Matan Rather than twiddle my thumbs waiting for some answers which are a *long* time coming, I decided to try to fill in some of the blanks myself - all in the interests of trying to keep up to date in case any future request for a consultancy might require knowledge of a current topic.
First let me correct one of the answers I gave last time. >> Can I configure the SNA configuration so it will work over a TCP\IP , ... > Yes This was *wrong* - sorry! The correct answer should have been as follows: No, but I expect that equally acceptable would be the possibility to "configure the SNA configuration so it will work over a UDP/IP" since I expect the *real* requirement is that the IP network is used. Am I right? Hoping that the information provided would be correct at an overview level - discarding as I discovered was necessary far, far too much "motherhood"[1] - as it can sometimes be wide of the mark at a detailed level - I checked the redbook site for the token "txseries": http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/cgi-bin/searchsite.cgi?query=txseries There were 8 "hits" and, rather worryingly, 2 did not allow a download. Fortunately, the manuals around which the cloak was tightly wrapped looked as if they were not vital for my purposes - but somebody else ... ? >From "TXSeries for Multiplatforms Version 6 Revealed! The Next Generation of >Distributed CICS"[2] and, simply, "Revealed! The Next Generation of >Distributed CICS"[3] I managed to work out that what had been gobbledegook > TXseries using a PPC gateway ( SL2 ) actually "betokened" the following: <diagram> end user work stations A | IP (TCP or UDP, but probably TCP) | V AIX* with TXSeries A | IP (TCP) | V AIX* with Peer-to-Peer Communications (PPC) Gateway Server A | SNA | V z/OS with CICS Transaction Server * These could be the same system. </diagram> Also I see that Synchronisation Level 2 (SL2) requires the use of the PPC Gateway Server. >From "Revealed! The Next Generation of Distributed CICS": <quote> 4.3.2 TXSeries and local SNA configuration ... If synchronization level 2 is required, you must use PPC Gateway server SNA support. ... </quote> Furthermore, we also find the following: <quote> 1.9.1 Deployment choices Choosing the network protocol for intersystem communication ... Synchronization level 2 across an SNA connection requires a separately purchased communications product such as IBM Communications Server to be installed on the same machine as TXSeries. ... </quote> Since I suspected you already knew all about Enterprise Extender, I got to wondering if the word "purchased" above had stuck in the craw of the "suit" in charge of the software budget and he or she had asked you to plead penury to any "gurus" who may have a trick or two up their sleeves! Actually I suspect the above isn't quite correct and it should be that, in your case, Communications Server for AIX must be installed in the same machine as is running the PPC Gateway Server - which need not be, but generally will be, the same machine as is running TXSeries. - I also managed to appreciate that this was, in principle, more than any more general topic, a CICS question and so would probably best have been posed in the CICS list, CICS-L. However, I have noticed lately that the denizens of CICS-L are technically a bit shaky when stepping outside their immediate "comfort zone" and so probably it's no bad thing to post in IBM-MAIN or, for more of a focus on matters related also to Communications Server (CS), specifically z/OS CS, IBMTCP-L: For IBMTCP-L subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBMTCP-L - As for the reliability in detail of the redbook, treat it with utmost mistrust when it claims to deal with the configuration of the SNA products. Any discussion which conflates the SNA PU (physical unit) entity with the SNA CP (control point) entity - unless the subject under discussion covers the comparing and contrasting of network management flows - is clearly the work of amateurs who haven't had adequate education in the topic they purport to describe! See "Key" 2 in Table A-1, "Names and values relationship" Recall that I mentioned before that, in SNA, one medium for connecting two adjacent SNA nodes is as good as any other. The example in Appendix A lists the following definition items: 1. Define the node. 2. Define the data link control (DLC). 3. Define ports. 4. Define link stations. 5. Define the LU6.2 local LU. 6. Define the LU6.2 partner LU. 7. Define the LU6.2 mode. 8. Define the partner LU6.2 location. 