[mod.protocols.appletalk] Mods to UDP KFPS for bridges

brad@gcc-milo.UUCP (Brad Parker) (10/13/86)

I know that Bill Croft at Stanford is working on this also, but I couldn't
wait for another release (I was spoiled as a child) and did it myself.

I have mods to the KFPS UDP code to support RTMP, NBP and ZIP and do
not require any modifications to the "masterbridge" code (atis) running
on the vax. Everything is implemented in the bridge and it seems to work
ok. Routing on the appletalk is accomplished via the RTMP tables in the
bridge and should not interfere with the existing ethernet routing code.

This allows me to connect my KFPS to my existing Hayes Interbridge network
and use the laserwrite from the VAX (yea!) as well as bring up several
mac/unix servers.

Intersting to note, I had some small hacks running in the atis code
originally, but they all lacked routing. Placing everything in the
bridge and following apple's specs makes all the bridges happy.

If anyone would like the files/diffs, please mail to me. The only
file which changes is gw.c. I added a file art.c which contains the
routing/maintainance code.

-- 

J Bradford Parker
General Computer (HyperDrive Beach, 3rd Cabana)
harvard!gcc-milo!brad

Good Sex is easier than a good slow roll. ("Left Stick! Right Rudder!...")

croft@SAFE.STANFORD.EDU (Bill Croft) (10/14/86)

The new Stanford code not only supports NBP, ZIP, and RTMP; it has the
following new features:

	An improved scheme for address management of MacIP-family
	programs (telnet, ftp, tftp, etc.)  This scheme eliminates
	the need for private hand taylored 'custom' files on the
	Mac disks and avoids assigning separate IP net or subnet
	numbers for the appletalk cable segments.

	Elimination of the need for a 'masterbridge'.  Instead of
	the gateways having to ask a masterbridge for every new route,
	each gateway carries a full appletalk routing table that
	is updated dynamically amongst all the kboxes in your net.
	A subset of these boxes (typically one or two) are declared
	'core' gateways so that each kbox does not have to exchange
	routes with every other kbox in the net (an N**2 problem).
	
	The kboxes get their initial routing tables (containing the
	location of other kboxes) and other configuration information
	from an 'AppleTalk Administrator' host, running on one (or more)
	UNIX host.  After this time, the kboxes make each other aware
	of other bridges (such as the Hayes) dynamically, as they are
	plugged into AppleTalk segments.
	
	The ATIS code is considerably simplfied so that each appletalk-
	on-ethernet host does not have to carry a private 'masterbridge'
	routing table.  Instead, the ether hosts send their appletalk
	packets to 'ABRIDGE', the nearest kbox.  The ATIS package caches
	the most recently used AppleTalk to ethernet address translation
	so that subsequent packets are sent directly to the applicable
	ether host or kbox.

	A number of other reorganization mods have been applied to
	the gateway code to make it faster and more generalized.

We anticipate releasing this new gateway code via FTP and Kinetics users
group within the month.  Another group on campus will at the same time
release the new C-based version of MacIP.

	--Bill Croft, Stanford