Whitepaper_Technical_Overview_Open_Text_HostExplorer

HostExplorer®

Traditional & Browser-based Host Access to Legacy System

w w w . h u m m i n g b i r d . c o m 2

While every attempt has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the

information in this document, some typographical or technical errors may exist.

Hummingbird – the Open Text Connectivity Solutions Group cannot accept

responsibility for customers’ losses resulting from the use of this document. The

information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.

This document contains proprietary information that is protected by copyright. This

document, in whole or in part, may not be photocopied, reproduced, or translated into

another language without prior written consent from Hummingbird .

This edition published June 2007


Contents Overview 7 Part 1: HostExplorer Overview 8

Introduction to HostExplorer 8 HostExplorer Overview 9 Operating Systems Specifications 10 Windows Vista Certification 11 Languages 11

Part 2: Installing, Deploying and Connecting with HostExplorer 13 Installing and Deploying HostExplorer 13

User Directory 14 Support for Local Installation Cache 15 Automatic Updates After Installation 15 Files and Settings Transfer Wizard 16 Media Location Manager Utility 16

Multiple Profile Space 17 Current Industry Practices 17 Introducing Multiple Profile Spaces 20 Profile Spaces Types 22 Profile Spaces: An Example 23 Rights Management 26 Composite Profiles 27 Multiple Profile Spaces Management 28 The profile publishing wizard 29 Conclusion 29

Sconfig: A Deployment Customizer for HostExplorer 30 Integrated Metering 33

Connecting to Enterprise Hosts: A 3 step process 34 Hummingbird Neighborhood 34 Creating a Connection to a Host 35 Setting up Advanced Connection Properties 36

PART 3: Emulation with HostExplorer 38 Core Emulation Settings 38

TN3270 – TN3270E Emulation 38 TN5250 – TN5250E Emulation 38 VT Emulation 38

Customizing the Terminal Display 39


Colors 39 Fonts 40 Screen Customization 41 Integration with Windows Explorer 42

Customizing the Terminal Keyboard 43 Transferring files with HostExplorer 45

3270 File Transfer 45 5250 File Transfer 47 VT File Transfer 48 Hummingbird FTP 48 FTP Synchronization 49

Printing with HostExplorer 51 Screen Printing and Multiple Screen Printing 51 3287 and 3812 Printing Sessions 52 HostExplorer Print Services 53 VT Host Printing 53

Part 4: Productivity 55 Providing Additional Interaction Methods 55

Mouse Actions 55 Right-Click Menu 55 HotSpots 55 Toolbars 55

Managing the User Environment 56 Look & Feel 56 Menus Manager 58 User Settings Interface Manager 59 Locking Down the User Desktop 60 Sound Manager 61

Improving Productivity 62 Shortcuts Manager 62 Duplicate Session 64 Report Wizard 64 Managing the User Workspace 65 Helpdesk 66 Multiple Sessions in a Single Terminal 68 Glossary 68

Part 5: Security 70 Security Overview 70


Security Risks in a World 70 Weak Authentication 70 Easy Protocol Decoding 70 Data Authenticity and Integrity Tampering 70 Solutions for Secured 71 SSL 71 Kerberos 72 Secure Shell 73 HostExplorer Security 74

SSL/TLS 76 Overview 76 Support for Safenet iKey Authentication Device 77 Support for Smartcard Authentication 78

Kerberos 78 Secure Shell 2 80

Authentication 81 Key Exchange configuration 81 Remote Command Execution 82 Advanced Features 83 SCP Command Line 84 Monitoring Console 85 Certificates and Keys Management 86

HTTP Tunneling 89 Part 6: Automation with HostExplorer 91

Overview 91 QuickKeys or the Ultimate Keyboard Shortcut Creator 92 Managing Events with HostExplorer 92 QuickScripts or Macro Made Easy 93 Hummingbird Basic: the Ultimate HostExplorer Programming Tool 94 Communicating with HostExplorer 95

HLLAPI, WINHLLAPI, EHLLAPI 96 OHIO 96 DDE 96 OLE 96 COM 97

Part 7: Web-to-Host 98 Fundamentals 98

Easy on Administrators 98


Fit with any Architecture 98 User-Friendly 98 Always Available Even Without the Web Server 99 Exact Same Features and Power as HostExplorer 99

Enhanced Web-to-Host User Experience 100 Download Mechanisms 100 Seamless Behavior as a Thick Client 102 Caching Mechanisms and Failover 102 User Rights and Security 103

Advanced Administrative Settings 104 Creating a New Project 104 Selecting a Host Profile 105 Specifying Files and Browser Integration Mode 106 Deploying 3rd Party Files and Applications with Hummingbird

Deployment Wizard 108 Locking Down the User Environment 109 Deploying on any Web Server on any Operating System 110 Installation on Demand 111

Part 8: Migrating to HostExplorer 113 Migration: a Corporate Project 113

The Value of TCO 113 We Manage the Risk of Conversion 113 What are the Benefits of HostExplorer for a Migration Project? 114

Migration at a Glance 115 Migration Wizard 116 Migration Facilities 118

HLLAPI Compatibility 118 Look and Feel 119


Overview This document is divided into eight parts, each one designed to present you with a

specific aspect of HostExplorer®. All functions and benefits explained in the eight

parts of this document apply to HostExplorer as a traditional desktop-based emulator

and to HostExplorer as a browser-based web-to-host terminal with the exception of

Part 2.

Part 1: HostExplorer overview — This section gives a high-level overview of

HostExplorer and Hummingbird Deployment Wizard™

, as well as the operating

systems requirements.

Part 2: Installation and Deployment — This section provides information on

deploying and connecting with HostExplorer traditional desktop-based software.

It covers the different scenarios related to deploying HostExplorer. It provides a

tour of the HostExplorer Windows® Installer customization tool: Sconfig. This

section also helps the reader establish the first connection to a host through

HostExplorer.

Part 3: Emulation with HostExplorer — Display, input, file transfer and printing

features of HostExplorer will be covered in this section. You will learn about the

numerous features and settings of the core emulation engine. By customizing the

user experience with HostExplorer we will explain how HostExplorer can help

you leverage and safely manage the user’s workspace. Whether you want to

provide a custom working environment for your users or you want to lock down

the desktops.

Part 4: Productivity — HostExplorer not only provides a secure, powerful and

customizable terminal emulation environment, it can also help users boost their

productivity. This section will explore what are the tools integrated in

HostExplorer that can help users achieve their work faster and better.

Part 5: Security — This section explores various aspects of HostExplorer as

it relates to Security: SSL, Kerberos, Secure Shell and HTTP/HTTPS tunneling.

Part 6: Automation — This chapter will give you a tour of your options with the

HostExplorer APIs, from HLLAPI to OLE or COM and from the macro recorder

to the Hummingbird Basic editor.

Part 7: Web-to-host — This section offers a comprehensive understanding of

the fundamentals of HostExplorer as a web-to-host solution.

Part 8: Migration — This part will explain the different features of HostExplorer

that ease the transition from other emulation software such as Attachmate™

Extra®, Netmanage Rumba

® , IBM Personal Communication

™ or WRQ

Reflection®.


Part 1: HostExplorer Overview

Introduction to HostExplorer

HostExplorer is the latest terminal emulation software available from Hummingbird .

HostExplorer provides access to enterprise mission-critical data from a Microsoft®

Windows desktop or browser. HostExplorer supports multiple connections types and

enable users to access information and applications on systems such as IBM

Mainframe, AS/400 and UNIX Systems.

Legacy systems host more than 80% of corporate information. In our business life we

rely heavily on transactions being executed successfully on these systems. Providing

access to this information has never been as critical as today since every

organization is struggling to maximize technologies benefits while reducing costs.

HostExplorer and Hummingbird Deployment Wizard provide corporations with an

easy way of protecting their investment in legacy data while letting them benefit from

the latest in desktop and web-based technologies. They enable organizations to

lower their total cost of ownership and take advantage of a state-of-the-art web-based

terminal emulator. HostExplorer and Hummingbird Deployment Wizard allow

organizations to provide user access to legacy information without having to

undertake costly and painful installation on each desktop. Organizations that choose

HostExplorer and Hummingbird Deployment Wizard save time and money by

skipping the deployment process while at the same time increasing their productivity.

Amongst multiple benefits, HostExplorer can help corporations easily migrate from

desktop based client technologies to web-to-host solutions. Migrating from a desktop-

based product to a web-based solution can be risky especially when it affects access

to legacy applications and mission-critical data. HostExplorer and Hummingbird

Deployment Wizard can help corporations achieve this transition with maximum

security and efficiency. HostExplorer and Hummingbird Deployment Wizard are part

of a single, unified solution that can be deployed either as desktop-based software or

as a web-based solution. It provides the same interface, the same features, the same

power and the same administrative options, whether accessed as standard windows

software or as web-to-host software and does not require you to choose between

thick or thin, desktop or browser, features or power. By using HostExplorer and

Hummingbird Deployment Wizard, organizations can seamlessly deploy web-based

and desktop-based access to their legacy systems while ensuring maximum

availability, security and features for both their power remote users.

HostExplorer and Hummingbird Deployment Wizard provide administrators with the

latest technologies for securing their network communications. By getting the most

from a wide range of encryption and authentication protocols, the HostExplorer family

of products ensures that mission-critical data is safely transmitted. HostExplorer SSL

implementation relies on the OpenSSL project (www.openssl.org) and integrates


seamlessly in the terminal while providing advanced administrative features such as

certificate management, key management, user certificates and more. In addition to

that, HostExplorer is among the first to implement the MIT Kerberos protocol and

support for both Kerberos 4 and 5. Finally, Secure Shell™ brings Secure Shell 2

encryption and authentication to HostExplorer in order to encrypt VT communications

through secured channels.

HostExplorer and Hummingbird Deployment Wizard will not only enable corporations

to reduce administrative overhead but also let them discover what the meaning of the

words ―peace of mind.‖ With its built-in web capabilities, auto-upgrade features,

Microsoft SMS integration, certification for Windows Vista and powerful administrative

features, HostExplorer and Hummingbird Deployment Wizard introduce a new world

of terminal emulation solutions. HostExplorer macro converter and advanced API

support also provide large corporations with an easy migration path from their current

terminal emulator.

HostExplorer Overview

HostExplorer links people and information through host access for TN3270E,

TN5250E and Telnet (VT) applications. HostExplorer can be deployed as traditional

desktop-based emulation software, or as a web-to-host solution that can be accessed

through a web server and a browser.

The HostExplorer interface is available in 6 different languages: English, French,

German, Spanish, and Italian and it is one of the first Euro ready products.

w w w . h u m m i n g b i r d . c o m 1 0

Figure 1.1 — HostExplorer

offers both traditional terminal

emulation capabilities as well

as a web-to-host browser-

based solution

There is no difference between the browser based emulator and the desktop based

emulator in terms of:

Features and Functions

Power and Speed

Interface and Look & Feel

Operating Systems Specifications

HostExplorer runs on the following operating systems:

Windows Vista

Windows Server 2003

Windows XP

Windows 2000

Windows XP 64-bit edition

Windows Server 2003 64-bit edition

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions

Windows 2000/2003 Server with Terminal Services


Citrix® Presentation Server® for Windows

Internet Explorer 5.x, 6.x and above

Firefox, Opera and other Java-enabled Web browsers

Windows Vista Certification

Hummingbird products support Windows Vista. We have partnered

with Microsoft as an early adopter of the Windows Vista certification

program and received the ―Certified for Windows Vista‖ logo for our

latest product offerings. Our products have been tested by a

Microsoft-authorized third-party laboratory until their finalization.

HostExplorer 2008 has received the "Certified for Windows Vista"

logo.

Languages

HostExplorer is available in the following languages:

German

English

Spanish

French

Italian

Administrators have the ability to allow the software language to be switched

dynamically. This feature allows multi-language companies to deploy the same

package to all of their users regardless of the language that will be used. Users can

simply switch from one language to another using the language selector.



offers the ability to

dynamically switch the

UI language


Part 2: Installing, Deploying and Connecting with HostExplorer

Installing and Deploying HostExplorer

Terminal emulators are a mission-critical element in large organizations. They

sometime are installed on tens of thousands of workstation. Administrators are often

reluctant to change old emulators for a newer one since they expect the cost of the

deployment and migration to be more expensive than the benefit they would get from

upgrading the current software.

Hummingbird has put significant efforts and resources to insure HostExplorer would

be easy, painless and inexpensive to deploy, and that it would offer administrators

several flexible deployment scenarios.

HostExplorer is based on the Microsoft Windows Installer technology for installation,

modification, upgrade, and removal of software. This technology, which was

introduced by Microsoft in Windows 2000, provides a powerful installation framework

across all platforms of the Microsoft operating system families. Windows Installer

provides administrators with consistent and reliable methods to customize

installations, update and upgrade applications, and resolve configuration problems. It

can also manage shared resources, enforce consistent file version rules, and

diagnose and repair applications at runtime.

