Written by a seasoned mainframe programmer, Windows 2000 and Mainframe Integration gives background and an overview for most facets of both Windows 2000 and OS/390. While presenting this information, the book employs sidebars to relate the author's personal experience or give pertinent advice.

Although this book does not provide any details about writing code or using products to integrate the processes of a Windows 2000 system with a mainframe, it does furnish decent high-level descriptions. In the chapter on input/output devices, the book explains how OS/390 channels and Windows 2000 device adapters operate, supplying some history along the way that explains why the systems handle input and output differently.

In general, this volume provides clear text and diagrams, but an all-too-apparent rush during editing makes itself more than evident. Instances of these oversights, mostly careless misspellings, include "..vial leased lines" for "via leased lines" and ASII for ASCII.

While not a code-level how-to, this book provides a broad overview of both OS/390 and Windows 2000 that is useful for understanding both operating systems. --John Keogh

Topics covered: The following topics are covered for both Windows 2000 and OS/390 (except the topics that are inherently Windows 2000 specific): History of the operating systems; overview of the operating systems; system architecture; memory management; multitasking (multiprogramming); i/o device management; file system; how programs are loaded and managed by the OS; job and task management; Windows Scripting Host; catalogs and directories (including, briefly, Windows 2000 Active Directory Service); DNS; printer management; operator control of OS features; security; networking; transaction, database, and message processing; communicating with OS/390 using terminal emulation or an SNA server; SNA subdomains; overview of integrating Windows 2000 and mainframe applications; using Mainframe Express to create a mainframe development environment on a workstation; scalability; and availability. In general, these topics are covered briefly and at a high level.

Book Description
Ninety percent of today's enterprise networks are heterogeneous: many of these consist of Windows NT subsystems that have been built into legacy IBM mainframe environments. Setting up Windows NT not only to coexist, but to function optimally, in these environments presents unique challenges. Network architects and administrators require an explanation of the subject matter using terms and analogies that are familiar and based upon an understanding of their current working background. Additionally, with the approach of Windows 2000, the newest version of NT, manufacturers such as Hitachi, Amdahl, Compaq, and Digital have announced their intention to build mainframe class machines that will run Windows NT. Microsoft has responded by encouraging the development of tools to insure that Windows NT runs effectively on large-scale hardware; Windows 2000 will include such features. Thus the demand for system integration know-how is growing.

Card catalog description
"Windows 2000 and Mainframe Integration provides mainframe architects and developers with the knowledge to share and port their services in Windows NT/2000 environments. A resource for those who must combine Microsoft and mainframe technologies, this book includes comprehensive comparisons of the core features of Windows 2000 and IBM mainframe systems; proven solutions for integrating Windows 2000 with legacy mainframe applications and data; detailed discussion of communication between OS/390 and Windows 2000; expert advice on transaction, database, and message processing; and authoritative information for the mainframe professional who needs to learn Windows 2000 in preparation for migration."--BOOK JACKET. "Whether your primary professional experience has been in a Windows NT or mainframe environment, Windows 2000 and Mainframe Integration is an essential resource to help you better understand and combine these two platforms."--BOOK JACKET.

About the Author
William H. Zack has been the Chairman of the New York Windows NT/2000 User Group for over five years. He has over 30 years of experience developing mainframe batch, transaction processing, Client/Server, and Internet Systems. In his current position, Bill assists clients in the conversion of legacy mainframe transaction and Client/Server systems to Windows NT and Internet Information Server. He has served as a beta tester for numerous versions of Windows NT, including Windows 2000, and has been working with Windows NT systems for over 6 years. He is a Microsoft Certified Professional Product Specialist in Windows NT Installation and Support. Bill is the author of three previous books: Fast Access OS/2 (1990, Brady); The OS/2 2.0 Handbook (1992, Van Nostrand Reinhold); and The OS/2 Handbook second edition (1994, Van Nostrand Reinhold).

Excerpted from Windows 2000 and Mainframe Integration (MTP OTHER) by William H. Zack. Copyright © 1999. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
(From the Introduction) At the time this book is being written there is great debate as to whether Windows NT and it's successor Windows 2000 are enterprise ready in terms of scalability and reliability. Recent technology demonstrations by NCR Compaq and others have show that they can indeed support database in Terabyte sizes with hundreds of transactions per second. This performance, previously thought possible only by mainframes, is achievable today. Nevertheless I do not expect the mainframe to simply go away. Rather, I expect a healthy coexistence between mainframes, Windows 2000 systems, and even other computer systems running other operating systems. This book was written for you if you are a professional with an IBM mainframe background. It will bring you up to speed quickly on Windows 2000 and it's use in an enterprise which includes both mainframes and Windows 2000 systems. It will do this by leveraging your experience working with IBM mainframe hardware and software and relating features of Windows 2000 in terms that are already familiar to you. In this book I will use my personal experience working with OS/390, it's predecessors, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 to help you learn about Windows NT and Windows 2000. The second purpose this book is to act as a sort of "reverse translator" for Windows NT and Windows 2000 people who know nothing about mainframes. This book will help you to understand the mainframe environment and how features in Windows 2000 either do or do not map to features in OS/390. Rather than organizing the material in the book in the order of other books written about Windows 2000 I have chosen to structure it based on the features that OS/390 provides, and the equivalent Windows 2000 features. In those cases where Windows 2000 has no equivalent feature I point out where Windows 2000 is deficient or where third party products can be used with Windows 2000 to achieve the missing functionality. In those cases where Windows 2000 has superior functionality I will point that out as well. I hope that this approach will give you an appreciation for Windows 2000 by itself, as well as Windows 2000 in a mixed environment where it coexists with IBM mainframes. Each chapter in the first part of the book is in two sections. The first section presents a brief review of one feature of OS/390. This is followed by a section on the equivalent Windows 2000 feature, where they overlap, where they differ, and where necessary, how you can achieve the equivalent results with third-party ad-ons. I will also point out where Windows 2000 falls short when held up to OS/390. (And, of course, where OS/390 falls short when compared to Windows 2000!) There is also an ulterior motive in beginning each chapter with material on OS/390. Those of us who have been working with mainframes for 30+ years think that we know everything that there is to know about our working environment. In reality we have been working with it for so long that we take for granted the subset of operating system features that we use most of the time. Furthermore, jobs in the mainframe world are highly specialized. You may be a programmer proficient in COBOL but you have never IPLed a Parallel Sysplex or acted as the "Console Commander" of an OS/390 system. You may work as a printer pool operator and understand how to issue JES2 commands to control the routing of job output to printers, but be totally unfamiliar with the work that a systems programmer does to install new versions of OS/390 and apply fixes to the operating system. This book may even teach you a thing of two about OS/390 that will be useful to know over and above what it teaches you about Windows 2000!

FROM THE PUBLISHER