Ref: 99980171 Title: 3+SNA Technical Release Notes Version 3.0.2 Date: 11/15/88 Copyright 3Com Corporation, 1991. All rights reserved. .h1;Installation First time installation is as described in the 3+SNA Administrator's Guide. .h1;Supplemental Documentation This section documents all information not yet included in the currently available revisions of the 3+SNA User Guide (P/N 4596- xx) and the 3+SNA Administrator's Guide (P/N 4597-xx). .h1;New Supported Environments Support for the IBM 3270 PC is included in this release. Note that this does not necessarily include the IBM 3270 AT. To select this support, choose the IBM 3270 PC keyboard option when configuring the workstation with MPINSTAL. A keyboard definition file (CUSTOM1.KBD) has been provided to support a keyboard definition that closely emulates the default keyboard mapping for 3Com's 3+3270. The biggest departure from the original 3Com mapping is that the mappings for PF13-PF24 have been changed to SHIFT-PF1--SHIFT-PF12 from CTRL-ALT-1--CTRL-ALT- =. .h1;Selectable Configuration Files The MP3274 command script accepts a single parameter which is used to specify a particular .CFG file using its full DOS pathname. Users may run MP3274 from any subdirectory providing the DOS search path contains a subdirectory for the 3+SNA executables. The only restriction is that the PC Environment (Video Adapter, Use of Windows, etc) must be the same in the .CFG file as it is in the MP3274 command script. The host configuration can differ in the number and type of LU Type 2 sessions, but must match in the use of printer sessions. .h1;DOS Concurrency Option 3+SNA is designed to operate concurrently with MS-DOS applications. There are, however, a number of applications that by-pass DOS and the BIOS and interact directly with the workstation hardware. Some of these applications can cause 3+SNA to behave unpredictably or improperly. For example, the clock in Lotus 1-2-3 writes directly to the video screen buffer, overlaying the 3278/9 Terminal Emulator status line. To help alleviate this and other similar situations, the ability to suspend all processing of DOS applications while in 3+SNA sessions has been provided. Since many popular applications take advantage of the fact that DOS is intended to be a single-task system, and since 3+SNA (and most LANs) are multi-tasking applications by their very nature; incompatibilities will always exist. 3+SNA provides mechanisms to work-around incompatibilities, but it is up to the user to experiment and decide which methods work best in his environment. There are two ways to disable the concurrent operation of the DOS session with 3+SNA sessions. 1) Add the /H (HALT) option to the end of the line in the batch files generated by MPINSTALL that begins with MPCOS. For example, in MP3274.BAT, a typical line would be MPCOS /V:69 /E:00 /C: /M:16 To disable DOS concurrency, edit the line to read: MPCOS /V:69 /E:00 /C: /M:16 /H DOS concurrency will be disabled the next time the script is run to load 3+SNA on the workstation. 2) Use the CDOS command to control DOS concurrency. This command is provided on the INSTALLATION AND FILE TRANSFER diskette. To disable DOS concurrency, type CDOS OFF from any DOS command prompt while in the DOS session. The CDOS command can also be used to enable DOS concurrency, regardless of which method was used to initially disable it. To enable DOS concurrency, type CDOS ON from the DOS session. CDOS command reference CDOS [ON | OFF] [QUIET] If CDOS is invoked with no arguments, it reports the current DOS concurrency state. It does not change the state in any way. If invoked with the ON or OFF options, the DOS concurrency state is changed to either ON or OFF, respectively, and the new state of DOS concurrency is reported. The QUIET option can be specified either alone or with the ON or OFF options. If QUIET is present on the command line, then all output from the CDOS program to the DOS standard output device is inhibited. CDOS always exits with a meaningful exit code as follows: 0 - DOS Concurrency is ON. 1 - DOS Concurrency is OFF. 2 - Invalid arguments specified on the command line. 3 - MPCOS is not installed. 4 - MPCOS either does not support the DOS Concurrency option or is corrupted. 