With the S20 package, in addition to P10-type direct connections, connections can be established that permit terminals to appear to be attached to the TCP/IP-Based network, not to a particular host.
The S20 package supports the following features:
Serial devices using the default line parameters of 9600/8/1/N and software flow control or parallel printers can be attached and used immediately with no additional configuration. A wide choice of data rates, parity, flow control, and other parameters are available.
In the default configuration, a terminal user is initially connected to the command shell, a simple, AIX-like command interpreter that provides access to communication commands such as telnet and rlogin. It also provides access to a set of utility commands, like stty, that configure and control the interface. These commands are used very much like commands of the same name on the AIX operating system.
The S20 software provides the ability for terminal users to log in to any system on the attached TCP/IP network that supports telnet or rlogin commands. These commands provide a full set of communication capabilities.
The S20 software recognizes hot key sequences that switch between multiple telnet or rlogin sessions as well as back to your command shell. You can also terminate sessions using the hot keys. If your terminal supports multiple screen pages, your screen is automatically updated to display the screen associated with a session when you switch to it.
You must specify the hot keys you want to use either using a default set based on your terminal type or by explicitly listing the hot keys you want to use. The hot keys default to the character sequences issued by the Shift-Function key sequences for your terminal.
You can interconnect two networks or host computers through the 7318 using the SLIP or PPP serial protocols to route IP packets. After configuring the 7318 port, connect the 7318 to a SLIP or PPP server on the other network, using a standard serial line or modem. This capability is particularly useful for telecommunications.
Multiple levels of security can be configured into the 7318. The local security level associates a password with a particular user name. A list of users is maintained in nonvolatile storage on the 7318. Remote password security provides a centralized database for managing passwords across multiple 7318s.
When you enable password security or Kerberos, using the configuration file, a login prompt displays on the terminal and users must type in a login ID and a password. When Kerberos is enabled, you can initiate encrypted login sessions to Kerberos hosts, using a Kerberos-provided authentication key.
The S20 software fully supports the SNMP standard for network management. You can query and control the 7318 from any management station that supports SNMP. Industry-standard MIB-II as well as RFC-compliant RS-232, parallel and character MIBs are supported.
Many aspects of the S20 operation can be specified using the configuration file. These include the ability to associate a particular user name with each port and the ability to preconfigure ports or individual sessions on a port to run a particular application without using the command shell. This provides the ability to configure the system for less technically sophisticated users and to restrict their access to other facilities of the 7318 or other hosts on the local area network.
The S20 software provides a variety of tools to help you if things do not work correctly. A ping command is available to test the accessibility of other TCP/IP devices. You can display and manage a variety of the internal tables including the ARP table and the routing table. Statistics are available for internal functions such as memory utilization. Finally, a memory dump facility is available to assist you in the event of difficult problems.
For Version 3.2 systems, you must install AIX Version 3.2.5. Additionally, the optionally installable component of AIX, bosnet, must be installed.
For AIX Version 4.1 systems, you must install AIX Version 4.1.4 (or later).
Note: If Netware V3.11x for AIX/6000 will be concurrently operating with the Async Terminal Server-Accelerator/6000 licensed programming product, it is strongly recommended that the most current PTF for Netware V3.11 be installed. If this is not done, client users may likely experience a degradation in network performance.
For AIX Version 4.2 systems, you must install AIX Version 4.2 (or later) and the ipx.rte 4.2.0.0 package.