Microsoft KB Archive/59584

= OS/2 Days Seminar: Misc. Communications Server Questions =

Article ID: 59584

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * DCA/Microsoft Communications Server 1.0

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This article was previously published under Q59584



SUMMARY
OS/2 Days Developer's Conference DCA/Microsoft Communication Server

Questions and Answers Follow-Up Responses
 Why is user security data stored in the COM.SEC file? This makes it possible to compromise security by taking the file to another machine. According to the customer, this scheme matches the implementation under IBM EE Communication Manager.

Answer

The ability to compromise APPC conversation security requires an APPC Transaction Program (TP) to know the user ID and password when issuing an [MC_]ALLOCATE request to initiate a conversation. Ultimately, the Comm Server administrator must prevent unauthorized access to this file through either of the following:

 Physical security (limiting physical access to the server machine). Using the LAN Manager 2.00 Local Security feature to limit unauthorized local access to server-based files. This also prevents access to the file when booting the server from a floppy disk.  How does Comm Server perform load balancing with LU pools that span multiple connections? Does load balancing only relate to session balancing, or does network traffic play any part in the balancing scheme?

Answer

Comm Server allows an administrator to define a pool of 3270 LUs that may span multiple host connections. In this case, one or more Comm Server machines (residing on the same LAN) are supporting more than one link to one or more IBM host machines. If a Comm Server client is configured to have access to the LU pool and a user activates a 3270 session associated with the pool, the Comm Server client machine will randomly select a connection to use.

While this random selection method for 3270 LU load balancing is very rudimentary under Comm Server 1.00, this will be modified under future versions of the Comm Server to provide more reliable LU load balancing. Factors that are being considered to improve the load balancing algorithms include: link traffic volume, server utilization, server CPU type and clock rate, server LAN I/O performance, and host adapter type.  Why isn't Comm Server set up as a LAN Manager service like SQL server?

Answer

The LAN Manager Service facility does not currently provide the amount of detailed control required to fully implement Comm Server as a LAN Manager service. Note that SQL Server is implemented as a single LAN Manager service, not as multiple distributed services that require specialized managing facilities that Comm Server supports. This idea was considered in the early design phases of the product, and is still under consideration for future versions of LAN Manager.

Through the &quot;COMM&quot; command, an effort has been made to manage Comm Server services similar to the way the NET command works under LAN Manager. For example:       Command                Description ---               ---

comm start  Starts a Comm Server service on the local machine, where is the name of a Comm Server node or link service. This includes the Comm Server network access program (NAP), which is                             referred to as the Comm Server Workstation service (for clients) and the Server service (for servers).

comm stop   Stops a Comm Server service on the local machine.

comm view             Displays all active Comm Server services on the LAN (on all Comm Server server                             machines).

comm manage           Start the Comm Server MANAGE interface.

comm config           Start the Comm Server CONFIGURATION interface.

comm browse           Start the Comm Server BROWSE interface.  Will Comm Server include any tools to monitor overall throughput performance and session load? The intention here is to provide tools to help an administrator fine-tune performance, or identify potential bottlenecks so that software and/or hardware reconfiguration could lead to increased performance.

Answer

The Comm Workstation/Server already supports a full range of Link Tracing, Error and Audit logging messages, and client session monitoring/control facilities provided by the MANAGE utility. While statistical data for throughput analysis is not available in version 1.00, this information can be retrieved at the IBM host using Netview. Microsoft welcomes any comments you have regarding additional tools that that you would like to be included in the Comm Workstation/Server products.</li>  How much memory will be left over for DOS applications, once the necessary Comm Server client software is loaded?

Answer

This subject is fairly complicated, since the Comm Server DOS client software includes different modules that allow a customer to optimize memory usage depending on the desired functionality at the workstation. For example, there are three versions of the 3270 Emulator (DOS3270S, DOS3270M, DOS3270L) and two versions of the Comm Server Network Access Program (MINNAP, COMXNAP). The following is a brief description of these different modules: <pre class="fixed_text">      Module       Description --      ---

DOS3270S    Supports up to five display sessions. Doesn't                   support API interface. Only requires MINNAP to                   interface to Comm Server. Doesn't support file transfer options.

