Tool Blends Mainframe And IP Management Data

Many mainframe-based data centers are turning their IBM hosts into Web servers to give users greater access to legacy data. Unfortunately, most IP-oriented help desks can't locate problems in mainframe networks.

Cisco this week introduced new software designed to shed some light on that blind spot. SNA View 2.0 lets IT staffers see SNA mainframe network information alongside IP network data, enabling them to track problems in both environments.

In most intranets and extranets, help desk consoles can only view IP-based trouble spots. Staffers can only guess at problems that occur on the mainframe end, noted Jim Metzler, president of the Metzler Group, a consultancy.

SNA View 2.0 “eliminates the guesswork in trying to identify the location of the network outage,” Metzler said.

The software also will help SNA data center managers who need information about the IP infrastructure, according to an IT manager at a large information services company that is beta testing SNA View 2.0.

“We plan to use it primarily so that our people who monitor SNA sessions can find out what's going on in the middle, where SNA is traveling over IP,” said the IT manager, who asked not to be named.

Through a Web interface, users can access information about a variety of SNA traffic running over Cisco routers, according to product manager Jonathan Beck. The software supplies information about TN3270 sessions, Data Link Switching, Advanced Peer-to-Peer Networking and remote source route bridging, he said.

With SNA View 2.0, help desk staffers can choose an SNA or IP network address and search the mainframe-based VTAM software, routers and TN3270 servers for a list of matching sessions, according to Cisco. The help desk staffers can then navigate the sessions to view connectivity information and help pinpoint the cause of a session outage.

SNA View 2.0 is primarily a monitoring and troubleshooting tool that probably will not be used to configure SNA sessions or devices, Beck acknowledged. Such configuration is typically done using SNA management tools such as CiscoWorks 2000 or NetView for OS/390, an IBM product now maintained by Tivoli Systems Inc.

To help facilitate mainframe network configuration, the new version of SNA View offers tighter integration with CiscoWorks and NetView for OS/390, Beck said. The integration will alert help desk operators to changes in SNA network configuration and help them transmit trouble data to SNA network operators, he said.

The tighter integration does not guarantee improved communications between mainframe data center operators and IP-oriented help desk staffers--two factions that have historically battled over IT turf, Beck said. “That's a political problem, not a technical one,” he said.

“It will help [IP and SNA staffers] to speak in each other's language, so from that perspective, it will help them work together better,” said the IT manager at the beta test site.

SNA View 2.0 is available at a promotional price of $5,000 until July 31.