stokes%cmc.cdn%ubc.CSNET@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA (Peter Stokes) (01/03/86)
>I would like to rally some support from info-vax readers. I would like >to see TCP/IP from DEC. This would be well integrated with VMS mail >and other system utilities. Yes, I know that there are a few software >groups who sell TCP/IP but I think that DEC would do a better job of >integrating it with VMS. Marty Sasaki Guess what Marty.... According to our local DEC sales rep, DEC is selling TCP/IP software for their VMS Vaxes. How did they do it so fast... they have made a deal with the "Wollogong Group" and are selling their package. I doubt now that DEC will spend any time/money on re-inventing the wheel even though a custom VMS software package would have more features. Incidently, we purchased TCP/IP software for our VMS V4.2 780 from the "Wollogong Group" and are very satisfied with its performance. If anybody would like more info (company address, questions....) please write. Question... Our 780 has two Ethernet software packages installed on it. One is TCP/IP protocol type from the Wollogong group and the other is XNS protocol type from Daisy Systems Inc. We have one Ethernet board in the Vax, the Interlan NI1010A. At any one time only one of the two software packages is running since both cannot have control of the Ethernet hardware simultaneously. The decision as to which package is running is decided at boot time in the systartup.com file. We have not been able to shut down one software package and then start the other. It seems that shutting down either one of the two software packages does not remove it "enough" from the system to allow another Ethernet package to be started and take control of the Ethernet board. The symptons: The ethernet simply does not work. It is of course inconvenient to reboot every time we wish to communicate with the other protocol. Has anyone reading infovax experienced this and has information possibly leading to a solution ??????? Peter Stokes Canadian Microelectronics Corporation Carruthers Hall Queens University Kingston Ontario K7L 3N6 (613) 547-6947
rick@NGP.UTEXAS.EDU (Rick Watson) (01/04/86)
One possible solution would be to use a DEUNA instead of the NI1010A. The DEUNA driver allows sharing by multiple protocols. For instance, we run DECnet and Wollongong TCP/IP on the same board. This solution would depend on there being a DEUNA driver interface for your XNS package, and no overlap in the protocol numbers used. (If XNS uses ARP, there would be a problem.) This would also require that you run the Wollongong shared DEUNA driver (more $ I think), which uses more overhead than the internal driver. There may be other problems, so I would be careful before going out and buying a DEUNA. You could probably run another NI1010A. (I know, more $, etc.) My guess on why switching packages on the fly doesn't work is that there is some problem with who gets the interrupts for the NI1010. Maybe you could figure out how to patch this. Rick Watson University of Texas Computation Center arpa: rick@ngp.UTEXAS.EDU rick@ngp.ARPA uucp: ...seismo!ut-sally!ut-ngp!rick rick@ut-ngp.UUCP bitnet: ccaw001@utadnx phone: 512/471-3241
sasaki@HARVARD.HARVARD.EDU (Marty Sasaki) (01/04/86)
Yes, I know about Wollongong's TCP/IP and that it is being offered by DEC (for lots more money than Wollongong, buy it directly from TWG). The problem is that it is slow and inefficient, especially if one is going to have a single VMS machine act as a gateway for TCP/IP. This is especially true if you consider the DELUA. The DELUA is DEC's smart ethernet board. It has a cpu (68000) and a fair amount of memory. Initial release of this board (and software) will allow it to emulate a DEUNA, but later releases will put a good deal of the network code down in the board. This means that most of the work will be done in the DELUA. From what I could learn, DEC is going to put DECNET (and probably 802.3) down into the DELUA, but not TCP/IP. Does TWG plan on doing this? Marty Sasaki
EC0N@TE.CC.CMU.EDU (Eric R. Crane) (01/04/86)
We have been running TWG's code on a few of our system here at Carnegie-Mellon Univ for sometime. Lou Salkind (I think that is right) at New York University put together a raw-packet interface that allows TWG's code to talk via a QIO interface. This of course cuts down on performance, but you might want to look at it. - Eric R. Crane Carnegie-Mellon Univ Systems Software -------
STEWART_SYS@uta.EDU.UUCP (03/30/87)
Does anyone have any information on TCP/IP products for VMS? I know that The Wollengong Group distributes a product, any one know of other venders and how they can be reached? We're planning to put an implementation on our system and I'd like to do a bit of comparison shopping based on features and cost. Any information would be appreciated. Dan Stewart University of Texas @ Arlington CSNet: STEWART_SYS@UTA.EDU