I agree with Tim Hare's suggestion. If you can arrange for z/OS to drive
the printers directly, that'd be best. I'll list out some of these direct
options first, in no particular order, plus another potentially attractive
option using Linux on Z in partnership with z/OS:
1. The base z/OS operating system, in Communication Server, includes a
basic LPR client at no additional charge, designed to send print jobs to
LPD-compatible printer queues. z/OS LPR only performs basic formatting "out
of the box." LPR is also not incredibly robust from an error handing point
of view ("paper out"), so you should take that into account. However, since
you're currently using 3270 printer sessions which are also pretty fragile
and simple, chances are that basic text output is really all you need (or
at least have currently).
2. You can add printer software to z/OS and output formatted and even
really fancy jobs to a wide variety of printers -- Postscript, PCL, etc.
Infoprint Server for z/OS and related products are notable examples.
3. You could ditch the printers completely, at least as a first order of
business. In particular, you could shift the printed output to PDF output
(electronic output) which is then e-mailed, for example. One way to do this
if you have CICS Transaction Server for z/OS is to go download, install,
and configure IBM SupportPac CA1Y plus Apache FOP, both available at no
additional charge. CA1Y plus Apache FOP equips CICS with the ability to
create lovely formatted PDF files then e-mail them to various recipients
who ought to have them. There are also commercial software products that'll
do this and more, such as IBM Content Manager on Demand (CMOD) for z/OS.
Recipients can then selectively print whatever they want, if/as they wish
-- but usually not, which means there's less printing and less cost.
PDF files can be password protected, encrypted, and/or digitally signed, so
this approach can contribute to significant improvements in your security
posture.
4. You could install and configure Linux directly on your IBM Z machine
with (as a notable example) pr3287, a part of x3270. Plus any printer
formatting software and driver(s) you want to use, such as CUPS. x3270 and
CUPS are either included in most Linux distributions or readily obtainable.
Configure pr3287 to connect to z/OS Communications Server's TN3270E server,
then configure Linux (and CUPS) to format and send the output to your
desired printers or print queues. You could even do interesting things such
as route printer output to Apple AirPrint-compatible printers -- yes, Linux
can be configured that way.
OK, now onto answering your direct question. Yes, Personal Communications
supports 3270 print sessions quite well. So does Host On-Demand, for that
matter. Installation and configuration should be straightforward especially
if you can collect some basic details about your current Rumba
installation:
A. What is the network protocol that Rumba is currently using? Is it
connecting via TCP/IP (TN3270E), or is it connecting via SNA (which you
might see listed as "IEEE 802.2" or possibly "LLC")? Or something else?
B. What are the various connection parameters? For example, if it's TN3270E
then you'll need:
(i) IP address(es), such as mymainframe.xyz.com or 10.5.6.7 -- and do you
recognize this address as an address that z/OS itself is managing?
(ii) port
(iii) whether SSL or TLS is enabled or not -- and if it's not, talk to your
security people to get it turned on! -- plus any SSL/TLS certificate(s), if
applicable
(iv) LU name(s), if the client is going to ask -- effectively the 3270
terminal-attached session name(s) for the printer session(s), the name that
the client will request and try to get from the TN3270E server
(v) any other parameters, such as whether the session will automatically
reconnect, printer formatting and datastream-related settings (such as
codepage, emulated printer model, etc.)
For (iv), you might need to work with somebody who understands how your
Communications Server TN3270E server is configured, especially if you need
Rumba and this new Personal Communications installation coexisting for a
while. Thus you won't be able to share the same printer LU names at the
same time, not with the same z/OS instance anyway.
C. What printer(s) are you trying to output to? You'll need to make sure
Windows has the right drivers installed and can print to those printers,
even for just a simple Wordpad or Notepad file that you test. If Windows
cannot print from any of its stock applets, then Personal Communications on
Windows certainly won't be able to. Also, some printer drivers are better
than others, and some driver settings are better than others. For example,
if you're trying to get Windows to output to a line printer (a dot matrix
printer), you probably don't want simple text-oriented print jobs to be
output using the printer's slower graphics mode.
The "E" in TN3270E is quite important. z/OS Communications Server supports
TN3270E, which is a prerequisite for 3270 printer sessions via TCP/IP. The
earlier TN3270 variant of the protocol is much too limited for these
purposes.
You may have a firewall or other network issue in between your Windows
machine and z/OS, so apply normal network troubleshooting techniques and
work with anybody handling your network if need be.
Once you're happy and everything is working, try to make the installation
reasonably robust. For example, you'll probably want to make sure that
Personal Communications starts automatically and attempts to (re)establish
printer sessions when Windows (re)starts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy Sipples
IT Architect Executive, Industry Solutions, IBM Z & LinuxONE
E-Mail: sipp...@sg.ibm.com
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