Renaming CICS Regions

Renaming a region in TXSeries is not as straightforward as renaming a folder on your desktop. The Region name is used in multiple places -As a prefix in creating sfs files, as an entry in the cicssrcdb ( Remember the subsystems blog ? ), the region environment file is created with its name etc..

So, if you do find yourself in a situation where you want to rename your region, there is a simple way to do so.
And no, there is NO "cicscp restart region blah blah ... "

Here is how you do it :

1) Navigate to CICSREGIONS directory which is /var/cics_regions on Unix systems and C:\var\cics_regions in Windows

2) Run the following command :
" cicsexport -r (Your Region Name) -o (Output File)"

Example : cicsexport -r Arena -o OutFile
This should ensure that an output file is created which contains all your region information. Now this regions is shippable to any other machine in a CICS understandable format.

3) Now Run this Command :
"cicsimport -r (New Region Name) -o (Output File) "

Example : "cicsimport -r ARENA -i OutFile"

Take Care that the file in -i option is the same file you created with cicsexport.

4) Now start your region using this command :
"cicscp start region ARENA StartType=cold"

Note : Did you notice that the region names are case sensitive? This might be a reason to rename your regions in case you want it to Communicate with a region on CICS on z/os.

You have now renamed your region! Good to go.