5 - MPCOS internal error. .h1;CDOS Error Messages Parameter not recognized: Cause-An invalid parameter was specified on the CDOS command line. Action-Correct the parameter and retry the command. MPCOS not found. No action taken. Cause-3+SNA software is not loaded on this workstation. Action-Don't try to use CDOS when 3+SNA is not in use. NULL comm_ptr. Serious problems. Cause-An internal failure has occured. Action-Contact 3Com Customer Support with full details. CORRUPTED or not supported by this MPCOS. Cause-It is quite likely that a version of 3+SNA that does not support DOS concurrency is loaded on the workstation. If the MPCOS version is correct, then the workstation memory has become corrupted. Action-Either don't use CDOS or upgrade the software on the workstation. If workstation memory has become corrupted, then it may be best to re-boot the workstation as quickly as is feasible. If the condition persists, contact 3Com Customer Support with details, noting in particular what other applications have been run on the workstation and what sequence of actions is taken with 3+SNA prior to the appearance of the above message. Both ON and OFF parameters were specified. No action taken. Cause Both the ON and OFF parameters were given on the CDOS command line. Action-Choose one or the other and retry the command. .h1;3+SNA NetBIOS Interface The MPGATE program, used by 3+SNA for NetBIOS LAN communications, determines each 3+SNA node's NetBIOS name and displays it to the user at startup time. The 3NB DIR command can also be used to display the 3+SNA node names on the local LAN, but only for stations where 3+SNA software has already been installed. MPGATE establishes NetBIOS node names based on the following convention: For Slaves: RABTxxxxxxxxxxxx where "xxxxxxxxxxxx" is the workstation's Ethernet address. example: RABT02608C627222 For Gateways: RABTxx0000GATEWY where "xx" is the gateway number defined by the user during the MPINSTAL configuration process. example: RABT010000GATEWY .h1;3Com 3+Plus The Serialization option for each workstation in the LAN should be set to 5C, particularly if there will be concurrent activity in the DOS and host sessions. See the Administrator's Guide for other notes related to 3+Plus. .h1;Internetwork Gateway Access using 3Com's 3NB Utility The 3NB utility program, used in conjunction with the Locator Service, will allow network slave stations to access Gateways on remote 3Com LANs. First, however, you must determine the NetBIOS node name of each 3+SNA slave and gateway station that needs internetwork access. For information on how to determine each workstation's NetBIOS name(s), see the "3+SNA NetBIOS Interface" section above. .h1;Setting Up the Internetwork Links To set up an internetwork link, the user of a slave station must first update his workstation's internal 3NB table to recognize his workstation's NetBIOS name as an internetwork name. At the same time, the remote network's Locator table must be updated to recognize his workstation's NetBIOS name. Both of these actions are done using one 3NB REGISTER command. .h1;The 3NB REGISTER Command The syntax of the 3NB REGISTER command, when used to set up 3+SNA internetwork links, is: > 3NB REG slave_name \\remote_net where: "slave_name" is the NetBIOS name of the _3+SNA slave in the local LAN. "remote_net" is the DOMAIN and ORGANIZATION of the remote LAN where the slave_name must be registered in the remote Locator service. example: 3NB REG RABT02608C627222 \\HQ:3COM Next, the user must insert the name of the remote gateway and its network name or number into his workstation's 3NB table. This is done using the 3NB USE command. .h1;The 3NB USE Command The syntax of the 3NB USE command, when used to set up 3+SNA internetwork links, is: > 3NB USE gateway_name \\remote_net where: "gateway_name" is the NetBIOS name of the 3+SNA gateway in the remote network. "remote_net" is the DOMAIN and ORGANIZATION of the LAN where the gateway station is located. (This will be the same DOMAIN and ORGANIZATION which was specified in the REGISTER command). example: 3NB USE RABT010000GATEWY \\HQ:3COM When to Issue 3NB Commands The 3NB REGISTER and USE commands can be issued at any time, given that the MPGATE-generated NetBIOS name for the station is known. Once issued, the workstation's 3NB tables will retain the information even after subsequent