We run our consoles painlessly on the same PCs using the same 3270 emulator du jour (Rumba, Extra, and IBM's Personal Communications) that we use for TSO access. All are driven from the same OSA using Ethernet and are independent of how the OSA is connected to the CPU box. Also no extra special purpose cables.
:>: -----Original Message----- :>: From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On :>: Behalf Of Ed Jaffe :>: Sent: Saturday, June 01, 2013 8:24 AM :>: To: [email protected] :>: Subject: Local MCS Console Solutions :>: :>: We run a small, mostly "lights out" operation. When we do turn the :>: lights on, there are local, MCS consoles (Visara NCTs) coax-attached to :>: a Visara SCON-11L controller which multiplexes channel connections for :>: eight LPARs over a single point-to-point ESCON attachment. :>: :>: Each physical Visara NCT console is seen as eight separate devices by :>: the host and each device appears attached to a different LPAR. An :>: operator can walk up to any NCT, power up the monitor, use the :>: keyboardto rotate through the eight LPARs, stop on any one of them, and :>: then interact with that LPAR. There is also remote access capability; :>: there are additional "virtual" MCS consoles being maintained by the :>: SCON-11L to which we can connect using ordinary TN3270 clientsfrom our :>: offices, from home, etc. :>: :>: We're quite happy with this very functional console solution. However, :>: when we upgrade our processor to a zBC12 (or whatever the next mid-range :>: processor ends up being called), it won't support ESCON anymore. So, we :>: need to do something: :>: :>: 1. Install ESCON <-> FICON converters. Do they work for this sort of :>: application? :>: 2. Upgrade to Visara's latest FICON-attached offerings. Any experiences? :>: 3. Consider other console technologies. How do they stack up to Visara? :>: :>: Experiencesand recommendationsmuch appreciated. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
