[comp.dcom.lans] LAN MANAGER Questions.

wvanbeek@tippy.uucp (06/22/89)

Does anyone have any personal experience with Microsoft's LanManager
in the contect of a replacement for Novell.  A little information.

HP is in beta for a product called LanManager/UX which according to them 
is the Unix port of Microsoft's LanManager.  This runs really slick on a
HP 9000/360 (which we already have).  The questions that I have are (1)
what about tDOS client RAM requirements?, (2) services available,
(3) any severe anomolies?

Any immediate responses would be greatly appreciated.

...bill van beek, Krannert Computer Center, Purdue University
   wvanbeek@midas.mgmt.purdue.edu

jbvb@ftp.COM (James Van Bokkelen) (06/23/89)

In article <127000005@tippy>, wvanbeek@tippy.uucp writes:
> 
> Does anyone have any personal experience with Microsoft's LanManager
> in the contect of a replacement for Novell.  A little information.
> ....
> The questions that I have are (1) what about DOS client RAM requirements,
> (2) services available, (3) any severe anomolies?

DOS LAN Manager is a direct descendant of MS/Net, uses the same SMB
protocol, and makes the same class of calls to a NETBIOS of some sort.
The major difference I know of is that it is loaded via the Protocol
Manager defined under the 3Com/Microsoft NDIS spec.  I would expect
that RAM requirements and features would closely resemble those of
MS/Net, but I don't know for sure (we don't use it in-house).  3Com's
3+/Open is an example of an OEM version of it, using an XNS transport
layer.  The major problem with the versions I've seen so far is the
Protocol Manager, which doesn't.  It is supposed to allow more than
one protocol stack (e.g XNS and TCP/IP) to share a single NDIS driver
and a single interface card, but at the moment it only works for one
stack at a time.

-- 
James B. VanBokkelen		26 Princess St., Wakefield, MA  01880
FTP Software Inc.		voice: (617) 246-0900  fax: (617) 246-0901

mherman@alias.UUCP (Michael Herman) (06/26/89)

Apricot VX-NET implementation of LAN Manager has a protocol manager
that is supporting more than one network stack - NETBEUI and a second
stack, bootsrv, for servicing diskless workstations during boot-up.

Microsoft says they can't guarantee that an MS-NET stack will work with
LAN Manager (LAN Manager actually uses SMB-II instead of ordinary SMB)
so I'm not sure that it is fair to say that DOS LAN Manager support is
MS-NET.

dbuerger@cup.portal.com (David J Buerger) (07/03/89)

3Com's implementation of LAN Manager now supports a new transport
stack called Netbios Protocol (NBP).  NBP takes up about 25K, but
you need to add another 43K for the Redirector, plus another 10K
roughly for a couple other items.  NBP is a very efficient performer---
MUCH better than XNS or DLC.  Infoworld will publish a full report
of our performance tests comparing 3+Open with Netware on 7/17/89.

David Buerger

morgan@Jessica.stanford.edu (RL "Bob" Morgan) (07/07/89)

David Buerger writes:

> 3Com's implementation of LAN Manager now supports a new transport
> stack called Netbios Protocol (NBP).  

And I ask:

Does anyone know if a printed specification for this protocol is
available, or even a description of what it does?  My impression is
that it is a non-internet stack; that is, it puts a NetBios-like
transport directly on Ethernet, so that it can only be used between
stations on the same Ethernet.

> NBP is a very efficient performer--- MUCH better than XNS or DLC.

Is "DLC" IBM's version of 802.2 type 2 connection-oriented service, or
something else?  Once again, is there a spec available for it, from
IBM or somewhere else?  What products is it used in?

Thanks,

 - RL "Bob" Morgan
   Networking Systems
   Stanford
   morgan@jessica.stanford.edu

ant@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au (Anthony Murdoch) (05/29/91)

Hi Netters,

Sorry about the cross-posting of this article, but the questions I want to
ask cover the realms of a few news groups and there doesn't appear to be
any general lan newsgroup or and group for MS LAN MANAGER.

We are looking into providing support for a LAN package and I have been
made part of an effort to decide which LAN package would be the best to
support.  We already support DEC's PCSA here to provide PC connectivity
to our VAX's, but we are interested in providing connectivity to our other
machines as well as supporting a true LAN (I don't consider PCSA a true
LAN).

Our first consideration was PC/NFS (again not a true LAN), but I have been
recently given some information on Microsofts LAN Manager and it has my
interest arroused.  But the presentation I have leaves some holes
(questions) that I would like answered before I consider it further.  If
someone out there with LAN manager experience, or possibly even someone
from Microsoft, could answer some of these questions, I would be very
appreciative.

