HP 3000 Manuals

COMMUNICATOR 3000/XL: XL REL. 2.2 (A.41.00)

Introducing HP SNA Distribution Services/XL 

by Judy Lin--Information Networks Division 

With HP Desk you can now exchange mail directly with mail users in an IBM
SNA/DS network by using HP SNA Distribution Services/XL (HP SNADS/XL). In
addition to standard HP supported document types such as text, HP Word
and HP Slate, HP SNADS/XL supports the distribution of revisable form
text (RFT) documents, final form text (FFT) documents, notes, and binary
files in a reliable and fully transparent manner.  With HP SNADS/XL,
customers who use HP Desk can send and receive mail from IBM users as if
those users reside on other HP Desk nodes.  Similarly, IBM mail users can
exchange mail with HP Desk users in the same manner as with other IBM
users.

HP SNADS/XL implements the IBM SNA Distribution Services (SNA/DS). SNA/DS
is the IBM strategic protocol for asynchronously transferring data and
control information between distributed applications.  SNA/DS is used
primarily for the reliable store-and-forward of electronic mail between
IBM Office System Nodes such as IBM System/36, AS/400 and IBM 5520.
Specifically, HP SNADS/XL distributes messages between HP DeskManager and
the IBM Distributed Office Support System (DISOSS).

HP SNADS/XL uses LU 6.2 protocols over SNA LINK/XL (either SNA/SDLC
LINK/XL (HP30291A) or SNA/X.25 LINK/XL (HP30298A)) to transmit and
receive messages between the HP 3000 Series 900 and an IBM system 370/MVS
mainframe.  SNA LINK/XL is a combination of hardware and software that
implements the lower four layers of the SNA architecture and provides PU
2.0 support for HP SNADS/XL.


          Figure 1.  HP SNADS/XL Overview 

PRODUCT FEATURES 

In addition to the functionalities described above, HP SNADS/XL provides
the following features:

 *  Message Acknowledgment:  Both IBM and HP users can send messages
    requesting acknowledgment, thus ensuring that the message has reached
    the recipients.

 *  Nondelivery Reports:  When HP SNADS/XL cannot deliver a message, a
    nondelivery report stating the cause will be sent to either the
    originator or the administrator or both.

 *  Partial Operation:  HP SNADS/XL can continue to operate if one of its
    components is inactive.  For example, if the SNA connection is down,
    HP SNADS/XL will keep on processing outgoing HP Desk mail for later
    transmission.  Similarly, if HP DeskManager is temporarily
    unavailable, the product can still receive incoming mail from the SNA
    network.  Under these conditions, the messages will be stored until
    the components are active.

 *  Integrated Configuration:  All of the necessary configuration can be
    performed with existing configuration utilities, namely MAILCONFIG
    for HP Desk related data, and NMMGR for SNA configuration.

 *  Error Recovery:  When HP SNADS/XL cannot deliver a message due to an
    error, the message is placed on a replay queue.  Once the condition
    is corrected, the message can be re-sent using the REPLAY command.

 *  Dynamic Reconfiguration:  Changes in the configuration will take
    effect automatically without stopping the subsystem when the RECONFIG
    command is issued.

 *  Binary File Transfer:  Binary data such as PC files can be sent and
    received by HP SNADS/XL users.  Multiple binary files can be included
    in a single HP Desk message.

 *  Full Mapping Between HPDesk and DISOSS Features:  Features such as
    priority, security, and document type are preserved.

 *  Efficient Line Usage:  Because HP SNADS/XL is an asynchronous
    transport, the connection is active only when there is message
    traffic.  No extra polling for messages is needed.

 *  Batch Configuration:  The customer can configure the necessary HP
    Desk to SNA/DS address mappings in batch mode.

MIGRATION FROM OFFICECONNECT/DISOSS 

HP SNADS/XL offers customers of HP OfficeConnect/DISOSS (HP27515A) better
performance, superior functionality, and easy migration.  Some of the
improvements are:

 *  Simplified configuration
 *  More efficient line utilization leading to increased throughput
 *  Improved user interface
 *  Improved diagnostic tools and utilities
 *  Upward migration path through HP 3000 Series 900 models
 *  End-to-end acknowledgment
 *  Binary data transfer

To ensure a smooth migration, a tool is included to convert the
HPOC/DISOSS Address Conversion Table (ACT) to the format expected by HP
SNADS/XL.

PRODUCT DOCUMENTATION 

For more in-depth discussions of HP SNADS/XL, the following manuals are
available:

 *  HP SNADS/XL HP Desk Gateway Administrator's Guide (P/N 32006-61001).

 *  HP SNADS/XL Node Manager's Guide (P/N 32006-61002).

 *  HP SNADS/XL SNA/Distribution Services:  Electronic Mail User Support 
    Guide (P/N 32006-61003).

 *  HP SNADS/XL HP Desk User Support Guide (P/N 32006-61004).

 *  HP SNA Products:  IBM Host System Programmer's Guide (P/N
    32091-61005):

     *  CICS Guide Host System Programmer's Reference.

     *  DISOSS Guide Host System Programmer's Reference.

     *  ACF/NCP and ACF/VTAM Guide Host System Programmer's Reference.

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