Applied VTAM

Audience

This course is designed to cater for the needs of a wide range of VTAM networking systems programmers, from beginners to seasoned experts. It is in two sections of 2 days each and is best run with the two parts delivered back to back. The first section covers novice to intermediate level and the remaining two days covers the advanced material. A complete beginner should take the first section immediately and plan to attend the second one later. People with some VTAM experience will appreciate and benefit from the whole course. An existing expert may wish to take the second half only.

Prerequisites

Experience in any aspect of networking and in any IBM Enterprise System discipline will be helpful for the first two days of the course. For the advanced topics on the third and forth days a grounding in VTAM is essential. Delegates are advised to bring a copy of their network definitions to the class so that they can relate the theory to their own installations.

Duration

4 days.

Course Objectives

This course consists of lecture and discussion sessions with paper exercises. There are no hands on labs although delegates are encouraged to bring real materials (customisation and definition datasets, traces, syslogs, dumps etc) to work with where security rules permit. On completion of the whole course delegates will be able to:

• Describe where VTAM fits in the enterprise and what it does.
• Outline SNA and the other forces which have shaped VTAM.
• Describe VTAM's inter-relationships with other network products.
• Perform all the routine tasks associated with VTAM.
• Implement the latest VTAM features.
• Participate in migration planning exercises.
• Tune and troubleshoot VTAM.

Course Content

Part 1

VTAM History
Early networks
From the first VTAM to LU6.2 (1975-1984)
· OS/VS2 R3.8
· Advanced Communication Function
· The new display system - SNA 3270s
· SNA Network Interconnection
· LU6.2
Token Ring (1985)
Low Entry Networking (1986)
3270 Emulation (mid 1980s)
Ethernet (1990)
APPN (1992)
HPR (1995)
Comms Server/SNA
The future of VTAM - migration scenarios

SNA - The Blueprint for VTAM Networks
Nodes and Links
The 7 layer network model
Network accessible units and the path control network
Session management
Session flows and protocols

Network Product Summaries
VTAM
3475/NCP
NetView
TSO
CICS and IMS
Session managers
Performance monitors
Novell Netware, Microsoft SNA Server etc.
Cisco, Bay, Wellfleet etc
3746-950 NNPand MAE

VTAM Setup, Configuration and Operation Basics
Installation overview
Customisation overview
Resource definition overview
Application definitions
Generalities of defining PU's and LU's
Attaching NCP to owning hosts and data hosts
Old fashioned local resources
Switched Resources
Start options and configuration lists
Basic VTAM operator commands

Part 2

Advanced VTAM Setup and Configuration
Navigating the manual library websites and reference materials
Subarea PATH and COS tables
USS tables
Logon mode tables
Model and associated LU tables
Other Customisation tables and exits
Gateway LAN-attached resources
NCP LAN-attached resources
External communications adapter
Multi-pathchannel definitions
Multi-domain search definitions
Dynamic updates
NCP disk operations

VTAM in a Sysplex Environment
Generic resources
Multi-node persistent sessions
CICS considerations

VTAM Performance and Tuning
Buffer pools
Name and address tables
Channel tuning
Optimizing searches
Route congestion thresholds and pacing windows

VTAM Troubleshooting
Console messages, sense codes and event Ids
Data formats
Buffer trace
Channel trace
Internal trace
Reading data areas and diagnostic charts
IBM and non-IBM diagnostic tools (IPCS, TMON, Omegamon)

SNA Network Interconnection set-up sizing and tuning (Optional topic)

VTAM in APPN and HPR networks (Optional topic)