LOADS and UNLOADS of 3+SNA software. The table is cleared when the workstation is rebooted, or when the user issues the appropriate 3NB CLEAR commands. The REGISTER and USE commands are best placed in the user's AUTOEXEC.BAT file, ensuring that the workstation's 3NB table always gets reinitialized after reboots. NOTE: If the local and remote LANs both have the same DOMAIN and ORGANIZATION, it is necessary to use the Network Number of the remote LAN in the 3NB REGISTER and USE commands. This is done using the long form of the two commands. Following the names in the above examples, the long forms of the REGISTER and USE commands would appear as follows: > 3NB REG ? > Local Name? RABT02608C627222 > Remote Name? > Fill character? > End Character? > Group or Unique? > Domain or Net Number? #48104 > 3NB USE ? > Local Name? RABT010000GATEWY > Remote Name? > Fill character? > End Character? > Group or Unique? > Domain or Net Number? #48104 For the exact format of all 3NB commands and for details on setting up internetwork access using the 3NB Utility, see the 3Com NetBIOS Programmer's Reference (P/N 3C2512). .h1;ANSI.SYS Some users have noticed that the version of ANSI.SYS that is provided with their version of DOS can cause their host sessions to scroll improperly if a program in the DOS session is running in the background. This situation occurs because ANSI.SYS is bypassing the BIOS and directly accessing the video RAM. MPCOS then has no way to intercept what the program is doing. In order to remedy this in the case of ANSI.SYS, the FIXANSI program has been provided. FIXANSI will modify, or patch, the ANSI.SYS file so that when loaded it will not bypass the BIOS video routines. 3Com strongly suggests that you not modify ANSI.SYS itself, but make a copy of the file and modify and use the copy. FIXANSI takes a single argument, which is the name of the file to modify. In order for the fixed ANSI.SYS to become active, the patched file's name must be placed in CONFIG.SYS in place of ANSI.SYS, and the workstation must be re-booted. For example, the following sequence is a typical one to change patch ANSI.SYS: copy ansi.sys ransi.sys fixansi ransi.sys Since this problem does not seem to plague all workstations that use ANSI.SYS, 3Com suggests that the patch not be applied unless needed. The patch will slow down ANSI.SYS slightly, whenever a scroll is required. .h1;Print Prefixes and Suffixes It is possible to specify a character (or sequence of characters) that is always issued with a print operation along with the data. This capability is particularly useful in LAN environments where a special character may need to be sent to signal the LAN that the spool file is ready to print. The mechanisms that exist to do this are not complete, and the interface may change in subsequent releases. In MP327X (LU2), when a Print Screen function is issued, the "Print Screen to:" prompt appears in the status line. After the file or device name is typed in this area, two strings can be specified. To specify a string to print at the start of each operation, the s: parameter can be specified. To specify a string to be printed at the end of each Print Screen operation, use the e: parameter. Following these parameters is a string of hexadecimal characters, two of which form a character to be sent to the printer. For example, Print Screen to: LPT1: e:0c causes a form-feed to be sent to the printer between each screen print. The length of these start and end strings are not constrained by anything except the maximum number of characters that can be typed into the status line. In MP3287-1 (LU1), a single end-of-print character can be specified. It is specified by typing " ;0xHH" at the end of the Output File/Device field which appears on the LU1 session screen. "HH" is a two-digit hexadecimal numbers that gives the value of the end-of-print character, e.g.34 is an ASCII '4'. There is no similar mechanism yet provided for LU3 printers. The values of both the MP327X and MP3287-1 print characters are saved when session configuration information is saved. This information is all nulls by default. The way that these options are specified may change in future releases. .h1;Corrections to Documentation Changes to the 3+SNA User Guide 1) On page 4-3, the first sentence of "Send/Receive Under TSO" says: "To initiate a file transfer under TSO, you must be at a TSO "READY" prompt." This is not a requirement. It is, however, a good indication that the host is in a position to receive the IND$FILE request. The wording should therefore change to: "To initiate a file transfer under TSO, you must be at a point where the host is ready to receive a command. Typically, the word "READY" will be displayed on the screen." 