Ref: 99980171
Title: 3+SNA Technical Release Notes  Version 3.0.2
Date: 11/15/88

Copyright 3Com Corporation, 1991.  All rights reserved.

.h1;Installation

First time installation is as described in the 3+SNA
Administrator's Guide.

.h1;Supplemental Documentation

This section documents all information not yet included in the
currently available revisions of the 3+SNA User Guide (P/N 4596-
xx) and the 3+SNA Administrator's Guide (P/N 4597-xx).


.h1;New Supported Environments

Support for the IBM 3270 PC is included in this release.  Note
that this does not necessarily include the IBM 3270 AT.  To
select this support, choose the IBM 3270 PC keyboard option when
configuring the workstation with MPINSTAL.

A keyboard definition file (CUSTOM1.KBD) has been provided to
support a keyboard definition that closely emulates the default
keyboard mapping for 3Com's 3+3270.  The biggest departure from
the original 3Com mapping is that the mappings for PF13-PF24 have
been changed to SHIFT-PF1--SHIFT-PF12 from CTRL-ALT-1--CTRL-ALT-
=.

.h1;Selectable Configuration Files

The MP3274 command script accepts a single parameter which is
used to specify a particular .CFG file using its full DOS
pathname.  Users may run MP3274 from any subdirectory providing
the DOS search path contains a subdirectory for the 3+SNA
executables.  The only restriction is that the PC Environment
(Video Adapter, Use of Windows, etc) must be the same in the .CFG
file as it is in the MP3274 command script.  The host
configuration can differ in the number and type of LU Type 2
sessions, but must match in the use of printer sessions.

.h1;DOS Concurrency Option

3+SNA is designed to operate concurrently with MS-DOS
applications.  There are, however, a number of applications that
by-pass DOS and the BIOS and interact directly with the
workstation hardware.  Some of these applications can cause 3+SNA
to behave unpredictably or improperly.  For example, the clock in
Lotus 1-2-3 writes directly to the video screen buffer,
overlaying the 3278/9 Terminal Emulator status line.  To help
alleviate this and other similar situations, the ability to
suspend all processing of DOS applications while in 3+SNA
sessions has been provided.  Since many popular applications take
advantage of the fact that DOS is intended to be a single-task
system, and since 3+SNA (and most LANs) are multi-tasking
applications by their very nature; incompatibilities will always
exist.  3+SNA provides mechanisms to work-around
incompatibilities, but it is up to the user to experiment and
decide which methods work best in his environment.

There are two ways to disable the concurrent operation of the
DOS session with 3+SNA sessions.

1)  Add the /H (HALT) option to the end of the line in the
batch files generated by MPINSTALL that begins with
MPCOS.  For example, in MP3274.BAT, a typical line
would be

  MPCOS /V:69 /E:00 /C: /M:16

 To disable DOS concurrency, edit the line to read:

  MPCOS /V:69 /E:00 /C: /M:16 /H

DOS concurrency will be disabled the next time the script
is run to load 3+SNA on the workstation.

2)  Use the CDOS command to control DOS concurrency.  This
command is provided on the INSTALLATION AND FILE TRANSFER
diskette.  To disable DOS concurrency, type

  CDOS OFF

 from any DOS command prompt while in the DOS session.

The CDOS command can also be used to enable DOS concurrency,
regardless of which method was used to initially disable it.  To
enable DOS concurrency, type

  CDOS ON

 from the DOS session.

CDOS command reference

  CDOS [ON | OFF] [QUIET]

If CDOS is invoked with no arguments, it reports the current DOS
concurrency state.  It does not change the state in any way.

If invoked with the ON or OFF options, the DOS concurrency state
is changed to either ON or OFF, respectively, and the new state
of DOS concurrency is reported.

The QUIET option can be specified either alone or with the ON or
OFF options.  If QUIET is present on the command line, then all
output from the CDOS program to the DOS standard output device is
inhibited.

CDOS always exits with a meaningful exit code as follows:

0 - DOS Concurrency is ON.
1 - DOS Concurrency is OFF.
2 - Invalid arguments specified on the command line.
3 - MPCOS is not installed.
4 - MPCOS either does not support the DOS Concurrency option or
is corrupted.
5 - MPCOS internal error.

.h1;CDOS Error Messages

Parameter not recognized:

Cause-An invalid parameter was specified on the CDOS command
line.

Action-Correct the parameter and retry the command.

