CICS bundle
A package of CICS resources and application parts, kept in a directory with a manifest, that can be installed and removed as one unit.
Also written BUNDLE resource, cics.xml, bundle manifest, CICS bundle project
A CICS bundle is a way to package resources that belong together and manage them as one unit. A bundle is a directory in a Unix file system, containing a manifest file, cics.xml, that lists its parts, along with the parts themselves.
The parts can be many things: definitions of programs, transactions and files, JSON or web service definitions, Java applications for CICS's Liberty server, event processing rules and more. A BUNDLE resource in CICS points to the bundle's directory. Installing and enabling the BUNDLE installs everything in it. Disabling it removes them together.
This makes deployment more repeatable. Instead of defining each resource separately with CEDA, a team builds the bundle, often from a development tool or build pipeline, and deploys it to each region in the same way.
Bundles sit alongside traditional resource definitions, and many applications use both. If you see BUNDLE resources in a region, look at the bundle's manifest to see what they contain.
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Right here, at ZedBank. You take a junior job at a simulated bank and learn each part of the work by doing it, with Zed beside you. There's nothing to install.
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- CICS regionOne running copy of CICS, with its own programs, files and users. A site typically runs several.
- CEDAThe CICS transaction used to define resources such as programs, transactions and files, and install them in a running CICS region.
- zFSThe z/OS File System: the type of file system that holds Unix files and directories on z/OS.
- Change controlThe process every change goes through before reaching production: reviewed, approved, scheduled and reversible.
- CICSThe transaction manager that runs online mainframe applications, and the software behind a great many screens bank staff use.