Automation Point's mainframe console session looks garbled.

Products

• Automation Point

Issue/Introduction

Automation Point's mainframe console session looks garbled.  Console parameters on the mainframe must be incorrect and need to be set to allow Automation Point to request the terminal type.

 

 

Resolution

A mismatch in terminal types between Automation Point and the mainframe system can be annoying at best, and automation failure at its worst. This mismatch occurs when a Automation Point session is defined to emulate a particular type of terminal, and the mainframe console attached to this session is defined on the mainframe to be a different terminal type. The most typical kind of mismatch occurs when specifying a particular model of 327x terminal. For example, a model 2 terminal (or MOD 2) contains 80 columns and 24 rows, while a model 4 terminal (MOD 4) contains 80 columns and 43 rows.

An improperly defined or mismatched mainframe console will appear garbled on the Automation Point Desktop, which prevents Automation Point from automating and managing the mainframe console. Fortunately, there is a simple way to ensure that both the mainframe system and Automation Point always agree on the type of terminal to use. In order to allow Automation Point to request the terminal type to use for a specific console, you might have to make changes to the CONSOLxx member of your SYS1.PARMLIB data set. The CONSOLxx member contains UNIT keywords for each defined console. These UNIT keywords must be set to "3270-X" in order to allow the device or terminal emulator to request a specific terminal type. Once the UNIT keywords in this member have been updated, you must then IPL your system to allow these changes to take effect.

Once these new settings become active, the mainframe sends a Read Partition Query to Automation Point each time a console connection is established. In turn, Automation Point responds to each query with the display dimensions appropriate for the type of terminal defined for the current session. This technique allows you to change the terminal type in Automation Point without having to make any further changes to your mainframe console configuration. At the same time, this simple change ensures that no future terminal type mismatches occur between the mainframe and Automation Point.

Additional Information

Additional information on this topic can be found in the IBM z/OS manual entitled "Initialization and Tuning Reference".