MPCOS not found.  No action taken.

Cause-3+SNA software is not loaded on this workstation.

Action-Don't try to use CDOS when 3+SNA is not in use.

NULL comm_ptr.  Serious problems.

Cause-An internal failure has occured.

Action-Contact 3Com Customer Support with full details.

CORRUPTED or not supported by this MPCOS.

Cause-It is quite likely that a version of 3+SNA that does not
support DOS concurrency is loaded on the workstation.  If the
MPCOS version is correct, then the workstation memory has become
corrupted.

Action-Either don't use CDOS or upgrade the software on the
workstation.   If workstation memory has become corrupted, then
it may be best to re-boot the workstation as quickly as is
feasible.  If the condition persists, contact 3Com Customer
Support with details, noting in particular what other
applications have been run on the workstation and what sequence
of actions is taken with 3+SNA prior to the appearance of the
above message.

Both ON and OFF parameters were specified.  No action taken.

Cause Both the ON and OFF parameters were given on the CDOS
command line.

Action-Choose one or the other and retry the command.

.h1;3+SNA NetBIOS Interface

The MPGATE program, used by 3+SNA for NetBIOS LAN communications,
determines each 3+SNA node's NetBIOS name and displays it to the
user at startup time.  The 3NB DIR command can also be used to
display the 3+SNA node names on the local LAN, but only for
stations where 3+SNA software has already been installed.  MPGATE
establishes NetBIOS node names based on the following convention:

 For Slaves:     RABTxxxxxxxxxxxx

 where "xxxxxxxxxxxx" is the workstation's Ethernet address.

example: RABT02608C627222

 For Gateways:     RABTxx0000GATEWY

 where "xx" is the gateway number defined by the user during the
MPINSTAL configuration process.

 example: RABT010000GATEWY

.h1;3Com 3+Plus

The Serialization option for each workstation in the LAN
should be set to 5C, particularly if there will be concurrent
activity in the DOS and host sessions.  See the Administrator's
Guide for other notes related to 3+Plus.

.h1;Internetwork Gateway Access using 3Com's 3NB Utility

The 3NB utility program, used in conjunction with the Locator
Service, will allow network slave stations to access Gateways on
remote 3Com LANs.  First, however, you must determine the NetBIOS
node name of each 3+SNA slave and gateway station that needs
internetwork access.  For information on how to determine each
workstation's NetBIOS name(s), see the "3+SNA NetBIOS Interface"
section above.

.h1;Setting Up the Internetwork Links

To set up an internetwork link, the user of a slave station must
first update his workstation's internal 3NB table to recognize
his workstation's NetBIOS name as an internetwork name.  At the
same time, the remote network's Locator table must be updated to
recognize his workstation's NetBIOS name.  Both of these actions
are done using one 3NB REGISTER command.

.h1;The 3NB REGISTER Command

The syntax of the 3NB REGISTER command, when used to set up 3+SNA
internetwork links, is:

 > 3NB REG slave_name \\remote_net

  where: "slave_name" is the NetBIOS name of the _3+SNA slave in the
local LAN.

  "remote_net" is the DOMAIN and ORGANIZATION of the remote LAN
where the slave_name must be registered in the remote Locator
service.

 example: 3NB REG RABT02608C627222 \\HQ:3COM

Next, the user must insert the name of the remote gateway and its
network name or number into his workstation's 3NB table.  This is
done using the 3NB USE command.


.h1;The 3NB USE Command

The syntax of the 3NB USE command, when used to set up 3+SNA
internetwork links, is:

 > 3NB USE gateway_name \\remote_net

  where: "gateway_name" is the NetBIOS name of the 3+SNA gateway
in the remote network.

  "remote_net" is the DOMAIN and ORGANIZATION of the LAN where
the gateway station is located.  (This will be the same DOMAIN
and ORGANIZATION which was specified in the REGISTER command).

 example: 3NB USE RABT010000GATEWY \\HQ:3COM

When to Issue 3NB Commands

The 3NB REGISTER and USE commands can be issued at any time,
given that the MPGATE-generated NetBIOS name for the station is
known.  Once issued, the workstation's 3NB tables will retain the
information even after subsequent LOADS and UNLOADS of 3+SNA
software.  The table is cleared when the workstation is rebooted,
or when the user issues the appropriate 3NB CLEAR commands.  The
REGISTER and USE commands are best placed in the user's
AUTOEXEC.BAT file, ensuring that the workstation's 3NB table
always gets reinitialized after reboots.