Out of the box, HostExplorer offers the following deployment options:

Individual installation: this wizard driven installation, allows the user or the

administrator to install the product on each individual workstation.

Administrative installation: this installation scenario consists of creating a

shared installation repository on a central location. Each user will need to

perform a ―user‖ installation of the product from the repository. This ―user‖

installation will only copy the user settings to the workstation. The binary

components of the product will remain on the shared installation repository.

Windows Terminal Services or Citrix Presentation Server installation: this

type of installation consists of setting up the software on either Windows Terminal

Services (Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition or Windows 2000 Terminal

Services) or on the Citrix Presentation Server platform (Citrix Presentation Server

1.8 or Citrix Presentation Server XP). Once the installation is finished, the

administrator creates a specific Windows user group, which contains the list of

users to whom the product will be distributed.


Packaging and deployment through Microsoft SMS or any 3rd party

deployment framework: this scenario (refer to ―Sconfig: a deployment

customizer for HostExplorer‖ in part 2 of this document.) allows the user to

customize the Microsoft Windows Installer setup file (.MSI) for HostExplorer.

The administrator can specify several installation options through a graphical

packaging tool created specifically for Hummingbird software: Sconfig. Once the

customization is finished, the software can be silently deployed on user desktops

with Microsoft System Management Server or any other 3rd party remote

deployment system.

Deploying HostExplorer as web-to-host software: included in a separate

installation, but provided with HostExplorer, is the Hummingbird Deployment

Wizard. With this unique tool, administrators are able to transform the traditional

desktop-based HostExplorer into a powerful browser-based web-to-host solution.

Refer to part 7 ―Hummingbird Deployment Wizard‖ in this document for more

information on the different features and benefits of the web-to-host solution.

User Directory

Hummingbird product setup simplifies the management of the user files location.

User files can either be stored into each individual user directory or shared among all

users of the same machine. Figure 2.1 — Selecting the

User Directory


Support for Local Installation Cache

When introduced for the first time in Windows 2000, the Windows Installer technology

gave Windows application a solid foundation to build more reliable and standard

setup. In HostExplorer, Hummingbird introduces the local installation cache

technology which allows administrators to copy an image of the installation files

locally on the user desktop. With this technology, applying product updates or

changing product setup get a dramatic boost and suppress the need for accessing

the original setup media during certain Windows Installer operation.

Figure 2.2 — Post-Installation

Options

Automatic Updates After Installation

HostExplorer offers two post-installation options that will allow users to keep their

product up-to-date:

Run Hummingbird Update after installation will connect to the Hummingbird web

site, retrieve the latest update pack and automatically apply it to the product.


Visit the Hummingbird WebUpdate site will open a new browser window where

users will be able to manually download and apply the latest update pack for the

product.

Files and Settings Transfer Wizard

The Files and Settings Transfer Wizard is a utility that allows administrators to quickly

import and export the user files into HostExplorer. This tool will prove to be

particularly useful for organizations that want to operate quick backups of the user

configuration files or in case of hardware migration when the user data need to be

transferred to a new machine.


Migration Wizard

Media Location Manager Utility

The Media Location Manager is a new utility that allows administrators to specify

additional installation sources for HostExplorer. Windows Installer use these sources

to perform certain operations such as updating the product or modifying the installed

features.


In case the original product source has disappeared or needs to be relocated,

administrators can choose to add new sources from a variety of different locations:

local directory

network directory

URL

Figure 2.4 — The Media

Location Manager Utility

Multiple Profile Space

HostExplorer’s multiple profile architecture is a major innovation in the terminal

emulation market space. It provides an elegant and secure framework for central

administration without requiring organizations to set up costly proprietary

administrative servers as it is the case with other terminal emulation solutions.

Current Industry Practices

Many large organizations manage their terminal emulation profiles fairly

rudimentarily. With a large numbers of desktop to manage, such organizations are

often left with no other choice than copying all terminal emulation profiles on every

single desktop. This method is called decentralized profile management.


Figure 2.5 — An example of

decentralized profile

management: all profiles are

copied on each desktop.

Such profile management practices are not without drawbacks:

All-or-nothing approach: to keep the chaos at a reasonable level, there is no

other choice left to the administrator than to make sure every desktop is strictly

identical. This task in itself can be daunting. Every new profile or every

modification to an existing profile will need to be deployed on every desktop.

When confronted with such situation, many organizations will decide upon

maintaining the status quo rather than implementing profile changes which would

come at a significant administrative cost in time and efforts.

Unnecessary data replication: similarly to the database normalization

approach, there is no reason why the same profile should be replicated over and

over on hundreds or thousands of desktops. Replication becomes even more

meaningless if the profiles that are distributed are locked-down for modifications.

No “single version of the truth:” assuming that all profiles are not locked down

and despite the administrator’s best effort, it is very likely that each PC will have

a slightly different version of the profile settings than his neighbor thanks to the

customization skills of its user. In other instances different administrators will

create different profiles for the same connection and distribute it to the users

under their jurisdiction.

No flexibility: copying the software and profiles to the desktop is often done

through a standardized desktop image. Administrators create a deployable image

of all software components required on the desktops from the operating system

to the business line applications. The image gets installed either by the

organization own teams or by a 3rd party system integrator. This replication

process requires every image to be the same for everybody. With such

constraints in mind, it becomes impossible for administrators to manage different


groups of profiles, short of creating different desktop images which would

obviously send the deployment costs skyrocketing.

No granularity: decentralized profile management leaves little room for

granularity. Managing specific requirements at the group level or at the user level

is an impossible task. As impossible

is the ability to fine tune user rights, giving them the ability to modify some

parameters such

as the terminal colors and preventing them from altering others such as the

security settings.

Policy-adverse: in a decentralized profile management system, it is all but

possible to implement proper policies. With every machine being equal

administrators are unable to manage profiles and access to these profiles in the

same way they manage their group policies.

Security-adverse: there’s a saying in the security that the less is known about a

potential target the better it is. In a decentralized profile management scheme,

host information is distributed all over the place. There’s no doubt that every host

will offer the adequate level of authentication before allowing users to log in, but

is it really necessary for the production folks to know the

IP address, port and security methods for the accounting mainframe?

User-adverse: Being a user in a decentralized profile management based

organization can be somewhat confusing and frustrating. Because all desktops

receive the same image, users find themselves saturated with profiles that are

not relevant to their tasks.

Additionally, the all-or-nothing approach leaves the administrator with few choices:

either he lets users modify the profiles and incur the risk of saturating the help desk

with calls from inexperienced users that have just changed their colors to black on

black, or he locks down the profiles with the guarantee that power users will be

frustrated and dissatisfied with the tool.

All or nothing approach

Unnecessary data replication

No ―single version of the truth‖

No flexibility

No Granularity

Policy-Adverse

Security-Adverse

User-Adverse


Figure 2.6 — Disadvantages

of decentralized profile

management architectures

Introducing Multiple Profile Spaces

―Multiple Profile Spaces‖ is the name for Hummingbird ’s technology that allows

administrators to manage and deploy profiles from central or distributed repositories.

A profile space can be accessed by HostExplorer users to read or write profiles.

There is no limit to the number of profile spaces that a particular user can access and

there is no limit to the number of profile spaces that can be set up.


Profile spaces are extremely flexible and allow administrators to adapt the repository

architecture to suit their needs. For instance:

Single profile space: users do not have any profile stored on their desktops. All

profiles are located in a central repository making it easy for the administrator to

create new profiles or modify existing ones without redeploying any of them.

Multiple profile spaces: users are split in group (by business unit for instance).

Each group has its own profile space and can not access other group’s spaces.

This kind of architecture helps the administrator specialize profiles by publishing

them only to the relevant group of users.

Combined profile spaces: this architecture consists in setting up multiple profile

spaces with specialized profiles in them and allowing users to access one or

more of these spaces. This model presents the advantage of keeping profiles

organized and secured by specialization (line of business or geography for

instance), while letting users access them seamlessly.

Combined and personal profile spaces: in addition to letting users access global

repositories, administrators also have the ability to allocate them a personal area

where they can store, retrieve and modify their own profiles and settings. This

setup constitutes the ultimate profile space experience, giving users a

transparent access to private and global profiles.


Figure 2.7 — Examples

of Profile Spaces

architectures

Profile Spaces Types

On the contrary of other terminal emulation software, Hummingbird designed Profile

Spaces to leverage existing IT infrastructures without introducing a proprietary

repository.

Profile Spaces can be set up on four different types of repositories:

Local storage: this includes hard drives, removable drives and any other fixed or

removable media that is physically connected to the user desktop.

Network storage: this includes network drives, UNC paths, NFS shares and any

remote location that can be accessed from the operating system.

LDAP Directories: any directory service that supports the Lightweight Directory

Access Protocol

Active Directory: Microsoft’s directory service for use in Windows environment

is tightly integrated with all Microsoft Operating Systems, Management Tools and

Security Policies.


Figure 2.8 — Available

profile spaces types

Profile Spaces: An Example

The major advantage of profile spaces is their versatility and their flexibility. There is

no limit to what a profile space can be used for as shown by the example below.


Figure 2.9 — Profile Spaces

can be organized in many

logical configurations

In a classic decentralized management environment, such configurations would have

been hard to set up without creating a multitude of desktop images to suit each group

requirements.

Scenario 1: ACME Inc. is a typical multi-department company with employees

working in 3 units: Finance, Sales and Production.

Terminal emulation is used at different levels by all employees:

All users need to access the enterprise scheduling application which resides

on a Mainframe

Finance users need to access applications residing on the company’s Mainframe.

Sales have their CRM application on an AS/400.

Production uses UNIX servers to manage the production cycle.

Finally, all employees have access to specific Mainframe and UNIX applications

depending on their roles and use FTP file transfer to save their personal data.


Figure 2.10 — ACME Inc.

Profile Spaces are

organized by Business Unit

Scenario 2: ACME Inc. is a global company with operations on 3 continents:

North America, Europe and Asia Figure 2.11 — ACME Inc.

Profile Spaces are

organized by

geographical locations


Rights Management

Profile Spaces have been designed to leverage the existing IT infrastructure and

policies in place. Profile Spaces will take advantage of the native Access Control Lists

(ACLs) available for each profile space type.

Using the native right management system for each profile space type offers a

number of advantages both for the administrator and the users.

Administrator:

Full administrative control over users’ rights: Profile Spaces will obey by the ACL

rules giving users read or write access to profiles only when authorized by the

ACLs.

No paradigm shift: no proprietary (i.e. different) users and groups management

system that would create administrative overhead.

No need to learn new administrative tools: user rights can be managed with the

same tools that are used to manage the file system rights or the directory rights.

Figure 2.12 — Profile Spaces

as seen from the Active

Directory administrative

console


User:

Transparency: on the contrary of proprietary profile management systems the

user will see no difference between accessing profiles stored on profile spaces or

traditional profiles.

No unnecessary login: since Windows credentials are being used to determine

Profile Spaces rights, there is no need for additional authentication before

accessing the profiles.

Easier access to profiles: with Multiple Profile Spaces users can only see the

profiles they have access to. It reduces the risk of errors while simplifying the

user interface.

Composite Profiles

Multiple Profile Spaces offer total control over the profiles repositories and how users

access them. In addition to these benefits, Multiple Profile Spaces can also be used

to offer a more granular access to the various elements of the profile.

A typical profile is usually a collection of different settings such as the connection

information, the keyboard map, the color scheme, the security information etc. Many

administrators want to give their users the ability to modify some of these settings

(keyboard and colors for instance) while locking down others (connection and

security for instance).

Achieving such level of granularity is usually not an easy task with traditional profile

management systems but become a trivial operation with Multiple Profile Spaces.

Every settings of a profile are stored in schemes. Each scheme exists as its own

independent file. Every scheme can be stored in a different Profile Space and has its

own ACL.

The requirements described above can easily be fulfilled by storing Connection and

Security schemes in a global read-only Profile Space while Keyboard and Colors can

be distributed to every user in its personal read-write Profile Space.


Figure 2.13 — A composite

profile example

Multiple Profile Spaces Management

Administrators can manage Multiple Profile Spaces with easy powerful tools that

come with HostExplorer.

The Profile Space Editor

The Profile Space Editor allows administrators to add, edit and remove Profile

Spaces. Each profile Space can be assigned a name and a distinct icon that will help

users identify it easily.

A particular Profile Space can contain references to multiple locations. When the first

location is not available, HostExplorer will automatically look for the next online

location. This ability allows administrators to set up fault-tolerant Profile Space and

guarantee that their users will always have access to their profiles.

