The SSEARCH start option controls whether the subarea network is searched when a network search request is received from the APPN network. The default value (SSEARCH=YES) means that subarea network searching is allowed. In cases where both the APPN network and the subarea network provide connectivity to (or toward) the target resource, use SSEARCH=APPNFRST to force the APPN network to be used whenever possible (for example, to maximize the use of High-Performance Routing). SSEARCH=APPNFRST works like SSEARCH=YES, except that the subarea network is only searched after all APPN searching has been performed.

If APPN searches should only be propagated into the subarea network when the target resource has been defined (as a cross-domain resource) or has been previously found in the subarea network, SSEARCH=CACHE should be specified. To prevent all APPN searches received by this VTAM® from entering the subarea network, use SSEARCH=NO.