NOTE: If the local and remote LANs both have the same DOMAIN and
ORGANIZATION, it is necessary to use the Network Number of the
remote LAN in the 3NB REGISTER and USE commands.  This is done
using the long form of the two commands.  Following the names in
the above examples, the long forms of the REGISTER and USE
commands would appear as follows:

> 3NB REG ? <CR>
> Local Name? RABT02608C627222 <CR>
> Remote Name? <CR>
> Fill character? <CR>
> End Character? <CR>
> Group or Unique? <CR>
> Domain or Net Number? #48104 <CR>

> 3NB USE ? <CR>
> Local Name? RABT010000GATEWY <CR>
> Remote Name? <CR>
> Fill character? <CR>
> End Character? <CR>
> Group or Unique? <CR>
> Domain or Net Number? #48104 <CR>

For the exact format of all 3NB commands and for details on
setting up internetwork access using the 3NB Utility, see the
3Com NetBIOS Programmer's Reference (P/N 3C2512).


.h1;ANSI.SYS

Some users have noticed that the version of ANSI.SYS that is
provided with their version of DOS can cause their host sessions
to scroll improperly if a program in the DOS session is running
in the background.  This situation occurs because ANSI.SYS is
bypassing the BIOS and directly accessing the video RAM.  MPCOS
then has no way to intercept what the program is doing.  In order
to remedy this in the case of ANSI.SYS, the FIXANSI program has
been provided.  FIXANSI will modify, or patch, the ANSI.SYS file
so that when loaded it will not bypass the BIOS video routines.
3Com strongly suggests that you not modify ANSI.SYS itself, but
make a copy of the file and modify and use the copy.

FIXANSI takes a single argument, which is the name of the file to
modify.  In order for the fixed ANSI.SYS to become active, the
patched file's name must be placed in CONFIG.SYS in place of
ANSI.SYS, and the workstation must be re-booted.  For example,
the following sequence is a typical one to change patch ANSI.SYS:

 copy ansi.sys ransi.sys
 fixansi ransi.sys

Since this problem does not seem to plague all workstations that
use ANSI.SYS, 3Com suggests that the patch not be applied unless
needed.  The patch will slow down ANSI.SYS slightly, whenever a
scroll is required.

.h1;Print Prefixes and Suffixes

It is possible to specify a character (or sequence of characters)
that is always issued with a print operation along with the data.
This capability is particularly useful in LAN environments where
a special character may need to be sent to signal the LAN that
the spool file is ready to print.  The mechanisms that exist to
do this are not complete, and the interface may change in
subsequent releases.

In MP327X (LU2), when a Print Screen function is issued, the
"Print Screen to:" prompt appears in the status line.  After the
file or device name is typed in this area, two strings can be
specified.  To specify a string to print at the start of each
operation, the s: parameter can be specified.  To specify a
string to be printed at the end of each Print Screen operation,
use the e: parameter.  Following these parameters is a string of
hexadecimal characters, two of which form a character to be sent
to the printer.  For example,

    Print Screen to: LPT1: e:0c

causes a form-feed to be sent to the printer between each screen
print.  The length of these start and end strings are not
constrained by anything except the maximum number of characters
that can be typed into the status line.

In MP3287-1 (LU1), a single end-of-print character can be
specified.  It is specified by typing " ;0xHH" at the end of the
Output File/Device field which appears on the LU1 session screen.
"HH" is a two-digit hexadecimal numbers that gives the value of
the end-of-print character, e.g.34 is an ASCII '4'.

There is no similar mechanism yet provided for LU3 printers.

The values of both the MP327X and MP3287-1 print characters are
saved when session configuration information is saved.  This
information is all nulls by default.

The way that these options are specified may change in future
releases.

.h1;Corrections to Documentation

Changes to the 3+SNA User Guide

1) On page 4-3, the first sentence of "Send/Receive Under
TSO" says:

"To initiate a file transfer under TSO, you must be at a TSO
"READY" prompt."

This is not a requirement.  It is, however, a good indication
that the host is in a position to receive the IND$FILE request.
The wording should therefore change to:

"To initiate a file transfer under TSO, you must be at a point
where the host is ready to receive a command.  Typically, the
word "READY" will be displayed on the screen."

