New Security Feature in SNA Server 4.0 May Prevent Access to APPC LUs

ID: Q182656

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft SNA Server, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

In some cases, a remote APPC LU that is correctly defined in SNA Server Manager may not be visible to a transaction program (TP) requesting use of the APPC LU. The APPC LU may post Event an 93 in the Windows NT system event log (for example, 5250 emulator), indicating that the local conversation failed to start successfully.

You may observe other symptoms too, such as an application message indicating that the remote LU name specified for the session is invalid or not known to the TP.

CAUSE

The APPC LU access permission has been enabled in SNA Server Manager, but the APPC remote LU has not been explicitly assigned to the user or group.

MORE INFORMATION

With SNA Server version 4.0 and later, it is possible to provide user level security permissions to all LU types defined (for example, 3270, LUA, and APPC). Previous versions of SNA Server did not allow user-level access permissions to be applied to APPC and LUA LUs; only 3270 LUs had this capability.

Users and applications will have the appropriate permissions to use all remote APPC LU resources defined in the SNA Server subdomain by default because the APPC LU security featured is disabled. If an SNA Server administrator enables the APPC LU security feature in SNA Server Manager, then all users will be *denied* access to *all* remote APPC Lus, unless the LUs are explicitly assigned to the user. This behavior is similar to the way that 3270 display LUs have traditionally operated in SNA Server.

An SNA Server administrator can adjust LU security settings for the SNA Server subdomain by using the SNA Server Manager utility and selecting the security tab for the subdomain properties. A list of LU types (3270, LUA, APPC) will be presented, indicating the current security settings. By default, APPC and LUA will be unchecked.

For more details concerning security and rights assignment, please see the online Help information.

The following trace fragment is an LU6.2 message trace that details the message activity between the client TP and SNA Server. An application that fails to access a remote TP because of security permissions will fail with following return qualifier(s):


----------------------------------------------- 07:27:16.0712
081F0001->01020000 OPEN  LU62 REQUEST

---- Header at address 015C4724, 2 elements ----
01240000 1D000000 0000AC58 01003301     <.$.........X..3.>

---- Element at address 01FB2918, start 1, end 80 ----
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 01000000 00000002 4C4F4341     <............LOCA>
4C202020 5448494E 47202020 D8D7C3E2     <L   THING   QPCS>
E4D7D740 00000000 00000000 00000000     <UPP@............>
00000000 00000000 00000000 603C2500     <............`<%.>

---- Element at address 01FBEF90, start 1, end 127 ----
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 00000000 00000000 000000       <............... >
----------------------------------------------- 07:27:17.0363
01020000->081F0001 OPEN  LU62 RSP ERROR
                   Err1:0000 Err2:0004

---- Header  at address 015C4724, 2 elements ----
03240000 1D000000 0004AC58 01003301     <.$.........X..3.>

---- Element at address 01FB2918, start 1, end 80 ----
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 01061300 00000002 4C4F4341     <............LOCA>
           ^^^^
4C202020 5448494E 47202020 51504353     <L   THING   QPCS>
55505020 00000000 00000000 00000000     <UPP ............>
00000000 00000000 00000000 603C2500     <............`<%.>

---- Element at address 01FBEF90, start 1, end 89 ----
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000     <................>
00000000 00060814 00                    <.........       >

The 0613 above suggests a parameter check with a bad remote LU alias specified by the TP. This error message would, in fact, be accurate for this particular problem, because the security credentials under which the TP is running do not have permission to use the LU. So you don't see the TP. To correct this problem, the SNA Server administrator can assign the remote LU to the user, or turn off the APPC LU security in the SNA Server Manager if it is not needed.

For more details on SNA Server tracing, please see the SNA Server Administration guide.

Additional query words:

Keywords : prodsna snaappc snacpic sna5250
Version : WINDOWS:4.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb