high level of detail and consequently can
significantly increase the time it takes to run CICS transactions. The monitoring
facility should be used with caution. Third-party offerings are available to
monitor CICS for AIX systems on an ongoing basis. They may well work on a
sampling basis. They will most likely have a lower overhead than using the CICS
monitoring facility, although the level of information that they provide may not be
as detailed.
Chapter 3. CICS for AIX 47