Communication with CICS servers

You can use these protocols to communicate with CICS® servers:
TCP/IP
TCP/IP is a widely used, robust, suite of protocols, particularly useful in connecting heterogeneous networks.
SNA
The CICS Universal Client uses Advanced Program-to-Program Communication (APPC) to provide SNA LU 6.2 communication. APPC is an implementation of the SNA LU 6.2 protocol that provides device-independent application-to-application communication over LU 6.2 sessions.

The protocols that you can use for the various client/server connections are shown in Table 1. This table lists the protocols that you can use to connect your CICS Universal Client to your CICS server. It also shows whether EPI emulation and ECI are supported for your combination of CICS server and CICS Universal Client operating system. indicates that the protocol or feature is supported; indicates that it is not supported.

Table 1. Protocols and functions supported. If a protocol or feature is supported by the CICS Universal Client only on certain operating systems, the operating systems are listed.
SERVER TCP/IP SNA ECI

EPI
See note

ESI
CICS Transaction Server for z/OS® V3.2 (ECI only)
  • AIX®
  • Linux®
  • Solaris
CICS Transaction Server for z/OS V2.2, V2.3 and V3.1 (ECI only)
  • AIX
  • Linux
  • Solaris
CICS Transaction Server for VSE/ESA™ V1.1.1 (ECI only)
  • AIX
  • Linux
  • Solaris
CICS/VSE® V2.3
  • AIX
  • Linux
  • Solaris
Start of changeTXSeries® V5.1, V6.0 and V6.1End of change Start of change (ECI and EPI only)End of change Start of changeEnd of change Start of changeEnd of change Start of changeEnd of change Start of changeEnd of change
CICS Transaction Server for Windows® V5.0
Start of changeCICS Transaction Server for iSeries™ V5.3End of change Start of change End of change Start of change
  • AIX
  • Linux
  • Solaris
End of change
Start of changeEnd of change Start of changeEnd of change Start of changeEnd of change
Start of changeCICS Transaction Server for i5/OS® V5.4End of change Start of change End of change Start of change
  • AIX
  • Linux
  • Solaris
End of change
Start of changeEnd of change Start of changeEnd of change Start of changeEnd of change
Note: EPI also incorporates CICS 3270 terminal emulation and CICS 3270 client printer support.