WRQ EnterView Bridges the Emulation Gap
April 19, 1999
By Lori MacVittie
The Web-to-host market is heating up as the enterprise strives to satisfy demand for browser-based access to its legacy data. A Web-to-host application generally is seen as a simple solution that moves legacy applications and data in the direction of the Internet. It is a stepping stone between traditional terminal emulators on the desktop and the thin-client Java promises of the future. With Reflection EnterView 2.0, WRQ brings its proven expertise with emulation software to the browser.
WRQ offers an impressive emulation application as a highly configurable Java applet. Through several emulation modes, desktop clients can access IBM mainframes, AS/400 and Unix machines directly from a Web browser, while secure connections are facilitated via a proxy server. With its simple administration via WRQ's Deployment Director--part of the Administrative WebStation that ships with EnterView--and a single point of distribution, Reflection EnterView 2.0 makes enterprisewide deployment effortless. And if you need to support multiple browsers, the product automatically generates a Web page that autodetects the client's browser and executes the code.
An Administrator's Dream
I installed a release version of EnterView 2.0 on a Pentium 233 PC running a Netscape Enterprise Server on Windows NT 4.0. After accessing the Administrative WebStation via a Web browser, I configured an EnterView session to connect to the Library of Congress' Web site using IBM 3270 emulation. To my delight, it took merely a few minutes to configure the session via a Java applet and deploy the necessary files to the Web server. All the administrative features were easy to navigate. I was able to control all aspects of the session, including keyboard mappings, hot spots, the size of the emulation window, colors and client menu access.
The HTML necessary to load the applet is generated by the Administrative WebStation and then deployed to the Web server. Here, the client can initiate a connection simply by accessing the Web page. EnterView 2.0 also supports third-party SNA servers and TN3270 gateways. Automation of logon scripts, as well as the development of Web-based applications, is available via Java-based APIs using JavaScript, VBScript and HTML.
After loading the applet from a client desktop, the applet opened a connection as configured, and it appeared as though I had connected via a terminal. I then created a session to connect to a machine running Sun Microsystems' SunOS 4.1 with the swiftness and results of the previous TN3270-based session. EnterView 2.0 presents personalized session settings to the client based on manager-defined rules. I was able to set up separate sessions, each with its own set of menus. In one scenario, I maintained complete control over all aspects of the session, including the ability to change host and emulation modes, while in another situation, I was restricted to changing the colors of the screen, transferring files and printing.
Security-Conscious When an applet is loaded in EnterView 2.0, it runs within the context of the browser or within the "sandbox" to prevent hostile applets from damaging the client's system. In the sandbox, applets are only allowed to create connections to the host from which they were downloaded. To provide direct client-to-host connectivity via an applet, the user must grant permission to make these connections. EnterView 2.0's applets are signed, so by granting this permission, the Web server services more clients.
For more protection, EnterView 2.0 integrates 168-bit 3DES and 56-bit DES encryption for platform-independent SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) secure host connections.
Lori MacVittie is a senior systems engineer with Application Software Technologies, a provider of technology solutions. Send your comments on this article to her at lori@nandgate.com.
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