Links To Help Understand Host Integration Concepts

There are estimates that as much as 70% of overall business data resides in IBM host systems, thus making Host Integration Server such an interesting part of an (SOA) architecture. Being able to interact with the data and applications that reside in those mainframes and midrange servers (without leaving a footprint) as .NET web services introduces some compeling ways to reuse existing assets in inventive new ways.

All that said, in order to understand Host Integration Server, you've got to have a grasp on how host systems operate. Below I've listed a couple of the external links I've used over time to dig deep into the various networking, data and application concepts.

• IBM Systems Network Architecture Protocols
• Introduction to SNA
• IBM SNA - Systems Network Architecture and Protocols
• SNA and TCP/IP Integration

• Virtual Storage Access Method Tutorial
• IMS Primer

• A Beginner's Guide to Programming COBOL
• Customer Information Control System (CICS) Overview
• MQSeries Primer

HIS is one of the most mature server products we offer, starting as SNA Server back in the 90s. But a developer who has always lived in a Microsoft world may have avoided products like HIS because it involved understanding concepts that were previously unfamiliar. However, you may be missing the opportunity to utilize and integrate with data you previously thought was inaccessible in your .NET applications.