iFederate

The iFederate architecture consisted of several key components: the iFederate Server, the iFederate Client, and the iFederate Configuration Manager. The iFederate Server resided on the mainframe and acted as the gateway to the mainframe data sources. The iFederate Client was installed on the non-mainframe system and facilitated communication with the server.

The Configuration Manager was a GUI-based tool used for defining data source connections, data mappings, and security settings. Communication between the client and server occurred over TCP/IP. The server utilized native database drivers to access mainframe data sources such as IMS, DB2, sequential files, and VSAM.

The product did not use a standard API like REST or SOAP. Security was managed through user ID/password authentication and integration with RACF for access control. The product did not support encryption of data in transit.

The iFederate Server used the mainframe's underlying storage mechanisms for data access. The primary network requirement was TCP/IP connectivity between the client and server. iFederate is no longer supported; consider IBM InfoSphere DataStage for a similar architecture.