Stephen's Host Integration Server Blog

I just wanted to make sure that Host Integration Server users/enthusiasts are aware of the public forum that is available on TechNet. The forum replaces the public HIS newsgroup that was shutdown in June. The HIS forum is located at the following link...

We recently ran into a case where a customer was trying to upgrade from HIS 2004 to HIS 2009. The HIS 2009 setup process started and detected that HIS 2004 was installed. A dialog was displayed indicating that HIS 2004 would be uninstalled. After clicking...

The latest version of the standalone OLE DB Provider for DB2 is now available as part of the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Feature Pack at the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=ceb4346f-657f-4d28...

The following error may be displayed when pressing F1 in the HIS 2009 Configuration Tool: This problem occurs if “Microsoft Document Explorer 2005” is not installed on the system. If I install  "Microsoft Document Explorer 2005", then error...

You may find some cases where the HIS 2009 Documentation fails to get installed even though you selected the “Documentation” component during the setup process. This can occur when “Microsoft Document Explorer 2005” is not installed on the system. The...

In case you weren’t aware, HIS 2004 has moved from Mainstream Support to Extended Support as of January 12, 2010.  Per the definition of Extended Support , new non-security related hotfixes will not be done unless a separate Extended Support Contract...

For those of you running Host Integration Server 2006, you might be interested in knowing that HIS 2006 SP1 is available for download at the following location: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c0cc5e8d-fc47-41ac-bcad-67832249eb41...

If you install HIS 2009 or BizTalk Adapters for Host Systems 2.0 in order to use Transaction Integrator or the BizTalk Adapter for Host Applications, you might run into a scenario where the SnaBase service logs the following errors: Event ID: 556 Source...

This particular problem was reported to me by a customer, but I also found out that the same issue was being seen by the HIS Product Team on one of their iSeries systems. It was good timing all around as it might affect others that want to connect HIS...

If you are using the 64-bit version of HIS 2006, Biztalk Adapters for Host Systems (BAHS) 1.0, HIS 2009 or BAHS 2.0 and are planning on using Transaction Integrator (TI), you need to be aware that TI does not support COM on 64-bit systems. Only .NET is...

Since the release of Host Integration Server 2009 and Biztalk Adapters for Host Systems (BAHS) 2.0, we have gotten quite a few questions related to the following: - Licensing - Systems requirements and other pre-requisites There are publicly available...

I recently received an email from someone trying to install the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for DB2 on a system running a 64-bit version of SQL Server 2005. The setup program returned the following error whenever they tried to install the DB2 Provider on...

Host Integration Server is definitely a small volume server based application when compared to large volume products like Exchange Server and SQL Server, but it does provide mission critical functionality to customers around the world. However, it has...

For those interesting in getting more details about the Host Integration Server Client, the “Understanding the Host Integration Server Client” white paper is now available at the following location: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang...

If you create a Host File Project in Visual Studio to utilize the Managed Data Provider for Host Files included with Host Integration Server 2006, you may notice an issue if you are trying to use a host code page other than code page 37 (EBCDIC – U.S...

If you have used Host Integration Server 2006 and earlier, you have likely seen HIS display certain error messages in popup message dialogs. For example, a popup message dialog like the following is displayed on a HIS Client when the SnaBase process is...

I received a comment on a previous post asking the following questions: How does HIS depend on BizTalk Server and vice-versa? What is BizTalk Adapters for Host System? Does BizTalk Adapters for Host Systems come with HIS 2006/HIS 2009 or BizTalk Server...

If you are using Transaction Integrator (TI) on to connect to IMS applications on an IBM mainframe using the IMS Connect programming model, you may encounter the problem described in the following Knowledge base article when using an 8-byte TRANCODE value...

I have begun an effort to create a document that will cover Host Integration Server best practices, configuration details, operations information, and other tidbits of data. I would like for those of you that use HIS in your environments to provide a...

When you create a “Host system” connection that uses the IP-DLC link service to connect to an IBM mainframe, the connection properties in SNA Manager include an IP DLC tab. The IP DLC tab is where you can configure Connection and DLUR retry limits for...

The Host Access Management Agents (HAMA) documentation (HostMAHelp.chm) lists the following platforms that are supported with HAMA version 3: eTrust CA-ACF2 Security r8 for z/OS Service Pack 2 eTrust CA-ACF2 Security for z/OS r6.5 eTrust CA...

The IP-DLC link service that was added in Host Integration Server 2004 provides SNA connectivity for applications using dependent and independent sessions over a native IP network. It implements the HPR/IP protocol, which is also known as HPR over IP...

The following error dialog may be displayed when using the Data Access Tool (DAT) included with Host Integration Server 2006 to create or edit a Universal Data Link (UDL): Note: This can also occur when using the Data Access Tool included with the Microsoft...

You may see the following event logged in the application event log after enabling the 3270 Messages trace option for TN3270 in the SNA Trace Utility (snatrace.exe): Event ID: 903 Type: Warning Source: TN3270 Server Description: Windows API SetCurrentDirectory...

If you have written or use an application such as Host Access Management Agent (HAMA) that uses the Session Integrator (SI) feature included with Host Integration Server 2006, you might run into a situation where the application fails to work properly...