Q: Our company wants to change our AS/400 communications lines from manual answer/dial to automatic answer/dial. Can you tell me what we need to do and where I can find more information?

-Jon Van

A: From a hardware standpoint, your modems must have automatic answer/dial capability. From a software standpoint, an automatic answer/dial connection can be accomplished if the modem attached to the AS/400 communication line has an automatic answer feature and if the line description is created with the following parameters: AUTOANS(*YES), SWTCNN(*BOTH or *ANS), and AUTODIAL(*YES).

Keep in mind, however, that if the controller description is created with the INLCNN(*ANS) parameter, the controller cannot make contact by dialing. If the controller description is created with INLCNN(*DIAL), then dialing occurs when an application program opens a file. The INLCNN parameter does not prevent a controller from being contacted by a call, though, if AUTOANS is *YES. Only an automatic answer is possible.

There's more information on automatic answer/dial in the AS/400 Communication Configuration manual (SC41-3401, CD-ROM QBKANB00).

-Kris Neely