Protocol conversion using facilities and utilities

1. A method for protocol conversion, comprising:

receiving, at a first facility, first data in a first protocol from a first node wherein the first facility supports at least one of a first link layer and a first line layer communications protocol;

spawning a utility in response to receiving the first data;

translating, at the utility, the first data into second data in a second protocol; and

communicating, at a second facility, the second data to a second node wherein the second facility supports at least one of a second link layer and a second line layer communications protocol and the utility is operable to translate the first data using the at least one of the first link layer and the first line layer communications protocol into the second data using the at least one of the second link layer and the second line layer communications protocol.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first data includes logon information, and wherein spawning comprises spawning a utility based on the logon information.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the utility comprises a plurality of cascaded utilities.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the utility comprises a plurality of layered utilities each operable to perform a different protocol conversion.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein functions are isolated between the utility and the first facility and the second facility.

6. A protocol converter, comprising:

a first facility operable to run as a first process, to receive first data in a first protocol, and to transmit an indication that the first data is received wherein the first facility supports at least one of a first link layer and a first line layer communications protocol;

a second facility operable to run as a second process wherein the second facility supports at least one of a second link layer and a second line layer communications protocol; and

a session manager operable to spawn a utility in response to receiving the indication from the first facility, the utility operable to fun as a third process and to translate the first data into second data in a second protocol, wherein the first facility is operable to communicate the first data to the utility, and the second facility operable to transmit the second data and the utility is operable to translate the first data using the at least one of the first link layer and the first line layer communications protocol into the second data using the at least one of the second link layer and the second line layer communications protocol.

7. The protocol converter of claim 6 , wherein the utility comprises:

a first utility operable to receive the first data from the first facility and to translate the first data into raw data; and

a second utility operable to receive the raw data from the first utility and to translate the raw data into the second data.

8. The protocol converter of claim 6 , and further comprising:

a communications subsystem operable to manage communications among the processes running on the protocol converter; and

a process table coupled to the communications subsystem, the process table having an entry for each process running on the protocol converter.

9. The protocol converter of claim 8 , wherein each entry in the process table has a process name, a process identification, data, and a semaphore.

10. The protocol converter of claim 6 , wherein the utility is a plurality of cascaded utilities and

each cascaded utility is operable to translate the first data using the at least one of the first link layer and the first line layer communications protocol into the second data using the at least one of the second link layer and the second line layer communications protocol.

11. The protocol converter of claim 6 , wherein the utility, the first facility and the second facility operate as software processes with defined functions and data interfaces that provide a modular software design.

12. The protocol converter of claim 6 , further comprising a set of utilities for providing higher level protocols.

13. A method for communicating between a remote and a host, comprising:

receiving, at a first facility, first data in a first protocol from the remote wherein the first facility supports at least one of a first link layer and a first line layer communications protocol;

translating the first data into second data in a second protocol at a utility spawned in response to receiving the first data;

communicating, at a second facility, the second data to the host wherein the second facility supports at least one of a second link layer and a second line layer communications protocol; and

the utility is operable to translate the first data using the at least one of the first link layer and the first line layer communications protocol into the second data using the at least one of the second link layer and the second line layer communications protocol.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the utility is a plurality of layered utilities, and further comprising spawning the layered utilities in response to receiving the first data.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first data includes logon information, and wherein spawning comprises spawning the layered utilities based on the logon information.

16. A method for communicating between a remote and a host, comprising:

receiving, at a first facility, first data in a first protocol from the remote;

translating the first data into second data in a second protocol at a utility spawned in response to receiving the first data wherein the utility comprises a first utility and a second utility;

transmitting a first message from the first facility to a session manager in response to the first data;

spawning the first utility in response to transmitting the first message;

transmitting a second message from the session manager to the first utility;

transmitting an acknowledgment to the second message from the first utility to the first facility;

communicating, at the second facility, the second data to the host;

spawning the second utility in response to the first message;

transmitting a third message from the session manager to the second utility; and

transmitting an acknowledgment to the third message from the second utility to the first utility.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein a third facility is written in response to a new link layer.