2)  On page 4-3, a correction needs to be made to the syntax
of the TSO SEND command in Figure 4-1:

 "[RECFM F|V|U]"

should be changed to

 "[RECFM (F|V|U)]"

3)  On page 4-3, the first bulleted item should be updated to
include the RECFM parameter as one which needs parentheses.

4)  On page 4-7, a correction needs to be made to the syntax of
the CMS SEND command in Figure 4-2:

 "[LRECL(num)]"

should be changed to

 "[LRECL num]"_

5)  On page 4-7, the second bulleted item, the one which refers
to the parens on the LRECL parameter, is incorrect.  Remove that
bullet item.

6)  On page 4-9, remove the parentheses from both the
LRECL and RECFM parameters.


.h1;3+SNA Modules and Diskette Contents

 RUNTIME Diskette

 MP327X.EXE LU Type 2 Terminal Emulator
 MP3287-1.EXE LU Type 1 Printer Emulator
 MP3287-3.EXE LU Type 3 Printer Emulator
 MPAHEAD.COM Video Driver for AHEAD EGA/2001
 MPCGA.COM Video Driver for IBM CGA.
 MPCOS.EXE MPCOS Multitasking Operating  Environment
 MPEVA.COM Video Driver for Tseng Labs EVA
 MPGATE.EXE NetBIOS Local Area Network Router.

Also initializes MP14-based software.
 MPGENOA.COM Video Driver for GENOA EGA
 MPLOAD.EXE Downloads programs to the MP14
 MPMARK.EXE Memory marker for unloading software
 MPOSEXT.186 Extensions to the MPOS ROM based operating system
that resides on the MP14
 MPSTART.EXE Standalone MP14 software initialization
 MPTLM.COM Video Driver for Tseng Labs UltraPak Monochrome
 MPUNLOAD.EXE Unloads software loaded since
 MPMARK, and shuts down LAN traffic.
 MPWCP.EXE Rabbit Window Manager (Workstation Control Program)
 MP3274.XLT ASCII, EBDCDIC translation tables
 MPSNA.186 SNA/SDLC Communications Subsystem Manager (run on the
MP14)
 BNR___.BNR 3+SNA screen logo
 READ.ME Release notes

.h1;Installation and File Transfer Diskette

CSMDUMP.COM Saves CSM trace buffer to a file.  This buffer
contains a record of traffic into and out of the SNA CSM.
 LINEDUMP.COM Saves line traffic to a file
 MPINSTAL.EXE Configuration utility
 NETRESET.COM Resets NetBIOS adapter (used to allocate more
Network Command Blocks on some LANs)
 XEDX.EXE Editor based file transfer for VM/CMS
 TSOEDX.EXE Editor based file transfer for TSO
 MPPRT.EXE Serial printer manager
 PC3270KB.EXE IBM 3270 PC keyboard handler
 CDOS.EXE DOS Concurrency utility
 WRITEKBD.EXE Generates .KBD keyboard files from CFG files
 FIXANSI.EXE Patches ANSI.SYS to use BIOS Video to scroll
 NETDUMP.COM Debugging Utility
 LOOK.COM Debugging Utility
 MPVER.BAT List of released files and versions
 CUSTOM1.KBD 3+3270 keyboard definition file

.h1;Memory Requirements and Limitations

The following measurements were taken on an IBM PC AT (Model
5170).  Memory utilization figures are given for resident
programs only.  The memory utilization is reported as bytes, in
decimal.  Except where indicated, the following configuration was
used:

 Monitor: BIOS Default
 Adapter: IBM Mono/EGA
 Keyboard: IBM PC/AT 102
 Interrupt: 69
 Serialization: 00

The minimum standalone configuration (1 3278/9-2A session) is
77344 bytes.  The minimum network slave configuration (1 3278/9-
2A) is 120256 bytes.  The minimum gateway configuration (0 local
sessions) is 49072 bytes.  These figures apply to the SNA 3.0
release only.

The sizes of modules which can be resident on the workstation are
given below:

 MPMARK 1536
 MPCOS 34928 (Node), 19776 (Gateway)
 MPGATE 27760
 MP327X 56032 (1 3278/9-2A), 58032 (1
  3278/9-2B)
 MPWCP 26288
 MP3287-1 44416
 MP3287-3 32352

To determine how much memory a given configuration of MP327X
takes, use the following figures:

 Base memory:  51712
 Each 2A session :  4320
 Each 2B session :  6320
 Each 3A session :  5600
 Each 3B session :  8240
 Each 4A session :  7360
 Each 4B session : 10880
 Each 5A session :  7712
 Each 5B session : 11408

.h1;Description of Modules

MPLOAD

MPLOAD will load a read-only executable file.  This allows 3+SNA
to be run from a Read-only shared directory on a network.

