Subject: Re: Commands from TCP/IP (CSI) Menus
From: Chris Mason (chrismason@belgacom.net)
Date: Wed Nov 04 2009 - 04:01:31 EST
Commands from TCP/IP (CSI) MenusDavid
I see nobody has responded.
I "lurk" in this list looking out for VTAM/SNA topics. I haven't been a VSE (DOS) specialist for getting on for 40 years now so you'll have to excuse my ignorance of the VSE of today. I know a bit about IP and its related protocols but nothing about the VSE implemenentation(s).
With all these caveats, your post still looks a bit confused. As far as I can tell - to some extent, guess - you have applications which are supporting access via VTAM using 3270 data streams. That will require VTAM on every system with such an application. Thus you can't get rid of VTAM itself.
That leaves the SNA networking between systems supported, it would appear, using CTCs. For that you need an SNA architecture.
I'm assuming that you have one TN3270 server on one of your systems which supplies this so-called "TCP/IP menu" identifying the SNA applications to which the TN3270 server is prepared to set up an SNA session, either "same-domain" or "cross-domain", to which to concatenate the TN3290 server to TN3270 client TCP connection.
The fact that you are bemoaning the need for these "VTAM connections" indicates that you are using unreconstructed *subarea* networking between your systems with all the attendant worries of having to rely on obscure PATH statements, CDRMs, COS tables and maybe some more VTAM definition members such as adjacent SSCP tables and CDRSCs if nobody bothered keeping these VTAMs up to date 20 year ago with the streamlining enhancements of the '80s.
What you appear to want is some IP-based software which enables redirection of TN3270 connections to different VSE systems.[1] What you could quite easily do is simply set up a TN3270 server on each of your VSE systems and access each system based on the name entered at your TN3270 client. I expect the TN3270 client software has some sort of selection list available. I see my FileZilla has a "Site Manager" and there is also a "History" under "Quickconnect".[1]
However, additional TN3270 servers may cost money!
What will *not* cost money, and probably could also quite easily be done, is to shake off the SNA subarea networking with APPN networking. I expect you have a LAN infrastructure connecting the systems. That LAN infrastructure could support the SNA APPN connections using the "connection-oriented" 802.2 LAN protocol and hence the CTC connections could "go".
Please post again if you need more assistance.
Chris Mason
[1] Is this what TUBES does? The "IP connection to the application" will still need a TN3270 server function on each VSE system since the applications don't change and they need VTAM.
[2] I was thinking of suggesting using the name server in order to support name to IP address mapping but reasonable clever TN3270 clients bypass this possible approach.
----- Original Message -----
From: Wakser, David
To: VSE Discussion List
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 11:24 PM
Subject: Commands from TCP/IP (CSI) Menus
All:
In a CSI stack, can a menu "command" be something other than a VTAM application name? For example, can it either be an IP address or a TELNET xxx.yyy.zzz command?
I am in the midst of "cleaning up" a client's system and I would LOVE to get rid of all the VTAM connections between the 4 VSE machines. However, they do not have a session manager (like TUBES, which allows IP connections to applications), but they use the TCP/IP menu to choose which CICS in which VSE (or which FAQS in which VSE system) they want to access. If I could utilize an IP connection from the menu instead of a VTAM application, I could get rid of all the VTAM CTCs and all the things that go along with them. Any ideas? Or am I stuck with the VTAM and CTC connections?
David Wakser
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