This
document is provided as a source of information about
many of the common questions asked about Alliance
SerialConnect. You can use the links below to go
to a specific section, or use the Find button on your
browser to search for a topic or phrase.
How
can I best use Alliance SerialConnect?
How
does Alliance SerialConnect work?
What
are the benefits to connecting over an Ethernet
network?
How
many devices can I connect to an Alliance EDAS unit?
What
kind of serial devices can I connect to the AS/400?
How
does the EDAS unit convert serial communications to
TCP/IP?
Can
I connect remote serial devices over a frame relay or
VPN connection?
Can
I connect serial devices over my local Ethernet LAN?
Can
serial devices be connected over the Internet?
How
do RPG and Cobol programmers use Alliance
SerialConnect?
What
kind of logging or debug facilities does Alliance
have?
How
is system performance managed by Alliance?
What
is the hardware warranty and replacement policy?
What
hardware do I need on my AS/400?
What
software do I need on my AS/400?
How
is Alliance licensed?
Is
Alliance SerialConnect Year2000 compliant?
About
Patrick Townsend & Associates, Inc.
Alliance
SerialConnect is designed to make it easy to connect
hardware devices with RS-232 serial interfaces to the
AS/400. Examples of devices with serial interfaces
include scales, manufacturing control systems, time
clocks, medical instrumentation, PCs, and RF (radio
frequency) systems. Alliance lets your application
programmers easily exchange data with serial devices
using AS/400 data queues. Alliance manages the
configuration, communications, ASCII/EBCDIC data
translation, error recovery, and problem analysis.
Alliance is a fully manageable solution for serial
communications that is designed to work around the
clock.
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Alliance
SerialConnect is both a hardware and a software
solution. The serial device is connected to one side
of the Alliance EDAS (Ethernet Data Acquisition
System) unit, and the EDAS unit is connected to your
Ethernet TCP/IP network on the other side. The
Alliance EDAS unit converts serial, Asynchronous
communications to TCP/IP sockets communications on the
network. On the AS/400 Alliance SerialConnect
communicates with the EDAS unit to send and receive
data, perform configuration tasks, and manage the
connection. Since the Alliance AS/400 software is
performing the configuration and communications tasks,
you get a more reliable and manageable communications
interface.
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Normal
serial communications limits cabling distances to 50
feet. This means you need to have the serial device
within 50 feet of your AS/400, or employ signal
boosting devices to increase the cable distance. This
can be problematic as serial cabling is prone to noise
and bad connections. Alliance removes these
limitations by routing communications over an Ethernet
network. Ethernet connections are faster, more
reliable, extend for much greater distances, and can
be routed over a complex network, even the Internet.
Using Alliance you can achieve much more reliable and
manageable communications with serial devices.
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The
EDAS unit comes in 2-port and 4-port models. You can
connect a maximum of four serial devices to one EDAS
4-port model. There is no limit to the number of EDAS
units you can connect to the AS/400, other than normal
limitations on the number of stations on the Ethernet
network, and the performance capabilities of the
AS/400.
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There
are numerous types of devices that support a serial
interface. These include scales, medical devices,
manufacturing control systems, process control
systems, pharmaceutical systems, time clocks, and PCs.
Any device that uses standard serial communications
and supports an RS232 interface can interface with
Alliance SerialConnect.
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The
Alliance EDAS unit employs microprocessor technology
and non-volatile memory to perform intelligent
protocol conversion between serial communications and
TCP/IP sockets. The Alliance software on the AS/400
stores the serial configuration (baud rate, parity,
data bits, etc.), and sends configuration information
to the EDAS unit when it starts. The EDAS unit uses
this information to establish a connection with the
serial device. After being configured by Alliance
software on the AS/400, the EDAS unit is ready to send
data from the serial device to the AS/400 and receive
data from the AS/400 for the serial device. The
configuration of the EDAS unit is not affected by
power loss or network failures. This makes it a highly
reliable interface for serial communications.
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Yes.
The Alliance EDAS unit is located near the serial
device and is connected to an Ethernet network. You
can easily route the connection to the AS/400 over a
frame relay, VPN (Virtual Private Network), X.25, or
any other Wide Area Network connection that is capable
of routing the TCP/IP protocol. Since the protocol
used is TCP/IP (the same protocol that is used on the
Internet) you can easily configure standard network
routers and firewalls to accommodate Alliance
communications.
