Reliable Mainframe Access from your Desktop

Extremely Reliable 3270 Application Access from Visara

Visara offers high reliability connections to your mainframe applications, whether your desktop is a PC, thin client, or a more traditional fixed-function terminal. The Visara S-series communication servers, provide support for large quantities of TN3270E clients, as well as coax, IPX, ASCII, and Telnet clients, all on a dedicated communications server platform, to provide high reliability and throughput.

Scalable

The Visara S-series platforms provide unparalleled support in a very scaleable platform. Support as few as 16 or as many as 4048 users on the same 1174-25S platform. With the multiprocessor architecture of the 1174 S-series, adding more users does not mean compromising performance. With addition of every interface, the 1174 platform provides additional processing capabilities to supply reliable and predictable performance results.

The S-series even provides scaleable solutions that span multiple 1174 platforms, providing reliability beyond that of a single platform. Through the LINCS Session Management System (SMS), users can access multiple 1174 TN3270E servers as if they were one server. SMS allows TN3270E sessions to be spread across multiple 1174 servers providing a fault-tolerant, load-balancing server function, not depending on the health of any individual server, or host communication link. User configurations are kept simple, with a single configuration and procedure to access the host through whichever 1174 is most available.

With the 1174 S-series, solutions for even tens of thousands of users can be made simple and reliable.

Up to 16 Different Host Connections

The S-Series platform supports up to sixteen 3270 connections to different hosts or LPARs. These host connections can be over SNA and Non-SNA communication links that include ESCON, Bus and Tag channel, SDLC, Frame Relay, BSC, X.25, Token Ring and Ethernet. Even mainframe access through APPN with DLUR is supported!

Connections for any or even all of these interfaces can be supported on the same platform as needed. Configuration of users is very dynamic. Clients can be:

• Mapped to a specific host and LU
• Mapped to a pool of Lus associated with a specific host
• Mapped to a pool of Lus associated with multiple host links
• Mapped to a connect menu that allows users to select the host connection that is needed
• Allowed to request the host and required LU through the client's configuration

Security

In addition to mainframe-based security, 1174 S-series offers a variety of security options. Among the security options offered are:

• Password support
• IP Address Filtering
• IP Subnet filtering
• Optional non-standard TCP port configuration

Configuration Flexibility

The 1174 S-series TN3270E communication servers are feature rich. Besides offering specific LU assignments to a user workstations and printers, up to 32 different pools can be configured, providing an easy way to accommodate work groups, departments, and remote sites. TN3287 printers support includes LU1 (SCS), LU3 (DSC), and Non-SNA (BSC and channel/ESCON).

In addition to supporting TN3270, TN3270E, and TN3287 clients, the S-series supports Telnet clients (Windows desktops), LPD/LPR printers and Socket printers (even IPDS).

Load Balancing

Load balancing comes standard with the 1174 LINCS software, using the SMS feature. By running SMS, you can implement multiple servers to provide fault tolerance in your network. Users will get their session from whichever 1174 server is most available. Only one configuration is required at the client workstation to request their session. The SMS software responds to the session request with the IP address of the most eligible 1174 server. The connection is made automatically by the client's emulator, making the whole process completely transparent to the user. The SMS feature is completely compatible with virtually all emulators.

SMS keeps up with all 1174 servers to determine their availability. SMS will automatically bypass servers that are removed from service, ensuring that every request for a session is directed to an active 1174 TN3270 server.

Printer Support

Printer support on the 1174 platform is very simple and reliable. The 1174 offers the following options:

• Print directly to workstation-attached printers using TN3287 or TN3270E.
• Send print jobs to a Line Print Daemon (LPD)
• Print to a LAN-attached printer by connecting to its special TCP printer port

Direct attached coax or ASCII printers.

Host printer configurations include all the standard VTAM LU1 and LU3 definitions. The LINCS software used by the 1174 provides EBCDIC/ASCII conversion, as well as formatting command translation for most LU1 commands. Even IPDS data streams can be sent to printers capable of receiving and interpreting them over a LAN or coax link.

Special transparent commands are also supported, allowing for special formatting, bar code printing, or anything else that your printer supports.

Management

The 1174 platform offers a wide variety of management tools.

• NetView support
• Manage the 1174 using Telnet
• Direct coax or ASCII terminal connection
• Visara's eManager 2000 management product
• Dial-up ASCII terminal or PC

You can also monitor the 1174 using standard SNMP tools.

Reliability

The 1174 S-series communication servers are dedicated communication platforms designed to provide robust performance while maintaining a very high level of reliability, unlike communication software running on a general purpose PC-based platform. The multiprocessor/multitasking architecture of the 1174 provides high performance to clients, whether you are supporting dozens of clients or several hundreds (thousands) of clients. The SMS feature ensures that users can obtain sessions even if a server, phone line, network, or host becomes temporarily unavailable.

Affordability

The 1174 TN3270 solution might be the most affordable TN3270E server solution around. With built-in NetView support, free load-balancing through SMS (some vendors charge thousands of dollars for this feature alone), disaster recovery, and ease of installation, how can you afford not to be using the 1174.

Feature Specifications

• Up to 4048 TN3270/TN3270E/TN3287 clients/sessions per 1174 (Model 25S) platform
• Up to 256 LAN printers (LPD or Socket)
• Up to 16 different hosts/LPARs
• Up to 256 Telnet users (up to 10 host sessions for each)

Host interfaces supported:

• ESCON (SNA, Non-SNA, Consoles)
• Bus and Tag (SNA, Non-SNA, Consoles)
• Token Ring
• SDLC (up to T1/E1)
• Frame Relay (up to T1/E1)
• X.25 (up to T1/E1)
• BSC (up to 19.2 Kbps)

TN3270/TN3270E/TN3287 Client interfaces supported

• Token Ring
• Ethernet
• Coax (Visara NCT products)

Other clients supported

Standard coax-attached terminals and printers

• ASCII terminals and printers
• IPX
• Telnet clients (terminals, terminal servers, PCs)
• LPD LAN-attached printers
• LAN-attached printers via TCP socket connection