A customer has asked me to post this set of questions.
I am working with a customer that uses a so-called '4th Gen Language'
called XBOL. The 4GL language actually converts the source to real Cobol
which is then compiled normally. XBOL would only produce FCOBOL code and
since the author died several years ago, this customer was stuck using
FCOBOL.
This customer (who is running z/VSE 4.2 and CICS/2.3) has decided that
it's time to move forward. They got me involved and I have updated XBOL
to produce Cobol/VSE code. (They had the source).
Now, they are in the process of recompiling all their online XBOL code
(about 1400 programs) using Cobol/VSE, 31bit and RENT for use by CICS
with the goal to identify any programs with link or compile errors. This
compile pass will be used for some initial testing, but is not intended
to be the final compile pass. (They are doing it outside of their SOX
procedures.)
Now, they are looking at how to roll this into their production
environment.
Some background:
They currently run 4 CICSs. Although they do not have a real TOR/AOR
environment, they do share many (100+) files between the CICSs in a
AOR/DOR type environment. (It's really 4 AORs, but some AORs act as a
DOR for other CICS regions.)
While they have been linking their programs with LE for about 10 years,
a good portion of their CICS phases have not been compiled since then.
Option 1:
Recompile everything using Cobol/VSE, translating with the CICS/2.3
translator and migrate everything piecemeal and continue to run under
CICS/2.3 until everything is in production. Then, in the near future,
mass recompile and translate using the CICS/TS translator and moving in
one big move all their CICSs to CICS/TS.'
Option 2:
Recompile everything that is used by an individual CICS to CICS/TS and
then roll that CICS/TS into production as one big migration for each
CICS region. This would mean that there could be CICS/2.3 to CICS/TS DOR
issues.
Option 3:
Recompile everything for CICS/TS and convert all CICSs to CICS/TS in one
move.
They know that any way they do it, there is risk. Even just recompiling
everything can bring in the wrong version of the program, but they know
that is unavoidable. (It will also satisfy their SOX audit concerns as
source will match phases.)
The consider Option 1 the least risky, but more work on their part. They
consider Option 3 the most risky, but it may be acceptable as it reduced
the time to completion and the man-hours involved.
They know there is no 'perfect' solution. And, they plan on a lot of
testing before rolling it into production.
Also, while they don't mind running both Cobol/VS and Cobol/VSE programs
in the same CICS during the migration, they want to be totally Cobol/VSE
at the end of the project.
They want to know how others have approached this process. They are open
to suggestions and caveats.
--
Tony Thigpen
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