When choosing the location for a particular Profile Space, the administrator is also

allowed to use system replacers (in the form of $KeyWord$). Those replacers will

transparently be converted into real values when using the Profile Space. For

instance the $USERNAME$ replacer will be converted to the Windows user name of

the currently logged in user.


Figure 2.14 — Creating a

Profile Space with a primary

and a backup location in the

Profile Space Editor tool

The profile publishing wizard

The profile publishing wizard is an administrative tool that allows profiles stored

locally on a desktop to be published to an existing Profile Space.

Administrators who use that tool will be able to set up the profiles and test them

locally on their desktop before making them available to their user community.

This tool can also be used to publish modifications to already-published profiles

in a Profile Space.

Conclusion

Multiple Profile Spaces offer new perspectives on organizations’ profile management

practices. They offer countless benefits to users and administrators.

Flexibility

Profile Spaces can be organized in any physical and logical combinations.


There is no limit to the number of spaces that can be created.

There is no limit to the number of users that can access a particular Profile

Space.

Profile Spaces can be deployed on local file systems, network file systems, LDAP

directories and Active Directory

Security

Profile Spaces leverage existing user rights and do not require administrators

to create (or recreate) a particular users and groups hierarchy to suit the

deployment model.

User rights are managed through existing ACLs offering administrators total

control over the distribution and access to the profiles.

Individual settings of a particular profile (also known as schemes) can be stored

on different Profile Spaces and have their own ACL, allowing for maximum

granularity in the access rights.

No disruption

Profile Spaces do not require specialized software to be installed on servers

Profile Spaces live within the existing infrastructure not requiring dedicated

hardware

Profile Spaces will not increase the workload of existing network and hardware

infrastructures besides normal I/O operations.

Sconfig: A Deployment Customizer for HostExplorer

Among the different options that can be used to deploy software to a large number of

desktops, one has earned the preference of many system administrators: silent

installation with automatic deployment and upgrade through software distribution

systems.

Although the Windows Installer technology provides a powerful framework to create

installation packages, its complexity can sometimes lead to spending more time

trying to understand the setup components than actually doing the package

customization job itself.

3rd party tools enable administrators to customize the Windows Installer packages

(.msi files) and provide a convenient way of changing multiple installation options.

However, they remain generic tools, which do require administrators to have

advanced knowledge of the msi structure and mechanisms.

HostExplorer setup is fully compatible with 3rd party tools, however, Hummingbird

includes its own package customizer utility in HostExplorer. This tool, named Sconfig,


is dedicated to Hummingbird software installation and does not require the

administrator to have any knowledge of the msi file format.

When using Sconfig, system administrators can modify the parameters of

Hummingbird software installation and create custom packages that will be deployed

silently to the users’ workstations.

Relying on the windows installer standards, this administrative tool creates windows

transform files (.mst files) which remain 100% compatible with the Windows Installer

technology. Once created, these packages can be deployed through Microsoft SMS

or any other 3rd party deployment system.

This tool is 100% graphical and does not require command line mode editing.

Figure 2.15 — Sconfig

process overview

Sconfig enables the administrator to customize several options of the HostExplorer

installation process:


Directories: the location where the binary components and the user settings will

be installed on the user’s machine.

Features: the different components of the software.

Files: any additional file that the administrator wants to deploy on the workstation

at the same time.

Properties: various installation properties pertaining to the software or its

installation (advertised shortcuts, migration, custom registration strings …).

Registry: any additional registry key that the administrator wants to setup along

with HostExplorer registry entries.

Shortcut: all shortcuts that will be created during the installation are listed here.

The administrator can either modify or remove the existing shortcuts or add new

ones which will refer to additional files that have been deployed in addition to

HostExplorer.

Figure 2.16 — Sconfig allows

administrators to customize

numerous deployment options


Integrated Metering

HostExplorer product includes a metering client. This optional component which can

be installed during the deployment step allows each product to report itself

automatically to a metering server when launched.

The metering client works with all Hummingbird products. This optional component

can be either installed with the following methods:

By selecting it at installation time

By including it into a Sconfig preconfigured install that can be pushed through

SMS

By being web-deployed with HostExplorer through the browser

When HostExplorer is launched, the metering client sends an update to the metering

server with the following information: client IP address, workstation name, user name,

authentication domain, product installed and version of the product. Additionally, the

metering client will send detailed information about the components name of a

product and their specific patch level.

Because it is deployed as an ISAPI dll for Internet Information Server, the metering

server does not require administrators to dedicate a specific machine for metering

purposes. It helps organizations keep track of their licenses while giving them an

accurate picture of the different versions deployed.

Administrators can download a spreadsheet containing all metering data and use any

spreadsheet processor to analyze the information in the license report.

By logging into the metering server, administrators are able to download a CSV file

that contains all the metering data for the organization. This file can then be opened

in Excel and worked out through a PivotTable report. Thanks to the powerful features

of the Excel PivotTable, administrators can manipulate the metering data in any way

they want and present it in the light that meet their information need.

Administrators can use any browser to access the metering server online reports.

Online reports offer to group the data on several criteria thus allowing the

administrator to obtain a customized view of the license usage and repartition.


Figure 2.17 — The metering

server browser-based

reporting interface

Connecting to Enterprise Hosts: A 3 step process

NOTE: this section pertains to HostExplorer when installed as a traditional desktop

software. See the Hummingbird Deployment Wizard section to learn more about

connections with the web-to-host version of HostExplorer.

One of the first things that most users will probably do, once they have finished

installing the software, is to connect to a server on the corporate network.

Hummingbird Neighborhood

HostExplorer provides a simple and intuitive method to establish host connection

through a function called ―Hummingbird Neighborhood.‖ By clicking on this icon which

is on the user desktop or in the ―My Computer‖ area, the user is offered an interface

to the TN3270, TN5250, VT, 3270 printer, 5250 printer and FTP connection.

NOTE: if needed, this icon can be removed from the user’s desktop. It will not affect

the user’s ability to connect through TN3270, TN5250 or VT or printing sessions.

However, Hummingbird FTP™ which provides a Windows Explorer integration of the

FTP client will not be available and users will have to use the regular double-pane

FTP which is also included with HostExplorer.


Figure 2.18 — Hummingbird

Neighbourhood offers a

convenient single point of

access to the emulation

profiles and tools from

within Windows

Creating a Connection to a Host

Creating a new profile and connecting to a host is an easy process which can be

achieved in 3 easy steps.

1. In Hummingbird Neighborhood, double-click on the ―New HostExplorer Profile‖

icon.

2. Hummingbird Neighborhood prompts the user to enter connection information

such as:

Profile Name

Profile Type: Mainframe, AS/400, VT, Mainframe printer, AS/400 printer

Theme: preset user interface theme that closely match the look and feel of

other terminal emulation software such as Attachmate Extra, Netmanage

Rumba, IBM Personal Communications

Connection type: Telnet or Microsoft SNA Server client

Host Address: Name or IP address of the host


Figure 2.19 — Creating a new

profile is a simple 1

step process

3. Once the information has been validated, a double click on the profile icon in

Hummingbird Neighborhood will open the Terminal.

Within Hummingbird Neighborhood, users have the ability to right-click an existing

HostExplorer profile in order to bring up the property panel of the profile where you

can modify any setting of the profile from one convenient location, without the need

to launch the emulator.

Setting up Advanced Connection Properties

One of the key elements used when connecting to a host system, is the host system

address and port. Although administrators can ensure that their systems offer

maximum user availability, a hardware or network failure could prevent users from

connecting. In order to minimize this possibility, many system administrators use

redundant systems which can offer the same services, in the event of the primary

system failing.

HostExplorer provides the ability to define several host addresses, ports and LUs for

the same connection profile. Additional settings like connection timeout, number of

retries or Delay between host retries are also available. HostExplorer is one of the

few emulators on the market to support IBM Express Logon Features.


Figure 2.20 — Multiple host

settings allows the

administrator to provision for

fail-over

Upon connection, HostExplorer will try to reach the first host on the list. In case of

failure, HostExplorer will follow the directives of the configuration profile and try to

connect to additional hosts if specified.

Figure 2.21 — Connection

messages allow the

administrator to troubleshoot

issues easily


PART 3: Emulation with HostExplorer

Core Emulation Settings

HostExplorer supports several terminal types:

TN3270 and TN3270E: 3278 and 3279 — Model 1 to 5 plus a custom terminal

model which enables the definition of a specific number of rows and columns

TN5250 and TN5250E: Model 2 and 5

VT: 52, 100, 101, 102, 220, 320, 420, ANSI, SCO ANSI and IBM 3151

TN3270 – TN3270E Emulation

HostExplorer allows both TN3270 and TN3270E protocols to be used. It enables the

administrator to set up one or several 3270 LU or Pool name for the connection. It

can also automatically look for the first available LU, if the connection is made

through the Microsoft SNA server client. It supports various TN3270E options like

Attention key type definition. It also enables multiple settings for NVT (Network Virtual

Terminal) mode, like the Enter Key interpretation mode, Backspace Key interpretation

mode and the keyboard buffer mode.

One crucial part of terminal emulation software is the translation of host characters

into PC characters. HostExplorer offer one of the best code page translation engines

on the market, with more than 83 supported code pages available for display session

and more than 450 different combinations of host/PC code page translation available

for file transfers. HostExplorer also supports the Euro character set.

HostExplorer supports various graphic terminals like 3270 PCG, 3472G, 3129G or

3179G. The emulator supports lightpen, APL characters and program symbols as well

as extended attributes.

TN5250 – TN5250E Emulation

In addition to the NVT settings mentioned above, HostExplorer 5250 Terminal allows

the definition of the Device Name. It also enables administrators to use the AS/400

―Auto Sign On‖ function and allows them to specify a username and a password that

will be sent from the Terminal to the host. It also supports switching between green

and white colors only or 5250 mapping for field colors.

VT Emulation

In addition to the terminal types mentioned above, HostExplorer VT Terminal allows

for the customization of the Terminal ID. 7-bit and 8-bit communication modes are


allowed. Among numerous settings, the terminal also supports word wrap, local echo,

interpreted or displayed control codes, optimized or realistic scrolling and

answerback message.

Last but not least, HostExplorer offers different Linemode support, Telnet echo

support and several negotiation options. Many character sets and NRC sets are

available to choose from. Screen size can be either set to 80 or 132 columns.

Customizing the screen width and height is also possible.

Customizing the Terminal Display

One of the first things that a user does when a terminal gets displayed on the screen

is customize the color, fonts and display.

Figure 3.1 —

The HostExplorer color

mapper offers a powerful yet

simple interface

Colors

HostExplorer offer a comprehensive and easy-to-use color remapper. The use of

schemes allows for the saving of several combinations of fields’ colors into files which

are then easy to move from one desktop to another. Out of the box, HostExplorer

comes with 35 ready to use color schemes.


Advanced users also have the option to create their own custom colors from an RGB

color mixer. The Click-and-Drag functionality makes it easy for assigning existing

colors to different field types.

Finally, HostExplorer color manager provides easy to use options such as uniform

background and foreground color mapping, monochrome color and a basic mapping

mode, which restricts the number of field types that appear on the screen.

Fonts

The next step in Terminal customization often consists in managing and setting up

the different fonts that are used to display the text on the screen.

Based entirely on Unicode, HostExplorer ships with two Terminal fonts: one Truetype

font and one Bitmap font.

While other emulators ship with tons of fonts, that seem to end up polluting the

system folders, HostExplorer is capable of displaying any type of character including

Cyrillic, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian,

Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian,

Slovenian and many others with only two fonts.

In addition to all those features, HostExplorer font manager supports variable width

fonts, thus enabling the user to modify the font width for better screen adaptation.


offers support for variable

width fonts allowing the user

to enhance the screen

readability


Screen Customization

HostExplorer offers several screen customization options. First, the cursor can be

modified to appear as a block, an underscore or a Vertical bar. The cursor can also

be defined to blink or not. As shown in the figure below, HostExplorer offers a cross-

hair cursor that eases the localization of the cursor on the screen.

The session window can also be totally customized. HostExplorer allows the

administrator to define the window title by putting strings and mnemonics to provide

useful information for troubleshooting. The terminal area can be framed within the

session workspace and organizations will be capable of using customized wallpapers

on the background of the window.

Terminal fonts, by default, scale when a session window is resized. HostExplorer

however allows for tight control of the font and window behavior when resizing. One

particularly interesting feature for VT Terminal users is the ability to handle windows

resizing like the well-known X-Window XTerm software. When this particular mode is

activated, HostExplorer will hook any window resizing and negotiate a new terminal

size with the server. As a result, the fonts will not be scaled to match the new window

size but the terminal workspace will provide additional rows and columns as shown in

the Fig. below.