DOS3270M    Supports up to five display sessions, including API support. Requires COMXNAP. Supports file transfer, but this requires extra memory.

DOS3270L    Supports up to five display and printer sessions, including API support. Requires COMXNAP. Supports file transfer, but this requires extra memory.

MINNAP      Limited-function Comm Server Network Access Program for the DOS client. Only supports DOS3270S. Doesn't support the DOS client APIs.

COMXNAP     Full-function Comm Server Network Access Program for the DOS client. Includes support for APIs and 3270 emulators. The following are PRELIMINARY memory usage estimates for different scenarios. Note that these estimates do not include potential memory savings by using 64K of expanded memory. DOS LAN Manager 2.00 numbers reflect debug version memory use, which will decrease when the final version is shipped. Also, these estimates assume that the DOS client is only attached to one LAN, and is using Microsoft's NETBEUI protocol over Token Ring.

Estimated Base Memory Requirements
<pre class="fixed_text">       DOS Operating System  .................... 50K (Minimum DOS 3.30) Enhanced DOS LAN Manager 2.00 ............ 60K * DOS LAN Manager Transport & MAC Driver ... 36K Estimated Base Memory Requirements = 146K

* Preliminary version, using minimum settings and without use of high memory.

Memory Usage Under Different Scenarios
<ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;">  One DOS 3270 display emulation session, no API support: <pre class="fixed_text">         Estimated Base Memory Requirements ....... 146K MINNAP (limited-function NAP) ............ 27K DOS3270S (small emulator) ................ 103K Total = 276K </li>  One DOS 3270 display emulation session with API support: <pre class="fixed_text">         Estimated Base Memory Requirements ....... 146K COMXNAP (full-function NAP) .............. 40K DOS3270M (medium emulator) ............... 121K Total = 307K </li>  Three DOS 3270 display emulation sessions and two printer sessions, including API support and one 3270 Model 2 file transfer session active: <pre class="fixed_text">         Estimated Base Memory Requirements ....... 146K COMXNAP (full-function NAP) .............. 40K DOS3270L (large emulator) ................ 263K One file transfer session ................ 47K Total = 493K </li>  APPC API support, with no 3270 functionality: <pre class="fixed_text">         Estimated Base Memory Requirements ....... 146K COMXNAP (full-function NAP) .............. 40K Total = 186K </li></ol> </li> Comm Server 1.10: Will future LU0 support include support for a DOS client?

Answer

This is recognized as a valuable extension of the Comm Server/Workstation product for possible inclusion in a future release. While LU0 support has not been formally added to the list of version 1.10 enhancements, Microsoft is planning support for both high-level and low-level LU0 interfaces (known as LUA in the IBM EE 1.2 product) for DOS and OS/2 clients.</li> Comm Server 1.10: Will the 3270 Presentation Manager (PM) client include clipboard (cut-and-paste) capability?

Answer

Yes, this is included in Comm Server/Workstation version 1.10.</li> Comm Server 1.10: Will LAT support be included? This is required to support Ethernet communication with DEC/VAX environments.

Answer

This is recognized as a valuable extension of the Comm Server/Workstation product for possible inclusion in a future release. However, LAT support has not been formally added to the list of version 1.10 enhancements.</li> Comm Server 1.10: Will IBM 5250 terminals be supported?

Answer

This is recognized as a valuable extension of the Comm Server/Workstation product for possible inclusion in a future release. However, IBM 5250 support has not been formally added to the list of 1.10 enhancements.</li> Comm Server 1.10: Will DEC VT100 Async Emulation be supported?

Answer

Yes, Comm Server/Workstation version 1.10 will include asynchronous terminal emulation support for the following terminal types:

DEC VT52, VT100, VT200 and VT220

IBM 3101/20 and 3101/40

TTY Emulation

</li>  What releases of OS/2, LAN Manager, and SQL Server are compatible with each other?

