I've used (only) [CA-]TPX since the 80s. It's common in (somewhat) larger shops to use a session manager for several reasons.
1. With several LPARs, the number of required logons can balloon dramatically. TSO. SMCS. Omegamon. CICS. CICS alone accounts for dozens (!) of our logon requirements across multiple LPARs. If you truly have <10 logon requirements, then a session manager might not be necessary. 2. We manage a full function DR environment, which nearly doubles the number of required logons during testing. With TPX, we log our emulator on only once to the production network and once to the DR network. This amplifies the argument in (1). 3. TPX offers a component to facilitate changing passwords. Assuming that a user maintains the same password across all logons, by changing the password just once at TPX logon, then logging on successively to all supported sessions will update the password on each. One minute to update and synchronize all passwords. 4. Perhaps the greatest benefit of all, TPX itself holds all sessions regardless of the status of your emulator. Of course Windows is more reliable than it used to be, but it still falls far short of mainframe RAS. The more active sessions you have open, the more you'll appreciate not having to log back on to each of them and redo lost work. I've heard that are cheaper session managers that some folks seem to like a lot. I imagine that they all provide for (1), (2), and (4) above. BTW as others have noted, your LPARs *must* be connected via whatever supports SNA to the LPAR where the session manager runs. For us, that's the 'CMC'. You could run multiple instances of a session manager, but that dilutes the effectiveness and might raise license cost. . . J.O.Skip Robinson Southern California Edison Company Electric Dragon Team Paddler SHARE MVS Program Co-Manager 323-715-0595 Mobile 626-543-6132 Office ⇐=== NEW robin...@sce.com -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Gadi Ben-Avi Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2018 5:34 AM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: (External):Re: Session Manager The system I am talking about has 4 LPARs I need at least: 1 session for TSO/ISPF 2 Session for Omegamon - might need to have more. So that is already 8 sessions. For each of those, I have to be sure I'm working on the right system. This is my main cause for getting a session manager. Making sure I am working to the system I mean to be working on. Gadi -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jousma, David Sent: Wednesday, March 7, 2018 2:01 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: Session Manager Isn't the idea of a session manager kinda fading into the sunset? These were popular back in the days of coax attached 3270 terminals, but these days, having as many emulator windows open on your workstation is easier? Not criticizing, just curious on the need I guess. _________________________________________________________________ Dave Jousma Manager Mainframe Engineering, Assistant Vice President david.jou...@53.com 1830 East Paris, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 MD RSCB2H p 616.653.8429 f 616.653.2717 -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Gadi Ben-Avi Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2018 3:27 AM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Session Manager **CAUTION EXTERNAL EMAIL** **DO NOT open attachments or click on links from unknown senders or unexpected emails** Hi, I am looking for recommendations for a session manager for z/OS. I know of IBM's CL/SupperSession, CA's TPX and NetPass. Ideally, We are looking for something that would be able to access sessions on multiple partitions that are not connected in any way. The systems run z/OS v2.2 Thanks Gadi ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
