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The Cisco WebClient is a two-tier, Web-enabling solution that works in conjunction with the Cisco TN3270 Server software, which resides on the Cisco Channel Interface Processor (CIP) and the Channel Port Adapter (CPA) products. This guide provides information about the WebClient, its features and capabilities, installation procedures, and administrative activities.
This document contains the following information:
The Cisco WebClient is a TN3270E Java applet that is installed locally on the end user's PC (Windows 95/98/NT). This applet provides quick, reliable, "green-screen" access to mainframe applications. Using standard TN3270E client functionality, WebClient enables intranet or Internet access to SNA mainframe applications through the web browser.
The WebClient installs easily on an end user's PC using capabilities that are supplied with the browser. Either Netscape's SmartUpdate or the Microsoft Active SetUp feature can be used to install WebClient. Using the browser's installation capabilities allows administrators to distribute the client software to multiple users from single or multiple corporate Web servers. The user then connects to a URL supplied by the administrator and the WebClient is automatically downloaded and installed on the end user's PC. The user can then access mainframes and applications with a simple click.
The WebClient also provides a mechanism that allows the administrator to preconfigure the client with the IP addresses of the mainframes. As a result, after the installation of the WebClient no middle-tier server is required. Thus, less time is required to manage the software and servers.
Figure 1 illustrates the installation process for the Cisco WebClient.
The steps in this illustration are as follows:
Step 1 The system administrator downloads the WebClient from Cisco Connection Online (CCO) which is available at www.cisco.com.
Step 2 The system administrator installs the WebClient on their corporate Web server using the install programs (InstallShield or scripts). The system administrator can preconfigure the attributes of the WebClient for distribution to end users.
Step 3 The end user points the web browser to the URL of the WebClient installation HTML file on corporate web server. The WebClient uses SmartUpdate or Active Setup to install the applet on the end user's PC.
Step 4 The end user then starts the WebClient by pointing the browser to the local WebClient HTML file or double-clicking on the WebClient icon on the desktop.
WebClient supports the TN3270E protocol and provides standard emulation features, including local screen print, copy and paste, clickpad support, and local user configuration of properties such as graphical keyboard and color remapping.
The WebClient provides:
The Cisco WebClient product is distributed as both an InstallShield program (for PC/NT-based web servers) and an InstallScript (for UNIX-based web Servers.). Before you can distribute the WebClient to users, you must install the WebClient on a web server. Once you install the WebClient on a server, end users can download the applet by pointing their Java-enabled (and capable) browsers to an HTML file on the Web Server.
A web server is required to deliver the Cisco WebClient to the user's PC. The install scripts (and InstallShield) are capable of installing on the following operating systems:
Because of limitations in the automatic installation in Smart Update and Internet Explorer, the WebClient runs on Windows 95/98/NT only. Only users of Windows 95/98/NT are able to use the automated installation caching capabilities. Therefore, the only browsers that work properly are Netscape Navigator 4.04 (with the JDK 1.1 patch) and Internet Explorer 4.01 SP1, or later.
Netscape's release 4.5 of Netscape Communicator supports JDK 1.1. Previous versions do not support JDK 1.1 (including AWT1.1) without using a patch. Support for JDK 1.1 in Netscape Communicator was previously available as a Developer's Preview Release in a special build of Netscape Communicator 4.05 and as a SmartUpdate patch for Netscape Communicator 4.04. Enhanced JDK 1.1 support is integrated into Netscape Communicator 4.06 for Windows 95 and NT release 4.5. Developers can download and install these releases (using either SmartUpdate or the manual install method) over the preview release of JDK 1.1 for Netscape Communicator 4.05 or 4.04. Go to the following URL to get the proper release of Netscape that supports Java 1.1(AWT 1.1):
This site contains the latest Netscape Communicator version and the JDK 1.1 SmartUpdate patches.
The WebClient operates properly (except screen printing) with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01. Internet Explorer 4.01 with JVM 3.1 is required to fix known problems with the Internet Explorer JVM. Go to the following URL to get the proper release of Microsoft JVM 3.1, which fixes the printing problems:
This site contains the latest Microsoft software developer's kit for Java 3.1. The Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.0.1 SP1 4.72.3110.8 operates correctly and fixes the printing problems. The current Internet Explorer 4.0.1 SP1 includes VM for Java 5.0.
Follow the steps outlined below to install and distribute the WebClient applet to the users in your environment. Planning distribution allows you to identify if the client should be preconfigured (such as with mainframe addresses).
There are two steps required for installation and distribution of the WebClient.
1. Download and install the WebClient to a Web server.
2. Download the WebClient applet to the user's workstation.
To install and run the WebClient applet, do the following:
Step 1 Download the Cisco WebClient to your server. The file that you install depends on the operating system of your web server. If you are running Windows 95/98/NT, launch the install.exe file. If you are running a UNIX Web server, launch install.sh. Both are self-extracting files.
Step 2 Copy the appropriate file to your web server.
