DECnet/SNA VMS Gateway Management V2.0 Release Notes Page 1
Copyright (C) 1988 by Digital Equipment Corporation 21 July 1988
DECNET/SNA VMS GATEWAY MANAGEMENT V2.0
RELEASE NOTES
1 INTRODUCTION
This document contains release notes for DECnet/SNA VMS Gateway
Management V2.0. This is a new release of the gateway management
software, designed to offer improved network management and tracing
capabilities for the DECnet/SNA Gateway-CT and DECnet/SNA Gateway-ST.
In addition to improved SNATRACE and SNAP capabilities, this release
of the gateway management software introduces a new network management
utility, SNANCP, and a new event logging program, SNAEVL.
The release notes serve to:
o briefly highlight product changes and features added since
the last major release.
o describe any known problems or restrictions in this release.
o describe any known documentation errata or omissions.
You should read this document carefully before using the DECnet/SNA
VMS Gateway Management V2.0 software.
DECnet/SNA VMS Gateway Management V2.0 must be installed on nodes
which are to act as load hosts for DECnet/SNA Gateway-CT or DECnet/SNA
Gateway-ST systems.
Digital recommends that the gateway management software also be
installed on nodes which are used for the development of applications
using any of the DECnet/SNA VMS programming interface products. The
gateway management software provides useful debugging and diagnostic
capability to applications developers.
2 NEW FEATURES IN THIS RELEASE
2.1 New SNANCP Management Utility
There is a new network management utility, SNANCP, which offers the
ability to interactively modify all configuration parameters in the
running gateway without reboot. SNANCP controls the SNA lines,
circuits, PUs, LUs, servers, access names, and event logging
components in the gateway.
DECnet/SNA VMS Gateway Management V2.0 Release Notes Page 2
Copyright (C) 1988 by Digital Equipment Corporation 21 July 1988
2.2 Improved Event Logging Capability
The gateway event logging mechanism has been extended to offer a much
greater level of event reporting and control. You can specify which
events are to be logged on the basis of severity level for each
individual component (line, circuit, PU, LU, server) in the gateway
node.
2.3 Per-LU Access Control
The gateway manager now has the ability to restrict access to
specified nodes, users, and terminals on a per-LU basis. For use with
the DECnet/SNA VMS 3270 Terminal Emulator, DECnet/SNA ULTRIX 3270
Terminal Emulator, DECnet/SNA MS-DOS 3270 Terminal Emulator, and
DECnet/SNA VMS 3270 Data Stream Progamming Interface, each LU can also
be configured to require the specification of a password.
2.4 Improvements To SNATRACE
The trace utility SNATRACE has been extended to support the
interpretation of IBM channel protocol and extended response mode
(modulo-128) SDLC protocol, in addition to normal mode (modulo-8)
SDLC.
In addition, SNATRACE now timestamps trace records, to facilitate the
interpretation of time-related protocol problems.
2.5 Improvements To SNAP
Several improvements have been made to SNAP:
o You can capture a SNAP image into an RMS file, by defining
SYS$OUTPUT appropriately before running SNAP. SNAP will
write a single screen image to SYS$OUTPUT and then exit. The
hardcopy image is constructed using only ASCII printable
characters rather than the special graphics used with DEC
video display terminals.
o The SNAP server now informs the display program of how long
the gateway has been up and running. This information is
displayed near the top left of the SNAP display.
o SNAP has been modified to display MicroLES system resources;
MicroLES is the operating system used in the DECnet/SNA
Gateway-CT and DECnet/SNA Gateway-ST.
DECnet/SNA VMS Gateway Management V2.0 Release Notes Page 3
Copyright (C) 1988 by Digital Equipment Corporation 21 July 1988
See the DECnet/SNA VMS Gateway Management Guide for full details of
SNAP.