Figure 3.3 — Cross-Hair

Cursor allows user to easily

locate the cursor on

the terminal



allows VT terminal screen

size to be dynamically

negotiated with the host

Integration with Windows Explorer

A first in the industry, HostExplorer terminals can be displayed and used directly from

within the Windows Explorer interface. On the contrary of other products,

HostExplorer does not require anymore the user to launch a separate application to

work on his legacy system applications (although this option is still available).

Instead, users can simply browse the Hummingbird Neighborhood extension from

within Windows Explorer and click on the connection profiles to launch a terminal

window in the right-hand pane of the Explorer window. This ground-breaking feature

push the ease-of-use and productivity of the users one step further while making the

most of the latest Windows XP desktop technologies.



Terminals seamlessly

integrate with Windows

Explorer

Customizing the Terminal Keyboard

A key element of terminal emulation is the interaction between the user and the host

through the keyboard. Host systems allow for multiple functions to be mapped to

various keys on the user terminal. Therefore, an effective keyboard mapper is a key

component of emulation software.



offers multiple preset

keyboard schemes as well as

various keyboard settings

HostExplorer keyboard mapper offers several useful functions to simplify the work of

the administrators and allow them to provide effective key functions to users. The

keyboard mapper relies on keymap files, which contain all the information related to a

specific keyboard mapping. Those files can be easily transferred from one desktop to

another.

HostExplorer supports several keyboard layouts as well as general keyboard settings

such as numlock state management, diacritic composition, type ahead or mapping of

the numlock keys.

When accessing the keyboard mapping table, the user is presented with an intuitive

drag and drop interface. Functions that can be mapped are logically organized into

different groups such as system commands, editing keys, action keys, characters

and more.

Custom automation commands such as Macro commands, Quickkeys and

QuickScripts can also be mapped to the keyboard. Mapping a function to a key

simply consists of dragging this function from the list and dropping it on the desired

key. As an additional convenience, administrators can also print an existing keyboard

mapping in order to keep track of it.


Figure 3.7 — The

HostExplorer keyboard

mapper offers a powerful

drag-and-drop user interface

Transferring files with HostExplorer

As with most terminal emulation software, HostExplorer not only provides the user

the ability to display information on the screen, but it also allows for the transfer of

files between the client and the server in multiple ways.

3270 File Transfer

HostExplorer supports IND$FILE file transfer methods for CMS, TSO/MUSIC and

CICS. File transfer settings include block size definition, initial download action, file

format, record format and miscellaneous general options.

One of the most advantageous aspects of HostExplorer 3270 file transfer is its ability

to automatically correlate the PC code page with the host code page defined in the

terminal settings. HostExplorer contains a table of more than 450 code page

combinations that come directly from IBM 3270 specifications. It offers more code

pages than any other non-IBM software.


HostExplorer allows TN3270 users to easily create a list of files to be uploaded or

downloaded through IND$FILE. Such list can be build automatically while users are

adding file to be transferred or can be saved and kept on the user desktop for later

reuse. A monitoring window constantly informs the user of the status of each transfer

operation.

Figure 3.8 — 3270 File

Transfer lists allow users to

transfer a batch of files

quickly


Figure 3.9 — The 5250 data

transfer wizard simplifies

AS/400 file transfer

5250 File Transfer

The 5250 file transfer mechanism relies on the 5250 file transfer wizard which

provides an easy graphical user interface for creating SQL queries that upload or

download files from the AS/400 file system.

Similarly to ftp hosts in Hummingbird FTP, AS/400 file systems can be browsed

directly from within Windows Explorer. Windows users will find themselves in a

known environment, thus increasing their productivity while reducing the learning

curve for doing AS/400 file transfers. Making the most of the Windows Explorer drag

and drop paradigm, this new feature further strengthen the integration between

HostExplorer and the Windows operating system.


Figure 3.10 — AS/400 file

transfer integrates with

Windows Explorer

VT File Transfer

HostExplorer offers the following file transfer methods for exchanging files with Unix

systems: XModem, YModem, Kermit and ZModem.

Hummingbird FTP

In addition to the file transfer methods listed above, HostExplorer comes with two

FTP clients that enable users to exchange files with FTP servers on a variety of hosts

including Mainframe, UNIX, and AS/400. By default, Hummingbird FTP is the FTP

client installed with HostExplorer. The other FTP client that can be installed through

the ―custom‖ or ―complete‖ installation offers a standard two-pane view of the local

and remote file system.

Hummingbird FTP provides the user with a revolutionary interface. After a FTP profile

has been set up from the Hummingbird Neighborhood, the host system can be

browsed via the Microsoft Windows Explorer interface. Not only does this component

provide the user with an experience similar to browsing a local file system, it also

provides a unique way of interacting with the remote server through double-click and

drag-and-drop.

Among its multiple options, Hummingbird FTP offers the ability to create local

shortcuts to files located on remote systems. When double-clicked, the shortcuts will

automatically connect to the FTP server where the file resides, copy the file into a


temporary directory and open the file locally following the rules implemented through

file extension associations in Windows. If the file is modified, Hummingbird FTP will

detect it and ask the user to upload the file back to the server. It also allows

automatic file synchronization as well as the creation of automation tasks through the

generation of QuickScripts (see Part 4: Automation with HostExplorer)

Various settings are available for a FTP connection, including: firewall definition,

automatic file type detection, automatic server type recognition, advanced directory

caching, time and date synchronization. Additionally, the FTP connection can be

secured through HostExplorer GSS API implementation which enables the use of the

Kerberos protocol for FTP. Hummingbird FTP can also perform Secure Shell

connections to UNIX hosts if Secure Shell is installed.


FTP smoothly integrates with

the Windows Operating

System

FTP Synchronization

FTP, is not only used to perform ad-hoc file transfer operations anymore. A growing

number of users and administrators now use FTP to perform mass file transfers,

copying entire directories at once and synchronizing them between their desktops

and FTP servers.

Hummingbird FTP offers a convenient solution for those users through

synchronization profiles. A synchronization profile is a list of files or directories that

will be copied between the server and the desktop. Hummingbird FTP can either


copy the files in one direction (from or to the desktop) or synchronize the files

between the FTP server and the desktop by looking at date of modification.

Users can decide to organize their mass transfers in any logical way they want. As an

example, a user could decide to group all of the files and directories to transfer into a

separate synchronization profile for each host. However, there’s no limitation in the

number of hosts that can be use within the same synchronization task and it is

entirely possible for a user to synchronize all of his hosts with the same profile.

Hummingbird FTP offers users the ability to schedule the execution of

Synchronization Profiles. The scheduled tasks are sent to Windows Scheduler that is

part of the Windows Operating System.

Schedule options include:

Execution options: task definition, additional parameters, account setup for

execution.

Timing options: date and time, recurrence, multiple schedules.

Additional options: run conditions, idle conditions, power management.

Integration with Microsoft Windows Scheduler allows administrators to control the

scheduled tasks through the standard Windows administration tools.

Figure 3.12 — Scheduling a

synchronization task in

Hummingbird FTP


Printing with HostExplorer

HostExplorer offers several printing capabilities depending on the type of host the

terminal is connected to. The following printing methods are supported:

Screen Printing: TN3270, TN5250 and VT

7171 Passthru printing: TN3270

3287 Printing sessions: TN3270E

3812 Printing sessions: TN5250E

Host Printing: VT

Figure 3.13 — Multiple screen

printing allows users to

capture several screens and

print them later in a single

operation

Screen Printing and Multiple Screen Printing

Screen Printing is one of the most often used printing features. HostExplorer enables

the user to define various layout options such as document name, header, footer,

color or black and white printing, location on the page, number of screens per page

and more. One of the most interesting features of HostExplorer screen printing is its

ability to print multiple screens at once. This option can be activated through the File

menu, and enables the user to display a capture palette. The palette allows the user

to capture screens while navigating within the host. Once the required screens have

been captured, the user can preview his print jobs and send them to the printer in a

batch print job, saving time and increasing efficiency.


3287 and 3812 Printing Sessions

Included in the terminal settings is the ability to create and associate printer sessions

to a specific HostExplorer profile. A printing session will connect to the host and

forward any print jobs it receives to the designated local or network printer. The ability

to create independent or attached printer sessions gives administrators a lot of

flexibility when setting up the users’ environment.

3287 and 3812 printing sessions support multiple settings such as the ability to

precisely define page margins, orientation and format. Sessions support the use of

various code pages.

A crucial feature of the 3287 printing session is the ability to execute IBM PDF

(Printer Definition Files) commands.

Figure 3.14 — Printer

sessions can be created,

set up and launched within

the terminal during a

session


HostExplorer Print Services

HostExplorer Print Services allow Mainframe and AS/400 administrators to

consolidate their print queues on a single Windows server instead of managing

thousands of individual desktop print queues. HostExplorer Print Services can handle

several thousands of print queues on a single machine and can be remotely

managed.

HostExplorer Print Services offers highly scalable, powerful, and centralized 3270

and 5250 printing capabilities for an entire enterprise with large volume requirements

and advanced management. HostExplorer Print Services centralizes print processing

and routes host print jobs directly from the host to any supported print queue.

HostExplorer Print Services operates in a powerful 32-bit environment, running as a

service on a Windows NT Server or Windows 2000 Server, providing improved

performance and reliability.

VT Host Printing

In addition to offering standard VT Host Printing settings, HostExplorer also enables

the print job to be redirected to a file instead of the printer. When printing to a file,

HostExplorer can either append or overwrite the data to the print file, or create

multiple files with incremental suffixes to store each print job.


Figure 3.15 —

HostExplorer Print

Services architecture

diagram


Part 4: Productivity

Providing Additional Interaction Methods

Keyboard is not the only way to interact with the host. HostExplorer allows for a

variety of other input methods that can be used to leverage the user experience and

increase productivity.

Mouse Actions

HostExplorer allows keyboard mappings to be applied to different mouse actions.

The administrator can define combinations of keyboard and mouse actions that allow

the user to perform specific functions.

In addition, HostExplorer offers users the ability to cut and paste text on the screen

by selecting and moving the text with the mouse, in similar fashion to Microsoft Word.

Right-Click Menu

The right-click menu or ―track menu‖ is a user definable menu that contains often

used functions. Thanks to this menu, administrators can offer their users a contextual

menu tailored to their needs with functions such as cut, copy and paste for instance.

HotSpots

HotSpots consist in definable text string that the administrator will associate with

specific actions. When detecting a HotSpot string on the screen, HostExplorer will

automatically transform this text into a clickable are. These are can either be invisible

or look like a button surrounding the HotSpot text. By clicking or double-clicking on

the HotSpot, the user will trigger the action which has been previously associated in

the profile settings.

Toolbars

One of the most practical ways of customizing a working environment is offered

through the use of toolbars. Toolbars have become graphical user interface

standards since their introduction in the first WYSIWYG desktop productivity

software.

HostExplorer floating toolbars are fully customizable by the user or the administrator.

Each toolbar function can display a specific tooltip. Toolbar icons can be customized

with personal images and have a specific text label associated with them.



toolbars are highly

customizable and

mimic the behaviour of

Microsoft Office toolbars

Managing the User Environment

Look & Feel

HostExplorer powerful themes engine allows administrators to store the configuration

of several groups of settings into a single entity called a theme. Themes are

extremely useful to provide users with a seamless and consistent setup of the

software.

Administrators can choose to configure one or multiple themes to distribute to their

users. When creating a new session, users will be offered to launch the connection

with any of the available theme depending on the administrator restrictions.

HostExplorer comes pre-packaged with themes that can help organizations made an

easier transition with other terminal emulation software such as Attachmate Extra,

NetManage Rumba,® WRQ Reflection or IBM Personal Communication. This

function coupled with the existing migration facilities such as macro conversion and

HLLAPI compatibility provide organizations with an easy migration path to

HostExplorer.


Figure 4.2 — New profile

Theme selection



Theme Manager displaying

the Rumba theme

Menus Manager

HostExplorer gives users a lot of flexibility to customize their work environment. The

Menu Customization facility allows users to design their own menu layout, or to

choose from an existing of preset layouts.

Administrators that are looking for complete control over the user desktop will be able

to selectively disable menu items, thus improving the overall user experience while

reducing the risk of mistakes.

Menus are comprised of all HostExplorer system commands, as well as host

functions, editing keys, macro commands and QuickScripts.



Menu Manager

User Settings Interface Manager

The user settings interface manager provides users with the ability to create and use

a custom interface to the session settings. Administrators are able to provide only a

selected list of modifiable settings to their user, thus eliminating the risks associated

with the free modification of sensible parameters.

Additionally, organizations that migrate from previous terminal emulation software will

reduce the learning curve by presenting groups of settings that are more familiar to

their users.



Session Settings Manager

Locking Down the User Desktop

Most system administrators do not allow their users to modify many settings on their

desktop, for fear they might disrupt the software.

With HostExplorer, administrators have the ability to lockdown certain features of the

software. Regardless of the feature accessibility through menus, dialogs, shortcuts or

toolbars, the locked-down features will be totally inaccessible to the user, thus

preventing involuntary mistakes and saving considerable time for helpdesk.