Step 3 Run the self-extracting file. You are prompted for the location where you would like the Cisco WebClient installed. The WebClient applet and HTML files are installed on your web server in the specified location (see the"Web Server Requirements"section).
If you do not want to install the files directly on your web server, you can run install.exe or install.sh on another machine and then use FTP, or another copying mechanism, to copy all the files to your web server. Be sure to copy all of the files and folders.
For more information about the HTML files placed on the web server, see the "HTML Installed on the Web Server" section.
Step 4 If you want to preconfigure preferences for your users, see the "Distributing Predefined Preferences" section later in this document. This should be done before Step 5.
Step 5 During the installation of the WebClient you are prompted for a license key. If you do not have a key, the clients that are downloaded will start in evaluation mode and will run for 30 days without a key. If you have a key, you will need to place the key in a license keys file in the same directory on your web server as WebClient files. This process is described in the Evaluation License Key section.
The Cisco WebClient looks in this location for the license.key file when it runs. If it does not find the license.key file in this location, the WebClient will operate in evaluation mode for 30 days.
Step 6 Tell your users where of the WebClient install file, index.html, is located.
The install file is an HTML file that contains the SmartUpdate and Active Setup scripts. When you load the install HTML file, SmartUpdate or Active Setup installs the WebClient applet, the HTML help files, the default configuration files, and the startup HTML file on your PC. The start-up HTML file, webclient.html, is used to start the applet.
For details on the user local installation process, see the Installation on the User's Machine section.
Step 7 Point the user's browser to the local startup HTML file or launch the applet from the icon on the desktop to start the applet.
---Navigator, the file is:
---Internet Explorer, the file is:
The user can set a bookmark or Favorites to return to the start-up HTML (webclient.html). When the browser loads the startup HTML, the WebClient applet automatically starts in a new window. Each requested session also runs in a new, separate window.
Step 8 Select Connect to open a connection to the desired host. The user can set any defaults or create new sessions and name the sessions by using the preferences editor. All the defaults and user preferences are stored on the local machine. If the user cancels out of the startup HTML (webclient.html) or exits the browser, the connection to the host is lost and the applet stops running.
The following HTML files are placed on the web server during installation:
 | Caution Be sure to choose a location that does not already include an index.html. Otherwise, you will overwrite the existing file. |
The Cisco WebClient can download a predefined set of preferences to each user's PC. To use this functionality, you must have the Zip or Winzip utility (http://www.winzip.com).
Before distributing the WebClient to your users, you must do the following:
Step 1 Install the WebClient install HTML file on your Web Server, as described in the "Installation and Distribution of the Cisco WebClient" section.
Step 2 Install a copy of the WebClient on your PC.
Step 3 Run the WebClient and configure the preferences. These preferences are distributed to your users with the WebClient.
Step 4 Use Winzip to create a zip file called config.zip (lower case).
Step 5 Get the files and folders from one of the following locations:
---Navigator
---Internet Explorer
Step 6 Add the following files to the .zip archive using the Recursive Folders option (do not use the Save Extra Folder Info option):
Step 7 Copy the config.zip file to the location on your Web server where you installed the WebClient install HTML files.
Step 8 Copy your license.key file to the location on your Web server where you installed the WebClient install HTML files.
Step 9 Instruct your users to start downloading the WebClient by providing them with the URL of the index.html.
This is a one-time only distribution feature that executes immediately after the WebClient finds a valid license.key file on the web server.
| Caution For this reason, this feature will not work for evaluation mode because no key is available on the Web server. |
For more details on preferences, see the Local User Configuration section.
When users point their browsers to the http:// address where the WebClient is installed on the web server, they are presented with HTML file to install the WebClient on their machine. If they are not using one of the correct browsers or if they are not using Windows 95/98/NT, the install will not work properly. See the Users Desktop Machine Requirements section for more information.
The install process for the user's PC uses either Netscape's SmartUpdate or Microsoft's Active Setup. The method used depends on the browser being used to install the WebClient. The index.html determines which browser being used and forwards the user to the ns.html or ie.html as appropriate. These HTML files present the user with a Software License Agreement. The user should read the agreement and then click Install to install the Cisco WebClient.
When the user clicks Install, the WebClient is installed locally on their PC using the appropriate .jar or .cab file. The process also installs a desktop icon to start the WebClient through the default browser and an item in the Start Menu. For this reason, the default browser must be used when installing the WebClient.
The SmartUpdate/ActiveSetup scripts install the following files:
Because the WebClient is written in Java 1.1, the user must grant authority to the applet (when the certificates are presented) to use the system services. If the user denies the certificate, the applet will not function properly.
If the user decides to change browsers, they must reinstall the WebClient software on their PC. If the user's local preferences are deleted or moved, the applet will still run, but the WebClient internally coded default parameters will be used.
If the WebClient is reinstalled on the user's local machine, any user-defined sessions will not be deleted.
