StarPipes for Windows provides:
a standards-based implementation with high-performance access to DB2 hosts
access to multiple DB2 systems from one StarPipes server
remote management and configuration of StarPipes
installation as a Windows service
advanced tracing services for diagnosing communication failures. StarPipes is especially useful for problem determination of applications that run as a Windows service, such as StarQuest Data Replicator and SQL Server Linked Servers.
log files that detail access, which can be used to monitor performance and produce accounting chargebacks based upon actual usage
support for PEM (Password Expiration Management), which allows users to change their mainframe or AS/400 host password from the desktop, when SNA communication is being used between StarPipes and the host.
support for using database aliases, which can help minimize the affect of administrative changes to databases for client computers that connect to the databases
support for both inbound and outbound SSL (encrypted) communications. This ability is useful for supporting encrypted communications between older DRDA clients or older DB2 hosts that do not support SSL. Even in the case of newer DRDA clients or DB2 hosts that do support SSL, using the SSL functionality of StarPipes avoids the complexity of configuring SSL on the clients and the host, and offloads the CPU intensive task of handling encryption. In addition, a pair of StarPipes servers can be used to create an encrypted tunnel over the Internet to connect remote data centers without configuration changes or updates to the clients or hosts. See SSL Scenarios.
support for centralized licensing of StarSQL and StarSQL for Java client computers