CICS/Spy

The architecture of CICS/Spy is designed for efficient monitoring and analysis of CICS transactions. The main components include the Spy Agent, the Data Collector, and the Viewer. The Spy Agent is a program that resides within the CICS region and intercepts data streams between CICS applications and terminals.

It captures the data exchanged during transactions. The Data Collector receives the data from the Spy Agent, processes it, and stores it. The Viewer provides a user interface for viewing the captured data.

The communication between these components is primarily internal to the CICS environment, utilizing the CICS API for data transfer. The Spy Agent sends the captured data to the Data Collector using CICS internal mechanisms. The Data Collector stores the data, and the Viewer retrieves it for display.

There are no external APIs exposed. CICS/Spy does not use a separate database; it leverages the CICS environment for data storage. Configuration parameters are set through CICS system initialization parameters and resource definitions.

Security is handled through the CICS security configuration, which typically involves role-based access control (RBAC) using CICS security features. The product's focus is on capturing and displaying the data exchanged between CICS applications and terminals, which is crucial for identifying the root cause of issues. This targeted approach is a key differentiator compared to broader monitoring solutions.