There is no deinstall capability at this time. To deinstall the WebClient, delete the WebClient from the user's PC, delete the icon from the desktop, remove the program from the Start Menu and from the following folders:
---Navigator
---Internet Explorer
One of the advantages of using SmartUpdate and Active Setup is their capability to recognize and compare the current version of the client to new versions. This capability provides the user with a mechanism to understand when updates are available from the web server. To update the WebClient when new versions are released, you can use the same install HTML that was used to download the WebClient to the user's PC. To update the WebClient, the user's should do the following:
Step 1 Point their browsers to the WebClient Install HTML (index.html). They are presented with ns.html (if they are using Netscape) or ie.html (if they are using Internet Explorer).
A Version Check applet that is imbedded in the Web Page displays a message indicating whether the versions on the user's PCs are the same or older than the version on the web server.
Step 2 Click Install to get the latest version of the WebClient. The preferences created by the user (or by the administrator) are preserved during the update.
This section describes the capabilities available with the Cisco WebClient.
If Allow 3270E box is checked, the device types that the WebClient will try to negotiated are.
IBM-DYNAMIC device support is built into the WebClient if Allow 3270E is checked in the user configuration preferences. The user can also use the local user configuration preferences to specifically set the Primary and Alternate model types to request from the gateway.
If Allow 3270E is not checked in the user preferences, the following devices will be negotiated:
Model 2 through 5 support is provided and supports the following screen sizes:
The WebClient dynamically switches between these screen sizes as required by the mainframe emulation session.
The user can enter a valid LU Name, Pool Name, or Device Name to establish a connection. The name specified must be TN3270 or 3270E capable.
To use the Trace facility, select Trace from the Help pull-down menu. Trace must be turned on before establishing a connection to the mainframe. The Trace ends when the session ends after disconnecting.
The Trace facility creates a session trace file on the user's PC. The trace file is stored in the default folder (where the WebClient resides) and is called emutrace.txt.
Trace follows one session through the process of connect to disconnect. The emutrace.txt file is overwritten each time the Trace facility is used. If the file is required for multiple connections, it should be copied or renamed before running the trace again.
The user can set up default session connection parameters and define new sessions. Each session can be configured with different settings for that host connection. The user can use the WebClient to access any RFC-compliant TN3270 server. For details on how to change the WebClient session settings, install the client and review the online help provided.
The following items are configurable for each session:
Local configurations are stored in the following folders:
---Navigator
---Internet Explorer
The Help Desk function is useful for assistance during problem diagnosis. The Help Desk window displays information about the current session. To display the Help Desk, select HelpDesk from the Help pull-down menu.
Table 1 describes the fields in the Help Desk window.
| Field | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
Host Name Requested | Host that was requested. | MVS |
Connected to Hose | Actual host to which connection was made. | 199.3.241.22 |
Port Request | Actual port to which connection was made. | Allowed |
TN3270E Status | Disabled or allowed | MVSPU1 |
Logical Unit | Logical Unit to which you are connected. | MCS00029 |
Device Name | Device name to which you are connected. | IBM-3279-2-E |
Device Type | Emulation device type. | 2 (24x80) |
Default Size | Default screen size. | 2 (24x80) |
Alternate Size | Alternate screen size. | 2 (24x80) |
Current Size | Current screen size. | 2 (24x80) |
The WebClient provides Telnet Proxy firewall support. This capability is useful when attempting to connect to a mainframe application that is behind a firewall. The WebClient does not negotiate through the firewall, but instead allows the user to communicate with the firewall (to navigate through it themselves (for example, NVT login).
The Cisco WebClient is provided with the capability to be installed in evaluation mode (as well as in production, when License Keys are available) when the product is purchased.
When the WebClient applet is download and installed, it records the URL from which it was downloaded. Each time the WebClient starts, it checks locally to see if a license key is present. If not, it then checks the directory (URL) from which it was downloaded for a license key file (license.key). If it finds the key remotely, it copies the file to the user's PC. If there is no local key and no remote key, then the evaluation mechanism is in operation for 30 days.
When the WebClient is operating in evaluation mode, a message is displayed each time the user starts the applet. The message states:
1. That this is an evaluation version of the software
2. The number of days left until it no longer operates
In the event that you purchase the WebClient and post the license.key to the web server before the evaluation is over, the key will be found and the dialog will not appear again.
The Cisco WebClient uses the capabilities of the browser to determine which version of the product to download. Because of this, any changes to the default browser on the user's workstation will result in some changes to the applet. First, always determine which browser is set to be the default. To verify which browser is the default, click on any HTML file to see which program loads.
The configuration that determines if Netscape Communicator checks to see if it should be the default browser is located in the prefs.js file for the user. The following information is included in the file.
This information can also be found at:
To make the Netscape Communicator the default browser, enable Communicator to check and see if it is the default browser. When Communicator asks if you would like it to be the default browser, select Yes.
Depending on the options that are set in the Registry, Internet Explorer will either check or ignore whether it is the default browser.
The configuration that determines if Internet Explorer checks to see if it should be the default browser is located in the Registry:
Posted: Tue Sep 21 11:01:04 PDT 1999
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