MSDN Magazine - December 2007 - (Page 80) develop or use a low-level network handler and then move up the OSI stack to supply the additional logic needed to handle the specific requirements of the target system, including byte conversion using different code pages, packet assembly and disassembly, session connection, conversation management, and security. This is no small task. BizTalk Adapters for Mainframes BizTalk ® Adapters for Host Integration Server help you connect to mainframe and midrange systems and integrate your Windows systems with their host applications, data sources, messaging, and security. By connecting these technologies, the resources residing on a mainframe system become another BizTalk-managed endpoint that can be used as a send or receive location, for example. There are four main adapters in Host Integration Server 2006: • BizTalk Adapter for Host Applications • BizTalk Adapter for WebSphere MQ • BizTalk Adapter for Host Files • BizTalk Adapter for DB2 In addition to the BizTalk adapters that Host Integration Server offers, network connectivity components for TCP/IP, SNA, and TN3270 are also provided to supply a transport layer for the data to reach the host. Once installed, the adapters are registered so that BizTalk can locate them, and you can add them in the BizTalk administration console as shown in Figure 1. In addition to the adapters themselves, all the adapter features are also installed in order to provide direct integration with the mainframe from within Visual Studio®. For data access, the DB2 and host file Microsoft® .NET Framework 2.0 managed providers are installed and available to be used either programmatically or through integration with Server Explorer in Visual Studio. A Host File Designer and DB2 Data Access Wizard are also provided so that users have the ability to directly access and design host files. Network connectivity tools, a transaction integrator, and Host Integration Server projects are also provided as part of the design-time experience, and there’s sample code to address the vast majority of supported scenarios for connectivity to mainframes and AS/400 systems. There’s even a Host Simulator for those who don’t happen to have a mainframe at home! The SimHost can be found under the System folder in the Installation Folder. Figure 1 BizTalk Adapters in the Administration Console logical unit (LU)—an end user or application that interacts with the network. LU 0 was used for custom protocols, LU 2 for a 3270 data stream targeting terminal-based applications, LU 3 for printing from the mainframe, and LU 6.2 for application-to-application communication. Integrating with LU 2/3270 (the green screen often associated with mainframe interfaces) is commonly known as screen-scraping, where an application traverses the screen looking for meaningful data in fixed positions. When dealing with these LU protocols, your choice is often between utilizing an existing toolset and developing your own custom solution. This becomes a rather obvious decision given the complexities of the latter option. In either case, you would have to Figure 2 Configuring an SNA Connection 80 msdnmagazine Biztalk Interop
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