Remote PC to AS400 connrection

Ron:
The answer is: it depends.  Mostly depends on what hardware you have around.
Here are a few of your options.
1.  If you have an ASCII WSC you can dial into it.  There is a product from
Productivity Systems called 3164 and it works pretty well both DOS and
Windows.  Can really do any file xfer, but printing is supported pretty
well.  One modem on the ASCII WSC supports 1 dial in connection.
2.  Dial into the AS400 via TCP/IP directly.  The can be done via a EIA
RS232 (v.24) comm port on the AS400.  You need to have a free comm port.
SLIP is supported from V3R7 forward, PPP is supported from V4R2 or V4R3.  It
works well, on the PC side you use Dial up networking in WIN95 to make the
connection and then need a 5250 Telnet emulator on the PC and a LPD client
if you wish to print.  You can download the Mochasoft TN5250 emulator from
www.mochasoft.dk.  Their product is reasonalbe (25/seat) and works well.
You can also do FTP for file xfer, or use any other TCP/IP service.
3.  If your AS400 is attached to a LAN via either Ethernet or Token Ring,
you can set up a dial in RAS server.  A (Remote Access Server) RAS server
allow you to connect to the network remotely like you were locally attached.
You can then access any machine on the network including the AS400.  Again
you need a TN5250 emulator and an LPD client for printing.  I think Better
On Line Systems (BOS) has a TCP/IP suite that has both a TN5250 emulator and
LPD/LPR built in.  There are several was to accomplish a RAS.  You can run
RAS on an WIN NT server, use a router than has RAS capabilities or use a
stand alone hardware based box that attaches on the network.  We have
installed the Quick Stream Pro 3 port RAS server for many AS400 clients with
much success.
4.  You can also look at a product called CLIP.  It is  a specialize modem
that attaches to a EIA RS232 (v.24) port and support dial up with PC comm
packages like ProComm.
5.  You can buy an SDLC card for the dial up PC and configure the whole
thing to do good old SNA communications.  Again you attach to an RS232 comm
port and will need to configure the SNA set up on the AS400 as well as
config the card in the PC.  Not very practical for laptops.

I'm not sure if I have covered every way to do it, however I probably have
touched on the major ways to connect.  My recommendation is that you look to
doing something with TCP/IP (options 2 or 3 above).  TCP/IP is so much
quicker and ralatively easy to set up.  I have installed all of the above
solutions so I feel pretty confortable giving my recommendations.  At our
office we have a RAS server running under NT with a 32 port digi board.  We
have 7 dial up line for local dial into our network, including our AS400.
In addition, the same NT box is also our Gateway to the Internet, allowing
access to the Internet from our internal network and access to our AS400s
from anywhere in the world.  We also have VPN set up to have secured access
to other nodes on the network.

I hope this helps, let me know if you need any more detail about any of
these options.

Regards,
Carl
PS - Standard disclaimer, I don't work for any of the above mentioned
companies, I just like product that work as advertised.
Carl Galgano
EDI Consulting Services, Inc.
540 Powder Springs Street
Suite C19
Marietta, GA  30064
770-422-2995
mailto: cgalgano@ediconsulting.com
http:cgalgano.home.mindspring.com
EDI, Communications and AS400 Technical Consulting

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Ron Sposito <raspo@slomins.com>
    To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
    Date: Thursday, December 03, 1998 12:04 PM
    Subject: Remote Dial In to AS400


    I am looking for a reliable way to dial into my AS400 from a remote PC.
We are currently using a twinax protocol converter that worked great under
DOS. But once we went to the Windows version of the software - performance
went way down. Any suggestions ? Thanks
Carl Galgano
EDI Consulting Services, Inc.
540 Powder Springs Street
Suite C19
Marietta, GA  30064
770-422-2995
mailto: cgalgano@ediconsulting.com
http:cgalgano.home.mindspring.com
EDI, Communications and AS400 Technical Consulting

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