3 RESTRICTIONS IN THIS AND RELATED PRODUCTS
3.1 LU Authorization Requires Access Routine Co-operation
Support of the gateway's LU-authorization controls is partially
dependent on the access routines involved. The mechanism is not
applicable to the RJE and DHCF servers. For other access routines,
the usefulness of the mechanism is dependent on the access routine
having the ability to pass the user and terminal names to the gateway.
If a given access routine does not pass user and terminal names to the
gateway, then it will be unable to gain access to any LU which is
configured to require a matching user or terminal name.
Over time, existing access routines will acquire this ability as they
are re-released. Consult access routine documentation for information
as to whether this support exists in the current version.
3.2 LU Authorization Password Support In Certain Products Only
The ability to use an LU-authorization password depends upon the
access routine. At present, only the DECnet/SNA VMS 3270 Terminal
Emulator, DECnet/SNA ULTRIX 3270 Terminal Emulator, DECnet/SNA MS-DOS
3270 Terminal Emulator, and DECnet/SNA VMS 3270 Data Stream
Programming Interface support LU-authorization passwords.
For the command language syntax and parameter formats that you use to
specify an LU-authorization password, see the release notes for the
DECnet/SNA Gateway-CT or DECnet/SNA Gateway-ST.
3.3 LOOP NODE And Access Control
NCP LOOP NODE is a privileged command in the gateway node. This means
that the user must supply privileged access control information (user
name and password) to the gateway when issuing this command. The NCP
command syntax to do this is:
NCP> LOOP NODE gwynod USER usrnam PASSWORD pswd [...]
However, DECnet-VAX NCP fails to pass the supplied access control
information to the gateway; therefore, the LOOP NODE command fails
with the following error message:
%NCP-I-NMLRSP, listener response - mirror connect
failed, access control rejected
DECnet/SNA VMS Gateway Management V2.0 Release Notes Page 4
Copyright (C) 1988 by Digital Equipment Corporation 21 July 1988
To work around this problem, you can establish default outgoing access
control at your DECnet-VAX node, then issue the LOOP NODE command:
NCP> SET NODE gwynod NONPRIV USER usrnam PASSWORD pswd
NCP> LOOP NODE gwynod [...]
NCP> CLEAR NODE gwynod NONPRIV USER PASSWORD
Note that all connections issued from your DECnet-VAX node to the
named gateway node can potentially use the default access control
you've established. Therefore, be sure to leave it set up only for
the duration of the loopback test.
3.4 Misleading Error Message From NCP CONNECT
If an NCP CONNECT command fails because you have incorrectly specified
or omitted the SERVICE PASSWORD parameter, then NCP will erroneously
report this condition as 'console in use'.
3.5 Restriction In DECnet/SNA Gateway-CT Remote Console
The DECnet/SNA Gateway-CT remote console implementation cannot accept
a connection whilst the DELQA is actively transmitting or receiving a
message. This sometimes causes NCP CONNECT commands to fail with an
erroneous 'console in use' error.
In this situation, the CONNECT command will usually succeed if you
retry it immediately.
4 DOCUMENTATION NOTES
4.1 Help Library Entry For Gateway Management
When you install DECnet/SNA VMS Gateway Management V2.0, an entry is
added to the system help library under the topic heading 'SNA_GM'.
Note that some previous versions of Gateway Management included help
under the topic heading 'SNA_Management'. This older help is deleted
when you install V2.0 of the software.
4.2 Compatibility With Gateway Management V1.x
The SNATRACE and SNAP utilities supplied with DECnet/SNA VMS Gateway
Management V2.0 are upwardly compatible with their V1.x counterparts.
You can use these V2.0 utilities with an existing DECSA or DX24 based
DECnet/SNA Gateway; they will behave similarly to the V1.x utilities.
DECnet/SNA VMS Gateway Management V2.0 Release Notes Page 5
Copyright (C) 1988 by Digital Equipment Corporation 21 July 1988
You cannot use SNANCP with a DECSA or DX24 gateway; nor will either of
these gateways log events to the new event logger, SNAEVL.
[End of release notes]