Re: RFE for new SMPP support in zOS
Yes, e-mail-to-SMS/MMS is fairly common in the United States among other places, but it's not common everywhere. For example, it's not available with Singapore's mobile carriers as far as I know. It's not terribly common in Europe either. The RESTful interfaces to SMS/MMS message centers are a better option at this point in time, at least if you're implementing something new, more global, and/or more reliable (fewer hops/intermediaries/gateways). But you might also want to send an e-mail in addition to a carrier text message and/or mobile push message. Or even trigger an automatic voice call. As another example, Japan really never hopped on the SMS/MMS bandwagon, instead jumping straight to mobile handset-based "full" e-mail clients. So the e-mail path works for them, but there's no e-mail-to-SMS gateway in the loop. By the way, please take advantage of the lovely CICS SupportPac CA1Y, just recently updated: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24033197 This SupportPac is provided "as is," but it's a great little kit nonetheless. It equips CICS Transaction Server for z/OS with a very easy-to-consume capability, based on JavaMail, to send e-mails either asynchronously (recommended) or synchronously. Although not tested, the same SupportPac includes functions for CICS programs to *retrieve* e-mails as well, via standard IMAP and POP3 protocols. TLS encryption is supported, you can generate PDF and other attachments -- loads of wonderful stuff there, all at no additional charge to those of you with CICS Transaction Server. If you don't have a CICS Transaction Server license then you can go grab JavaMail from here: https://java.net/projects/javamail/pages/Home and use it right away on z/OS's JVM in other contexts. Timothy Sipples IT Architect Executive, Industry Solutions, IBM z Systems, AP/GCG/MEA E-Mail: sipp...@sg.ibm.com -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
Re: RFE for new SMPP support in zOS
I highly recommend using XMITIP too if you are running SMTP. We've been using it at my site for over 10 years now without any issues for sending email to Lotus Notes, MS Exchange, pagers, cell phones and Fax. Mark T. Regan, K8MTR CTO1, USNR-Retired 1969-1991 On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 10:07 AM, John McKown wrote: > On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 8:58 AM, Tim Hare > wrote: > > > Thanks for the info... Using a RESTFUL interface is probably the way to > go > > for the use cases I had in mined - primarily having an automated > operations > > tool send notifications to support personnel. We used to have a way to > do > > it for pagers but never got one built when cell phones became the > standard > > issue for on call people. > > > > > We do that by using a "email to SMS gateway". That is, we define a MS > Exchange email address for the support person which is like: > john.mckown(cell) . On z/OS, we send an email, using XMITIP, to this > address. The MS Exchange > > then relays it on to the "telephone_number@cell-provider" address which > sends it out (MMS actuall) to the cell phone. > > > -- > The unfacts, did we have them, are too imprecisely few to warrant our > certitude. > > Maranatha! <>< > John McKown > > -- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
Re: RFE for new SMPP support in zOS
On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 8:58 AM, Tim Hare wrote: > Thanks for the info... Using a RESTFUL interface is probably the way to go > for the use cases I had in mined - primarily having an automated operations > tool send notifications to support personnel. We used to have a way to do > it for pagers but never got one built when cell phones became the standard > issue for on call people. > > We do that by using a "email to SMS gateway". That is, we define a MS Exchange email address for the support person which is like: john.mckown(cell) . On z/OS, we send an email, using XMITIP, to this address. The MS Exchange then relays it on to the "telephone_number@cell-provider" address which sends it out (MMS actuall) to the cell phone. -- The unfacts, did we have them, are too imprecisely few to warrant our certitude. Maranatha! <>< John McKown -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
Re: RFE for new SMPP support in zOS
Thanks for the info... Using a RESTFUL interface is probably the way to go for the use cases I had in mined - primarily having an automated operations tool send notifications to support personnel. We used to have a way to do it for pagers but never got one built when cell phones became the standard issue for on call people. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
Re: RFE for new SMPP support in zOS
It's fair to say that SMPP is rapidly becoming a legacy protocol if it isn't already. The SMS Forum, which developed SMPP, disbanded nearly 10 years ago. Those aren't necessarily arguments against adding some sort of IBM-delivered SMPP support to z/OS in some fashion, but they probably don't help. By the way, the IANA-assigned TCP port for SMPP is 2775, not 80 or 443. The newer/hipper/modern-er way to send a carrier text message is via JSON/RESTful interfaces, and z/OS already supports those via the z/OS Client Web Enablement Toolkit. That toolkit is included in the base z/OS 2.2 operating system and available via the service stream for z/OS 2.1 as well. You can test that path right now using, as one example, Twilio: https://www.twilio.com/docs/api/rest That said, if you're a z/OS licensee there's nothing stopping you from grabbing your favorite SMPP library and using it right away on z/OS. Take a look at OpenSmpp as one example: http://opensmpp.org and Cloudhopper-smpp as another: https://github.com/fizzed/cloudhopper-smpp There are others, too. Are there any other operating systems that include SMPP support as a standard, included feature? I can't think of any. It's always some library that you grab, isn't it? Mind you, I think z/OS needs to continue to be best in class, but we're probably not talking about a big, gaping hole here. You also have the new/hip/modern push message options to consider, usually within the context of a mobile application on iOS and/or Android. Then you don't have carrier SMS/MMS in the loop at all, meaning (among other things) you can still reach mobile clients connected via Wi-Fi, including those mobile clients that don't even have cellular sections such as the iPod touch and non-cellular iPads. There are already various ways to push messages from z/OS through those mechanisms. Another interesting issue to consider is whether you want z/OS to respond to messages also, to support bidirectional conversations. You might need to handle incoming messages at least for regulatory/legal reasons (e.g. unsubscribe functionality). Yes, that's possible to do, today, and there are a few different ways to do it. SMPP doesn't necessarily help, but z/OS Connect probably does. My current thinking is that this whole area is fertile ground for an IBM Redbook, to create some documentation on how to take advantage of all these technical capabilities. I may have just created that Redbook's first draft outline. :-) If you'd like to see such a redbook, "Please ask your friendly IBM representative." Also mention if you'd like to participate in writing such a redbook. No promises, of course, but it can't hurt to ask. Timothy Sipples IT Architect Executive, Industry Solutions, IBM z Systems, AP/GCG/MEA E-Mail: sipp...@sg.ibm.com -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
RFE for new SMPP support in zOS
After discussion at SHARE, I created an RFE (back in March... sorry for the late notice, but life happened and I forgot about it) to add support for the SMPP (Short Message Peer-to-Peer) protocol, for outbound messages. This is the protocol used to communicate the the servers that support the short message service (SMS) also known as text messaging. As stated in the RFE this would allow applications to send notifications to mobile devices via text message. This would use the same port that they're using for the HTTP support. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in you can vote for the RFE at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rfe/execute?use_case=viewRfe&CR_ID=85091 -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN