Configuring FICON connections

Use the following links to configure BARR/Print FICON connections. BARR/Print FICON allows you to physically connect your Windows-based computer to your mainframe channel. It emulates multiple mainframe-attached printers and allows you to print from the mainframe to your local network printers.

If you are adding a new printer definition to the mainframe, you must configure the host before you use BARR/Print FICON. If you are replacing an existing channel-attached printer, you do not need to configure the host.

Add a connection
Modify a connection
Remove a connection

Adding a connection

When adding a BARR/Print FICON connection, you must configure the output format and job separation. Complete the following steps to add a connection.

You must be a member of the local Administrators group to add connections.

From the BARR FICON Input port dialog box click the Add button.

The default port number value is 2277.
From the Port Settings dialog box, you can also select to Perform tracing if necessary. Tracing may cause performance degradation and should only be used for troubleshooting purposes.
To configure a connection, see Modifying a connection below.

Modifying a connection

Complete the following steps to modify a connection.

You must be a member of the local Administrators group to modify connections.

From the Barr FICON Input port dialog box, select the connection you want to modify and click the Modify button. You can also right-click the connection and select Modify.
From the Port Settings dialog box, click the Output/Separator button.
From the Connection Properties tab pages, modify the connection as appropriate. See the FICON Output tab and FICON Job Separation tab for more information.
Click OK.

To configure the output

Use the following procedure to select the default format and document attributes for all jobs received on this connection. The document attributes may be overwritten if the same field is used during banner extraction.

Select the FICON Output tab.
From the Format list, select the format that will be sent to the print spooler. S/370 is a standard format supported by all versions of the Barr Host Communications Suite and many 3rd party print servers, such as M.I.S. Print. Barr channel is a custom format supported by the Barr Host Communications Suite and other 3rd party print servers. This provides support for additional fields not available in the S/370 format.
Under Document attributes, click Add or Modify to display the FICON Field Properties dialog box where you define values to be automatically assigned to the job when it is added to the print spooler. S/370 fields are listed by default. If you are using the S/370 data format and add additional fields that do not apply for S/370, those fields will not be sent.

To separate jobs

During line printer emulation there is not a clear point where one job ends and another job begins, therefore you must use the following procedure to separate jobs. We recommend leaving all of the job separation options enabled. For more information on the job separation methods see the Separating FICON jobs topic.

Select the FICON Job Separation tab.
Configure the EOJ timeout in seconds. This option assumes the current print job is complete if the software does not receive print data from the host for the specified length of time. The range is 0 to 999 seconds with a default value of 30 seconds. This option is enabled by default.
Select Separate by FCB to enable the separation of files at FCB occurrences. If this option is not selected, when you receive an FCB the current job does not close. Instead, BARR/Print FICON embeds the FCB in the current job and passes it through to the destination. This option is enabled by default.
Under Separate by banner select your Primary (the banner that will be used first) and Secondary (the banner that will be used if the primary banner is not found) banners. The drop-down lists are populated with the banners that have been created under Banners. By default, a JES2Banner has been automatically created and is selected as the primary banner. You can disable banner separation by selecting (None) as the primary banner.

You can select Remove after processing to remove the header and/or trailer pages after BARR/Print FICONhas extracted the routing information, but before the file is routed. If you do not select one of these options, the pages will remain in the file.

Under Banners, click Add and Modify to display the FICON Banner Configuration dialog box. Use this dialog box to configure the banners that can be selected as your primary and secondary banners. A default banner, JES2Banner, is automatically created for you using the default banner configuration settings.

Enter the banner Name. This name will appear in the Banners list on the FICON Job Separation tab.
Specify if you want to locate the banner by Records or Lines. Next to Search limit enter the number of lines or records to search on any given page. Records is selected by default with a search limit of 66.
Select a Code page if necessary. The code page determines the character set of the banner, either EBCDIC or ASCII. The default code page, EBCDIC 37 – English (US/Canada), will be the appropriate selection in most cases and will not need to be changed.
The Recognition Properties table lists banner recognition text strings and their locations. Use the check boxes to enable or disable the header and trailer search strings. BARR/Print FICONsearches the selected header and/or trailer sections for unique text strings that identify the banner page. BARR/Print FICONsearches the range of line numbers indicated at the specified column. Click Properties to display the FICON Recognition Properties dialog box where you can view and modify the recognition strings.

Make sure your search string appears only within the valid range of lines on the banner. For example, suppose your search string is **START**, and this line appears on lines 29 and 50 of the banner. If your FCB specifies only 48 lines per page, the second instance of the search string is considered to be on a new page. BARR/Print FICON will think it is getting a new job, and the previous job will be closed.

The Field extraction table lists the fields you want BARR/Print FICON to extract from the header banner page. You can extract useful parameters such as job name, form name, FCB name, copies, priority, and class. Specify the location of these parameters on the header banner page relative to the line on which the program finds banner-matching text. Click Add and Modify to display the FICON Extraction Properties dialog box where you can specify the position in the header to extract from.

Click OK. The BARR/Print FICON window now displays the connection you added. The connection will remain disconnected until you start it.

Removing a connection

Complete the following steps to remove a connection.

You must be a member of the local Administrators group remove connections.