RESTful Web Services › How to Utilize CA OPS/MVS Web Services

How to Utilize CA OPS/MVS Web Services

CA OPS/MVS Web Services lets you remotely access CA OPS/MVS-managed data. For example, you can use Web Services to access the RDF tables that CA OPS/MVS manages or start a REXX program under an OSF server managed by CA OPS/MVS. CA OPS/MVS provides the web service API necessary for such access. You can write third-party applications that utilize well-known web services interfaces to make requests of your web server, and then receive data from the active CA OPS/MVS host. You can write applications that access this API in any programming language. These applications can also run on any operating system, and can reside on any computer in your corporate network. The API is hypertext-driven, meaning that all requests are made using a HTTP-based request from a web browser.

The CA OPS/MVS Web Services Web API is implemented using HTTP and REST principles. This API provides a collection of resources with the following defined aspects:

• The base URI for the Web API, such as https://mvshostname:8443/opsmvs/web
• The response data returned that the Web API returns is in XML format. XML is a Web industry-standard that self-defines the content and architecture of the data.
• The XML format for data sent to the server for requests
• The set of operations that the web API supports, which uses industry-standard HTTP methods (for example, GET, POST, HEAD, OPTIONS).

To utilize CA OPS/MVS Web Services, consider the implementation requirements, configuration, and example use cases:

1. Review the information about fundamental web concepts.

   This information includes HTTP, REST, XML, and so on.

2. Understand the Web Services architecture.

   The architecture describes the relationships of the components that are involved in implementing Web Services.

3. Deploy and configure CA OPS/MVS Web Services.

   Learn about the prerequisites, parameters, and how to configure security and Tomcat for HTTPS.

   We provide two client-side java applications as samples both for testing the configuration of Web Services, and as a starting point for creating robust web service applications.

4. To access these samples open the following URI in a browser.

   https://hostname:port/opsmvs
   

   This URI displays a splash page which contains a link and directions for downloading and configuring the provided sample Java Client applications on both Windows and Linux/UNIX-based distributed machines.

5. Review the following ways that you can use CA OPS/MVS Web Services:
   • Retrieve RDF table information.

     For example, you want to retrieve (GET) a list of RDF tables from the OPS subsystem, or you want to retrieve data from a specific column of a specific table.

   • Execute an OPS/REXX program to run in any of the OSF server types.

     For example, you are responsible for initiating (POST) several OPS/REXX applications that either query data that you want to display, or initiate a mainframe action.

6. Review the Web Services XML responses and examples.

   The response to CA OPS/MVS Web Services requests come back to the caller as XML documents. These XML documents are defined formally and described by XML Schema Definitions, or XSD files. The &hlq.CCLXSAMP library provides TableList.xsd for verifying the XML response document in a program that is designed to utilize an XML schema. This library also provides the CmdClient and guiMainFrame sample Java programs which demonstrate how to send HTTP requests, and how to parse and interpret the XML responses.