The number of functions available with Client Access/400 grows with each new release. Keeping track of the new features continues to be a challenge. When you start looking for connectivity beyond terminal emulation, there’s not another product on the market that does more for AS/400 than Client Access/400. The list of features is impressive. However, because Client Access/400 works on so many different clients, it’s often difficult to figure out which features are available on which desktops. This has proven especially true as new features arrived with the Windows 95/NT client.

The PC operating system marketplace—as defined by Microsoft—is constantly attempting to “revolutionize” its approach to providing solutions to our users. By comparison, the functions needed to connect to the AS/400 have remained pretty stable and have been “evolutionary” in their focus since the days of PC Support/400. Beyond basic terminal emulation, these functions include license management, security, database access, print serving, client management, email support, word processing support, OS/400 command level functions, user interface support, multimedia support, and cross-platform APIs. This proliferation of functionality has led to an interesting management problem for both IBM and AS/400 connectivity experts: There are six basic versions of Client Access/400, built for four different operating systems (DOS, OS/2, Windows 95, and Windows NT), all running on the Intel hardware platform.

To make matters worse, within the Client Access/400 product, there are over forty functions to the PC operating system within 10 general service areas. Not all of these services and functions can (or should) work with all the different versions of Client Access/400. For instance, Operational Assistant is a great function for the Windows 95/NT client because it embeds the functions of AS/400 operations into a Windows 95 Explorer-

like display. By contrast, there is no comparable function for the DOS client because there is no need for this kind of GUI interface on a DOS workstation.

For system administrators, this proliferation of functionality is a nightmare in its own right. In essence, when we try to mix and match capabilities of the particular client with the features of Client Access/400, we end up with a conceptual mess. We can’t always standardize all the desktop operating systems in our shops, and a particular version of Client Access/400 can’t always deliver the appropriate features our users want. The result is that often we end up just placing the basic low-level functions on our users’ desktops and relegating the more advanced features to oblivion. Later, when we’re faced with new opportunities to automate, we’ve got to remind ourselves that Client Access/400 may have the right solution. But how can anyone remember exactly what functions exist on which clients?

Figure 1 provides a cross-reference of all Client Access/400 client functions and the associated desktop where the functions are supported. You may want to copy this figure and post it on the wall beside your installation CDs or diskettes. Then, when the time comes to parse out how to implement the features, you’ll have a clear map of what’s available on which desktop OS. (Note also that there is a separate MacMidrange client that runs on the Motorola-based Macintosh and is available as a separate product from the Andrew Corporation. Its feature and function list is even less representative of Client Access/400’s vast array of capabilities. You can get the feature list of the MacMidrange client at http://www. andrew.com.)

Figure 1: Client Access/400 Functions Available by Desktop OS

Thomas M. Stockwell is an independent IT analyst and writer. He is the former Editor in Chief of MC Press Online and Midrange Computing magazine and has over 20 years of experience as a programmer, systems engineer, IT director, industry analyst, author, speaker, consultant, and editor.  

 

Tom works from his home in the Napa Valley in California. He can be reached at ITincendiary.com.