1>  Is it absolutely necessary to have an OS/2 server to run LAN manager ?
    We would prefer to be able to run with our UNIX box (SUN 470) as the
    main server.  This isn't a major point though so if there are a lot of
    other advantages we will run with it :)

2>  Which ethernet cards are supported by LM ?  Or is that, which ethernet
    cards support LM ? :)  Particulary, are any of DEC's ethernet cards
    supported.  We have a large number of DEPCA Turbo ethernet boards (for
    PCSA) and so having support for them would be advantage.

3>  Is there any packages (Comercial/Shareware/Freeware) that provide
    TCP/IP over LAN manager ?

4>  Does LAN manager provide file services to UNIX boxes via NFS or does
    it implement its own protocol ?  I'm not sure which of these would be
    preferable, perhaps you can offer some opinion ?

5>  How does the allocation of resources work ?  Does LM allow any user to
    access any resource on any machine so long as the user has the
    permissions ?  If so, then does this include DOS machines ?  I can see
    it working with an OS/2 machine, but does it allow a DOS machines
    resourses (printers etc) to be accessable by others without
    interupting the user on that DOS machine ?

    Does LM allow access to printers on remote UNIX/VMS machines ?

    The kind of situation that we are looking at initially is where a site
    wants to use our UNIX box for some of its file services, but still be
    able to access its own printers etc.  The site is not technically
    orientated and so they want us to handle ALL server maintenance.  Will
    we be able to keep the server on our site or will there have to be a
    duplicate server (or something) at their site to handle all their
    printers etc ?

6>  How good are the mail facilities ?  Is it possible to send mail
    to/from internet machines ?

7>  Is it possible to connect to the LAN from a terminal ?  How would this
    be set up ?  Is it possible to connect to the LAN through TCP/IP
    (telnet) ?  These are picky questions and not that important :)

8>  What is the availability of sercer/connection software for
	- Sun SPARCservers
	- DEC VMS VAXes
	- IBM VM Mainframes
    Who sells/supports each of these ?

Well, I think that's all the questions I have.  My thanks go in advance to
anyone who is willing to provide me any of the answers I need.

ant

  V   ant                       "I killed Laura Palmer"
 \o/  ant@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au
 -O-  Anthony Murdoch           Prentice Centre
 /0\  Phone (07) 36 54078       University of Qld

rbn@ralph.uucp (Bob Boyd) (05/29/91)

I'm curious.  The original poster on this claimed that PCSA and PC/NFS
aren't "True LAN" implementations.

What are the characteristics of a network client/server/peer architecture
that you believe make it a "True" LAN implementation?

What about these 2 (and others) that you find limiting would have to
be improved on to make them "True"?  What is missing in your opinion?
Which features do they have that others are missing?

One of the most limiting features of most architectures/implementations
that I've been exposed to is the heroic amount of effort required to 
establish "transparent" interoperability with other solutions.
-- 

Bob
rbn@epavax.rtpnc.epa.gov
Unisys/EPA

ccmk@lure.latrobe.edu.au (05/29/91)

In article <1991May29.062359.29481@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au>, ant@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au (Anthony Murdoch) writes:
>...We already support DEC's PCSA here to provide PC connectivity
> to our VAX's, but we are interested in providing connectivity to our other
> machines as well as supporting a true LAN (I don't consider PCSA a true
> LAN).

How do you define a true LAN?  A local area network is just as it says,
and PCSA can be the glue that makes it, just as Novell can, etc.

> 1>  Is it absolutely necessary to have an OS/2 server to run LAN manager ?
>     We would prefer to be able to run with our UNIX box (SUN 470) as the
>     main server.  This isn't a major point though so if there are a lot of
>     other advantages we will run with it :)

Lan Manager/X, i.e. lan manager for Unix, has either been released or
will be soon.  Don't know which platforms are supported.

> 2>  Which ethernet cards are supported by LM ?  Or is that, which ethernet
>     cards support LM ? :)  Particulary, are any of DEC's ethernet cards
>     supported.

Lan Manager is a base from which network programs, such as PCSA, 3+Open,
etc, work from.  The individual software house determines such mundane
issues, but more often than not NDIS drivers are supported, which means
the DEC ethernet boards are okay.

> 3>  Is there any packages (Comercial/Shareware/Freeware) that provide
>     TCP/IP over LAN manager ?

Again, Lan Man doesn't bother with the details, so PCSA works over DECnet,
IBM might use Token Ring, etc.  Obviously, if you use LM/X then
TCP/IP might be the transport.  Or, you can go for the many public domain
(such as NCSA Telnet) or commercial packages (such as FTP's PC/TCP, etc).
Often, when using NDIS, multiple protocols can be supported on s single
workstation.

> 4>  Does LAN manager provide file services to UNIX boxes via NFS or does
>     it implement its own protocol ?  I'm not sure which of these would be
>     preferable, perhaps you can offer some opinion ?

Don't know.  I guess NFS is a different ballgame, and would not be supported
by LM.

