Calling a Service that exists on the mainframe, from Linux, via Com Bridge

[Maureen Brown]

Hi, 

We have a Web Service that is a proxy for accessing a CA GEN component operation on the mainframe. The Web Service corresponds to a procedure step, which calls the component operation.  I've been trying to understand how to call this from a Linux CA GEN program, using a com Bridge. I have no experience doing this and can't seem to find much detail in the documentation.  Any guidance is appreciated.

[Steve Holton]

Hi Maureen, 

Regarding your configuration.  You can call a web service from a Linux Gen procedure/application, a suggested method would be to use a 'Call External' from the Gen application on Linux to call the web service directly.   Regarding the Comms Bridge requirement, I don't believe you can call the web service via a Linux Gen application through the Comms Bridge, would have to review.   Why do you have a requirement to include the Comms Bridge in the configuration? 

Here is Gen 8.6 documentation related to the Call External statement: 

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/ca-mainframe-software/devops/ca-gen/8-6/developing/designing/using-the-toolset/working-with-toolset/use-action-diagram/assignment-action-statements/add-a-call-external-statement/call-external-statement-in-action-diagram.html 

Note - Other users may have additional experience with a similar configuration as you describe and can provide input on this post.  If you need additional input please open a Gen support case for review.

Thank You, 

Steve 

[Lynn Williams]

Hi Maureen,
Further to Steve's reply, the Call External enables calling any type of SOAP web service (Gen or non-Gen) via http/https. That would be directly over TCP/IP so per Steve's comment the Gen Comm Bridge Middleware product would not come into play.
To use Call External the Linux Gen program could be C or Java and the hosting Linux server network configuration would of course need to allow access to call the web service.

If the Web Service is a REST web service there is also the more recent Call REST statement but only Java is supported for distributed platforms like Linux:
https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/ca-mainframe-software/devops/ca-gen/8-6/developing/designing/using-the-toolset/working-with-toolset/use-action-diagram/assignment-action-statements/add-a-call-rest-statement.html

Hope it helps

Regards

Lynn

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Lynn Williams
Senior Principal Support Engineer
Broadcom Software
Australia
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[Kim Peelman]

@Steve Holton Thanks for replying with those details. 

@Maureen Brown We also have a community specifically for Gen. If you'd like to seek feedback from other Gen users, posting to that group may also be a good option. Here is a link to the Gen EDGE community: https://community.broadcom.com/mainframesoftware/communities/communityhomeblogs?CommunityKey=4182c217-4789-4997-8f22-87de25983f6e. Once you have joined, it will appear in "My Communities" in the top menu of this site. 

Have a great day!

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Kim Peelman
[e-mail]
Product Owner, Gen
Broadcom
Plano, TX
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