Figure 4.6 — Locking down

terminal functions

Sound Manager

In addition to visual alerts and color customization, users are able to attach specific

sounds to emulation events. As an example, a sound can be chosen to notify users

as soon as a connection has been successfully accomplished, while another one can

be used when a disconnection happens.

This capability of HostExplorer is particularly interesting in working environments for

people with disabilities. It also further extends HostExplorer compliance with the US

Government Section 508 requirements.


Figure 4.7 — Associating

Sounds and Events

Improving Productivity

Shortcuts Manager

A lot of character-based applications whether on Mainframe, AS/400 or UNIX hosts

are primarily used for data input. Some of the information on the screen are often

repeated. As a result data operators need to type them several times a day, losing a

few seconds and increasing the risk of mistakes with each occurrence.

With the shortcut manager, users have the ability to define a list of acronyms that will

be substituted to longer words or even sentences during the input stage.

HostExplorer will browse for a specific shortcut in the list that’s been created and

replace the shortcut on the fly with its complete form.

The shortcut manager can also be used as an ―auto-correct‖ option. For instance,

every occurrence of the typo error ―ablity‖ could be automatically replaced by the

correct ―ability.‖ While this function reduces the risk of errors it also speeds up data

entry operation, allowing organizations to increase their productivity and ultimately,

their bottom line.


Figure 4.8 — Shortcut

Activation Modes

Figure 4.9 — Shortcut

Manager


Duplicate Session

Duplicate Session is a HostExplorer function that allows users to open new sessions

by cloning existing ones. When invoked, this command will create a new terminal

with the exact same characteristics as the one it was created from. Keyboard, colors,

macros and all other settings will be strictly identical to the original. This is extremely

useful to users working in environments requiring a number of opened connections to

the same host.

Report Wizard

The report wizard is a powerful new tool that will dramatically improve the productivity

of users that need to print a multiple screen pages on a regular basis. For many

users, printing a list of customer or a list of references out of their mainframe

application often consists in frantically calling the ―Print Screen‖ function while

pressing the ―Page Next‖ button on their keyboard. When these lists are made of

tenths of screens, this operation becomes a considerable loss of time and a game of

patience.

With the HostExplorer Report Wizard, users will be able to define the navigation rules

and print areas for those lists that require a lot of user interaction. Once the user has

specified the beginning and end of list application identifiers as well as the keyboard

navigation rules, HostExplorer will then be able to automate the tedious task of list

printing. HostExplorer will automatically browse through the screens and capture the

required information. It will then offer the user to print the data, send them to the

clipboard, write them into a text file or open them in Microsoft Word or

Microsoft Excel.


Figure 4.10 — Selecting

output format in the Wizard

Managing the User Workspace

HostExplorer allows users to control their workspace through a powerful tool: the

layout. Layouts consist of a set of several session names, positions and sizings that

are saved in Hummingbird Neighborhood.

Power users often use several sessions at once, some connect to the same host,

some to different ones. In order to optimize the workspace, the dimensions and

positions of the session terminals are laid out by the user, in a way that allows him to

work on multiple terminals at once.

With the layout function of HostExplorer, the user can now save those terminals, their

sizing and their position and restore the working environment through one single

entry: the layout icon located in Hummingbird Neighborhood.


Figure 4.11 — Layouts allow

users to save their working

environment for later reuse in

one single file

Helpdesk

HostExplorer offers a valuable compromise for administrators that need to efficiently

support their users without huge investments, cumbersome logistic or degradation of

quality of service.

Users looking for help simply need to click on the HostExplorer Helpdesk toolbar

button. This action will trigger a request for help that will be sent to a predefined

administrator desktop. The administrator has the ability to take control of the terminal

session and troubleshoot it as if he was physically in front of the user’s desktop.


Figure 4.12 — An

administrator remotely

controls a user session to

troubleshoot a problem


Figure 4.13 — Example of

several sessions within the

same terminal

Multiple Sessions in a Single Terminal

Users who connect to many hosts at the same time may quickly end up with an

incredibly crowded desktop. This situation can also end up causing errors if the user

mixes one terminal for another.

With HostExplorer, users have the ability to start their sessions within the same

terminal. Once this option has been enabled, HostExplorer will host every session

into the same frame. Users will be able to switch from one session to the other by

using the ―Window‖ menu, by using the ―CTRL+TAB‖ keyboard shortcut or by clicking

on buttons on the toolbar.

This powerful new feature will reduce the risks of mistakes, while offering an effective

answer to over-crowded desktops taskbar.

Glossary

The main reason why so many legacy applications are still around is because they

are critical to many businesses. The reason why they are so unpopular with users is

because they are lack graphical appeal and often require users to learn their manuals

by heart before using them.

One example of that would be these applications that require users to type in screen

codes in order to navigate from one function to another. Another example would be

applications that require users to manually browse huge code indexes in order to

perform data entry operations.


HostExplorer glossaries provide an easy way to alleviate the pain from the users and

improve the user friendliness of legacy applications. Glossaries allow users to create

lists of short codes and of their significance to help them when using legacy systems.

Glossaries appear as a dockable list or a floating window that can be placed

anywhere in the terminal window. Clicking on an entry will automatically insert it at

the terminal cursor location without further necessary effort. Glossaries are also fully

searchable to allow users to find information quickly.

Figure 4.14 — Glossaries

in action


Part 5: Security

Security Overview

Security Risks in a World

Although some protocols have been in use for more than a quarter century, very few

of them come with a strong security model. Inherent security flaws exist in almost

every protocol and many organizations do not realize how vulnerable they are to

these security issues.

Weak Authentication

As surprising as it may seem, many protocols such as Telnet and FTP send their

messages in clear text over the network. Such messages include username and

passwords, as well as all other information displayed to the user during the session.

Widely available network sniffing tools allow any attacker to easily capture that

information and use it for their own profit.

Easy Protocol Decoding

Although X-Window does not transmit user’s input as a string of text to the X

application, the protocol remains relatively easy to decode to obtain the desired

information. Keyboard inputs are transmitted in clear-text as numbers which can be

easily obtained and interpreted to rebuild the original text that was entered by the

user. Access to password protected X applications can be compromised by anybody

with a network sniffing tool and a little bit of patience.

Data Authenticity and Integrity Tampering

The Man in the middle attack or TCP hijacking is a well known attack where an

attacker sniffs packets from network, modifies them and inserts them back into the

network. Sensitive information can be intercepted and altered without a chance for

the victim to know that their data has been tampered with. Although this attack

requires a superior level of skills than those required for simply sniffing a network,

some program/code sources are available on the Internet for the enterprising

hijacker.


Because of their widespread usage throughout organizations, software is a target of

choice. Their popularity does not allow companies to simply remove and replace

them with more secure technologies without significant investments. The solution to

this problem consists in applying robust security techniques to existing protocols.

Solutions for Secured

Assuming that protocols are still going to be around for a significant number of years,

it becomes mandatory for organizations to implement complementary security

solutions that can be built on top of their existing infrastructure.

Some of those solutions consist of building encryption and authentication within the

network hardware. Although it sounds like an interesting way of increasing the

security level of the network, such a solution is very expensive and involves

significant disruption of the business operations.

Another solution consists in building a security layer within the existing protocols.

High effectiveness, minimal business disruption and relatively low investments are

some of the characteristics that have led many organizations to choose that path.

SSL

SSL is short for Secure Sockets Layer, a protocol which allows for the encryption of

data transmitted between two computers. It was developed in the mid-90s by

Netscape to facilitate the transmission of sensitive information via the Internet. Since

then, it has been built into all major browsers and web servers and is the industry

standard for protecting information sent over the Internet.

SSL uses public and private keys. There are two strengths of SSL, 40-bit and 128-bit.

The bits indicate the length of the session key — the longer the session key, the

harder it is to crack the code. When a client wants to connect to a server using SSL,

the client and the server go through a series of requests and acknowledgements

(―the SSL handshake‖). Briefly, the following occurs:

The client sends a request for a secure session to the server.

The server returns its digital certificate in response to the request. The certificate

contains the server’s public key.

The client checks the certificate to make sure it is valid and the server is

authenticated. The client creates a session key which is encrypted with the

server’s public key and sends it to the server.

The server decrypts the session key information by using its private key.

Both the client and server are now using the same session.


All further information that is transmitted between the client and server

will be encrypted automatically and safe from third-party prying.

SSL offers both encryption and authentication. Encryption is accomplished using

various algorithms such as 3DES, AES or RC4 for instance. In contrast to sever

authentication, client authentication is not mandatory but can be accomplished by

using client certificates.

SSL is used to secure a wide variety of protocols and has been adopted by a large

number of organizations. As an example, SSL has become the de facto security

standard for Mainframe and AS/400 through the TN3270 and TN5250 protocol. It’s

also widely used to secure HTTP connections and many 3rd party protocols.

Kerberos

Kerberos is a trusted third-party authentication. It is trusted in the sense that each of

its clients believes Kerberos’ judgment as to the identity of each of its other clients to

be accurate.

Kerberos keeps a database of its clients and their private keys. The private key is a

large number known only to Kerberos and the client it belongs to. In the case that the

client is a user, it is an encrypted password. Network services requiring

authentication register with Kerberos, as do clients wishing to use those services.

The private keys are negotiated at registration.

Because Kerberos knows these private keys, it can create messages which convince

one client that another is really who it claims to be. Kerberos also generates

temporary private keys, called session keys, which are given to two clients and no

one else. A session key can be used to encrypt messages between two parties.

Kerberos provides three distinct levels of protection. The application programmer

determines which is appropriate, according to the requirements of the application. For

example, some applications require only that authenticity be established at the

initiation of a network connection, and can assume that further messages from a

given network address originate from the authenticated party.

Other applications require authentication of each message, but do not care whether

the content of the message is disclosed or not. For these, Kerberos provides safe

messages. Yet a higher level of security is provided by private messages, where

each message is not only authenticated, but also encrypted. Private messages are

used, for example, by the Kerberos server itself for sending passwords over the

network.

Kerberos is generally used in UNIX environment to provide authentication services.

Kerberos is also available on the Mainframe and on AS/400. Microsoft introduced

operating system level support for Kerberos in Windows 2000. Although

interoperability between a ―classic‖ Kerberos environment and its Microsoft


counterpart was somehow challenging at the beginning the two environments can

now work seamlessly together.

Many companies are considering using Kerberos as their primary authentication

mechanism now that it can be used from the Windows environment. A Microsoft

Windows server can easily become a Kerberos domain controller and thus serve as

an authentication trusted tiers for all third party authentication needs. Another factor

that speaks in Kerberos favor is its ability to be used as part of a much wider security

implementation. The Secure Shell protocol for instance, which provides

authentication and encryption services, can use Kerberos as one of its authentication

method.

Secure Shell

The Secure Shell protocol was created in 1995 by a young Finnish student named

Tatu Ylonen after he was victim of a password-sniffing attack. The protocol was

released to the public as free software with its source code. By the end of 1995 the

software was used by more than 20 000 users in 50 countries and the amount of

requests asking for technical support was close to 150 requests per day.

In 1996, SSH Communications Security Ltd. introduced the 2nd version of the Secure

Shell protocol in order to overcome certain weaknesses of the initial version. The

draft for SSH-2 was submitted to the IETF in 1997. In 1999, OpenBSD shipped with

OpenSSH, a derivative of the original free SSH 1.2.12 which also supports the

Secure Shell 2 protocol.

The Secure Shell protocol offers numerous answers to security issues among which:

It offers strong security against cryptanalysis and protocol attacks

It provides support for key and certificate management infrastructures

It can work in conjunction with existing certificate infrastructure if available

It is relatively easy to deploy and can be made easy-to-use

It does not require in-depth security knowledge from the user and can work

transparently behind-the-covers.


Secure Shell offers a very flexible infrastructure allowing the protocol to evolve as

new authentication methods are invented. Current supported authentication methods

include:

Password

Keyboard Interactive which is a method to use with authentication devices

for instance

Public / Private Keys

Certificates (not standardized yet)

Kerberos

HostExplorer Security

HostExplorer is one of the rare terminal emulation software that offers a complete

security package. Other terminal emulators usually do not offer more than the basics

of security and they often lack granularity. HostExplorer goes beyond this checkbox

type approach and truly offers the administrator an exhaustive and robust security

proposal.

HostExplorer supports the following protocols:

SSL

Kerberos

Secure Shell 2


Characteristics Secure Shell

Add-on Product •

Primary Function Secure Shell 2, SFTP,

SSL v2/v3 & TLS, Kerberos v4/v5

Applicable Protocol

FTP SSL /Kerberos /SSH-2

VT SSL /Kerberos /SSH-2

TN3270 SSL /Kerberos

TN5250 SSL /Kerberos

In addition, HostExplorer comes with HTTP / HTTPS Tunneling capabilities.

