What does SNA mean in GENERAL

SNA stands for System Network Architecture. It is a communications architecture developed by IBM in 1974 that provides services allowing compatible devices from different vendors to work together on the same network. SNA uses physical and logical addressing conventions to define the boundaries of individual networks, as well as providing protocols for message switching between networks.

SNA works by establishing communication links between two entities, such as two computers or a computer and a peripheral device. The link sets up an end-to-end path over which data can flow reliably and securely via synchronous or asynchronous messages. These messages are composed of fields containing various information, such as source and destination address, format type and transport indicator.

SNA supports a wide variety of devices including PCs, terminals, printers, scanners, fax machines, video monitors etc. It also supports popular operating systems such as Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7/8/10, UNIX family systems (Solaris, AIX etc.), Linux etc.

Yes, the SNA protocol is still widely used today in corporate environments where legacy systems are present or upgrades have been slow to take place due to cost constrains or lack of other options available that would provide more than just connectivity but an integrated platform solution.

Some advantages of using the System Network Architecture include its ability to create end-to-end secure connections between two entities; its support for various popular operating systems; its compatibility with different vendors' devices; its reliability; its scalability; its ability to be organized into sessions with multiple dialogue units; and finally its ability to enable both synchronous and asynchronous communication through guaranteed delivery methods.

If your organization does not currently use an SNA backbone you can either upgrade existing hardware and software components so that they are compatible with the System Network Architecture protocol or you can move towards implementing new technologies such as internet protocols (TCP/IP), virtual private networks (VPNs), secure tunneling etc., which could replace the need for an underlying system based on SNA principles.

In theory it is possible to build your own custom implementation of an System Network Architecture (SNA) network depending on your specific requirements but in practice this is not advisable due too many complexities presented by all the various components involved in such a project that need to interact securely while being distrubuted across multiple sites and networks in order to achieve desired results that make up the functionality provided by modern data structures found within enterprise IT architectures worldwide today.