Difference between revisions of "Systems Network Architecture"

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SNA is the protocol that is used by IBM midrange [[AS/400]]'s and mainframe [[System/370|370]]/[[System/390|390]]'s to communicate over a 'lan' to [[FEP]]'s and other networked devices.  A common machine found on SNA networks is Microsoft's SNA server which allows users to use a Windows client protocols to communicate to the mainframe/midrange.
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'''Systems Network Architecture''' ('''SNA''' for short), originally designed in 1974, is the [[protocol]] used by [[International Business Machines|IBM]]'s [[mainframe]] computers to communicate; originally master-slave, it was updated for [[peer-peer]] use.
  
One of the 'annoying' things about SNA is that every 2 seconds the host will send a ACK request, and if it is not responded to quickly enough all the sessions associated with that endpoint will be dropped. The SNA protocol was designed with local TokenRing in mind.  However cisco routers do incorporate a 'local ack' feature to cheat the ack's and allow SNA to operate over a wan.
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It is used by IBM midrange [[AS/400]]'s and mainframe [[IBM System/370|370]]/[[IBM System/390|390]]'s to communicate over a [[LAN]] to [[FEP]]'s and other networked devices. A common machine found on SNA networks is Microsoft's SNA server which allows users to use a Windows client protocols to communicate to the mainframe/midrange.
  
There is some work involved when connected to a Token Ring network from an Ethernet as the destination MAC addresses all have to be flipped from big endian to little endian.
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One of the 'annoying' things about SNA is that every 2 seconds the host will send a [[ACK]] request, and if it is not responded to quickly enough all the sessions associated with that endpoint will be dropped.  The SNA protocol was designed with local Token Ring in mind. However cisco routers do incorporate a 'local ack' feature to cheat the ack's and allow SNA to operate over a [[WAN]].
  
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There is some work involved when connected to a Token Ring network from an [[Ethernet]] as the destination MAC [[address]]es all have to be flipped from [[big-endian]] to [[little-endian]].
  
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[[Category: Network Protocols]]
[[Category:Network Protocols]]
 

Revision as of 15:30, 21 October 2018

Systems Network Architecture (SNA for short), originally designed in 1974, is the protocol used by IBM's mainframe computers to communicate; originally master-slave, it was updated for peer-peer use.

It is used by IBM midrange AS/400's and mainframe 370/390's to communicate over a LAN to FEP's and other networked devices. A common machine found on SNA networks is Microsoft's SNA server which allows users to use a Windows client protocols to communicate to the mainframe/midrange.

One of the 'annoying' things about SNA is that every 2 seconds the host will send a ACK request, and if it is not responded to quickly enough all the sessions associated with that endpoint will be dropped. The SNA protocol was designed with local Token Ring in mind. However cisco routers do incorporate a 'local ack' feature to cheat the ack's and allow SNA to operate over a WAN.

There is some work involved when connected to a Token Ring network from an Ethernet as the destination MAC addresses all have to be flipped from big-endian to little-endian.