How to transfer file from Mainframe to UNIX

rakesh.nc · Post by **rakesh.nc** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 7:19 am

is it possible using FTP Plug-in Stage.

ArndW · Post by **ArndW** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 7:56 am

Yes, you can use the FTP stage to do this; but you need to make sure that the systems have been configured to talk to each other.

stefanfrost1 · Post by **stefanfrost1** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:08 am

also if your file has compressed values on the mainframe then they might get converted to linebreakers or hex null values on unix and you may not be able to read it as you wish.

Good practice is to first (on the mainframe) convert any special charachters or compressions to normal text and then ftp over to unix.

ArndW · Post by **ArndW** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:22 am

If you do a binary transfer, i.e. with COMP-3 fields in the file, you won't need to do a conversion on the mainframe; but it does make life easier when you have EBCDIC (or ASCII) text only files.

stefanfrost1 · Post by **stefanfrost1** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:35 am

true, however I have had trouble with COMP-3 fields when transfering binary from mainframe to unix using a program called ConnectDirect. After many different trials and errors we decided to "decompress" on the mainframe and send in plain text and got our following programs to function....

ArndW · Post by **ArndW** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:28 am

Stefan - I think the ConnectDirect or mainframe issue is that some files can have compressed spaces which are not interpreted/expanded correctly when doing such transfers. The compressed spaces binary values can sometimes show up in COMP-n fields and thus cause the file to be expanded incorrectly.

rakesh.nc · Post by **rakesh.nc** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 6:28 am

ArndW wrote:Stefan - I think the ConnectDirect or mainframe issue is that some files can have compressed spaces which are not interpreted/expanded correctly when doing such transfers. The compressed spaces binary ...

what are all the connection details are need for transfer the fail from Mainfram to Unix/local environment.

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:55 pm

These will be speific to your site. We can not advise. Consult your network administrator.

stefanfrost1 · Post by **stefanfrost1** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:44 am

Stefan - I think the ConnectDirect or mainframe issue is that some files can have compressed spaces which are not interpreted/expanded correctly when doing such transfers. The compressed spaces binary ...

ArndW! Is there a way to handle (other than fixing the files before sending) what you are describing?

ArndW · Post by **ArndW** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:53 am

Only a few operatings sytems will do this. I recall having seen this on PRIMOS and some mainframe system (it might have been Hitachi, but that is only a guess). This won't be an issue for most systems; if you check your mainframe file system documentation you will find out if it does multiple space compression. If it does, and you have COMP-3 or other binary fields, then you will need to do a binary transfer and then do the EBCDIC->ASCII conversion on the server side.