Host Access Solutions: Terminal Emulation Software and Host Integration

PASSPORT WEB TO HOST® Terminal Emulator Architecture

3270, 5250, VT100, VT220, SCO ANSI and Wyse 60 Web Based Terminal Emulator

Overview

The PASSPORT WEB TO HOST® terminal emulator can reside on a Microsoft® IIS web server, an OS/390 or zSeries mainframe with UNIX® System Services running WebSphere Application Server, a BEA WebLogic Application Server, or an HTTP or comparable web server running Apache/Tomcat. At the workstation level, Microsoft® Windows Vista, XP, or 2000 with Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher is required.

The 32-bit ActiveX components are downloaded to Internet Explorer the first time a user requests a ‘session’ from the web server. These components are not downloaded again until a new version is installed and detected on the web server. When a user first requests a host session, the request is sent to the web server to obtain the session information (IP host address, screen size, LU name -- see step 1 in diagram below).

After this information is obtained, a direct connection is established between the workstation and the host (see step 2). From this point forward, there is no communication between the workstation and the web server (the most common questions we receive center around this issue: Is there a dependency on the web server for host communication, and what happens if the server goes down or can't be reached? The respective answers: No, the PASSPORT web server provides no communications services, that's the responsibility of the client emulator, and second, we can provide configuration information that will make use of cached settings to connect to the host in the event the server is unavailable. Of course, PASSPORT will always continue to try and reach the web server each time a session is launched to check for new versions of the application).

Required Resources

The PASSPORT WEB TO HOST® ActiveX CAB file that is downloaded from the web server to the client desktop is approximately 2.7MB in size. There is a lite version of the ActiveX CAB file that is approximately 1.4MB in size. The CAB file for the FTP Client is approximately 600KB in size. The only time these files are downloaded to the client desktop is the first time they are accessed and whenever a new version is placed on the web server.

Once the PASSPORT WEB TO HOST® software is downloaded to the desktop, approximately 6MB of disk space is used to store the downloaded components. When the PASSPORT WEB TO HOST® terminal emulator is running, approximate 11MB of memory is used. This is in addition to the memory used by Internet Explorer. Each additional session uses less memory than the first session because the code section is shared by all PASSPORT WEB TO HOST® sessions.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

There are two levels of SSL security with PASSPORT WEB TO HOST®. First, there is SSL security from Internet Explorer to the web server when the workstation first connects to the server to request connection information. This utilizes HTTPS and the protection takes place between Internet Explorer and the web server. The configuration is provided on the web server. Second, there is SSL security between the workstation and the host after a connection is made from the workstation. This is known as 3270E or 5250E SSL and both the client and server have to be configured accordingly. Once properly configured, the data will be protected from a direct connection between the workstation and the host. PASSPORT supports both 40-bit and 128-bit data encryption.

For More Information

We are frequently asked questions regarding the architecture of the Zephyr solution. As such, we have provided the highlights above to answer the most common questions. Should you have more, please contact us online or at sales@zephyrcorp.com.

Quicktrial or Download Options

There are two ways to evaluate the PASSPORT WEB TO HOST® terminal emulator: either download a copy of the software or do a QuickTrial of the PASSPORT WEB TO HOST® application. With QuickTrial, there is no server installation, you simply download the client and run the application from our web server. This is a fast and easy way to look at the PASSPORT WEB TO HOST® software. For those that want to install the PASSPORT WEB TO HOST® software on their own web server, you can download the fully functional 3270, 5250, SCO ANSI, VT100/VT220/VT420 and Wyse 60 emulator trial and complete a full evaluation.