RE: Replacing the AS400 signon manager?

midrange-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>   6. RE: Replacing the AS400 signon manager? (Kurt Goolsbee)
>
>For all of the host servers (Database, Data Queue, Remote Command...) your
>signon is validated before the exit is called and they don't have a return
>parameter to set the identity.  You can however do a swap. 

For the File host server at least, 'swap' generally doesn't work. The server 
itself effectively implements its swap back to the originating user upon return 
from the exit program (not quite accurate, but the effect is similar). We've 
been battling IBM on this one for quite a while. Getting around it is a pain to 
say the least.

>NetServer falls into the host server category above but is more of a pain in
>the rear end because the server does not own the socket is using to
>communicate with.

NetServer itself is not a host server but definitely turns things over to host 
servers in order to handle transactions. It gets messy fast, particularly in 
light of the File host server swap issue since the File server is so important 
to NetServer.

>For Telnet, the exit fires prior to the user ever being presented a screen
>so you won't be able to prompt them for their secret.  You can't do a swap
>because this exit is called from one of the Telnet jobs.

Fortunately, telnet DEVINIT allows overriding user profile (if auto-signon is 
enabled), so swap is perhaps irrelevant. Since the client session is 
established (though not the device) there are technical possibilities for 
locating and communicating back to the remote workstation/system. Not easy at 
all as a starting point for exit programming.

>For telnet your best option is to either create a routing program or an
>initial program that you can do your extra prompting in.  These are also the
>only way to support what you want from a dumb terminal.  You do have some
>other things that you have to control - System Request menu and Attention
>menu access.  

The routing program point may be the best for many interactive tasks. The 
device is established and can be queried for info such as remote address. This 
allows intervention in (potentially) every interactive job without a need to 
change any user profiles. New profiles are handled automatically and existing 
initial programs continue to work independently.

Of course, maintaining routing entries over the years can be tricky, especially 
with multiple interactive subsystems. The loss of a systems programmer type can 
lead to trouble.

Tom Liotta

-- 
Tom Liotta
The PowerTech Group, Inc.
19426 68th Avenue South
Kent, WA 98032
Phone  253-872-7788 x313
Fax    253-872-7904
http://www.powertech.com


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