3270 and perl

swiftone has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

(Not sure if this is a Perl question or a Linux question.)

I'm in the midst of a project where I'm trying to get some data off of some government mainframes. I'm talking in Unix-and-TCP/IP speak, they are talking in MVS-speak, and neither of us is having much comprehension.

Is there a module or a method to have my Perl/Linux box send a 3270 request and get the response? Make a connection and maintain it?

Comment on 3270 and perl

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: 3270 and perl by wardk (Deacon) on Feb 13, 2001 at 01:34 UTC
swiftone, find out if they are using the "Unix System Services" (I think it has been renamed to something else lately). It's essentially AIX-on-bigiron, uses TCPIP and it even does Perl. (if you need to do something on their side, it will make it easier if you don't speak SPF, JCL) Thing is, MVS does TCPIP, you should be able to just FTP to it and download, in fact I am supporting a training system right now that uses FTP to get an MVS dataset for loading into an Oracle system. I just looked at the script, it just uses system to pass an FTP script, no magic involved at all. good luck! Update here is a link to the IBM Redbook on TCPIP/MVS: IBM TCP/IP V3R1 for MVS Implementation Guide, GG24-3687-02	[reply]
Re: 3270 and perl by lemming (Priest) on Feb 13, 2001 at 01:28 UTC
This page may help: planetmvs Then I did a search on google feeding it: mvs linux communication 3270 perl This link is at top: share pdf Hope this helps.	[reply]
Re: 3270 and perl by kschwab (Vicar) on Feb 13, 2001 at 02:44 UTC
I hate to even utter the words (consonants?) here, but for this case, tcl has a better solution than perl. Have a look at the man page for tcl3270. Very comprehensive, including several 327x emulations, IND$ file transfers, etc, etc. Pointers to tcl3270, and other 3270 resources are here. Also, as others have already mentioned, newer versions of MVS include a POSIX facility, and most shops that have TCP/IP on the mainframe will have enabled an ftp server.	[reply]
(ichimunki) re: 3270 and perl by ichimunki (Priest) on Feb 13, 2001 at 01:31 UTC
A CPAN search turns up MVS::VBFile-- might be worth a look.	[reply]
Re: 3270 and perl by swiftone (Curate) on Feb 15, 2001 at 00:34 UTC
Just to let the curious know where things stand: The Powers that Be have decided to run IBM Websphere on one of their boxes, to act as a bridge to the data I want. A few LWP requests should get me what I need. I'll write more on it when we've got actual progress.	[reply]