PC/LAN Environment

The following topics are covered in this chapter:

Control-D/WebAccess Server Product

The following topics are covered in this section:

Why Control-D/WebAccess Server

Control-D/WebAccess Server is a software product that enables you to view and manage mainframe reports on the PC and frees you from having to print many reports. It is based on the User Reports (Online Viewing) facility of the mainframe Control-D Output Management System.

Mainframe Control-D was developed to automate and improve the manual report distribution process. Mainframe Control-D performs decollation and then prepares the desired reports for transfer to the PC.

Control-D/WebAccess Server was designated to work in conjunction with mainframe Control-D to enable automatic transfer of mainframe reports to the PC or to a LAN.

Report recipients may then view, edit and print their mainframe reports in a format designed to their specifications on the PC. This frees up costly mainframe resources, increases report availability, and provides report accessibility to the large pool of PC users.

Flow of Events

First, reports are decollated by mainframe Control-D and designated for use by specific recipients. Each recipient’s report destination is determined by mainframe Control-D.

Next, a printing mission is activated on the mainframe Control-D that automatically distributes reports with a destination of CTDPC or CTDPCPRT to the PCs.

The printing mission distribution process bundles reports belonging to a specific PC recipient in a special compressed file called a packet. To facilitate control and tracking of packet destinations, a control record is added to the Active Transfer file (ATF) for each packet created by mainframe Control-D. Packets are then ready for transfer to the PC.

Control-D/WebAccess Server initiates the request to transfer reports and then automatically performs the following sequence of events:

  • Accesses the ATF in order to determine which packets are awaiting transfer to the PC user who issued the request.

  • Activates the site’s File Transfer program and transfers relevant packets to the PC.

  • "Unbundles" the packets into individual reports and makes the transferred reports available for viewing, editing, and printing on the PC.

  • Sends confirmation to mainframe Control-D that transfer was successful.

  • Retains reports on the PC for the duration specified in mainframe Control-D and automatically deletes expired reports from the PC to free valuable disk space.

Control and Tracking

Central and efficient control is essential to coordinating and administering the distribution of reports to hundreds of PCs. The major aspects of control and tracking are maintained in mainframe Control-D by utilizing the recipient tree and the ATF.

The mainframe Control-D recipient tree defines the hierarchical recipient structure and also controls the following aspects of the Control-D/WebAccess Server recipient base:

  • Which recipients are authorized to receive and process mainframe reports on the PC using Control-D/WebAccess Server.

  • How long the reports reside on the PC – preventing accumulation of outdated reports and maintaining control of PC disk space.

  • When reports may be downloaded from the mainframe to the PC – maintaining control of the load on the mainframe resources and PC-mainframe communication lines.

  • Where reports reside on the PC – allowing the Control-D administrator to maintain control of data file distribution to PC disks.

  • Size of the reports that may be transferred to the PC.

The Active Transfer file is accessed using the File Transfer Control screen in mainframe Control-D and provides the means to track and control the active packets.

Printing Reports

The major printing functions that can be performed using Control-D/WebAccess Server are listed below:

  • Specify the range of pages to be printed.

  • Specify the format of the report to be printed by specifying the ruler name.

  • Determine the number of copies to be printed.

  • Set the length of the print page.

  • Specify whether to print a banner page (separator) at the beginning and at the end of the report.

  • Specify the destination to which the report is printed.

  • Export a report to other PC software products.

  • Specify print instructions such as condensed print.

PSF/2 Considerations

The IBM Print Services Facility/2 (PSF/2) program provides AFP to the local area network (LAN) workstation environment or stand-alone environment.

PSF/2 provides LAN printing and combinations of printer sharing among LAN users. By extending AFP to the standalone personal computer (PC) and LAN environments, PSF/2 lets you print high quality output on a PS/2 attached printer.

By supporting a wide range of data streams and printers, PSF/2 lets you print to almost any printer in your organization. You can add printers based on their capabilities rather than worrying about matching specific printers with specific applications.

PSF/2 also allows the same level of systems management, resource management, error recovery and reporting currently provided with the host PSF products. Like the host PSF products, PSF/2 provides the fonts needed for the supported printers.

Supported Printers

PSF/2 supports a wide variety of IPDS and HPCL printers. It supports the entire family of IBM’s IPDS laser printers. This family includes printers ranging from the 10 page per minute (4028 LaserPrinter) to the 229 page per minute (3900 Printer). The following are IPDS printers supported by PSF/2:

  • IBM 3812 Page Printer Model 2.

  • IBM 3816 Page Printer Model 01D and Model 01S.

  • IBM 3820 Page Printer, channel attached.

  • IBM 3820 Page Printer, communication attached.

  • IBM 3825 Page Printer.

  • IBM 3827 Page Printer.

  • IBM 3828 Advanced Function MICR Printer.

  • IBM 3835 Page Printer and 3835 MICR printer.

  • IBM 3900 Advanced Function Printer.

  • IBM 4028 LaserPrinter Model NS1.

Control of Printing

PSF/2 provides comprehensive printing control, previously available only through the host PSF products. For the IPDS printers, PSF/2 provides automatic error recovery, ensuring that if a print job is interrupted, the job is restarted from the point of the error. PSF/2 also provides error messages and online Help information to help you resolve problems.

PSF/2 provides interfaces that help the LAN print administrator define and manage printers and resources (for example, the Print Submission interface enables you to quickly and easily submit print jobs).

To help you tailor and manage the system, PSF/2 provides user exits for accounting, security, and job separation.