CEDB

CEDB is the restricted form of resource definition online. It runs the same program as CEDA (DFHEDAP) and offers the same DEFINE, ALTER, DISPLAY and EXPAND commands - but the INSTALL command is not available. You can update the CSD, but you cannot touch the running CICS system.

What CEDB can and cannot do

• Can: DEFINE, ALTER, DISPLAY, EXPAND, COPY, MOVE, DELETE, CHECK, LOCK, UNLOCK, ADD, REMOVE, RENAME, APPEND - everything that edits the CSD.
• Cannot: INSTALL. Any attempt is rejected - the running system stays exactly as it is.
• Result: definitions can be prepared, reviewed and checked, but only someone with CEDA can activate them.
• CEDB is a separate transaction id, so security can grant it to developers while reserving CEDA for administrators.

When to use CEDB

• Development and test: developers build and fix definitions without any risk of changing live behaviour.
• Change control: one team prepares definitions with CEDB, another team installs them with CEDA after approval.
• Training: new staff learn RDO safely - the worst they can do is change the CSD, which is checked before install.
• Production inquiry-plus: when CEDC (view only) is too little but full CEDA is too much.

Example - prepare a change with CEDB for someone else to install later: