Datacom Product and Component Overview

Products

Datacom Datacom/AD Datacom/DB

Issue/Introduction

I am having trouble locating information on some Datacom products. Can you please explain what are the following products being used for?

Each one has a key for mainframe usage and I need information about Datacom SQL, VSAM/T, DBC CICS Services.

Environment

z/OS
Component: Datacom/AD
Component: Datacom/DB

Resolution

The Datacom/DB product line is made up of the database core required products and a set of optional products which can be found under the Datacom Tools documentation. Most sites have at least 1 or 2 of the optional products installed for their specific business needs. Datacom/AD is a tuned version of Datacom/DB and its description can be found down below in the "Other" section.

Core Required Products

Datacom/DB (DB) – The central database engine. All Datacom sites must have this product installed. Datacom/DB provides all basic database functionality, database utilities, and proprietary Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
Datacom Datadictionary (DD) – Provides the metadata management for the Datacom environment. Metadata is the name given to the information that describes and defines the format of the data that is being stored. For data to be loaded into the database engine and then made accessible to user programs, its data definitions must first be defined to the Datadictionary. The Datadictionary is used to enforce data definition standards and can be used to perform a level of data definition standardization and administration.
IPC (IPC) – Provides a common set of functions and facilities for the Datacom and Ideal product sets. IPC must be installed before installing Datacom and Ideal products.

Optional Products

Dataquery for Datacom (DQ) – Provides a standard query facility for Datacom data. Dataquery for Datacom provides the ability to create queries using guided and expert mode. It provides both a proprietary query language (DQL) as well as support for ANSI standard SQL. Queries can be executed using the online (CICS) interactive facility or as a batch job. Dataquery for Datacom uses the Datacom Datadictionary metadata to build, validate and execute its queries.
Datacom SQL (SQL) – Provides an ANSI standard API for Datacom/DB data. The Datacom SQL option provides the ability to write SQL calls using a standard programming language such as Ideal, Assembler, COBOL, or C. For these compiled languages an SQL pre-compiler is provided to resolve the EXEC SQL commands and create static objects to access the database. Datacom SQL also provides the ability for interactive tools such as Dataquery for Datacom and Datacom Datadictionary to issue SQL queries that are processed dynamically. Datacom SQL provides the basic data access layer for the Datacom Server product which provides ODBC or JDBC access from various open systems platforms.
Datacom Fast Restore (FSTR) – Provides a recovery file manage and merge facility that, when incorporated as part of the daily recover file processing, can greatly reduce the time to recover lost or damaged Datacom tables (data). Datacom Fast Restore recovery files can be used in conjunction with DBUTLTY forward or backward recovery.
Datacom Presspack (DATPAK) (z/OS only) – Provides a full function data compression feature to reduce the amount of space used (on DASD) to store Datacom data rows. Datacom Presspack uses the Huffman encoding scheme and supports various compression models (light, heavy, and custom).
Datacom CICS Services (DBC) – Provides IBM CICS customers with a simple and effective way to manage CICS application requests to the Datacom/DB database Multi-User Facility (MUF) environment.
Datacom Server (DBSRV) – Provides standard ODBC or JDBC access to Datacom data from various open systems platforms. To use Datacom Server, the site must also have installed the Datacom SQL option.
Datacom VSAM Transparency (DBVT) – Provides VSAM customers the ability to migrate VSAM data to the Datacom/DB database environment. Existing VSAM programs can continue to be executed with no object module change, even though the data now exists in a Datacom database.
Ideal for Datacom (IDEAL) – Provides a full function CICS-based development environment with advanced editing and debugging features. Ideal is a complete 4GL development environment for Datacom users. It provides a standard run-time environment that allows CA Ideal programs to be executed on either z/OS or z/VSE without change. Ideal for Datacom requires that Datacom/DB, Datacom Datadictionary and IPC be installed before installing Ideal.
Ideal Option for DB2 (IDEALDB2) – Provides a full function CICS-based development environment with advanced editing and debugging features. Ideal Option for DB2 is a complete 4GL development environment for the IBM DB2 user. Ideal provides a standard run-time environment that allows Ideal programs to be executed on either z/OS or z/VSE without change. Ideal Option for DB2 requires that Datacom/DB, Datacom Datadictionary and IPC be installed before installing Ideal. For sites without Datacom user data tables, a pre-packaged environment known as Datacom/AD (see the following description) can be used to provide the basic Datacom and IPC facilities used to manage the Ideal programming environment.
Datacom/DB Resource Analyzer (DBRA) – Provides resource utilization and analysis on a program by program basis. It requires the Ideal for Datacom component. While Datacom Resource Analyzer can be used against any program that accesses Datacom database tables, its targets are Ideal, MetaCOBOL+, and Datacom SQL programs that use the SAAT (Set-at-a-time) API to retrieve data rows.

Other

Datacom/AD (AD) – Provides a relational database repository that other Broadcom products (such as CA-7,CA-11,JOBTRAC,ENF,etc...) can use for their metadata management and data storage needs. In the case of Ideal Option for DB2, Datacom/AD also provides various program management facilities for the Ideal programming environment.

Additional Information

Knowledge Article 24713: What is Datacom/AD and Difference Between Datacom/DB?

Knowledge Article 142767: How to know if Datacom/AD or Datacom/DB is in use

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