1. 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 3.2 offers significant enhancements to prior versions. In summary, these include:

• The eLink SNA gateway has been enhanced to support the eLink Data Integration Option (DIO), enabling access to extended data mapping facilities. Refer to "Data Mapping Tool."

• The gateway software is capable of operating with IMS at sync-level 2 for both implicit and explicit call models. Refer to "APPC/IMS Programming Considerations."

• The gateway now generally supports use of the Compaq SNA Stack, previously supported through Controlled Availability release.

• The gateway now generally supports use of the Microsoft SNA Server Stack.

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 an 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/WLE Platforms

Table 1-1 lists UNIX-based platforms, Windows NT platforms, and corresponding SNA protocol Stacks supported by BEA eLink for Mainframe SNA 3.2 with BEA TUXEDO or BEA WebLogic Enterprise.

Table 1-1 Supported TUXEDO Platforms

Operating System Version	Stack Version	TUXEDO Version	WebLogic Enterprise Version
AIX 4.3	IBM Comm Server 5.0	6.5	4.0, 4.2
HP-UX 10.20	SNAplus2 6.0	6.5	4.0, 4.2
HP-UX 11.00	SNAplus2 6.0	6.5	4.0, 4.2
Windows NT 4.0	IBM Comm Server 5.0 and 6.0 for Windows NT	6.5	4.0, 4.2
Windows NT 4.0	Microsoft SNA Server 4.0, SP3	6.5	4.0, 4.2
Solaris 2.6	DCL SNAP-IX 6.0	6.5	4.0, 4.2
Solaris 2.6	SUN Link 9.1 1	6.5	4.0, 4.2
Solaris 2.6	Brixton 4.11	6.5	4.0, 4.2
Solaris 7	DCL SNAP-IX 6.0	6.5	None
Compaq Tru 64 4.0d	Compaq SNA 3.2	6.5	4.0, 4.2

1. Sync-level 2 not supported.

Supported Host Platforms

Table 1-2 lists the IBM host platforms supported by BEA eLink for Mainframe SNA 3.2.

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