2) On page 4-3, a correction needs to be made to the syntax of the TSO SEND command in Figure 4-1: "[RECFM F|V|U]" should be changed to "[RECFM (F|V|U)]" 3) On page 4-3, the first bulleted item should be updated to include the RECFM parameter as one which needs parentheses. 4) On page 4-7, a correction needs to be made to the syntax of the CMS SEND command in Figure 4-2: "[LRECL(num)]" should be changed to "[LRECL num]"_ 5) On page 4-7, the second bulleted item, the one which refers to the parens on the LRECL parameter, is incorrect. Remove that bullet item. 6) On page 4-9, remove the parentheses from both the LRECL and RECFM parameters. .h1;3+SNA Modules and Diskette Contents RUNTIME Diskette MP327X.EXE LU Type 2 Terminal Emulator MP3287-1.EXE LU Type 1 Printer Emulator MP3287-3.EXE LU Type 3 Printer Emulator MPAHEAD.COM Video Driver for AHEAD EGA/2001 MPCGA.COM Video Driver for IBM CGA. MPCOS.EXE MPCOS Multitasking Operating Environment MPEVA.COM Video Driver for Tseng Labs EVA MPGATE.EXE NetBIOS Local Area Network Router. Also initializes MP14-based software. MPGENOA.COM Video Driver for GENOA EGA MPLOAD.EXE Downloads programs to the MP14 MPMARK.EXE Memory marker for unloading software MPOSEXT.186 Extensions to the MPOS ROM based operating system that resides on the MP14 MPSTART.EXE Standalone MP14 software initialization MPTLM.COM Video Driver for Tseng Labs UltraPak Monochrome MPUNLOAD.EXE Unloads software loaded since MPMARK, and shuts down LAN traffic. MPWCP.EXE Rabbit Window Manager (Workstation Control Program) MP3274.XLT ASCII, EBDCDIC translation tables MPSNA.186 SNA/SDLC Communications Subsystem Manager (run on the MP14) BNR___.BNR 3+SNA screen logo READ.ME Release notes .h1;Installation and File Transfer Diskette CSMDUMP.COM Saves CSM trace buffer to a file. This buffer contains a record of traffic into and out of the SNA CSM. LINEDUMP.COM Saves line traffic to a file MPINSTAL.EXE Configuration utility NETRESET.COM Resets NetBIOS adapter (used to allocate more Network Command Blocks on some LANs) XEDX.EXE Editor based file transfer for VM/CMS TSOEDX.EXE Editor based file transfer for TSO MPPRT.EXE Serial printer manager PC3270KB.EXE IBM 3270 PC keyboard handler CDOS.EXE DOS Concurrency utility WRITEKBD.EXE Generates .KBD keyboard files from CFG files FIXANSI.EXE Patches ANSI.SYS to use BIOS Video to scroll NETDUMP.COM Debugging Utility LOOK.COM Debugging Utility MPVER.BAT List of released files and versions CUSTOM1.KBD 3+3270 keyboard definition file .h1;Memory Requirements and Limitations The following measurements were taken on an IBM PC AT (Model 5170). Memory utilization figures are given for resident programs only. The memory utilization is reported as bytes, in decimal. Except where indicated, the following configuration was used: Monitor: BIOS Default Adapter: IBM Mono/EGA Keyboard: IBM PC/AT 102 Interrupt: 69 Serialization: 00 The minimum standalone configuration (1 3278/9-2A session) is 77344 bytes. The minimum network slave configuration (1 3278/9- 2A) is 120256 bytes. The minimum gateway configuration (0 local sessions) is 49072 bytes. These figures apply to the SNA 3.0 release only. The sizes of modules which can be resident on the workstation are given below: MPMARK 1536 MPCOS 34928 (Node), 19776 (Gateway) MPGATE 27760 MP327X 56032 (1 3278/9-2A), 58032 (1 3278/9-2B) MPWCP 26288 MP3287-1 44416 MP3287-3 32352 To determine how much memory a given configuration of MP327X takes, use the following figures: Base memory: 51712 Each 2A session : 4320 Each 2B session : 6320 Each 3A session : 5600 Each 3B session : 8240 Each 4A session : 7360 Each 4B session : 10880 Each 5A session : 7712 Each 5B session : 11408 .h1;Description of Modules MPLOAD MPLOAD will load a read-only executable file. This allows 3+SNA to be run from a Read-only shared directory on a network. The /A option displays load and start