New features in IMS TM Resource Adapter Version 10

You can enable IMS™ applications to issue both synchronous and asynchronous callout requests to external Java™ applications and services starting from IMS TM Resource Adapter Version 10. Version 10 also adds the support for IMS applications to participate in business process choreography and in SOA solutions that involve complex data types.
Tip: If Version 10 of the IMS TM Resource Adapter is not included in your version of the integrated development environment, you can download the resource adapter from the IMS TM Resource Adapter website and import the resource adapter into your development environment.

In addition to all the base features in earlier versions of IMS TM Resource Adapter, IMS TM Resource Adapter Version 10 provides the following new features.

Begin figure description. IMS TM Resource Adapter Version 10.5.1 and later versions only. End figure description. Connection failure recovery for callout messages
The resource adapter will attempt to reconnect to IMS if the backend IMS data store is not available. A new -1 value is added to the IMSActivationSpec retryLimit property to support indefinite retry for connection. When the retry is successful and the connection is restored, informational messages are provided to indicate the successful re-connection.
Begin figure description. IMS TM Resource Adapter Version 10.4 and later versions only. End figure description. Support for a transaction to expire after the execution times out
The OTMA transaction expiration function in IMS Version 10 and later enables a client application to instruct IMS Connect to indicate to IMS OTMA that, when the execution times out, the client application no longer waits for the response, and OTMA should discard or dequeue the transaction.
Prior to this OTMA enhancement, when IMS does not have the resources to process a transaction in the allotted time frame as specified in the executionTimeout property, the transaction cannot be cancelled.
To support this OTMA enhancement, a new transExpiration property is added to the IMSInteractionSpec class in IMS TM Resource Adapter Version 10.4 and later to instruct OTMA to discard or dequeue the transaction when the execution timeout value is reached.
This support enables an IMS TM resource adapter client application to take advantage of the transaction expiration enhancement in OTMA to relieve OTMA from having to process unnecessary messages from the IMS TM resource adapter.
The OTMA transaction expiration function for IMS Version 10 requires APARs PK70458, PK74024, and PK74017.
Begin figure description. IMS TM Resource Adapter Version 10.2 and later versions only. End figure description. Support for the invocation of IMS applications by using complex data types from distributed platforms
With WebSphere® Transformation Extender Design Studio, you can build applications that send complex data formats to and from IMS applications.
WebSphere Transformation Extender is a transaction-oriented, data integration solution that automates the transformation of high-volume, complex transactions across the enterprise. You can use its Type Designer to generate a type tree from your COBOL copybook. A type tree is a graphical data dictionary that contains metadata definitions of the input and output structures. You then use the Map Designer to specify rules for transforming and routing data.
With WebSphere Transformation Extender, IMS applications can further participate in your SOA solution when complex data formats are involved, including data format standards such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Support for both synchronous and asynchronous callout requests from IMS applications to external message-driven beans (MDBs), Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) components, or web services.
IMS applications that run in IMS dependent regions can interact with business logic that resides outside of the IMS environment by making either synchronous or asynchronous callout requests to Java EE applications that run on WebSphere Application Server. IMS callout requests are routed to the external Java EE application through OTMA, IMS Connect, and the IMS TM resource adapter. The Java EE application then retrieves the callout request from the hold queue for further processing. Any responses from external applications can be returned to the IMS system synchronously in the same transaction, or asynchronously in a different transaction.
For MDBs, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) authentication is supported for communication with IMS through the JCA 1.5 resource adapters inbound messaging support.
Important: Asynchronous callout support by using an EJB was added in IMS TM Resource Adapter Version 10.1. Synchronous callout support and the asynchronous callout support by using an MDB are added in IMS TM Resource Adapter Version 10.3.
Business process choreography support of IMS conversations
With WebSphere Integration Developer and the IMS TM resource adapter, you can build applications that are targeted to run on IBM®WebSphere Process Server that invoke IMS conversational transactions. Applications that are based on Service Component Architecture (SCA) can connect and invoke IMS conversational transactions through IMS Connect at run time. You can use the new client-managed conversation state programming model to enable IMS conversational applications to participate in business process choreography.
Support for reestablishing any stale connection in a connection pool when the connection encounters a communication failure.
With this enhancement, you can recycle IMS Connect during system maintenance without having to resubmit any IMS TM resource adapter interactions from the client application.
When a request comes in and uses a connection that just turned stale because IMS Connect is being recycled, the IMS TM resource adapter will throw an exception. When the next request comes in and tries to use the same connection, the IMS TM resource adapter will check to see if IMS Connect is up. If IMS Connect is up, the IMS TM resource adapter will reconnect before submitting the interaction request. Because the IMS TM resource adapter will reconnect the socket after it confirms that IMS Connect is up and running, you do not need to manually manage the socket connection or resubmit any interactions.
Rerouting undelivered output messages to a specified destination for commit mode 0, SYNC_SEND interactions on sharable persistent sockets
The reroute function allows undelivered output messages to be rerouted to a specified destination. Previously, the reroute function support was limited to commit mode 0 (CM0), SYNC_SEND_RECEIVE interactions on sharable persistent sockets. This enhancement supports the reroute function on CM0, SYNC_SEND interactions on sharable persistent sockets.
Support for changing RACF® passwords from Java applications
Java applications can use the IMS TM resource adapter to change the RACF password by issuing a HWSPWCH command.
Support for Java applications to send PING requests to IMS Connect
Java applications can use the IMS TM resource adapter to send PING requests to IMS Connect by issuing a PING IMS_CONNECT command.
Support for returning multiple output messages for commit mode 0 interactions as a single, multi-segment message
Multiple PURG calls in an IMS application for a commit mode 0 interaction can be ignored and processed as a commit mode 1 interaction. For a commit mode 0 SYNC_SEND_RECEIVE interaction, you can have the multiple output messages returned as a single, multi-segment message by setting the ignorePURGCall property of the IMSInteractionSpec object to TRUE. This function simplifies the migration of commit mode 1 applications to commit mode 0.
Support for enhanced security for callout requests
Retrieval of callout requests or asynchronous output messages from the hold queue (RESUME TPIPE security) is enhanced through the specification of a user ID that will be authorized by IMS OTMA.

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