TN3270 Display Connection Tab

The 3270 Connection tab is used to configure host connection settings. The following configuration settings are available for configuration.

*DNS Fail Over
PASSPORT has the ability to resolve a list of IP addresses configured on an internal DNS Server. PASSPORT will connect to the first host of an available list of detected IP addresses.

Description
Enter a descriptive name for the session profile. This name is displayed on the Sessions Profile list and is used to identify the session. Use the Tools>Regenerate All to refresh the Administrator window after a new session profile is added. This field is optional.

IP Host Name
Name or IP address of the host computer you wish to connect to. If you enter a text string for the name of the host computer, the TCP/IP protocol will translate it into an IP address and use this number to connect to the IBM host. You can also enter the IP address number directly. However, it must be supplied in the standard 4 number dot-delimited format, nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn, where each number nnn ranges in value from 0 to 255. Your system administrator can supply you with this information. Both IPv4 and IPv6 are supported.

TCP Port
The default value for this parameter is 23. If you have defined other port numbers for your Telnet host, the number must be entered here. Normally this number is not changed.

Timeout (sec)
The Timeout value designates the number of seconds PASSPORT will spend trying to connect to the host address before switching to an alternate address, as specified by the back-up IP host name(s) in the Advanced tab.

Auto-Reconnect
If this option is selected, PASSPORT will try to re-establish a session with the host if that session times out or is unexpectedly disconnected by the gateway or host (or if the host is down when trying to connect). PASSPORT will attempt to reconnect after first waiting for 1 second, then 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 seconds, and then 30 seconds thereafter between each attempt until a connection is established. This helps reduce network traffic. Once PASSPORT successfully connects to the host, the reconnection value will be reset to 1 second again.

If you log off a mainframe session using a command such as VMEXIT, LOGOFF or CSSF LOGOFF, the TN3270 session will be disconnected and another session with the host will automatically be initiated, returning you to the host logon prompt.

If this option is not selected, you will get a blank screen if disconnected from your mainframe session. You will then have to perform a Communication>Disconnect command followed by a Communication>Connect command in PASSPORT to re-establish the session.

Screen Size
PASSPORT supports models 2, 3, 4, 5, and dynamic screen sizes. The model number refers to the number of rows and columns the terminal can display. If you do not configure the correct screen size, you may not be able to make a connection to the host.

• Model 2 (80 columns x 24 rows)

• Model 3 (80 columns x 32 rows)

• Model 4 (80 columns x 43 rows)

• Model 5 (132 columns x 27 rows)

• Dynamic
  
  Rows
  For custom screen sizes, this sets the number of rows to display. Enter an integer between 24 and 125.
  
  Columns
  For custom screen sizes, this sets the number of columns to display. Enter an integer between 80 and 255.

Telnet Device Type Override
This text entry provides the ability to override the Device Type String that is automatically generated by the Screen Size and Extended Attribute settings. For more information on this setting refer to the Client User Guide Technical Reference section.

For example: If screen size Model 5 and extended attributes are enabled, the device type IBM-3278-5-E is generated in accordance with the IETF RFC 2355 specifications. However, some older TN3270 servers may interpret this incorrectly as no extended attributes and may need the device type IBM-3279-5-E typed into the Telnet Device Type Override field.

Based on the screen size and extended attributes settings, PASSPORT generates the following TN3270 device types when negotiating a TN3270 or TN3270E session with the TN3270 server. These device types must be configured on the TN3270 session in order to make a connection.

Host Code Page
Choose the appropriate Host Code Page for your country (or country where the host mainframe is located). This determines which translation tables are used to communicate between the host's EBCDIC character set and the PC's ANSI/ASCII character set.

The Euro host code pages (1140 through 1149) are identical to the non-Euro host code pages, except that the European currency symbol replaces the international monetary symbol. Not all Windows fonts support the European currency symbol.

TN3270E Support (see *Note below)
Selected this option to enable the TN3270E enhanced terminal emulation. TN3270E emulation provides the following advanced emulation features: standard 3270 Attention key and System Request key support, support for connection to generic as well as specific LUs, SSCP-LU session support, SNA Bind and UnBind support, and SNA-like response support. Display sessions connecting to a TN3270E server can use Generic or Specific LUs.

*Note: Click on TN3270E Support and these options become available on the 3270 Connection Tab (otherwise, they are normally dimmed):

• Generic

• Specific

• Resource Name

• TN3270E Response Support 

Resource Name
Device or pool name used by PASSPORT and the TN3270E server to identify and establish a connection to a specific LU or LU pool.

Extended Attributes
This configuration option determines whether or not extended attributes are displayed. Extended attributes includes seven-color display, blinking, underline, and reverse video. Select the Extended Attributes box to enable these features. True blinking is not currently supported. However, blinking fields may be displayed as reverse video magenta by setting the Display Blinking Fields as Reverse Video in the Attributes Profile Miscellaneous tab setting.

TN3270E Response Support
This option determines whether or not TN3270E responses are supported during TN3270E terminal emulation. For the IBM Communications Server, this option must be selected. For most other TN3270E servers, this option should be disabled.

Non-SNA Command Chaining
Enable this option if connecting through a Visara controller. The Visara controller requires the TN3270 client to do the 3270 command chaining required by Non-SNA Master Console operation. If not connecting through a Visara controller, this option should be disabled.

Scroll Back Buffer (n) Lines
This option allows you to activate the history log which stores data (in lines) that are no longer displayed on the screen.  You can then use the scroll bar on the right side of the PASSPORT window to scroll back and view previous host screens. The default number of lines in the history log is 24. However, you can increase this log to a maximum of 100000 lines.