aws-samples Mainframe Modernization Diagnostics
When to use
Any AWS Mainframe Modernization investigation — application creation, runtime environments, batch jobs, data sets, CICS/IMS, refactoring, or replatforming.
Investigation workflow
Step 1 — Collect and triage
aws m2 list-environments --max-results 20
aws m2 list-applications --max-results 20
aws m2 get-environment --environment-id <env-id>
aws m2 get-application --application-id <app-id>
Step 2 — Domain deep dive
aws m2 list-batch-job-executions --application-id <app-id> --max-results 10
aws m2 get-batch-job-execution --application-id <app-id> --execution-id <exec-id>
aws m2 list-data-sets --application-id <app-id> --max-results 20
aws m2 list-deployments --application-id <app-id> --max-results 10
Step 3 — Detailed investigation
aws m2 get-deployment --application-id <app-id> --deployment-id <deploy-id>
aws m2 get-data-set-details --application-id <app-id> --data-set-name <name>
aws cloudwatch get-metric-statistics --namespace AWS/M2 --metric-name CPUUtilization --dimensions Name=EnvironmentId,Value=<env-id> --start-time <start> --end-time <end> --period 300 --statistics Average
aws cloudtrail lookup-events --lookup-attributes AttributeKey=EventSource,AttributeValue=m2.amazonaws.com --max-results 10
Read references/guardrails.md before concluding on any Mainframe Modernization issue.
Gotchas: Mainframe Modernization
- Two engines: Micro Focus (replatforming) and Blu Age (refactoring/automated).
- Runtime environments are managed compute for running mainframe applications.
- Batch jobs run COBOL/JCL programs in the managed environment.
- Data sets are mainframe-style data storage managed by the service.
- CICS and IMS transaction processing is supported in Micro Focus engine.
- Applications must be deployed to an environment before they can run.
Anti-hallucination rules
- Micro Focus and Blu Age engines have different capabilities and use cases.
- Runtime environments must be created before deploying applications.
- Data sets must be imported or created before batch jobs can reference them.
- CICS/IMS support is Micro Focus engine only, not Blu Age.
- Application deployment is a separate step from application creation.
- Spend no more than 2 minutes on any single hypothesis. Pivot if inconclusive.
14 runbooks
| Category | IDs | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| A — Application | A1-A2 | App creation, deployment |
| B — Runtime | B1-B2 | Environment creation, config |
| C — Batch | C1-C2 | Batch jobs, JCL execution |
| D — Data | D1-D2 | Data sets, import/export |
| E — CICS/IMS | E1-E2 | Transaction processing, config |
| F — Refactoring | F1 | Blu Age refactoring |
| G — Replatforming | G1-G2 | Micro Focus replatforming, testing |
| Z — Catch-All | Z1 | General troubleshooting |