Answer

Please note the product compatibility matrix below. This matrix identifies different releases of OS/2, LAN Manager, SQL, and Comm Server version compatibilities. Additional information is provided below for certain product versions. With the exception of the &quot;NDK&quot; and &quot;SDK&quot; programs (which have been discontinued by Microsoft), these products are only available through OEM vendors. <pre class="fixed_text">                      LAN           SQL         DCA/MS        DCA/MS Comm Manager      Server      Comm Server   Workstation ---      --      ---   ---

OS/2 1.00 SA *    SQL NDK,      SQL NDK,     -             - 1.00,        1.00                       SDK 1.07,

OS/2 1.10         1.00,         1.00         -             - SDK 1.07

OS/2 1.10 SA *    1.01, 1.01+   1.00         -             -

IBM OS/2 1.20 SE  (1)            -           -             -

OS/2 1.20 (2)     2.00 (3)      (4)         1.00 (5)      1.00 (6) * Standard releases of OS/2 1.00 and 1.10 did not support the anticipated capacity requirements of the LAN Manager server and SQL database software products at the server. To overcome some of these limitations, the LAN Manager/SQL releases include a special version of the OS/2 kernel referred to as &quot;OS/2 Server Adaptation&quot; (SA) for OS/2 versions 1.00 and 1.10. The &quot;Server Adaptation&quot; releases were discontinued after the LAN Manager 1.01 release, since OS/2 file system capacity has been significantly enhanced in OS/2 versions 1.20 and later.

LAN Manager/SQL Releases
<pre class="fixed_text">      Release      Description ---     ---

SQL NDK     Microsoft's Network Development Kit (NDK) release for SQL Server. This release included OS/2 1.00 Server Adaptation, LAN Manager 1.00, and an SQL Server Beta release. The NDK program has been discontinued by Microsoft.

SDK 1.07    Microsoft's Software Development Kit release for LAN Manager. This release included OS/2 1.00 Server Adaptation and LAN Manager 1.00. The SDK program has been discontinued by Microsoft.

SQL 1.00    The official SQL Server 1.00 retail version was released by Ashton-Tate, which was newer than the SQL Beta version distributed by Microsoft with the SQL NDK.

LM 1.00     Microsoft LAN Manager 1.00 release to OEM customers only. This version was also included in                   Microsoft's SDK 1.07 package for software developers.

LM 1.01     Microsoft LAN Manager 1.01 release to OEM customers only. This release included OS/2 1.10 Server Adaptation and LAN Manager 1.01.

LM 1.01+    Microsoft LAN Manager 1.01 update release to OEM customers only. This release included some bug fixes to the LM 1.01 release. <ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;"> IBM OS/2 1.2 Standard Edition does not provide the necessary support for any version of LAN Manager. Since OS/2 1.2 includes support for installable file systems (IFS), LAN Manager 1.0x versions will not operate on this version. An upcoming version of LAN Manager (version 2.00), which is implemented as an IFS, is designed to run on an upcoming version OS/2 1.2, but not earlier versions.</li> Microsoft has not completed certification of this product (as of March 14, 1990), so it is not available through OEM vendors. OS/2 1.2 Standard Edition is available from IBM, corresponding to the most recent Corrective Service Distribution (CSD) release.</li> Microsoft has not released LAN Manager 2.00 to OEM customers (as of March 14, 1990). LAN Manager 2.00 will require the version of OS/2 1.2 referred to in Item 2 above.</li> This new version of SQL Server, which will be available through Ashton-Tate, has not been released yet (as of March 14, 1990). This release will require the version of OS/2 1.2 referred to in Item 2 above and LAN Manager 2.00 referred to in Item 3 above.</li> <li>Microsoft and DCA have not completed certification of this product (as of March 14, 1990), so it is not available through DCA or OEM vendors. Comm Server 1.00 requires LAN Manager version 2.00.</li> <li>Microsoft and DCA have not completed certification of this product (as of March 14, 1990) so it is not available through DCA or OEM vendors. Comm Workstation 1.00 requires OS/2 1.20, but not LAN Manager.</li></ol> </li></ol>

Additional query words: 1.00 prodcs

Keywords: KB59584

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