Service Access Facility

The Service Access Facility (SAF) is the tool used for administering terminals, modems, and other network devices. In particular, the SAF enables you to:

• Add and administer ttymon and listen port monitors (using the sacadm command)

• Add and administer ttymon port monitor services (using the pmadm and ttyadm commands)

• Add and administer listen port monitor services (using the pmadm and nlsadmin commands)

• Administer and troubleshoot TTY devices

• Administer and troubleshoot incoming network requests for printing service

• Administer and troubleshoot the Service Access Controller (using the sacadm command)

The SAF is an open systems solution that controls access to system and network resources through TTY devices and local-area networks (LANs). The SAF offers well-defined interfaces so you can easily add new features and configure existing ones.

The SAF is not a program. It is a hierarchy of background processes and administrative commands. The top-level SAF program is the SAC. The SAC controls port monitors that you administer through the sacadm command. Each port monitor can manage one or more ports.

You administer the services associated with ports through the pmadm command. While services provided through SAC may differ from network to network, SAC and the administrative programs sacadm and pmadm are not tailored to network types.

Table 2-2 illustrates the SAF control hierarchy. The sacadm command is used to administer the SAC, which controls the ttymon and listen port monitors.

Table 2-2 SAF Functions and Associated Programs

Function	Program	Description
Overall administration	sacadm	Command for adding and removing port monitors
Service Access Controller	sac	SAF's master program
Port monitors	ttymon listen	Monitors serial port login requests  Monitors requests for network   services
Port monitor service administrator	pmadm	Controls port monitor services
Services	logins, remote   procedure   calls, and so on	Services to which SAF provides   access

The services of ttymon and listen are in turn controlled by pmadm. One instance of ttymon can service multiple ports and one instance of listen can provide multiple services on a network interface.

See Chapter 11, Managing Printers, Terminals, and Modems for more information.