Connect Terminal

Description

Connects to a terminal using the specified emulation type and establishes a new Terminal Session name which can be used in subsequent Terminal actions. Used to begin a transaction with a terminal, this step is always used in conjunction with the other terminal actions such as Get Terminal Text and Send Terminal Text. The terminal actions are used in lieu of terminal emulation software. Using the terminal actions, legacy systems can be Automated Workflow in the background without the use of 3rd party software.

Declaration

<AMCONNECTTERM TYPE="text [options]" SESSION="text" PROMPT="text" EMULATION="text [options]" HOST="text" PORT="text" USERNAME="text" PASSWORD="1/tkzl3CuO7c=" PROMPTTIMEOUT="text" SHOWTERMINALWINDOW="YES" WAITFORPROMPT="YES" PROMPTISRE="YES">

Example

<AMCONNECTTERM EMULATION="ANSI" HOST="Host_Name" />

General Tab Parameters

Connection type: Specifies the type of connection to make. If unsure which to use, check with the administrator of the terminal. The General tab parameters change depending on which connection type you choose.

  • TCP/IP: Connect using TCP/IP .

  • SSH: Connect using a secure socket.

  • COM1

  • COM2

Options, optional default tcp/ip
MARKUP: TYPE="SSH"

Hostname: Specifies the host server to connect to. This can be an IP address (e.g. xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) or a server and domain name (e.g. server.domain.com).

Text, Required
MARKUP: HOST="ftp.networkautomation.com"

Port: Specifies the port that should be used to connect to the TCP/IP or SSH server. Usually this takes place on port 23 for TCP/IP and 22 for SSH, however it is possible to customize this setting on the server.

Number, Optional - Default - 23
MARKUP: PORT="7777"

Username: Specifies the username that should be used when logging on to the SSH server. The Username should be pre-configured at the server level. This parameter is only valid if TYPE= is set to SSH.

Text, Required
MARKUP: USERNAME="Anonymous"

Password: Specifies the password that should be used when logging on to the SSH server. The Username should be pre-configured at the server level. When the step is created using the Designer it is written to the Workflow encrypted .This parameter is only valid if TYPE= is set to SSH.

Text, Required
MARKUP: PASSWORD="password here"

Session name: Specifies the session name to identify this connect request in subsequent terminal steps. This allows several connections to be active simultaneously. If you are only using one connection at a time, do not specify a value other than the default.

Text, Optional - Default "TermSess1"
MARKUP: SESSION="terminalsession2"

Show terminal window: Specifies that a window will be displayed at runtime showing the results of the terminal transaction. This option is normally enabled while debugging the Workflow so that the developer can see what is occurring in the session. The option is normally set to NO for production use so that the transaction occurs in the background and does not interfere with other Workflows.

Yes/No, Optional - Default NO
MARKUP: SHOWTERMINALWINDOW="YES"

Advanced Tab Parameters

Emulation: Specifies the emulation type that should be used.  If you are unsure of the value to use in this parameter, contact the server administrator or developer of the system.

  • TTY  - Use the TTY terminal emulation standard

  • ANSI - Use the ANSI terminal emulation standard (default)

  • VT52 - Use the VT52 terminal emulation standard

  • VT100 - Use the VT100 terminal emulation standard

  • VT220 - Use the VT220 terminal emulation standard

  • VT320 - Use the VT320 terminal emulation standard

Default prompt: Specifies the prompt that is used on the target terminal system. This allows the terminal actions to Wait until a certain prompt appears before moving on to the next step. For example, on some terminal systems the prompt is the text "READY>". By specifying this value here, Automated Workflow will know to wait until that text appears before moving on.

Text [options], Optional - Default "ANSI"
MARKUP: EMULATION="TTY"

 

text, Optional - Default (none)
MARKUP: PROMPT="READY>"

Regular expression: Specifies that the text specified in Default Prompt (PROMPT=) is a regular expression and not literal text. This is useful in cases where the prompt may not always be the same but some portion of it is.

Yes/No, Optional - Default No
MARKUP: PROMPTISRE="YES"

Wait for default prompt: Specifies the password that should be used to authenticate when connecting through the proxy server. When the step is created using the Designer it is written to the Workflow encrypted. This option is only valid when Socks 5 is specified in the Proxy type as it is the only version that supports authentication.

Yes/No, Optional - Default No
MARKUP: WAITFORPROMPT="YES"

See Also

Connect Terminal, Disconnect Terminal, Send Terminal Text, Get Terminal Text, Wait Terminal, Control Terminal