Client Manager Overview › Client Manager Features

Client Manager Features

The Client Manager is a CA Gen application that resides on the client workstation to provide communications support for distributed processing GUI applications residing on that same client workstation. The overall purpose of the architecture of the Client Manager is to isolate communication configuration from the application design and implementation process. The Client Manager accepts message requests from the clients and forwards them to a target server environment. Server response data is routed back to the client that made the request.

Note: A Client Manager can only be used with GUI DPC applications created with CA Gen and generated targeting the communication environment type of "Gen."

Client Manager includes the following features and capabilities:

• User-configurable

  Modifying the Client Manager configuration can be accomplished in one of two ways:

  • Using the Client Manager GUI interface (the preferred technique)
  • Using an ASCII editor to modify the configuration text files
• Ability to connect directly to the target server execution environment without requiring the optional CA Gen Communications Bridge (Comm. Bridge)
• Supports requests from multiple DPC applications executing on the same workstation with the Client Manager
• Supports concurrent communication sessions to one or more server platforms without requiring you to disconnect and reestablish connections to the desired target server
• Supports concurrent multiple target server communications protocols/API

  See Client and Server Connections in this chapter for a comprehensive list of supported target server protocols.

• Optionally routes client cooperative flow requests using its Directory Services user exit to direct the requests to the appropriate, programmatically determined, target server
• Optionally manages server access security:
  • Saves server connection logon User Id and Password to configuration files, encrypting the saved password.
  • Supports the use of enhanced security data if set by the DPC application Client side security user exit (WRSECTOKEN).
  • Makes use of encrypted enhanced security data if encrypted by the DPC application Client encryption user exit (WRSECENCRYPT).
• Dynamically changes certain aspects of its configuration and the target servers' configurations without requiring you to stop and restart the Client Manager
• Can be configured to automatically connect to a predefined default server upon startup
• Allows support for multi-instance execution through a Client Manager User Exit when operating in a Microsoft Terminal Services environment
• Can write selectable amounts of trace data to the Client Manager log file to assist in problem determination
• Internal gathering and logging of transmission statistics
• Selectable ASCII file browser for viewing Client Manager configuration and log files
• A Client Manager can be installed separate from other CA products. For example, the Client Manager does not require the presence of the CA Gen Toolset to execute.