BIM-PACK

BIM-PACK is designed with a three-tier architecture comprising the VSAM intercept module, compression/decompression engine, and administrative interface. The VSAM intercept module resides within the z/OS or z/VSE address space and intercepts VSAM I/O requests. The compression/decompression engine performs the actual compression and decompression of VSAM data.

The administrative interface provides a command-line interface (CLI) and a web console for configuration and monitoring. Communication between components is primarily through internal system calls. The VSAM intercept module communicates with the compression/decompression engine via SVC calls.

The administrative interface communicates with the VSAM intercept module through authorized commands. BIM-PACK integrates with existing security systems such as RACF, ACF2, and Top Secret for authentication and authorization. It uses an Access Control List (ACL) model for access control.

Configuration is managed through control statements. Key parameters include compression level, buffer size, and dataset selection criteria. Monitoring is available through the web console and SMF records.

Compared to products like CA Compress and FDRComp, BIM-PACK is designed for minimal overhead and ease of integration.