IBM introduced TCP/IP protocol on the AS/400 with OS/400 V3R2. Still today, however, this protocol remains underutilized even though many iSeries TCP/IP applications have been added, including a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server and a Domain Name System (DNS) server. Today, the iSeries supports many TCP/IP applications you may not be aware of. In this article, we'll look at some of these applications and explore how to make the most of TCP/IP.

Your TCP/IP Configuration

Before we examine the TCP/IP "goodies," let's look at some of the components of your TCP/IP configuration. Navigate to the Configure TCP/IP menu by typing the command CFGTCP. Figure 1 shows the menu that is displayed.

Figure 1: This menu contains the options to configure TCP/IP. (Click images to enlarge.)

Option 1 displays the Work with TCP/IP Interfaces display, which is used to configure options related to each interface. When you modify interfaces through this display, you'll see the screen shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Use this screen to modify a TCP/IP interface.

On this screen, the Line Description can contain either the name of a previously created line description or special values *VIRTUALIP, *OPC, or *LOOPBACK. One unusual capability when creating a TCP/IP interface on the iSeries is that you can define two unique IP addresses to a single Ethernet adapter. This means that you can actually have your iSeries accessible to two distinct and separate subnets. Figure 3 illustrates this using the Work with TCP/IP Interfaces display.

Figure 3: A single iSeries Ethernet line can be assigned multiple IP addresses.

Notice that IP addresses 90.0.0.3 and 192.168.50.11 are both assigned to line ETHLINE. Based on the subnet masking shown, an IP address in the range of 90.0.0.1 through 90.254.254.254 will be able to access the system through address 90.0.0.3. Again, based on the subnet mask defined, any computer with an IP address in the range of 192.168.50.1 through 192.168.50.254 will have access to the system through IP address 192.168.50.11. Option 2 on this menu defines TCP/IP routes to other networks. If, for example, your iSeries existed on a TCP/IP network 192.168.50.0 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and you needed to give iSeries access to a network 192.168.51.0 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, which is accessed through a router with an IP address of 192.168.50.254, you would use the ADDTCPRTE command to add a route for this network:

Alternatively, if the iSeries was in TCP/IP network 192.168.50.0 with a proxy server at IP address 192.168.50.1, you could configure the iSeries to allow Internet access by creating a default route using this command:

TCP/IP port restrictions are defined through option 4 on the CFGTCP menu. You can use this screen to restrict access to specific TCP/IP services by user. Figure 4 shows the Work with TCP/IP Port Restrictions display.

Figure 4: With port restrictions, you can control access to a specific TCP/IP application.

You can specify a lower and upper port number as well as whether the application is TCP or UDP protocol. If a port restriction is created for a given port or range of ports, only the user specified will have access to the defined port or ports. In the example above, the user MFAUST will be the only one with access to ports 20 and 21, which are generally used for the FTP service. This leads us to the topic of TCP/IP applications.

iSeries TCP/IP Applications

The iSeries has a complete set of standard TCP/IP applications, yet I'm constantly amazed by how underutilized those applications are in most iSeries shops. The following table contains a list of the standard TCP/IP applications on the iSeries. Many of these applications will look familiar. Others may not.

FTP

FTP is commonly used to download files from Internet Web sites. What you may not know is that you can also use FTP to execute commands and call programs on the iSeries. This is extremely useful when you want to create a process that will run a program on the iSeries to create a data file to be downloaded. Here's an example:

This sample FTP script starts by connecting to the system at IP address 192.168.50.11. The next two lines send the user name and password to be used to log into the system. Next, the FTP command QUOT is used with the ADDLIBLE command to add any required libraries to the current FTP session's library list. The QUOT FTP command allows us to run OS/400 commands from an FTP session. The FTP session works much like a Client Access 5250 session or Telnet session in that, when you log in, your session receives a default library list that is currently defined on the QFTP job description. Any libraries added to this library list (as in the example) will remain in the session library list until the session is logged out or ended. The next command in the script again uses the QUOT command to execute the command CALL BLDFTPDTA, which would be a program to build the data to be downloaded. Then, the FTP command "get ftpfile.ftpmbr ftpfile.txt" retrieves the contents of the physical file named ftpfile with the physical file member named ftpmbr into the PC file ftpfile.txt. Finally, the quit command ends the FTP session.

This technique could be modified slightly to send data to the iSeries and then run a program to process the data sent. This would be done by first replacing the "get" command with a "send ftpfile.txt ftpfile.ftpmbr" command and then moving the QUOT CALL command to after the new send command. You can execute this script from a Windows-based PC client by using the FTP command's –S option:

Telnet

Telnet protocol is used by within the Personal Communications portion of iSeries Access for Windows for terminal emulation purposes. What you may not realize is that most other terminal emulators will also allow you to access an interactive display session on the iSeries. To do this from a Windows workstation, simply go to a command prompt and type this:

When this statement is executed, a connection will be attempted to the specified IP. Since the destination system is an iSeries, an iSeries sign-on screen will be displayed for this IP address (Figure 5).

Figure 5: A sign-on display from a Telnet session looks like this.

