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SNA Gateway
The SNA Gateway Access Server facilitates communication between IBM's Systems Network Architecture (SNA) and IP-based networks. It serves as a bridge, enabling legacy mainframe systems and applications to interact seamlessly with modern TCP/IP infrastructures, supporting both TCP and UDP protocols for versatile connectivity..
The SNA Gateway Access Server, operating on port 108, is designed to interconnect IBM's proprietary Systems Network Architecture (SNA) environments with TCP/IP-based networks. This gateway acts as a protocol translator, allowing traditional mainframe systems to communicate over IP networks without the need for significant changes to legacy applications or infrastructures.
Typically, the gateway encapsulates SNA data streams in TCP or UDP packets, enabling SNA traffic to be transmitted across IP-based LANs, WANs, or the internet. This functionality is especially critical in large enterprises with substantial investments in mainframe technologies, where gradual migration or interoperability with modern networked systems is essential.
Support for both TCP and UDP protocols grants flexibility, with TCP ensuring reliable connections for stateful sessions and UDP providing low-latency communication suitable for specific SNA operations. As such, the SNA Gateway Access Server remains an important component in hybrid network environments where mainframes continue to operate alongside distributed systems.