On 29 Sep 99, at 10:33, JEFFREY wrote:

> My HQ is using IBM mainframe 3090J and would like to use the
> existing Toshiba TF861 fax machine  (this TF861 support network
> parallel printing - HP PCL 5 capable and analogue line faxing) for
> both Network Host Printing and faxing of legal document from the
> same operator miles away.
>
> Is there any solution other than installing Microsoft SNA Server
> V4.0 into my NT Server V4.0 ?

  By now, SNA is *probably* the most common networking system used
with this sort of mainframe, but historically it wasn't the only one.
 An organization using a mainframe is pretty likely to have an
internal IS/IT department to operate the system and its network, and
they are likely to have to be involved -- the sooner, the better.
  Odds are pretty good that the solution is going to involve a
bridge/gateway between the mainframe's network (probably SNA) and the
fax machine's networking (probably Ethernet); this will involve not
only software (SNA Server) but also some kind of hardware (a special
network interface card to connect the server to the mainframe
network).  Are there other PCs there that connect to the mainframe?
How?  Maybe it already supports Ethernet and so no bridge is
necessary.

  [It is almost 10 years since I did much with IBM mainframes, and
very little of that was with SNA.  Obviously, NT 4.0 didn't exist
then, let alone SNA Server....]

David G

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