SAS/SHARE User's Guide

Specifying a Communications Access Method

A communications access method is the interface between SAS software and the network protocol that you use to connect two hosts. The access method that you choose is determined by the network protocols that you have available at your site and the host types that you are connecting. Supported access methods for Version 8 are:

APPC (Advanced Program-to-Program Communications)

DECnet (the Digital Equipment Corporation Networking architecture)

NetBIOS (the IBM Network Basic Input/Output System)

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)

IUCV (the VM/CMS Inter-User Communications Vehicle)

XMS (Cross Memory Services)

For a complete list of valid connections among platforms and access methods for SAS/SHARE, see Communications Access Methods for SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE Software.

Hosts and access methods typically require the configuration of access method resources on the host at which the server will run.

Consult with your network administrator about the configuration of access method resources on the host at which you start a server. For details about configuring access method resources, see Communications Access Methods for SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE Software.

Furthermore, server administrators should be aware of special considerations and limitations when the server is accessed by clients on a host type that is different from that of the server. For information about cross-architecture limitations and considerations, see "Cross-Architecture Access" in Appendix 1.

After you verify that access method resources have been configured but before you start a server, you must specify the access method to use. Use the following syntax to specify an access method:

OPTIONS COMAMID=access-method;

where access-method is the abbreviation for the method that is used by the server to communicate with a client. See the preceding list for acceptable access-method identifiers.

For a server that runs on a host on which only one access method is available, use only the COMAMID option. An example follows:

options comamid=tcp;

You may specify the COMAMID= option in an OPTIONS statement, at SAS invocation, or in a SAS configuration file.

If the host on which the server runs supports multiple access methods, you may specify up to two auxiliary access methods by which clients may access the server by using the COMAUX1 and COMAUX2 options.

All of the access methods initialize when the server initializes. The activation of multiple access methods makes a server available to several groups of clients, each using a different access method simultaneously.

COMAUX options can be specified only at a SAS invocation or in a SAS configuration file. The syntax for the COMAUX options follows:

COMAUX1=alternate-method

COMAUX2=alternate-method

An example of configuration file entries for a server that is running on an OS/2 host follows:

-comamid appc
-comaux1 tcp
-comaux2 netbios

When the server starts, all of the communications access methods are initialized. The server is simultaneously available to client sessions that use the APPC access method as well as to clients that use the TCP/IP and NetBIOS access methods.

For more information about access methods, see Communications Access Methods for SAS/CONNECT and SAS/SHARE Software.

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	APPC (Advanced Program-to-Program Communications)
	DECnet (the Digital Equipment Corporation Networking architecture)
	NetBIOS (the IBM Network Basic Input/Output System)
	TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
	IUCV (the VM/CMS Inter-User Communications Vehicle)
	XMS (Cross Memory Services)