Alternative Host Entries

An Alternative Host entry allows you to specify one or more hosts to try if your initial connection fails.

At the Entry type  prompt, enter 6  for ‘Alternative Host’. You will see the following prompts:

1. Enter System Name [q] :

   Each Alternative Host entry must have a unique system name. It must contain at least one character (it cannot be the single letter ?q?) and must not be greater than 49 characters in length.

2. Enter Destination system name to reference or return when done [q] :

   Each destination system entered must be an existing Destination, Q-type or Heartbeat entry in the ROUTE-FILE. For each destination system the following prompt is displayed:

   Enter timeout value (seconds) or return for none [q] :

   The timeout value is the length of time (in seconds) during which connection to the destination system will not be re-attempted once a connection attempt has failed.

   A suitable initial value is 300 seconds (5 minutes).

3. Comment:

   The comment line may be up to 78 characters of alphanumeric text, describing the ROUTE-FILE entry.

4. Finally, the complete entry is displayed, as in the example below.

   System name        : HQ
   Entry type         : Alternative Host
   referenced D system: GWAY1              timeout : 300
   referenced D system: GWAY2              timeout : 300
   Comment            : Alternative Gateways
   commit entry [y,(n),q] :

   • Enter y  to confirm the entry.
   • Enter n  or press RETURN to leave the ROUTE-FILE unchanged.