Re: [Micronet] UC Berkeley mainframe TN3270 emulation going SSL/TLS.

On Feb 5, 2007, at 10:25 AM, Richard Poliak wrote:
> Because of the potential disruption of service to users who logon
> to UC Berkeley’s mainframe, I will be sending this email once a
> week for the next several weeks…. I apologize in advance for the
> additional emails.
>
> To comply with the UC Berkeley Minimum Security Standards for
> Networked Devices, IST–Infrastructure Services is securing the
> method by which connections are made to the campus mainframe. This
> security change affects all personnel who connect to UCB’s IBM
> mainframe using a TN3270 emulator client program.
>
> Please read the article UC Berkeley mainframe TN3270 emulation
> going SSL/TLS referenced on the http://inews.berkeley.edu:7077/
> website.
>
> Rich Poliak

Hi Rich (and magnet & micronet),

We are experiencing a great deal of strangeness related to this
change. Also, various campus help desks seem to be unfamiliar with
the new configuration. Here's what's happening.

We have users who traditionally use...

        VPN + tn3270(noSSL) + lonicera

...to get to OPTRS / CSP.

Yesterday, I set them up to connect without the VPN, by using...

        tn3270(withSSL) + ironwood.

When each of my users connected to ironwood via secure tn3270 -- no
VPN running -- they were presented with CSP as the first menu choice,
and went about their work.

This morning, CSP had disappeared entirely from the ironwood menu
choice.

We sent a couple of rounds of inquiries with screenshots via e-mail
to payhelp; the suggestion from Mina at payhelp was to dial 2-6800
and press #5.

We did that, and left a voicemail. Turns out that this is the ASD
help desk. Bill there was helpful, but has not heard anything at all
about connecting to the mainframe without a VPN. He had questions
for me about where I'd heard about this, when the change was
happening, and so on.

He suggested that I call ironwood folks at 2-4920.

Tyrone at 2-4920 was also very helpful... but similarly is not
familiar with this new way of connecting to the mainframes without
the VPN. He indicated that ironwood could not present a CSP menu
choice... but it sure did yesterday! VERY strange.

Richard, what do you suggest? How do you suggest we get to OPTRS /
CSP? And to whom should we direct questions about the new system?
(The three help desks I've called haven't been told about it.)

Meanwhile, we can still use the VPN and non-SSL tn3270, so I'll
switch my users back. They would, however, love to be able to skip
the VPN login step, and were pretty happy about that yesterday.

Thanks for any help!

Regards,
-Greg Merritt
ITS Systems Unit

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Received on Thu Feb 15 2007 - 12:07:00 PST