IBM BC-203 manual CTRC and CICS, BC-243

Overview of IBM Networking

Cisco Transaction Connection

•CTRC supports the ability to configure routes for CICS transaction. Each transaction can be routed to a specific CICS region.

•In addition to its CICS-related functionality, CTRC includes the feature previously known as Cisco Database Connection (CDBC), which allows Cisco routers to use IBM's distributed relational database architecture (DRDA) protocol to provide a gateway between client workstations running Open DataBase Connectivity (ODBC) compliant applications on TCP/IP networks and IBM DB2 databases on SNA networks. ODBC is a call-level interface developed by Microsoft Corporation that allows a single application to access database management systems from different vendors using a single interface. SNA is a large, complex, feature-rich network architecture developed by IBM.

•CTRC adds support for TCP/IP passthrough, allowing the use of a TCP/IP network, rather than a SNA network, between a Cisco router and a DB2 database if the database version supports direct TCP/IP access.

•To match functionality provided in DRDA over TCP/IP, CTRC adds support for Password Expiration Management (PEM) in SNA networks where PEM is supported.

•CTRC supports the following MIBs:

–CISCO-DATABASE-CONNECTION-MIB.my - 93

–CISCO-TRANSACTION-CONNECTION-MIB.my - 144

For descriptions of supported MIBs and how to use MIBs, see the Cisco MIB web site on CCO at http://www.cisco.com/public/sw-center/netmgmt/cmtk/mibs.shtml.

CTRC and CICS

CTRC is a Cisco IOS software feature that is available in two environments:

•CICS

•DB2

When a router is configured to use CTRC for communications with CICS systems, the router converts ISC packets over TCP/IP to ISC packets over Advanced Program-to-Program Communications (APPC) LU 6.2 and then routes them to the appropriate CICS region. CTRC converts CICS client messages received via TCP/IP to SNA messages and uses Cisco SNA Switching Services to transmit them to the host.

CTRC runs as a TCP/IP daemon on the router, accepting ISC client connections over TCP/IP. When a client connects to a CICS region on an IBM mainframe host, CTRC allocates an APPC conversation over SNA to an IBM server and acts as a gateway between ISC over TCP/IP and ISC over APPC.

Figure 109 illustrates how CTRC lets CICS client applications on TCP/IP networks interact with CICS transaction monitoring systems on IBM hosts.

Cisco IOS Bridging and IBM Networking Configuration Guide

BC-243