Administrators can setup a web server to act as a HTTP / HTTPS proxy between

HostExplorer and the hosts, allowing for secure non-disruptive communications over

the Internet for instance.

Below is a table which highlights the different security options available for

HostExplorer (note: HTTP/HTTPS Proxy comes with the HostExplorer Setup).


SSL/TLS

Overview

Most terminal emulation software offers some type of built in SSL encryption. Few of

them however do offer the same extensive SSL implementation as HostExplorer.


offers advanced SSL settings

such as certificates and

cipher suites management

HostExplorer offers several major advantages over its competition, starting

with advanced SSL options:

Multiple SSL general options: which allows the administrator to precisely define

the behavior that HostExplorer will adopt during the SSL negotiation with the

host.


Figure 5.2 — Certificates are

automatically retrieved from

USB keys

Selectable cipher suites: with this option, the administrator is able to restrict the

list of cipher suites that will be used when negotiating with the host.

Support for X509 user digital certificates: although server certificate download

and verification is a mandatory part of the SSL negotiation, user certificate is an

optional component of this process. This type of certificate, however, is getting

a wider acceptance in today’s authentication technologies. By specifying a user

certificate in a HostExplorer profile, the administrator allows the server to

determine the identity of the user.

HostExplorer is also one of the few terminal emulation software that support ELF:

Express Logon Features. ELF lets a user running a 3270 client session log on to a

host system using a digital certificate instead of a User ID and Password.

Mode details about HostExplorer Certificate and Key Management utility are

available later in this section.

Support for SafeNet iKey Authentication Device

Customers using SSL connections with Terminal or FTP sessions will be able to

seamlessly experience the SafeNet iKey 2000 authentication experience with SSL.

The SafeNet iKey 2000 USB-based two-factor authentication token provides cost-

effective and easy-to-use control for multiple applications and network services.

When the key is plugged into the user’s machine, the Hummingbird Certificate and

Key Manager automatically reads the certificates and displays them for users to

choose. The SSL authentication process transparently passes the user certificate

information from the key to the host.


Support for Smartcard Authentication

HostExplorer seamlessly integrate smartcards into the SSL terminal or file transfer

sessions. After having selected the correct service provider in the corresponding

dialog, users will be prompted to insert their smartcard into the smartcard reader.

HostExplorer will read the list of certificates from the smartcard. During the SSL

authentication stage, HostExplorer will use the user certificate from the smartcard to

establish the secure connection.

Figure 5.3 — The smart

card authentication

dialogue prompts user for

the card

Kerberos

HostExplorer supports Kerberos. It provides Kerberos v4 and v5 support to

HostExplorer as well as Microsoft Kerberos integration capabilities.

Kerberos is built on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Kerberos client. It

supports both Kerberos v4 and v5 and includes the latest changes that have been

integrated by MIT into their client.

Kerberos fully supports the Microsoft Windows Kerberos Ticket cache. Organizations

who have standardized on Active Directory and Kerberos will transparently integrate

HostExplorer with their existing IT infrastructure.


Figure 5.4 — Host Explorer

Kerberos Settings Dialogue

Figure 5.5 — Kerberos

supports version 4 and 5 of

the Kerberos protocol


Secure Shell 2

HostExplorer supports the Secure Shell 2 protocol through the Secure Shell add-on.

This add-on offers support for the Secure Shell 2 protocol as well as advanced

capabilities for port-forwarding, tunnel monitoring and multiple authentication modes.

It is fully and transparently integrated with HostExplorer.

Figure 5.6 — Secure Shell

settings are accessible

directly within HostExplorer

The key features of Secure Shell include:

Secure Terminal

Secure File Transfer

Secure X11 port forwarding

Secure generic port forwarding

CSS supports X11 port forwarding. Users of Exceed or any 3rd party X-Window

server can use CSS to provide robust security through the entire X-Window

connection.

Generic port forwarding is a powerful feature which allows any 3rd party application

working on TCP/IP to be secured through Secure Shell without modifying the original

application. Data sent by the application are intercepted by the Secure Shell Client

and are transmitted to the destination host through the Secure Shell tunnel.


Authentication

The following authentication methods are supported:

Password

Keyboard Interactive

Public/Private Keys

Kerberos tickets

Figure 5.7 — Secure Shell

advanced settings can be

easily configured

Key Exchange configuration

The Key Exchange configuration dialog allows users to select one or multiple key

exchange mechanism and their priority order to be used during the initialization of the

secured connection.


Figure 5.8 — Key Exchange

Dialogue

Remote Command Execution

Users have the ability to configure remote tasks to be executed immediately after the

secured connection has been established with the host. These tasks will be sent

through the Secure Shell remote command facility or after requesting a pseudo-

terminal.


Figure 5.9 — Remote Task

Configuration

Advanced Features

Additional features of Secure Shell include:

Ability to extensively configure the protocol settings

Support of multiple authentication methods for the same connection

Support for Diffie-Hellman Group Exchange

Support for Draft 8 of the GSSAPI Authentication and Key Exchange for the

Secure Shell Protocol (draft-ietf-secsh-gsskeyex-08):

GSSAPI Authenticated Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange

GSSAPI group exchange

gssapi-with-mic user authentication

gssapi-keyex user authentication

Support for Protocol compression

Support for keep-alive

Single sign-on ability through Kerberos authentication


Passphrase and key caching in order to minimize user prompts for passwords

Multiple trace levels

Choice among several strong encryption algorithms including AES

Choice of MAC algorithm

Support for Agent forwarding

Ability to automatically or manually select the X11 port settings

Choice of the Secure FTP listening interface

Support for many encryption methods: AES, BlowFish, 3DES, Cast, Arcfour

Agent forwarding is a very convenient feature to secure authentication to multiple

hosts without requiring the user to enter a password each time he connects to a new

host. Agent forwarding allows an authentication request to be forwarded across a

separate previously established Secure Shell session.

SCP Command Line

Secure Shell includes a file transfer command line utility called scp.

Scp copies files between hosts on a network. It uses the secure shell 2 protocol for

data transfer. Scp will ask for passwords or passphrase if they are needed for

authentication. Any file name may contain a host and user specification to indicate

that the file is to be copied to/from that host. Copies between two remote hosts are

permitted.

The Hummingbird scp command line utility offers its own set of command line

parameters. In order to facilitate migration from another secure shell software, it also

offers a compatibility mode with some of the most popular secure shell clients on the

market. When activated, this compatibility mode changes the command line

parameter to mimic the functions of the chosen secure shell implementation.

Available compatibility modes are:

SSH Tectia Client from SSH Communications Security

F-Secure SSH from F-Secure

Putty

OpenSSH


Figure 5.10 — SCP command

line utility provide

administrators with powerful

options

Monitoring Console

The Hummingbird management and monitoring console is a convenient

administration tool which offers a central place to manage all Secure Shell tunnels.

It allows administrators to create, edit, delete, launch and close tunnels on-the-fly. It

also offers a high level of tracing either at the tunnel level or at the channel level.


Figure 5.11 — Real-time

monitoring of the secure shell

connections

Certificates and Keys Management

The Certificate and Key Manager (CKAM) allows users to organize, manage, create,

import and export their public/private key pairs and their X509 certificates. The

Certificate and Key Manager is fully integrated with the Windows Certificate data

store. All Windows certificates are automatically imported into the Certificate and Key

Manager repository the first time it is used.


Figure 5.12 — The Certificate

and Key Manager offers

complete X509 certificate

management

Users are capable of viewing certificates details in order to know information such as

the issuer, the validity, the version number, etc. The certificate and key manager also

provides an easy-to-use wizard for users to create their own public/private key pairs.

Another wizard allows users to create their own certificate requests or their own self-

signed certificates.

Figure 5.13 — Certificates

can be easily created and

managed

The Certificate and Key Manager supports imports and exports in the following

format:

Import:

Hummingbird HCS Files (.hcs)

PKCS#12 (.p12 and .pfx)


X509 certificates (.cer, .crt, .der and .pem)

Export:

Hummingbird HCS Files (.hcs)

Base-64 encoded X.509 (.cer)

DER encoded binary X.509 (.cer)

Public and private key pairs can also be easily managed with the certificate and key

manager. Users are able to create their own public/private key pair through the key

wizard.

Figure 5.14 — The creation

of Public and Private key

pairs is done through

a wizard

The Key Upload Wizard is a facility which helps users uploading a newly created

public key to a host. This operation used to require administrators to create the key,

export it into a file, launch a file transfer utility and manually copy the file into the

server. With the Key Upload Wizard, administrators can create the key and upload it

automatically to the host.

Once the new key is created within the Hummingbird Security Console, right-clicking

on the key name offers the upload option. Keys are uploaded to the server using the

SFTP protocol. Administrators need to specify the host name, their credentials, the

secure shell server type and the directory in which the key needs to be uploaded.

With the Key Upload Wizard, administrators can create keys and safely transfer them

to the host from a single administrative point with minimum efforts.


Figure 5.15 — The Key

Upload Wizard securely

transfer public keys to the

server

HTTP Tunneling

HostExplorer comes with an integrated HTTP/HTTPS proxy in order to easily secure

external connections without setting up more complex and costly solutions. Once

installed on a server, the HTTP/HTTPS proxy acts as an HTTP gateway between

HostExplorer and the Host. External traffic is transmitted via HTTP or HTTPS (like

any web page traffic) while internal traffic will be transmitted through the regular

network protocol (TN3270, TN5250 or Telnet).


Figure 5.16 —

HTTP/HTTPS tunneling

offers additional security for

external HostExplorer users

The HTTP / HTTPS Proxy bring numerous benefits:

Administrators are always reluctant to open port 23 to their hosts for external

users. By using HTTP / HTTPS Proxy, administrators simply need to ensure their

HTTP / HTTP port is opened which is already done in most cases to serve

regular web pages. No more complex firewall rules.

External users who need to access a host from the Extranet do not require

administrators to implement additional security or a complex and costly VPN.

Support of the HTTPS protocol ensures that all data transmitted from the outside

of the network to the HTTP/HTTPS proxy are encrypted.

Integrating HTTP/HTTPS proxy in HostExplorer simply requires the administrator

to edit the destination host address and add the URL of the proxy server

HTTP/HTTPS proxy is the easiest and simplest secure solution to provide access to

your host for users connecting from the outside of the network without compromising

your security policies.


Part 6: Automation with HostExplorer

Overview

Characteristics QuickKey Events Quick Scripts Hummingbird

Basic

APIs

Overview Key Sequence

Action

Triggers

Macro

commands

in a graphical

user-friendly

editor

Macro language in

a full fledge Basic

environment

DDE,

HLLAPI,

EHLLAPI,

WINHLLAPI,

OLE, COM,

OHIO

Recording/Playback

• • N/A

GUI Editor • • • • N/A

VBA Compatible • •

Target Audience

Beginner • •

recording/playba

ck

•

recording/playback

Intermediate • • • •

Advanced • • • • •

Can Be Mapped To

Keyboard • N/A • • N/A

Toolbar • N/A • • N/A

Mouse • N/A • • N/A

Main Menu • N/A • • N/A

Right-Click Menu • N/A • • N/A

Events • N/A • • N/A


QuickKeys or the Ultimate Keyboard Shortcut Creator

QuickKeys are the easiest and quickest ways of creating simple automation tasks.

QuickKeys do not require users to have any programming knowledge.

A QuickKey is a logical name that designates a series of terminal functions to

execute. In the QuickKey editor, the user picks the function he wants to use and

append them one after another. Functions are grouped in libraries to facilitate the

user’s tasks.

Once the functions have been assigned to the QuickKey, the user simply needs to

give it a name and decide where he’s going to call the QuickKey from. QuickKeys

can be called from Keyboard Shortcuts, Toolbar Icons, Menus, Mouse actions or

through the event manager (see next section).

Managing Events with HostExplorer

Administrators can automate tasks such as the execution of command sequences

and scripts using Quick-Keys, Macros, and QuickScripts. To leverage this task

automation, HostExplorer lets the administrator assign actions to certain system-

initiated or host-initiated events using the Event Manager.

As an example, HostExplorer can be configured so that:

When a session connects to the host, a Quick Script executes and performs a

sequence of actions on the host.

At noon each day, a windows command shell is executed.

HostExplorer handles the following events:

When a connection is made

When a time period elapses

When a connection is terminated

After a period of inactivity

When the cursor enters a field (3270 and 5250 only)

At a specific time of day

When the cursor leaves a field (3270 and 5250 only)

When the host updates the screen

When the cursor enters a position

When the host unlocks the keyboard

When the cursor leaves a position


When a file transfer has finished (3270 only)

When a string is received from the host (3270 and 5250 only)


events manager allows

administrators to setup

conditional actions that will

execute automatically

QuickScripts or Macro Made Easy

QuickScripts are designed to be used by people who have no programming

knowledge. QuickScripts can be created in two ways: either by recording and playing

back the QuickScript or by editing a QuickScript in the QuickScript editor.