9. Define side information (optional). Steps 2 to 3 relate to Ethernet as a medium. There is no reason whatsoever at all why the medium should not be Enterprise Extender. Step 1, "Define the node", is somewhere between misleading and very misleading when it proposes that the AIX node (and I saw also the Windows node) should be an APPN *Network* Node. As a sample, tosh! I can think of a reason why having a Network Node would be a correct choice but very few customer configurations will require it. As a sample an APPN *End* Node is what should have been used. Steps 5, 6 and 7 are to be expected when parallel SSCP-independent sessions using LU type 6.2 needs to be defined. Step 8 is utter, utter, utter nonsense! The inability for authors, imagining they are describing APPN definitions, to advance beyond the overdefinition requirements of antediluvian Low Entry Networking (LEN) just makes me physically sick! Then I had a look at the last few of the actual samples and - would you Adam and Eve it? - nary a trace of "partner LU 6.2 location"! It looks as if they reproduced the list from some description from a bygone age and didn't bother to take the trouble to check the "summary" against the "detail". Well, it's a redbook, so we're in "Curate's Egg" territory! Unfortunately, the VTAM definitions are not shown so that I could tear those to threads as well! The above comments relate to the AIX definitions. The problem I mentioned before regarding the inability to distinguish the SNA PU entity and the SNA CP entity looks like it infects the Windows definitions which appear to cater for DLUR/DLUS - which I would expect if somehow TN3270 was being supported. I'd be rather surprised if the Windows definitions actually worked! If they do, I'd like to see how! - [1] Redbooks are *not* for "motherhood" - that just wastes logical trees. They are for technical detail albeit, as required here, at a general level. "Motherhood" is for announcement letters - supposedly to impress "suits" - although any "suit" worth his or her salt will probably treat it all as hogwash and ask his technical folk for whatever meat may be encased in the obese verbiage. [2] http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp4099.html [3] http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247185.html - Chris Mason On Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:31:49 -0600, Chris Mason <[email protected]> wrote: >Matan > >> Does somebody have some info regarding building a SNA network configuration >> between Z/os to AIX , ... > >I can safely say "Yes"! > >> Can I configure the SNA configuration so it will work over a TCP\IP , ... > >Yes > >I'm guessing you also want to know *how*! It's called Enterprise Extender.[1] >A deprecated alternative is to use DLSw. > >> ... instead of building a pure SNA network ? > >It depends what you have in mind by "pure". > >SNA defines formats and protocols for communication over a network of nodes. >Using the OSI model, communication between adjacent nodes is called "data link >control" (DLC). In support of the DLC layer, SNA allows a number of different >"lower level" protocols, for example, SDLC or 802.2 (over a LAN). Included in >the category of DLC is the combination of UDP over IP. Taking the point of >view of IP-based protocols, UDP is a "transport" protocol and IP is a >"network" protocol. However, from the point of view of SNA, together with an >802.2-like "protocol conversion" (sub)layer, the UDP/IP combination is simply >a DLC.[2] > >Thus an SNA network which incorporates Enterprise Extender here and there as a >means of communications between adjacent nodes is as *pure* an SNA network as >any you will find - or, sadly these days, used to be able to find. > >- > >> ... I now facing this issue in order to configure a communication for CICS >> <-> TXseries using a PPC gateway ( SL2 ). > >If you want further guidance - from me anyhow - please explain the >significance of the presumed software you mention here, perhaps with an online >URL or two. CICS I know, the rest not. > >- > >As always, if a question might involve the IP component of z/OS Communications >Server, the best place to ask the question is in the following list: > >For IBMTCP-L subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to >[email protected] with the message: INFO IBMTCP-L > >- > >[1] I thought you knew all about Enterprise Extender! Assuming you do know all >about Enterprise Extender in VTAM, you need to check on how to set up >Enterprise Extender in Communications Server for AIX. Unfortunately my saved >URL for a page from which you could download all the manuals of all flavours >of Communications Server no longer works - I do ***not*** accept the IBM >apologies you may be sure! The following is an URL for the Administration >Guide of V6.4 which indicates the possibility to use Enterprise Extender: > >http://www-05.ibm.com/e-business/linkweb/publications/servlet/pbi.wss?CTY=US&FNC=SRX&PBL=SC31-8586-04 > >[2] While checking to get you the necessary reference for the AIX manuals, I >found this list which precisely illustrates my point: > ><quote> > >Each port is associated with a specific link protocol, which can be any of the >following: > >- SDLC >- Token ring >- Ethernet >- X.25 or QLLC (qualified logical link control) >- Multipath Channel (MPC) >- Enterprise Extender (HPR/IP) > ></quote> > >- > >Chris Mason > >On Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:22:20 +0200, Matan Cohen <[email protected]> >wrote: > >>Hi , >>Does somebody have some info regarding building a SNA network configuration >>between Z/os to AIX , I now facing this issue in order to configure a >>communication for CICS <-> TXseries using a PPC gateway ( SL2 ). >>My main question is : >>Can I configure the SNA configuration so it will work over a TCP\IP , >>instead of building a pure SNA network ? >> >>-- >>______________________ >>best regards, >>matan cohen ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