The /A option displays load and start addresses on the
workstation screen after a file is loaded.  The /I option causes
MPLOAD to stop after the addresses have been displayed, but
before the program has been started.  When any key is pressed
on the workstation keyboard, MPLOAD continues and the
loaded program execution begins.  These features are useful
for developing and debugging programs which run on the
MP14 card and have no direct function for 3+SNA users.

MPSNA

A negative response is issued to the host in response to DFC and
FMD commands received for an LU which is powered off.

A modem training character is transmitted before every frame.
This will result in much better NRZI operation, especially with
IBM modems.

Upon POWER-OFF an "LUSTAT Component Disconnected" is sent.  After
the receipt of an UNBIND, the "NOTIFY Power Down" is sent.  If
the LU-LU session is already UNBOUND and the session powered off,
a "NOTIFY Power Down" is sent to the host.

All segments other than the first for an Exception Request RU are
discarded.

The ACTPU-ERP SNA command is supported.

MP327X

RU sizes smaller than 252 bytes are accepted.  It uses what is
sent in the BIND image from the host.

Buffer orders that affect the extended attribute buffer are not
processed if the extended attribute buffer is not present.

The Usable Area Query Reply indicates 3270 Data Stream supported
with 14-bit addressing allowed.

MP3287-3 and MP3287-1

LU1 and LU3 handle multi-RU chains when the "End Bracket"
indicator is set in the "First in Chain" RU.

Num-lock is ignored except for keypad keys, and Scroll-Lock is
ignored completely.  When editing a field, keys pressed with ALT
or CTRL are ignored, and all shift keys are handled properly.


MPCOS

The /C: option may be used to specify the full name of the
configuration file to be used on the current workstation.

The /X: option may be used to allow specification of the
translation (.XLT) file.

The /H option brings MPCOS up with DOS concurrency disabled.  The
default is DOS concurrency enabled.

WRITEKBD

This program will generate a keyboard configuration file from a
.CFG file.  For details on this procedure, call 3Com Customer
Support.

MPGATE

NETBIOS error numbers are reported on initialization failures.
This feature makes it easier to analyze problems with network
configuration.

A "NETBIOS not found" message is displayed if NetBIOS is not
loaded on the system.

The NetBIOS name that 3+SNA uses to identify the workstation is
reported.  This simplifies the process of setting up internetwork
routers.  All NetBIOS names used by 3+SNA contain only easily
typeable characters.  All gateway workstations use the naming
convention RABTnn0000GATEWY where "nn" equals gateway number in
hexadecimal (00 - 0F).  Slave workstations use the naming
convention RABTnnnnnnnnnnnn where "nnnnnnnnnnnn" equals the LAN
adapter's unit identification number returned from the NetBIOS
Adapter Status call.  For 3Com adapters, this will be the 12-
digit Ethernet address.

FIXANSI

This program modifies the program given as an argument (which
must be a copy of ANSI.SYS) to be compatible with MPCOS.  Some
versions of ANSI.SYS scroll the screen by directly modifying the
video RAM.  The FIXANSI program prevents this by causing ANSI.SYS
to use BIOS video calls to scroll the screen.


MP3287-1

The addition of form feed characters to the local print image
buffer may be suppressed.  This option is invoked by setting the
maximum print line (MPL) value to a "0" and would improve the
format quality of printed output if the host were to send
embedded form feed characters.

The Bottom Margin (BM), a non-configurable option, is set equal
to the MPL value.

MPINSTAL

IBM 3270 PC is a keyboard configuration option.  The IBM 3270 PC
is supported in this release.  Note that this does not include
the 3270 AT.

The file BNR___.BNR is loaded as the logo.

.KBD files are loaded as overrides for the default keyboard
configuration files.

MPCGA

The /NC option disables automatic hardware checking and
forces installation.


.h1;Known Problems and Incompatibilities

IND$FILE in DFT (extended data stream) mode can cause a
file to be improperly received if the user switches to the SSCP
session and back during the transfer.  This is apparently due to
a host programming problem.  3Com recommends against
switching into the SSCP session during an IND$FILE DFT
mode file transfer.


