.net Connectivity to mainframe

Question

Can any one please suggest me the best approach to connect to mainframe from .net.

I have to develop an web application, in which i have to follow NIEM standards for data exchange between two end clients. the interface i have to develop will be on .net. i don't have any knowledge on mainframe, i have come across that there are ODBC connectivity/ MQ series. i'm afraid which approach to follow on as i have less knowledge on the mainframe system. any suggestion would be really helpfully to me.

any article , links or sample code will be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Answer 1

If you need to connect to a DB2 database residing on a mainframe, DB2Connect is the way to go (I think it may be literally the only way to go).

If you need your .Net software to talk to software running on a mainframe, however, your life will be less happy, especially if you know nothing about mainframes and the person responsible for the mainframe software knows nothing about Windows. I've been in this latter situation a few times, and the simplest, most aspirin-free way to deal with it is to set up a file-share location on the mainframe that is accessible both to the mainframe code and to the Windows network, and have both sides exchange data by writing to and reading from files located there (yes, this is a hack, but one which works quite well).

Answer 2

More detail would be good.

• are you talking TCP/IP - which is possible but probably a PITA?

• are you talking direct database (e.g. DB2) interactions (see other answer)?

• are you talking about something more complex such as use of the WebSphere MQ mechanisms (which offer general data connectivity abstractions across multiple platforms/languages)?