Protocol Action: TN3270 Enhancements to Proposed Standard

[IESG Secretary <[e-mail]>]

  The IESG has approved
  
  - "TN3270 Enhancements" <draft-ietf-tn3270e-enhancements-04.txt>
  
  as a Proposed Standard.  The IESG also recommends to the RFC Editor
  that

  - "TN3270 Extensions for LUname and Printer Selection"
    <draft-ietf-tn3270e-luname-print-02.txt>

  be published as an Informational RFC.
  
  These documents are the product of the TN3270 Enhancements Working
  Group.  The IESG contact persons are John Klensin and Erik Huizer.

Protocol Write-Up

  The first of these documents, as specified in its abstract below,
  represents a significant advance over current TN3270 practices and is
  recommended by the WG.  In particular, it addresses the SNA LU
  manangement function that is not included in the actual data stream.
  By adding this information in a header on each data block, it not only
  can handle TN3287 printing, but also address error handling for TN3270.
  This header can be the basis for any future device management process
  that gets implemented in the SNA protocols. Implementations are known
  to be in progress.
 
  Abstract:
     This document describes a protocol that more fully supports 3270
     devices than do the existing TN3270 practices.  Specifically, it
     defines a method of emulating both the terminal and printer members
     of the 3270 family of devices via Telnet; it provides for the
     ability of a Telnet client to request that it be assigned a
     specific device-name (also referred to as "LU name" or "network
     name"); finally, it adds support for a variety of functions such as
     the ATTN key, the SYSREQ key, and SNA response handling.

  The second document provides some protocol extensions that integrate
  more easily with older implementations and that have been deployed by
  some vendors.  Specifically, it provides a quick fix for printing.  It
  is a minimalistic change to the TN3270 practices that adds LU name
  selection and a small group of printer response codes.  The description
  of these extensions is provided for the information of the community,
  but they are not recommended by the working group for further
  implementation.

  Abstract:
     This document describes protocol extensions to TN3270.  There are
     two extensions outlined in this document.  The first defines a
     way by which a TN3270 client can request a specific device
     (LUname) from a TN3270 server.  The second extension specifies
     how a TN3270 printer device can be requested by a TN3270 client
     and the manner in which the 3270 printer status information can
     be sent to the TN3270 server.