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Summary: Required EDconnect v7.2 and TDClient INI File Upgrade - Reminder

Publication Date: June 12, 2008

Author: William Leith, Acting General Manager, Application, Operations and Delivery Services, Federal Student Aid

Summary: Required EDconnect v7.2 and TDClient INI File Upgrade - Reminder

Posted on 06-12-2008

This is our seventh and final communication to the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) user community in which we strongly urge all EDconnect and TDClient users who have not already completed the applicable upgrade (or upgrades) to do so immediately as outlined in this announcement. Failure to upgrade by June 20, 2008 will result in the inability to send and receive files.

As most of you are aware, Federal Student Aid is in the process of relocating the data center that supports numerous Federal Student Aid systems and Web sites. Due to a change in the IP address that EDconnect and TDClient use to send and receive files, users of previous versions of EDconnect must install or upgrade to EDconnect 7.2, and Mainframe/Midrange users of TDClient/EAClient must install a new initialization (tdclient.ini) file. As explained in a May 28, 2008 Electronic Announcement posted on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site (http://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/052808DataCtrRelocation7.html), failure to upgrade by the time we begin the transition to the new data center—5:00 P.M. (ET) on Friday, June 20, 2008—will result in the inability to send and receive files.

EDconnect Windows Software

EDconnect 7.2 is available on the FSAdownload Web site (http://fsadownload.ed.gov) as a single downloadable file, EDconn720.exe, and in eight separate smaller files that can be downloaded to a central location. See the Installation Guide for EDconnect 7.2, which is also available on the FSAdownload Web site, for detailed installation information.

EDconnect 7.2 can be installed as an upgrade to version 7.0 or version 7.1 but not as an upgrade to earlier versions of EDconnect. Users of EDconnect 6.x or earlier must perform a Local Install for stand-alone installations or a Network Install followed by a Workstation Install for network installations. Users of EDconnect 7.0 or 7.1 can perform a Local Install - Custom for stand-alone installations or a Workstation Install for network installations.

You are required to have Windows 2000 or Windows XP Home or Professional as your workstation operating system in order to run EDconnect 7.2. The U.S. Department of Education has not approved EDconnect 7.2 for use with Microsoft's Windows Vista.

Transaction Delivery (TD) Client and Easy Access (EA) Client Software

The new tdclient.ini file is available in two formats; EBCDIC and ASCII, on the FSAdownload Web site (http://fsadownload.ed.gov). Supported TDClient platforms are MVS/ZOS, HPUX, AIX, OS400 and Sun Solaris. See the SAIG Host Communication Guide, which is also available on the FSAdownload Web site, for detailed installation information.

Please note that the new tdclient.ini file is for mainframe/midrange system users only and not for users of the EDconnect software.

The port that EDconnect and TDClient use for transmissions, port 26581, has not changed. This port needs to be open for outbound transmissions only.

If you have any questions about the information contained in this document, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 (TDD/TTY 800/511-5806), or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.