Migrating Printing from SNA to TCP/IP
- 1. Migrating Printing from SNA to TCP/IP The LRS Philosophy
- 2. Reasons for Migrating IP offers obvious advantages over SNA Lower costs Single network protocol for all printing Easier steps to adding printers Open TCP/IP protocol supported by numerous output devices Higher performance and dependability
- 3. IP Printing Options from MVS Various points for SNA to IP ‘bridge’ Many ways to ‘bridge’ gap between SNA and IP SNA Emulation/Gateway Server level Desktop SNA emulations
- 4. LRS IP Philosophy LRS philosophy of IP printing: Begin at the source Send SYSOUT data directly from MVS across TCP/IP to printer No intermediate emulation Data never touches ‘SNA world’
- 5. LRS IP Printing Options LRS offers various options for printing host output via TCP/IP VPS/TCPIP LPR/LPD Sockets BIP ™ Support VPS/AnyQueue ™ VPS/Email
- 6. LPR/LPD Printing Advantages Ubiquitous Almost every TCP/IP host supports LPD Disadvantages Inefficient Overhead associated with LPR/LPD Separators and checkpointing do not work as well as with SNA
- 7. Sockets Printing Advantages Efficient No need to ‘stage’ data before processing LPR/LPD ‘control file’ and associated processing not needed Separators work as they do in SNA Commands and checkpointing also work as expected Disadvantages Servers generally do not support Direct Sockets connection Direct sockets connection cannot be made to UNIX or NT servers
- 8. BIP BIP (Bi-directional Internet Printing) enhances VPS/TCPIP Direct Sockets support Advantages Greater control Two-way communication with printer Recoverability Status messages Cancel key Disadvantages Same as ‘sockets printer’ Does not work through servers Some printers do not support BIP; most do
- 9. BIP Features Recoverability ‘Remembers’ last page printed Restarts at proper page after error or interrupt Status Messages Error Status codes displayed by VPS VPS continues printing when condition cleared End user can cancel print using printer’s cancel key
- 10. VPS/AnyQueue Printing VPS ‘downloads’ output to VPS/AnyQueue VPS/AnyQueue ‘forwards’ output to printers IP LAN Protocols Advantage LAN level control Disadvantage LAN level control
- 11. VPS/Email Printing VPS/Email delivers SYSOUT to email address instead of printer Advantages Email recipient controls printing using local printer drivers PDF, HTML, RTF (word processing), txt formats all supported User may view document and print only selected portions
- 12. Formatting Email Output VPS/Email has various formatting options for attachments PDF Ubiquitous – most users familiar with Adobe Acrobat Reader Attractive output Font can be selected Font size can be selected Page size can be selected RTF User created RTF files can be used Opened by default word processor
- 13. Formatting IP Print Output Standard VPS functions allow user control of output formatting Landscape/Portrait Multiple up (PostScript) Duplex Input tray selection
- 14. Summary LRS IP printing is 100% IP No need to bridge ‘gap’ between SNA and IP Multiple IP printing methods VPS/TCPIP VPS/AnyQueue VPS/Email Flexible formatting
- 15. Migrating Printing from SNA to TCP/IP Questions?
Editor's Notes
- #4: 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.
- #5: VPS.TCPIP provides a simpler, cleaner environment for printing. No intermediate servers necessary.
- #11: AnyQueue is a powerful product. In addition to delivering output to LAN printer queues it can also drop the output into files or onto email addresses. It can also launch ‘back-end’ processes to massage the data before delivery. AnyQueue accepts data from VPS via TCPIP or SNA, it can also accept data from other hosts via TCPIP.
- #12: VPS/Email is useful for delivering output to users who don’t have a ‘live’ connection. Examples are employees who travel and access via laptops, overseas customers and offices, employees who work from home.
- #13: Data can also be delivered as HTML which will cause a Web browser to be launched to display the data.
- #14: VPS 8.0 implements a simple method of adding print controls to data called the PCMDS. This makes it easy to use enhanced formatting. Many examples are provided.