Host Integration Server (HIS) supports Windows integration with mainframe and midrange host applications at various levels.

At the network level, HIS provides an SNA gateway for basic network connectivity, which is used by other HIS components as well as PC-based terminal emulators for connecting to host terminal sessions. HIS also delivers key SNA services such as host printing and emulators for IBM 3270 and 5250 terminals.

HIS can provide security integration by propagating Windows-to-host password changes (and host-to-Windows changes with the addition of third-party software) to ensure that passwords remain synchronized between Windows and the host. HIS also provides a single sign-on service (sometimes called EntSSO) that uses an encrypted database of application user credentials to transparently log Windows users onto hosts.

At the application level, HIS’s Transaction Integrator system and a bridge between the MSMQ and WebSphere MQ (formerly MQSeries) messaging systems enable Windows applications to call and be called from business logic in many host transaction programs. HIS provides APIs but no out-of-the-box tools for “screen scraping”-integrating Windows applications with host applications by simulating an interactive user of the host application’s terminal user interface. For this function, Microsoft recommends products from other software vendors.