How to output SpoolFlex files directly to your Windows server

Transcription

1 How to output SpoolFlex files directly to your Windows server This document will quickly cover how to setup your AS/400 or iseries system to communicate with a Windows based file server. Under normal circumstances this process takes only a few minutes, certain conditions like newer Windows server versions, or older iseries OS versions may have issues, if you are unable to get this to work, please contact DRV Tech Windows Server Setup 1. Ensure the Windows server name and domain name are 15 characters or less in length. Share names should also be 12 characters or less. 2. When the AS400 / iseries attempt to communicate with a Windows based server it passes the currently logged in user profile name and password as the login credentials. These values MUST match on both systems to establish a connection. 3. Verify that the user attempting to use QNTC has access to the required Windows shares. AS/400 / iseries Setup 1. Execute the command: WRKLNK /QNTC you should see the following screen.

2 2. Put a 5 next to the QNTC listing and press enter. This will take awhile as the IBM QNTC system will try to validate ANY windows system it sees in its domain, the more systems you have, the longer it will take. If the list comes back blank, your AS400 / iseries is probably in a different Domain than your windows file server. 3. To change your domain on your AS400 / iseries you will need to load up your IBM iseries Navigator. Once launched, open the appropriate system in the list. Then scroll down and expand out Network and then Servers and then TCP/IP, you should see a list of your TCP/IP servers in the right list. Find iseries NetServer and right click on the entry and click on Properties. 4. You should see the following screen below. 5. If your domain is not the same as your Windows server you can click the Next Start button and then change the domain in the Domain name box, press OK, and then OK again on the NetServer Properties screen. You can now close out of Ops Navigator.

3 6 Once this has been changed you will need to restart your NetServer job. Doing this will disconnect anyone who is currently using any network shares on your system so make sure that you should be doing this. Right click on the NetServer job and say Stop, and wait for a few moments while it stops. Once it shows stopped, right click the NetServer job again and say Reset and Start.

4 7. The restart will take a few minutes for the QNTC to browse the network. Execute the command: WRKLNK /QNTC again, put a 5 next to the QNTC option and press enter. This time you should see a list of windows systems on your network like below:

5 8. Move down to the entry for your Windows Server, and put an option 5, and press enter. For this document we ll be using SERVER1. 9. You should now see a listing of shares that your user profile has access to on your Windows server, we re going to use the DRV share from our Windows 2008 server.

6 10. The next step is to use this share within a SpoolFlex command; a quick easy test is to do a Convert from Manage Spooled Files. From the main menu of SpoolFlex key in option 1, and press enter. Find a spool file to test and put a C next to it to copy. For this test we re just going to go straight to pdf so for the output type key in *PDF and press enter. 11. In the above screen, I m going to create a file called QNTCTEST.PDF (extension is automatic, no need to key that in) and I m going to place it on my Windows file server named SERVER1 in a share called DRV 12. Once the conversion finishes, let s find the file and open it. You can do this from either a mapped network drive, or by accessing the share directly through windows. To do this directly you can click on start button, then run, and key in something like below and hit ok.

7 13. You should see a window like below pop up, you can see this is SERVER1, and we re looking in the DRV folder and we can see our new QNTCTEST.PDF file. Summary You can use the QNTC file system on your AS/400 / iseries in both FormFlex and SpoolFlex. You can merge a form, convert it to PDF and place it on a windows file server as easily as you can with SpoolFlex. Once your profiles match, you can use it just as you would use an IFS directory in any of our settings or definitions.

8 Troubleshooting On occasion if you do a 5 on the QNTC folder from a WRKLNK option you might get a blank list, this means that your AS/400 / iseries is in a different domain from your Windows file servers. You can either set it to the same one as mentioned above, or you can create your own link to the server. The downside of not being in the same domain is that if you IPL your system, you will lose this link and have to recreate it manually every time. You can create this link by doing a MKDIR /QNTC/ but substitute your system IP for the one listed here. You can then do a 5 to show the server and then the shares its sharing. If you do a 5 on your server name or IP from within the WRKLNK screen and get a blank (Cannot find object to match specified name.) screen then your username and password on the AS/400 / iseries and Windows server probably don t match. If you do a DSPJOBLOG and hit F10 for more details, and then F18 to go to the bottom. You should see something like an Error exchanging security information for user QPGMR on Network Server SUPPORT1. Message. You can do an F1 for more options, as this usually lists the trouble code and explains the actual problem. Advanced Troubleshooting If you ve tried everything and can t get anything to work, it s possible that you will need to contact IBM directly. Or if you re running Windows 2003 with Active Directory you might need to disable digital signing of SMB blocks. You can find out how at this IBM page: qntcaccess.htm DRV Technical Support ph: support@drvtech.com