The drawback to using the Windows Telnet client for this type of connection is that the keyboard mapping does not conform to iSeries standards. This means that function keys and other control keys have to be sent using unusual key sequences. "Roll up," for example, is achieved by pressing CTRL+U, while CTRL+D is "Roll down." The current key mapping info can be viewed via the DSPVTMAP command when signed into the iSeries from a VT100 Telnet client. The following table shows the standard keyboard mappings.

Despite the keyboard mapping issue, this can be useful when you need to access the iSeries from a PC that doesn't have iSeries Access for Windows installed. Since most "non-Windows" operating systems include a Telnet client, this can also be an option for accessing an iSeries from a machine running Linux or UNIX.

HTTP

HTTP is used by WebSphere and the other iSeries Web server options (Apache, Tomcat, etc.). This has become one of the more commonly used iSeries TCP/IP components, and with good reason. The universal appeal of Web browser interfaces in addition to the multitude of options now available for developing HTTP browser-based applications on the iSeries make this a great alternative for developing iSeries applications. Conveniently, the iSeries includes an administrative console that is (ironically enough) browser-based. You can access this application from your Web browser through port 2001 by navigating to http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:2001/, where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx represents the IP address of your iSeries. Figure 6 shows the browser-based admin tool for the iSeries Web server.

Figure 6: This is the browser-based HTTP admin console.

From this console, you can configure Web servers as well as start and stop individual server instances.

LPD

LPD servers not only allow iSeries printers to be accessed from a TCP/IP client, but also allow the iSeries to access any network-connected, TCP/IP-enabled printer, including printers connected through general-purpose interface boxes like the HP Jetdirect printer server boxes. When configuring these devices, you have two separate options: creating a *LAN device description for the printer or creating a remote output queue. To configure a device description as *LAN, the print server must support either IBM or HP Printer Job Languages (PJL) by defining the System Driver Program (SYSDRVPGM) parameter as either *IBMPJLDRV or *HPPJLDRV on the CRTDEVPRT command. Here's an example:

This command creates a printer device description for a LAN-attached HP/PCL6-compatible IP printer named LPDPRT01 at IP address 192.168.50.1. Older print server devices that do not support either of these options can also be used for iSeries printing by using the CRTOUTQ command:

Replace RMTQUENAME with a name identifying your printer and replace 192.168.50.99 with the IP address of your printer. You can also use the MFRTYPMDL parameter to define the manufacturer type and model number of the printer being defined. And you can use the RMTPRTQ option to define the name of the specific port to which the printer is connected in the case of multi-port printer servers. With this option, you can also specify a shared printer name when connecting to a printer on an iSeries or Windows printer server. This is where using the iSeries as a TCP/IP printer server comes into play. For example, you can send a text file from a Windows-based PC to an iSeries printer using this LPR command:

Here, xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx represents the iSeries IP address and prtdevname represents the printer device description on the iSeries. You can also create an LPR port that points to an iSeries printer from a Windows-based PC. To add a generic text printer using this method, go to the Windows control panel and select Add Printer. When the wizard is displayed, click Next and identify that you are installing a local printer. (This may not make sense, but Windows looks at an LPR printer device as a local printer port, not a network printer.) Then, select the Create a New Port radio button and choose the LPR Port option from the drop-down box. You'll see the dialog shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Use this dialog when adding an LPR port to the iSeries in Windows.

On this dialog, the first box defines the IP address of your iSeries. The second box identifies the name of the device description for the corresponding iSeries printer. Click OK, and the wizard will prompt you for the device manufacturer's name and model. After you select the appropriate printer from the provided list, your new printer will be installed.

SMTP

The iSeries also has the ability to send Internet email messages using SMTP. The configuration requirements are minimal and begin with using the CHGSMTPA command:

The IP address shown represents the IP address of the server used to relay Internet email messages on your network. Next, use the ADDDIRE command to create a gateway for sending messages to the mail server:

Finally, use the CHGDSTA command to define the route to your SMTP server:

This command uses the previously created directory entry as the route for any SMTP email messages. Once you've made these configuration changes, you can send messages using the SNDDST command:

After you replace the sample email address with a valid Internet email address, the message is sent to the desired recipient.

For more information on using the iSeries for SMTP, see The iSeries and AS/400 Programmer's Guide to Cool Things.

These are just a few examples of the powerful TCP/IP-based applications available. In addition to these canned applications, you can create your own custom IP-enabled applications using the iSeries Socket APIs. When you consider all of the IP options available, it's easy to see why IBM put the i(Series) in TCP/IP.

Mike Faust is an Application Programmer for Fidelity Integrated Financial Solutions in Maitland, Florida. Mike is also the author of the books The iSeries and AS/400 Programmer's Guide to Cool Things and Active Server Pages Primer. You can contact Mike at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Mike Faust is a senior consultant/analyst for Retail Technologies Corporation in Orlando, Florida. Mike is also the author of the books Active Server Pages Primer, The iSeries and AS/400 Programmer's Guide to Cool Things, JavaScript for the Business Developer, and SQL Built-in Functions and Stored Procedures. You can contact Mike at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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