The QuickScript editor offers a graphical user interface to facilitate the macro creation

process. Functions such as ―Connect,‖ ―Wait for string‖ or ―Send key‖ are available on

a toolbar located at the top of the QuickScript editor. When selected, the functions

prompt the user for parameters that might be required to perform the desired action.

Programming structures such as ―If‖ statements or sub-procedures are also available

in the QuickScript editor.


Figure 6.3 — QuickScripts

offer a powerful macro

environment for non-

programming users

QuickScripts are available for both HostExplorer sessions and Hummingbird FTP.

They can be stored in the Hummingbird Neighborhood in order to be easily launched

by the user.

Hummingbird Basic: the Ultimate HostExplorer Programming Tool

Hummingbird Basic is the Basic editor that comes with HostExplorer. It allows users

to create advanced macros through a VBA compatible programming language.



Basic is a powerful

programming environment for

creating advanced OLE and

COM macros with

HostExplorer

Users have the choice to both record and playback a new Hummingbird Basic macro,

or to create a new one in the Hummingbird Basic Editor. Macros can be compiled and

debugged. The Hummingbird Basic language contains all the standard Basic

commands as well as OLE automation capabilities or ODBC functions.

Once a script has been recorded, Hummingbird Basic automatically generates the

source code which can be used in other basic-like programming studios like Microsoft

Visual Basic.

Communicating with HostExplorer

HostExplorer offers several APIs (Application Programming Interface) that enable

programmers to interface their code with HostExplorer functions.

HostExplorer offers the ability to use the following APIs or communication models:

HLLAPI, WINHLLAPI, EHLLAPI

OHIO

DDE

OLE

COM


HLLAPI, WINHLLAPI, EHLLAPI

HostExplorer supports the multiple HLLAPI (High Level Language Application

Programming Interface) dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) for complete compatibility with

existing HLLAPI based applications. These interfaces allow other Windows programs

to communicate and control the 3270 and 5250 emulators and partially control the

Telnet emulator. HostExplorer offers full compatibility with Attachmate, IBM, WRQ

and NetManage HLLAPI, thus eliminating the need for programmers to change a

single line of code in their HLLAPI application when migrating to HostExplorer.

OHIO

OHIO (Open Host Interface Objects) is a standardized programming interface to the

host data. OHIO provides a common access method to data when it arrives at the

client and divides the data into logical objects. The HostExplorer object Ohio is a

base interface for eight Ohio interfaces, which use a specific inheritance hierarchy.

Ohio is used to create a screen that lets you communicate with, and connect

to or disconnect from, the host. Sample files of Ohio are available in the HostExplorer

SDK.

DDE

Although DDE is not an API per se, it does provide a way for Windows applications to

interact with HostExplorer. Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) allows information to be

shared or communicated between programs. DDE is inter-process communication

(IPC) that uses shared memory as a common exchange area and provides

applications with a protocol or set of commands and message formats. DDE uses a

client/server model in which the application requesting data is considered the client

and the application providing data is considered the server.

OLE

Abbreviation of Object Linking and Embedding, OLE is a compound document

standard developed by Microsoft. It enables programmers to create objects with one

application and then link or embed them in a second application. Embedded objects

retain their original format and links to the application that created them. The OLE

Automation library of HostExplorer enables programmers to use their own

development studio and language and create HostExplorer instances, provided that

the language they use supports OLE automation. OLE automation is the de facto

object call method used within Hummingbird Basic Scripts.


COM

Component Object Model (COM) is Microsoft’s framework for developing and

supporting program component objects. It is aimed at providing a framework for the

interoperation of distributed objects. Whereas Microsoft’s Object Linking and

Embedding provides services for the compound document, COM provides the

underlying services of interface negotiation, life cycle management (determining

when an object can be removed from a system), licensing, and event services

(putting one object into service as the result of an event that has happened to

another object). COM includes COM+, Distributed Component Object Model

(DCOM), and ActiveX interfaces and programming tools.

HostExplorer is 100% based on the Microsoft COM architecture. In order to enable

programmers to create powerful windows application that integrates Host data with

other types of information. HostExplorer ships with a detailed programming guide as

well as a SDK (Software Development Kit) which contains samples of COM

applications with their source code.

Below is a sample application created with HostExplorer SDK and Microsoft Visual

Basic. This application enables the user to run a search for the name of a person.

When pressing the Run Script button, the application uses HostExplorer COM

interface to connect to a Mainframe, navigate among the different screens and return

the searched information in the Visual Basic interface.

Figure 6.5 — A Visual Basic

.Net application that uses

HostExplorer COM objects


Part 7: Web-to-Host

Fundamentals

Hummingbird Deployment Wizard is a web deployment tool included within

HostExplorer. Hummingbird Deployment Wizard enables HostExplorer to be

deployed as a full-featured browser-based web-to-host ActiveX solution.

Hummingbird Deployment Wizard offers reduced cost of ownership, centralized

deployment and management, and exceptional ease of access to enterprise hosts,

including IBM mainframe, AS/400, Linux, and UNIX systems.

Hummingbird Deployment Wizard is an administrative tool that benefits

administrators in two ways:

Deploying and maintaining different versions of software increases administrative

overhead. With HDW, only the web server needs to be updated, ensuring users

automatically get the latest version of the software with zero-effort.

Many corporations are looking to acquire thin products (intranet integrated,

browser based, no deployment...) but the actual thin product offering cannot fulfill

their technological need. HDW enables people to benefit from using a FAT

product in a THIN environment. That means that people get the advantages of

both a FAT solution and a THIN solution.

Easy on Administrators

By using Hummingbird Deployment Wizard, an administrator can package each

HostExplorer component and user profile. Once the administrator has finished

running the wizard, a set of files are ready to be installed on a web server.

Fit with any Architecture

Hummingbird Deployment Wizard files can be used on any web server including

Mainframe, AS/400, UNIX, Macintosh and Windows Web Server.

User-Friendly

Users only need to browse to the web server. At that point, Internet Explorer or

Netscape downloads all the necessary components and profiles and install them on

the user’s PC. The user is connected in seconds.


Always Available Even Without the Web Server

Hummingbird Deployment Wizard web profiles can be saved as local shortcuts on

the desktop or in the Start Menu. If the web server becomes unavailable, then the

web-deployed profile will be launched locally, fully utilizing the components that were

downloaded during a previous connection.

Exact Same Features and Power as HostExplorer

Every feature of HostExplorer can be deployed through Hummingbird Deployment

Wizard including macros, printing, AS/400 data transfer, Security (SSL, Kerberos and

Secure Shell) and APIs.

Similarly to HostExplorer, Hummingbird FTP can also be deployed to a browser from

a web server thanks to the Hummingbird Deployment Wizard. This leading-edge

technology provides a central place and method for deployment and administration.

Hummingbird Deployment Wizard saves hours to administrators and allows them to

provide faster deployment turnaround than traditional methods.

w w w . h u m m i n g b i r d . c o m 1 0 0

Figure 7.1 —

Hummingbird

Deployment

Wizard working

principles

Enhanced Web-to-Host User Experience

Download Mechanisms

Connecting to a host simply requires the user to click on the URL the administrator

provides. On the first connection to the web server, the user is prompted to accept

the Hummingbird certificate, which assesses the integrity of the components that will


be downloaded to the browser. This certificate prompt will only appear on the first

connection to the web server.

After the certificate has been accepted, Hummingbird Deployment Wizard will

download the first set of components to the browser. This initial download usually

takes less than 5 seconds on a regular 10 Mb Ethernet network. The size of the initial

download depends on the type of host the administrator has published on the web

server (Mainframe, AS/400 or VT). This download will usually be no more than 2 Mb.

In order to prevent huge simultaneous downloads, Hummingbird Deployment Wizard

uses a technology called ―Feature-on-Demand.‖ With ―Feature-on-Demand‖ enabled,

Hummingbird Deployment Wizard will only download the minimum set of components

required to establish a connection to the host. All other features of the solution are

packaged separately in small files that are only downloaded when the user invokes a

specific function for the first time.

For instance, the help files will never be downloaded on the user’s PC unless the

user goes into the Help menu. Due to the small size of each file (between 50k and

300 k each) the download happens in a matter of seconds.

Figure 7.2 — Deployment of

HostExplorer through Internet

Explorer 6


Seamless Behavior as a Thick Client

One of the biggest advantages of Hummingbird Deployment Wizard is that the user

will not perceive any difference between a standard desktop-based emulator and the

web-to-host terminal deployed through Hummingbird Deployment Wizard.

As a matter of fact, all the features in the traditional desktop-based emulator are

available in the web-to-host ActiveX client: the multiple automation tools (QuickKeys,

QuickScripts, Hummingbird Basic, and HLLAPI), file transfer, printing, keyboard

mapper, profile definition, color mapper, layouts, Track Menu, HotSpots, Event

Manager, Toolbar, Mouse actions and more.

Figure 7.3 — There is no

difference in features or

power between a regular

HostExplorer installation or a

browser-based web-deployed

HostExplorer

Caching Mechanisms and Failover

In order to minimize network load and improve the client startup time, Hummingbird

Deployment Wizard will automatically cache any downloaded component locally on

the PC. Caching occurs systematically for binaries (programs) and settings (user

preferences). By default, binaries are stored into ―Program Files‖ and settings in the

users Windows Profile. When creating the deployment project, the administrator has

the ability to specify different paths for both binary and profile caching.

With most web-to-host software, a critical failure on the web server often results in

the software being inaccessible to thousands of users. Hummingbird Deployment


Wizard offers protection against this scenario by providing the ability to create

―intelligent‖ shortcuts to the URL on the Web server. When launched, the shortcuts

first detect if the web server is available. If it available the launching and connection

procedures take place as usual, with the download engine checking to see if there is

a new version available on the web server, downloading it if there is. However, if the

web server is not available when the user tries to launch a connection, Hummingbird

Deployment Wizard will utilize all the components that were downloaded during

previous sessions and will still connect the user to the host.

Figure 7.4 — Web-Deployed

session can be launched from

the browser but opened in

their own stand-alone window

frame

User Rights and Security

In order to work in web-to-host mode through a browser HostExplorer does not

require the user to have any particular access rights on the machine.

On Windows NT, both Users and Administrators can install and use COM controls

through their browser. On Windows 2000 and XP, Microsoft has introduced an

additional user group in between users and administrators: the power user group.

Administrators and Power Users are capable of using and installing COM control,

with their standard rights.

Hummingbird Deployment Wizard includes a mechanism to allow users with low

privileges to perform the deployment without having to change their rights. Switching

to this mechanism is performed automatically if the limited privilege mode is detected.

This mechanism fully respects the Microsoft Windows security mode.


When it comes to COM security, collective mind share tends to perceive COM as a

huge security breach in their user desktop environment. A signed COM applet has no

more potential for data destruction than a signed Java applet that has been granted

the rights to read and write on the disk (which is the case of most java web-to-host

applets out there).

COM components and Java components tend to provide the same level of security

when deployed into a carefully controlled corporate environment. None of them

provide security grade security but they can be controlled in such a way that potential

disasters are averted.

In the last years, Microsoft and 3rd party browser developers have put the emphasis

on providing tools to help administrator control their browser environment. These

tools such as the Internet Explorer ―Security Zones,‖ trusted sites, code digital

certificates… are all compatible with HostExplorer.

Advanced Administrative Settings

As the name suggests, Hummingbird Deployment Wizard consists of a wizard that

helps administrators choose the different options available for the deployment of the

web-to-host solution.

Creating a New Project

The first Wizard screen enables the administrator to create a new project or edit an

existing one.

A project consists within a set of parameters that define how HostExplorer is going to

be deployed on the user’s browser through the web server.

Figure 7.5 — Creating a new

deployment project with

Hummingbird Deployment

Wizard


When a project is completed, Hummingbird Deployment Wizard generates a set of

HTML files that can later be uploaded on a web server.

The project file typically corresponds to a host profile that the administrator wants to

publish on the web server.

The project types are comprised of:

Deployment Wizard: this project type is typically chosen to deploy a terminal,

FTP client or a printer session.

Index Page Wizard: this project type will allow the administrator to specify

several existing deployment projects. It automatically generates an HTML index

page out of all these projects.

Projects Update Wizard: this project type allow administrators to quickly rebuild

multiple projects at once. This feature is particularly useful in the case the

administrator has change a file linked to several projects or in the case he has

applied a patch to his administrative installation.

Selecting a Host Profile

Once a project name is defined, Hummingbird Deployment Wizard asks the

administrator to select the host profile that will be deployed through the web.

