Re: Connecting satellite locations via the Internet

Pat,

When you say Web, I am assuming that you mean the Internet.  I view the
Internet as a worldwide communications "pipe" & the Web is just one
application that runs on it.

Each of our customers has differences in their infrastructures.  Here's one
that certainly makes the point.

Customer is a freight forwarder.  HQ in New York (20 empl.), Branches in
Chicago (5 empl), Seattle (6 empl), & LA (10 empl).  Company also has
customers (about 50) with need to check shipment status online.  PSINet is
the ISP for each of the locations.  The infrastructure includes:

New York - AS/400 170, Lan, firewall with client encryption feature, Router
to net, 256kb dedicated internet connection, 
Each other site:  PC Clients with Encryption Client installed, LAN wiring
(no local server), Router to net, 
     56kb dedicated internet connection

Remote employees use AS/400 via Internet for:
        Terminal Access (Telnet via Client Access)
        eMail
        File & print sharing (IFS for files - LPD for printers)

Customers use I/Net Webulator with CommerceServer/400 (encrypted) in a
browser to check shipment status.

THE THING THAT MAKES THIS WORK IS THE FIREWALL WITH CLIENT ENCRYPTION!!!
This is where IBM has missed the boat with the "AS/400 firewall".  Client
encryption encrypts the link between the PC & the firewall.  This gave them
ENCRYPTED TELNET, ENCRYPTED POP MAIL, ENCRYPTED FILE SERVING, ENCRYPTED LPD
PRINTING  Y E S T E R D A Y.

Each of these functions work well over the Internet because the amount of
data sent with each transmission is SMALL.  A 5250 screen is usually about
600 bytes.  Contrast that to the typical web page which is about 35,000 to
80,000 bytes (including graphics).  When you have to send this number of
packets, some may get lost!.  A screen update has much less risk of packet
loss because of its small number of packets.  Packet loss is what causes a
lot of speed problems.

Many of our customers do much of this function at a much larger scale.  I
mentioned this situation because the customer was:

1.  100% AS/400-centric
2.  Securely operating a distributed business over the Internet.
3.  Doing just about EVERY THING THAT YOU WOULD WANT TO DO WITH SATELITE
LOCATIONS

PS:  I can do all of this from my house or hotel room, as well!  The only
difference between a dial up internet connection & a dedicated connection
is whether you want to initiate a call or have instant availability!  Other
than starting the firewall client when remote, there is absolutely NO
difference (other than modem speed) between being local on the LAN or being
remote.

PPS:  You may want to try an ISP other than Worldnet.  I had an account
with them for 3 days & cancelled it because it was TOTALLY UNRELIABLE (I
was getting a 20% packet loss).  Your problems may not be the Internet ...
it may be your ISP.

Hope this helps!

John Myers
IBM Certified Specialist - AS/400 Technical Solutions
Strategic Business Systems, Inc.
300 Lake Street, Suite B, Ramsey, NJ 07446  USA
E-mail: mailto:jmyers@sbsusa.com   Phone: +1 (201) EASY 400   x131
Web:    http://www.sbsusa.com      Fax:   +1 (201) 327-6984

Instant AS/400 Web Guestbooks & Internet Surveys - WebSurvey/400
     http://www.sbsusa.com/internet/inpuzsvy.htm

Prove that your shipment got there - Proof of Delivery!
     http://www.sbsusa.com/docmgmt/dmsol4u.htm


At 11:11 AM 3/11/99 -0800, you wrote:
>> In terms of stability, you have to remember that the Internet was
>> originally constructed with the design objective of enabling government
>> facilities to communicate after a nuclear attack.  If a portion of the
>> backbone is busy, traffic is routed to another route.  Our customers use it
>> every day with hundreds of users & no hiccups!
>
>John:
>
>I'm really curious about that last statement.. What method(software)
>are you using to have this remarkable uptime using the web....
>
>I would prefer to hear about a "small" remote location and how you
>go about connecting them to a 400.. (small means 2-4 users)... I am
>very up on all the "normal" methods...Web access is the only thing
>I would like to hear about..
>+---

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