Interconnectivity with SNA Server

SNA Server lets you connect an IBM AS/400 or mainframe to a WindowsNT LAN, as you see in Figure A. The SNA Server gateway needs to support only theSNA protocol that's required to communicate with the AS/400 or mainframe host,and the PC nodes on the LAN need to support only the network transport requiredto connect to the network.

To make this communication between client and host happen, an SNA Serverclient module on each PC encapsulates the client's SNA requests in the networktransport protocol and sends the network packets directly to the SNA Serversystem. For example, if the LAN uses the IPX/SPX protocol, the IPX packetscontain the SNA requests, and if the LAN uses the TCP/IP protocol, the TCP/
IP packets contain the SNA requests. The SNA Server system pulls the packets offthe network, strips the SNA requests from the packets, and routes the SNArequests to the host. The host sends SNA responses back to the SNA Servergateway, which packages them in the appropriate network transport protocol anddirects the network packets to the appropriate client systems.