Introducing the BEA eLink SNA System

BEA eLink for Mainframe SNA software provides a bidirectional link enabling BEA TUXEDO and IBM mainframe applications to interact as either a client or server, using a Customer Information Control System/Extended System Architecture (CICS/ESA) Distributed Program Link (DPL), Information Management System (IMS) implicit LU6.2, or any IBM-supported Application Program-to-Program Communication (APPC) or CICS/ESA interface.

BEA eLink SNA version 3.1 offers significant enhancements to prior versions. In summary, these include:

• With the SNA link on/off function, you can now activate or deactivate SNA communication links

• With alternate code page translation tables, you have the ability to configure SNA communication links to operate in any of eight European languages plus U.S. English

• With a command-line switch, you can select improved C-to-COBOL string translation from five TUXEDO-to-host combinations

• With the improved error messages, you can resolve many problems more easily

Functions

BEA eLink for Mainframe SNA software performs the following functions:

• It supports the Application-Transaction Monitor Interface (ATMI) request/response model. Applications running in local TUXEDO System /T domains can request services in a remote domain. The remote domain is a MVS/CICS region. Applications in the remote domain can request services in a local TUXEDO System domain.

• It also supports the ATMI conversational model. Applications can establish a conversation between clients and servers in a TUXEDO System /T domain and an MVS/CICS region defined as a remote domain. Either side can initiate the conversation.

• It performs administration and configuration of a BEA eLink for Mainframe SNA gateway through the DMADM server and DMCONFIG server for a /SNA Domains instantiation.

• It supports the following typed buffers: FML, FML32, VIEW, VIEW32, X_COMMON, STRING, C_ARRAY, and X_OCTET. All buffer types except C_ARRAY and X_OCTET are converted automatically to and from EBCDIC between TUXEDO and CICS; C_ARRAY and X_OCTET are not converted.

• It maintains connectivity to multiple System Network Architecture (SNA) networks from the local TUXEDO System /T domain.

• It performs conversion between ASCII and EBCDIC encoding.

Supported TUXEDO Platforms

Table 1-1 lists UNIX-based platforms, NT Windows platforms, and corresponding SNA protocol Stacks supported by BEA eLink for Mainframe SNA 3.1.

Table 1-1 Supported TUXEDO Platforms

Operating System Version	Stack Version	TUXEDO Version	WebLogic Enterprise Version
AIX 5.0	IBM Comm Server 5.0	6.5	4.0
HP-UX 10.20	SNAplus2 V6.0	6.5	4.0
HP-UX 11.00	SNAplus2 V6.0	6.5	4.0
NT 4.0	IBM Comm Server 5.0 and 6.0 for Windows NT	6.5	4.0
Solaris 2.6	DCL SNAP-IX 6.0	6.5	4.0
Solaris 2.6	SUN Link 9.1 1	6.5	4.0
Solaris 2.6	Brixton 4.11	6.5	4.0
Solaris 7	Brixton 4.11	6.5	None
Solaris 7	DCL SNAP-IX 6.0	6.5	None
Solaris 7	SUN Link 9.11	6.5	None

1. Solaris users must upgrade to this stack revision level. Sync-level 2 not supported.

Supported Host Platforms

Table 1-2 lists the IBM host platforms supported by BEA eLink for Mainframe SNA 3.1.

Table 1-2 Supported Host Platforms

Vendor	Classification	Product	Version	Comments
IBM	MF/OS	OS390	1.2, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6	Y2K Certified
IBM	MF/OS	VM	2.3	Y2K Certified
IBM	MF/OS	VSE/ESA	2.3	Y2K Certified
IBM	MF/OLTP	CICS/ESA	4.1	for MVS
IBM	MF/OLTP	CICS Transaction Server for OS/390	1.2	for MVS
IBM	MF/OLTP	CICS	2.3	for VSE
IBM	MF/OLTP	IMS/ESA Transaction Manager	5.1 6.1	for MVS
IBM	MF/TCOM	ACF/VTAM	3.4+	for MVS
IBM	MF/TCOM	ACF/NCP	4.3+	for MVS
IBM	MF/TCOM	ACF/VTAM		for VSE
IBM	MF/TCOM	ACF/NCP		for VSE
IBM	MF/OS	OS390	1.2	Y2K Certified