Visara CNA-8000 Planning Guide - Manual (Page 7)

CNA-8000 Migration and Planning Guide
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Introduction
The Visara CNA-8000 platform allows the migration from a variety of channel attached
gateway products, many of them discontinued and unsupported. These gateways include
the Cisco CIP and CPA products, the IBM 3172 and 2216 products, the McData 6100
gateway, as well as IBM 3174, Memorex Telex 1174, and other similar controller
gateways, and PC gateways made by such companies as Novell and Microsoft.
This document can be used to help determine whether the current feature set of a
particular gateway product qualifies for replacement with the CNA-8000. The CNA-8000
consists of 2 main feature groups. These consist of:
• TN3270 Gateway Server: Support for the offloading of TN3270 clients support
from the mainframe, and from a variety of PC, thin client, Linux, UNIX,
platforms. The clients appear as SNA LU1, LU2, and LU3 devices to VTAM
while interfacing to the customer network using IP traffic only.
• SNA PU2 Gateway: Supports a variety of downstream PU2 platforms such as
controllers, PC gateways, AS/400, RS6000, APPN networks, and other platforms
that primarily communicate using SNA protocols over LLC, SDLC, or DLSw.
This manual addresses how the CNA-8000 appears to the host, what the host gens should
be, and what tools are available to transition from existing products to the CNA-8000,
usually without having to touch existing downstream clients and SNA platforms. The
CNA-8000 may also provide additional support options beyond the existing gateway
products, allowing for improved networking and security. This document will also
attempt to identify any issues that may arise to minimize surprises.