addresses on the workstation screen after a file is loaded. The /I option causes MPLOAD to stop after the addresses have been displayed, but before the program has been started. When any key is pressed on the workstation keyboard, MPLOAD continues and the loaded program execution begins. These features are useful for developing and debugging programs which run on the MP14 card and have no direct function for 3+SNA users. MPSNA A negative response is issued to the host in response to DFC and FMD commands received for an LU which is powered off. A modem training character is transmitted before every frame. This will result in much better NRZI operation, especially with IBM modems. Upon POWER-OFF an "LUSTAT Component Disconnected" is sent. After the receipt of an UNBIND, the "NOTIFY Power Down" is sent. If the LU-LU session is already UNBOUND and the session powered off, a "NOTIFY Power Down" is sent to the host. All segments other than the first for an Exception Request RU are discarded. The ACTPU-ERP SNA command is supported. MP327X RU sizes smaller than 252 bytes are accepted. It uses what is sent in the BIND image from the host. Buffer orders that affect the extended attribute buffer are not processed if the extended attribute buffer is not present. The Usable Area Query Reply indicates 3270 Data Stream supported with 14-bit addressing allowed. MP3287-3 and MP3287-1 LU1 and LU3 handle multi-RU chains when the "End Bracket" indicator is set in the "First in Chain" RU. Num-lock is ignored except for keypad keys, and Scroll-Lock is ignored completely. When editing a field, keys pressed with ALT or CTRL are ignored, and all shift keys are handled properly. MPCOS The /C: option may be used to specify the full name of the configuration file to be used on the current workstation. The /X: option may be used to allow specification of the translation (.XLT) file. The /H option brings MPCOS up with DOS concurrency disabled. The default is DOS concurrency enabled. WRITEKBD This program will generate a keyboard configuration file from a .CFG file. For details on this procedure, call 3Com Customer Support. MPGATE NETBIOS error numbers are reported on initialization failures. This feature makes it easier to analyze problems with network configuration. A "NETBIOS not found" message is displayed if NetBIOS is not loaded on the system. The NetBIOS name that 3+SNA uses to identify the workstation is reported. This simplifies the process of setting up internetwork routers. All NetBIOS names used by 3+SNA contain only easily typeable characters. All gateway workstations use the naming convention RABTnn0000GATEWY where "nn" equals gateway number in hexadecimal (00 - 0F). Slave workstations use the naming convention RABTnnnnnnnnnnnn where "nnnnnnnnnnnn" equals the LAN adapter's unit identification number returned from the NetBIOS Adapter Status call. For 3Com adapters, this will be the 12- digit Ethernet address. FIXANSI This program modifies the program given as an argument (which must be a copy of ANSI.SYS) to be compatible with MPCOS. Some versions of ANSI.SYS scroll the screen by directly modifying the video RAM. The FIXANSI program prevents this by causing ANSI.SYS to use BIOS video calls to scroll the screen. MP3287-1 The addition of form feed characters to the local print image buffer may be suppressed. This option is invoked by setting the maximum print line (MPL) value to a "0" and would improve the format quality of printed output if the host were to send embedded form feed characters. The Bottom Margin (BM), a non-configurable option, is set equal to the MPL value. MPINSTAL IBM 3270 PC is a keyboard configuration option. The IBM 3270 PC is supported in this release. Note that this does not include the 3270 AT. The file BNR___.BNR is loaded as the logo. .KBD files are loaded as overrides for the default keyboard configuration files. MPCGA The /NC option disables automatic hardware checking and forces installation. .h1;Known Problems and Incompatibilities IND$FILE in DFT (extended data stream) mode can cause a file to be improperly received if the user switches to the SSCP session and back during the transfer. This is apparently due to a host programming problem. 3Com recommends against switching into the SSCP session during an IND$FILE DFT mode file transfer.