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Yes.
Alliance can run over your local Ethernet LAN using
the TCP/IP protocol. It can even co-exist on the LAN
with SNA sessions used by IBM Client Access, Wall Data
Rumba, NetManage/Netsoft Router, NetWare, and many
other protocols. The Alliance EDAS unit contains a
standard 10BaseT connector and can be attached to any
hub or router.
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Yes.
Since the communications protocol used between the
AS/400 and the Alliance EDAS unit is TCP/IP, you can
connect over the Internet. You will need to be sure
your AS/400 has an Internet connection, and that the
IP address of the Alliance EDAS unit can be routed
properly. You should use care, however, when
connecting serial devices to the AS/400 over the
Internet. Internet connections can be slow and this
may cause delays in communications. These delays can
cause time out problems for the serial device. If
performance and reliability are important it would be
best to avoid using the Internet for connectivity.
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Alliance
uses data queues to exchange data with RPG and Cobol
programs. Data queues provide a very fast method of
sending and receiving application data. When Alliance
receives data from the serial device it converts it to
EBCDIC and writes it to a data queue that you define.
Your RPG or Cobol application receives the data from
the data queue, reads or updates an AS/400 database,
and optionally writes a response to the return data
queue. Alliance converts the data to ASCII characters
and returns the data to the serial device. The RPG
programmer does not need to know TCP/IP sockets
communications, serial device communications, or the
ILE C/400 language. The interface is fast and easy to
use.
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Alliance
has a complete logging facility that can help you
during the development phase of your communications
project. All functions of Alliance are logged when a
session is started and you can view or print a full
report of the communications session. All data sent or
received by Alliance is logged in both character and
hex format. This can assist in resolving data exchange
issues between the AS/400 and the remote serial
device.
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Alliance
includes its own subsystem with job queue and class.
You have complete flexibility in assigning the
execution characteristics of each Alliance client or
server application. If you want to use your own
subsystem for Alliance jobs, you can define the job
queue for Alliance to use. You can assign different
Alliance client and server jobs to different
subsystems. Alliance keeps track of your
communications jobs regardless of the subsystem in
which they are running.
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The
Alliance EDAS unit is manufactured by Intelligent
Instruments and resold by Townsend. The manufacturer
and Townsend unconditionally warrant the hardware
against defect for one year. Any defective unit will
be replaced without cost, other than shipping and
handling charges. Townsend maintains a small inventory
of EDAS units for shipment in emergency situations.
Customers with mission critical applications should
maintain one or more units on site for fast
replacement.
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To
use Alliance you need at least one Ethernet LAN
adapter on the AS/400. Most newer RISC AS/400s will
have an Ethernet adapter as a part of the IPCS or as a
standard adapter. No other hardware is required. And
Alliance can share the LAN adapter with terminal
sessions and SNA traffic.
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You
do not need to install any special applications or
additional software other than Alliance SerialConnect.
Alliance SerialConnect is compatible with V5R1 and
later releases of the operating system.
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Alliance
is licensed on a "per CPU" basis. There is
no limit to the number of users or devices that can
access Alliance. And there is no client software to
install on serial devices. Multiple CPU discounts are
available if you have more than one AS/400.
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Yes.
Although there is no significant date processing in
the Alliance software or hardware, any dates used by
the application are Year2000 compliant. The EDAS 1025e
units are also certified by the manufacturer as
Year2000 compliant. To view the formal statement on
Year2000 compliance from Intelligent Instruments you
can visit their web site at: www.instrument.com.
Click on the icon for Year2000 issues.
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Patrick
Townsend & Associates, Inc. is a Washington state
corporation. The company specializes in communications
products and communications consulting services for
the Windows NT Server, IBM AS/400, and IBM mainframe
environments. Business partner companies include IBM,
Novell, Microsoft, Lotus, Infinite Technologies, and
others. Founded in 1984 the company has provided
services for Bank of America, Visa International,
Viking Freight, Roadway Regional Group, IBM
Corporation, Novell, Safeway, PMI Mortgage Insurance,
and many others. For more information and product
pricing, contact: Patrick Townsend & Associates,
Inc., 7700 Earling Street NE, Olympia, WA 98506.
Voice: (360) 357-8971. FAX: (360) 357-9047. E-Mail: info@patownsend.com.
http://www.patownsend.com.
