CEMT
The CICS transaction used to see and change what is running in a region, enquiring on resources and acting on them.
Also written CEDA, master terminal
CEMT is the master terminal transaction, the main hands-on tool for working with a running CICS region. It has two halves: enquire, which shows the state of things, and set, which changes it.
You use it to check whether a program, file or transaction is defined and available; to bring a file online or take it offline; to disable a transaction that is causing trouble; and to make CICS load a fresh copy of a program after a change. That last one is a daily activity for developers, because a newly compiled program does not take effect until the running region is told to pick it up.
It shows connections and tasks too, which is where you look when transactions are running slowly or something is holding a resource.
The commands are terse and the authority to use them is controlled, since setting the wrong resource in a production region has immediate consequences. Its close relative CEDA defines resources rather than acting on running ones.
Related terms
- CICSThe transaction manager that runs online mainframe applications, and the software behind a great many screens bank staff use.
- CICS regionOne running copy of CICS, with its own programs, files and users. A site typically runs several.
- Transaction IDA four-character code that tells CICS which program to run, typed on the screen or triggered by a key.
- CICS transactionOne unit of online work in CICS: the whole exchange of receiving a request, doing the work, and sending a response.
- Load moduleThe runnable form of a program, stored in a library, which JCL executes by name.