1. Migrating Printing from SNA to TCP/IP & Secured Output Distribution Banking, Financial & Insurance Marketing Representatives Tracy Guard Denice Hurt Mark Birtch
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5. The Multi-protocol Network SNA/DLC 3270 SNA 5250 NetBeui IPX/SPX Netbios TCP/IP UNIX OS/390 AS/400 Novell NT OS/2 DEC LAT
6. Single Protocol Network Printing Workstation UNIX OS/390 AS/400 Novell NT OS/2 DEC TCP/IP TCP/IP PRINTER
The point where SNA traffic is converted to TCPIP can be almost anywhere. The most typical is the server level where products like HOSTPRINT and SNA print server bridge the gap. Some implementations run SNA all the way to the desktop. Another method is to do TN3270E, this transitions from SNA to IP right on the host but rarely works well.
VPS.TCPIP provides a simpler, cleaner environment for printing. No intermediate servers necessary.
LRS offers various options for printing host output via TCPIP. LPR/LPD Support was developed in 93, with the sockets interface in 95 and BIP Support in 2000. For those of you who have remote locations that want to control their own output we have developed a product called AnyQueue which resides on an NT Server. VPS sends the data to AnyQueue via IP where the remote user has the ability to print the data, email it, fax it or keep it in a temporary retention area for reprinting. VPS/Email allows you to send short line reports in the form of text and longer reports in the form of PDF, HTML or RTF email attachments.
VPS/TCPIP runs in the same address space as VPS, supports VTAM and IP printing concurrently. The printers are defined in the same control library, and printers can be easily added, deleted or changed dynamically.
The advantages and disadvantages of LPR/LPD Printing is that almost every IP host supports LPD, with the disadvantages being the overhead associated with LPR/LPD and the Checkpointing and Separators do not work as well as with SNA.
The advantages and disadvantages of Sockets Printing is it you don’t need to stage the data before processing. Separators, command and checkpointing work as they do with SNA. The Disadvantages is that the servers do not support Direct Sockets.
BIP (Bi-directional Internet Printing) enhances the Direct Sockets support. It give you greater control of the data by giving you two-way communication with the printer, the ability to do recovery as well as see printer status messages. The disadvantages is that is does work with Servers either and not all printers can support BIP, most do but some of the older ones do not.
One of the features of BIP is recoverability. Because it remembers the last page that is printed you can restart a printer at the proper page after an error has occurred. You also get Status Messages from the printer via VMCF which you were already using. Once the condition is cleared VPS will continue printing. The end user can cancel print at any time.
VPS 8.0 implements a simple method of adding print controls to data called the PCMDS (P commands). This makes it easy to use enhanced formatting. Many examples are provided.
Reasons for Migrating is the cost savings, single network protocol, easier to add and make changes to printers, Open protocol is supported by many output devices. Better performance and dependability.
AnyQueue/Unix will extend the AnyQueue product family to the Unix operating systems. HP-UX and Sun’s Solaris will be the first versions introduced and a version for IBM-AIX will follow. Actually, the beta test versions for HP and Sun are available now. If you are interested, call your Marketing Rep. VPS/PDF enables emailing of AFP formatted reports. Coupled with VPS/Email, it provides an excellent means of distributing output electronically to remote users, customers, etc. It has been in beta test for a while and should be GA soon. DRS V1 R3.4 incorporates several enhancements including SYSOUT Report Tracking, LPR Query Support, VPS to DRS File Transfer capability, and the option to have DRS create an Hierarchical File System (HFS) File on the Unix System Services side of the OS/390 system.