A DFT connection works with IBM 3270 control units, commonly using coaxial cabling. A connection is limited to five sessions that can reach transfer rates of up to 2.35 megabits per second. DFT connections are becoming less common as organizations move toward LANs and PC workstations; however, this type of connection may be useful if a site has an existing DFT infrastructure.
The five-session limit per connection severely limits SNA Server’s ability to serve your entire enterprise. Because of this limitation, this connection method is not well-suited for any deployment strategy, although it may be useful for testing a centralized model.
Support for DFT connections is limited to adapters supported natively by SNA Server.