The wizard offers the ability to web-deploy the following types of profiles:

3270 Terminal

5250 Terminal

VT Terminal

Secure Shell

Terminal

3287 Printer

3812 Printer

5250 Data Explorer

FTP Client


Figure 7.6 — Profile and

language chooser

The Deployment Wizard also allows administrators to choose the language in which

the web-to-host terminal will be available. Administrators can select one or several

languages among those available, specify a default language and even allow users

to change the language through a shortcut on the desktop.

Specifying Files and Browser Integration Mode

The next step in Hummingbird Deployment Wizard consists in selecting additional

HostExplorer files to deploy and specifying the browser integration mode. Once the

administrator has selected a profile, Hummingbird Deployment Wizard automatically


reads that profile and selects the keyboard, color map and translation table specified

in the profile.

Figure 7.7 — Selecting

additional files to be deployed

Hummingbird Deployment Wizard lets the administrator specify additional files

such as colors schemes, file transfer schemes, file transfer templates, hotspots

schemes, keyboard mappings, toolbars, language files, macro command or

Security… All these files will deploy with HostExplorer.

Hummingbird Deployment Wizard offers 3 modes of browser integration:

Active Document: the terminal runs within the browser window and occupies

the entire area. Menus and toolbars are added to the browser environment.

ActiveX Control: the terminal runs within the browser windows in an area

defined by the administrator.

HostExplorer Window: after the components have been downloaded the

browser window is automatically closed and the terminal runs inside its own

window.


Deploying 3rd Party Files and Applications with Hummingbird

Deployment Wizard

In addition to Hummingbird Deployment Wizard being capable of deploying a full-

featured web-to-host terminal via a web server, it is also able to package and

distribute additional files.

For instance, administrators could choose to:

To deploy additional programs to the user desktop such as a HLLAPI application

To deploy additional files such as documentation about the host and the legacy

applications it contains

To deploy custom command files that will perform different administrative tasks

required to execute before the Hummingbird Deployment Wizard. These tasks

include:

Uninstalling an existing software

Backup of the user’s data

Security policy enforcement

Apply a patch to a 3rd party program

Figure 7.8 —

Administrators can package

3rd party files to be

deployed with HostExplorer


Figure 7.9 — Administrators

have full control over the 3rd

party packages deployment

Locking Down the User Environment

One of the most important features for system administrators is the ability to precisely

control the features and settings that are exposed to their users in order to prevent

unnecessary manipulation that could lead to problems. Almost all system

administrators have been faced with a user calling for help because his terminal does

not display anything, only to figure out that the Background and Foreground color

were the same!


Figure 7.10 — Deployment

Wizard allows the

administrator to restrict the

access to menus or settings

In order to limit the number of user issues, Hummingbird Deployment Wizard

provides total administrative control over features and settings available to the user.

Administrators can choose to gray out or totally disable any menu that appears in the

user interface, thus preventing users from accessing unnecessary dialogs.

Furthermore, each setting of the session profile can be disabled. If a setting is

disabled, it will not even appear in the session options dialog and the user will not get

an opportunity to modify these parameters.

Deploying on any Web Server on any Operating System

One of the major advantages of Hummingbird Deployment Wizard is the ability to

port the generated HTML and package files to any operating system and any server.

Web components generated with Hummingbird Deployment Wizard can be hosted on

any type of web server regardless of the operating system. For instance,

administrators can upload the Hummingbird Deployment Wizard components to the

web server on their Mainframe or AS/400 and give their users a URL that points to

the web server.


The flexibility of Hummingbird Deployment Wizard and its non invasive approach to

Web server management also allows administrators to benefit from the intrinsic

features of each web server, such as user authentication or load balancing.


Deployment Wizard creates

web files that can be used on

any web server on any

operating system

Installation on Demand

The last step in the creation of a Hummingbird Deployment Wizard profile consists in

choosing the different modes of download and installation on the end-user

workstation and browser.

HostExplorer offers a download mode called ―Install on Demand.‖ This mode allows

the wizard to download the minimal set of components needed to open a connection

to the host. Any additional components that might be required by the user (help,

Hummingbird basic, file transfer, QuickScripts…) will only be downloaded when the

client invokes this component for the first time. This mechanism allows the reduction

of network traffic and speeds up the client startup time.

Hummingbird Deployment Wizard automatically copies the binaries and user settings

to a location on the hard drive in order to reuse the components on the next client

startup. By default, Hummingbird Deployment Wizard stores the binaries into

―Program Files‖ and the user settings under his user profiles. However, the


administrator is given the ability to customize those two paths in order to avoid

access rights problems.

Finally, the administrator can also choose to automatically create a shortcut on the

desktop, in the Start Menu or in any other location.

Figure 7.12 — Install-on-

demand technology

guarantees the optimum

deployment of the software

components


Part 8: Migrating to HostExplorer

Migration: a Corporate Project

The software maintenance process has never been more complex and difficult than it

is today. Organizations face intense pressure to rapidly develop new processes and

integrate new technologies and platforms — without sacrificing productivity or

compromising availability.

The Internet is responsible for much of the current heightened state of software

maintenance. An organization’s web-based customer-facing applications are typically

its most important and most complex assets, and subject to the highest elements of

risk such as fraud or failure. Consequently, today’s virtual business environment

demands applications that are rapidly developed, easily integrated and highly

scalable. This demand for faster and more flexible application development and

integration can best be met through the adoption of enterprise standards and the

agility of change.

The Value of TCO

In uncertain times, organizations focus on operating more efficiently by cutting costs,

deferring new investments, and challenging sponsors of new initiatives to show

definitive return on investment. In this environment, the value and importance of Total

Cost of Ownership (TCO) has never been more acute. The financial value of today’s

complex, cross-platform, external-facing applications is compelling indeed.

Organizations have come to realize that TCO elements have a direct impact on their

financial well-being, particularly process efficiencies and the value of system

availability.

TCO should be the metric of the entire migration process — from initial design

through distribution — for greater efficiency and control.

We Manage the Risk of Conversion

Our conversion approach takes the risk out of your hands and puts it into ours where

it belongs. We strive to deliver a solution that will be fine-tuned, maximizing your

existing system investment and ensuring you get the most out of future expenditures.

The project isn’t considered complete until the new solution is running your personnel

are trained, and you have begun to experience significant ROI.

Unlike many vendors, Hummingbird has a commitment to Maximize ROI for

enterprise IT automation. As a result, we make the most feature rich, streamlined,

flexible and powerful software in the industry. Our products provide leading


enterprises with a total business solution that is easy-to-use and delivers maximum

efficiency and return on investment.

Our customers report amazing returns on investment from Hummingbird

technology… usually within weeks! We hear time after time about measurable

results, with minimal conversion risk and hassle. Customers tell us that they have

improved reliability, eliminated errors, and taken manual intervention right out of the

picture. All of these means reduced costs, better productivity and hugely improved

service levels, which is all good for the bottom line. That’s what ROI is all about!

What are the Benefits of HostExplorer for a Migration Project?

Every migration project goes through a number of steps that begin with listing the

project requirements and that end with maintaining the newly deployed solution.

HostExplorer has been conceived from the ground up as an alternative to existing

emulation software. It has benefited from many years of experience in replacing other

terminal emulators and offers significant benefits for organizations undertaking similar

projects.

Step HostExplorer Benefit

1. Listing Requirement Support for a wide range of standards

Unbeatable financial approach

Unmatched features

2. Evaluating Access to Hummingbird resources: professional

services, technical support and R&D

Fast turn-around on requests

3. Recreating Environment Ability to mimic other emulation look & feel: toolbars,

menus, colors, keyboards

Ease of use

Rational User Interface

4. Switching Automatic Macro Conversion

API level compatibility

Profile, Keyboards and Settings Migration

5. Securing Support for SSL, Kerberos and Secure Shell

Ability to lock-down every feature or menu

6. Deploying Windows Installer Support

Integrated Packaging Tool


Web Deployment

Citrix/TSE/SMS support

7. Maintaining 24/7 Technical Support

Quick Patch turn-around

Easy migration to new versions

8. Minimizing Disruption Proven track record

Low risk deployment

Non-invasive migration

Migration at a Glance

Compatibility

Features

Attachmate

Extra

Attachmate

Reflection

NetManage

Rumba

IBM PCom

Colors • • • •

Fonts • • • •

Keyboard • • • •

HotSpots • • • •

File Transfer N/A • N/A N/A

Toollbar • • • •

Menu • • • •

Mouse Actions • • • •

Events N/A • N/A N/A

Right-Click Menu • • • •

Session Properties • • • •

Macro

Automatic

Conversion

• • • •

Similar

Language/Paradigm

• (same) • (same) • (same)


Compatibility

Features

Attachmate

Extra

Attachmate

Reflection

NetManage

Rumba

IBM PCom

Similar Macro

Editor

• (same) • (same)

Similar OLE Library • (same)

HLLAPI

32-bit HLLAPI • • •

16-bit HLLAPI • • •

Migration Wizard

HostExplorer Migration Wizard has been created to reduce the migration overhead.

HostExplorer Migration Wizard is a user-friendly powerful utility that automatically (or

selectively) migrate users settings and macros from other terminal emulation

software to HostExplorer. HostExplorer Migration Wizard can be used the following

way:

Automatic: HostExplorer Migration Wizard will automatically scan the user’s ―My

Documents‖ folder, locate the profiles to migrate, check their dependencies on

additional files and convert

all files to HostExplorer into the default Profile Space.

Custom: this mode allows users to specify which types of profiles and additional

files will be migrated and which Profile Space will these files be migrated to. In

custom mode, the Migration Wizard will also stop at every step of the process to

allow users to modify their choices.

Command-Line: HostExplorer Migration Wizard can also be used as a

command-line tool. The command line mode offers a very effective method for

administrators to perform migration tasks through scripts at the end of the

software installation for instance.

Attachmate Extra! NetManage Rumba IBM PCom

HotSpot Schemes .ehs HotSpot Files .hsp Profiles .ws

Toolbar Files .etb Keyboard Map Files .map Macro Files .mac


Attachmate Extra! NetManage Rumba IBM PCom

Keyboard Map .ekm Macro Files .rmc Keyboard Files .kmp

3270 Color Schemes .e3c 3270 Profiles .wdm Toolbar Files .bar

5250 Color Schemes .e5c 5250 Profiles .wda

VT Color Schemes .edc 5250 Printer Profiles .wpa

Macro Script Files .EBM VT Profiles .wdu

Extra Session Files .edp

Printer Session Doc Files

.epp

FTP Transfer Lists .etl

IND$File Transfer

.eis

Schemes & Lists .eil


Migration Wizard is locating

the files to be migrated


Migration Facilities

The HostExplorer macro conversion tool allows users to convert single macro-

command files or entire directories automatically.

In addition to macro, this tool is capable of converting settings from other software.

With each new version, HostExplorer gains additional conversion capabilities such as

keyboards and profiles from other emulator.

Figure 8.2 — The

HostExplorer macro and

profile converter

HLLAPI Compatibility

Although HLLAPI was originally designed to provide a common standard for 3rd party

applications to communicate with any terminal emulation software, subtle differences

exist in each implementation.

HostExplorer guarantees maximum compatibility with your existing HLLAPI

application even if it’s been customized for a particular emulator.

HostExplorer offers HLLAPI compatibility layers with the most current emulation

software.



allows the administrator to

select a specific HLLAPI

compatibility layer

Look and Feel

HostExplorer includes a powerful theme engine which allows administrators to

quickly switch the emulator look and feel to mimic the user interface of another

terminal emulation software. Themes affect a number of the user interface function

such as menus, colors, keyboards, fonts or toolbars…

HostExplorer comes with pre-packaged themes for Attachmate, NetManage, IBM and

WRQ. Administrators can easily modify existing themes or create new ones and

distribute them to their user base.



Theme Manager


Sales & Support Corporate Head Office

Canada 38 Leek Crescent,

Richmond Hill, L4B 4N8

Phone: 905-762-6400 Fax: 905-762-6407

Toll Free: 1-877-359-4866

www.hummingbird.com [email protected] [email protected]

North America Support 1 800-486-0095

Worldwide Support 1-905-762-6400

www.opentext.com

[email protected]

North America Sales 1-800-499-6544

International Sales +800-4996-5440

If you are a Hummingbird partner or customer, visit www.hummingbird.com or online.opentext.com

for more information about this and other Open Text solutions.

Open Text is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ (OTEX) and the TSX (OTC).

Copyright © 2008 Hummingbird Ltd. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. Hummingbird, the Open Text Connectivity Solutions Group. Printed in Canada. WP-03-00-EN-146.02/08

http://www.hummingbird.com

mailto:[email protected]


http://www.opentext.com


Whitepaper_Technical_Overview_Open_Text_HostExplorer

Documents

Transcript of Whitepaper_Technical_Overview_Open_Text_HostExplorer