Introduction to Networking for NonStop S-Series Servers

HP NonStop S-Series Systems Network Architecture
(SNA) Network Connections
Introduction to Networking for HP NonStop S-Series Servers—520670-005
7-4
Advantages of the SNAX Product Family
Advantages of the SNAX Product Family
The SNAX product family is noteworthy for its support for large configurations, and for
the ease with which you can develop new applications or convert existing ones to run
on an HP NonStop S-Series server. Several key features of the SNAX product line are
described in the following subsections:
•
SNA Host Functions on page 7-4
•
Comprehensive Session and Protocol Support on page 7-4
•
Transmission Options on page 7-4
•
Flexible Requester-Server Roles on page 7-4
•
Integration With Existing Networks on page 7-5
•
Online Reconfiguration on page 7-5
•
High-Level and Low-Level Interfaces and Development Tools on page 7-5
•
Passthrough and Application Switching on page 7-5
SNA Host Functions
Using the SNAX Advanced Peer Networking (SNAX/APN) product, the
NonStop S-series server can function as a host (node type 5) when interacting with
terminals or can serve as an SNA type 2.1 node. With the base SNAX/APN product,
the NonStop S-series server acts as a LEN node; with the extended version,
SNAX/APN-EN, it acts as an end node.
Comprehensive Session and Protocol Support
SNAX products support a large range of SNA sessions and protocols. They support LU
types 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6.2, and 7. SNAX Extended Facility (SNAX/XF) supports sessions
with many kinds of SNA applications and devices attached to a NonStop S-series
server.
Transmission Options
Not only do SNAX products support many kinds of sessions, but they also give you
flexibility in transmission options. For instance, transmission options for SNAX/XF
include the ability to run over switched lines, leased lines, token-ring and Ethernet local
area networks (LANs), or X.25 network connections. X.25 support implies that the
NonStop S-series server communicates with the IBM NCP Packet Switching Interface
(NPSI) on the SNA communications controller.
Flexible Requester-Server Roles
With SNAX products, the part of your application that runs on the NonStop S-series
server can open and use external systems or devices as application resources or can
wait for an initiation request from a remote system or device. SNAX subsystems
communicate with the SNA requester even if no application is running on the
NonStop S-series server. HP applications can be either requesters or servers with
respect to SNA devices.