Use the BARR/CHANNEL Offload window to configure and monitor channel connections. BARR/CHANNEL Offload emulates multiple tape devices and is a relatively simple method of printing from the mainframe to your local network printers. It accepts print streams from the mainframe over an ESCON or Bus & Tag channel and forwards the print stream on an IP socket.
Click the portion of the window you want to learn more about.
The menu bar displays below the title bar. Click the following menus to learn about the available commands.
Exit –Quits the program.
Status bar –Displays or hides the status bar. The left side of the status bar describes the action to be carried out by the selected menu item. A check appears next to the menu item when the status bar is displayed.
You must be a member of the local Administrators
group to access the Connection
menu.
Add–Opens the Connection Properties tab pages for creating a new connection.
Modify– Opens the Connection Properties tab pages for modifying the selected connection.
Remove–Deletes the selected connection. You must stop the connection before it can be deleted.
Start–Starts the selected connection with the mainframe.
Stop–Stops the selected connection with the mainframe. If connections are stopped when data is being received from the host, the data stream The uninterrupted transfer of information over an interface to achieve high data transfer rates will stop and an error will occur at the host.
Restart–Stops and restarts the selected connection with the mainframe. If connections are stopped when data is being received from the host, the data stream will stop and an error will occur at the host.
Channel – Starts or stops tracing for the selected adapter. If there are several connections using the same adapter, all connections will be traced.
Long Format – Starts a detailed trace on the selected adapter.
Short Format – Starts a general trace on the selected adapter.
Off – Stops the trace on the selected adapter.
Network – Starts or stops tracing for the selected connection.
Long Format – Starts a detailed trace on the selected connection.
Short Format – Starts a general trace on the selected connection.
Off – Stops the trace on the selected connection.
Send – Runs the Diagnostics utility for gathering the diagnostics file that you can e-mail or mail to Barr Systems Technical Support.
Operator Console – Runs the Operator Console for gathering and displaying information about program activity.
Contents and Index –Displays the BARR/CHANNEL Offload Help window. The Help window incorporates contents, index, search, favorites, and glossary tabs to make it easy for you to find answers to your questions.
Barr Systems on the Web – Opens the Help with links to the Barr Systems web page.
About BARR/CHANNEL Offload –Displays program information, version number, and copyright.
The BARR/CHANNEL Offload window displays the following columns. The columns can be resized to accommodate the size of the field.
Connection – Displays the connection name. The icon that displays next to the connection name provides information about the connection. For more information on the connection states, see the Interpreting the connection status topic.
indicates the connection is started
indicates the connection is stopped
indicates the channel or network tracing
is active
Job Name – Displays the name of the job being received. The default job name will be CHxx_yyy, where xx is the connection's channel address and yyy is an incrementing number for each job received. The name of the last job received will display until the next job is received.
Bytes – Displays the number of bytes being received. The number of bytes from the last job received will display until the next job is received.
Channel State – Displays the state of the channel. The following information describes the channel states.
Offline – The connection has not been started.
Online – The connection has been started. This is a temporary state before the state changes to Ready.
Ready – The connection is ready to receive data from the host.
Receiving – Data is being received from the host.
Address – Displays the channel address specified on the Communications tab.
Network State – Displays the state of the network. The following information describes the network states.
Disconnected – You are not currently trying to print or send a job.
Pending – A connection has been established with the IP-attached Barr Enterprise Print Server computer at the specified IP address and port number. Confirmation from the device is pending.
Connected – A job has arrived to be printed and a connection has been established with the IP address and port number. The connection will remain in this state until the end of the job has been detected.
IP Address – The IP address of the Barr Enterprise Print Server computer specified on the Communications tab.
Port – Displays the IP port number A number that enables IP packets to be sent to a particular process on a computer connected to the Internet specified on the Communications tab.
The status bar is displayed at the bottom of the BARR/CHANNEL Offload window.
The left area of the status bar describes actions of menu items as you use the arrow keys to navigate through menus. It also describes actions when you pause the mouse pointer over a menu item.