> 5>  How does the allocation of resources work ?  Does LM allow any user to
>     access any resource on any machine so long as the user has the
>     permissions ?

Yes, provided the server is OS/2 or Unix, etc.

>  If so, then does this include DOS machines ?  I can see
>     it working with an OS/2 machine, but does it allow a DOS machines
>     resourses (printers etc) to be accessable by others without
>     interupting the user on that DOS machine ?

The limitations of DOS doesn't really allow that sort of resource sharing.

>     Does LM allow access to printers on remote UNIX/VMS machines ?

PathWORKS for DOS uses LM.  LM/X gives the same functionality on Unix.
See also DEC's PathWORKS for Ultrix.

>     The kind of situation that we are looking at initially is where a site
>     wants to use our UNIX box for some of its file services, but still be
>     able to access its own printers etc.  The site is not technically
>     orientated and so they want us to handle ALL server maintenance.  Will
>     we be able to keep the server on our site or will there have to be a
>     duplicate server (or something) at their site to handle all their
>     printers etc ?
> 
> 6>  How good are the mail facilities ?  Is it possible to send mail
>     to/from internet machines ?
> 
> 7>  Is it possible to connect to the LAN from a terminal ?  How would this
>     be set up ?  Is it possible to connect to the LAN through TCP/IP
>     (telnet) ?  These are picky questions and not that important :)

Don't really know about above.

> 8>  What is the availability of sercer/connection software for
> 	- Sun SPARCservers
> 	- DEC VMS VAXes
> 	- IBM VM Mainframes
>     Who sells/supports each of these ?

See my comments above re: LM/X, PathWORKS for VMS, Ultrix, OS/2 and/or DOS.

Dr Mark Kosten,        phone: +61 3 479-2767
Computer Centre,       AARNet (internet): ccmk@lure.latrobe.edu.au
La Trobe University,   X.25 (PSI): 05052347300000::ccmk
Bundoora, 3083
Australia

kozowski@ohsu3b2.ohsu.EDU (Eric Kozowski) (05/29/91)

In article <1991May29.062359.29481@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au> ant@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au (Anthony Murdoch) writes:
>1>  Is it absolutely necessary to have an OS/2 server to run LAN manager ?
>    We would prefer to be able to run with our UNIX box (SUN 470) as the
>    main server.  This isn't a major point though so if there are a lot of
>    other advantages we will run with it :)

No.  LanMan has been ported by several vendors to run on UNIX and DOS as well
as OS/2.
>
>2>  Which ethernet cards are supported by LM ?  Or is that, which ethernet
>    cards support LM ? :)  Particulary, are any of DEC's ethernet cards
>    supported.  We have a large number of DEPCA Turbo ethernet boards (for
>    PCSA) and so having support for them would be advantage.

It depends on what the vendor decided to support.

>
>3>  Is there any packages (Comercial/Shareware/Freeware) that provide
>    TCP/IP over LAN manager ?

Most vendors have some sort of LanMan - TCP gateway available.  TCP/IP
and LanMan can run concurrently over the same network (both CSMA/CD).
>
>4>  Does LAN manager provide file services to UNIX boxes via NFS or does
>    it implement its own protocol ?  I'm not sure which of these would be
>    preferable, perhaps you can offer some opinion ?

LanMan uses ISO/OSI protocols.  Most large network envorionments currently
use TCP/IP but the trend is toward shifting to ISO/OSI (the gov't has
adopted ISO/OSI).
>
>5>  How does the allocation of resources work ?  Does LM allow any user to
>    access any resource on any machine so long as the user has the
>    permissions ?  If so, then does this include DOS machines ?  I can see
>    it working with an OS/2 machine, but does it allow a DOS machines
>    resourses (printers etc) to be accessable by others without
>    interupting the user on that DOS machine ?

Yes. Yes. Sort of.  RE: the last question -- It can be done but is quirky
sometimes.
>
>    Does LM allow access to printers on remote UNIX/VMS machines ?

If the remote machine is part of the network (don't think VMS is supported
by anyone yet, though).
>
>    The kind of situation that we are looking at initially is where a site
>    wants to use our UNIX box for some of its file services, but still be
>    able to access its own printers etc.  The site is not technically
>    orientated and so they want us to handle ALL server maintenance.  Will
>    we be able to keep the server on our site or will there have to be a
>    duplicate server (or something) at their site to handle all their
>    printers etc ?

As far as I know you would net to have some sort of server on their site
for the printers.  I could be wrong though.
>
>6>  How good are the mail facilities ?  Is it possible to send mail
>    to/from internet machines ?

Answer to both questions:  It depends on what the vendor provides for a mail
package.  LanMan doesn't have a standardized mail package that I know of.  At
our site we can mail to the Internet and vice-versa.
>
>7>  Is it possible to connect to the LAN from a terminal ?  How would this
>    be set up ?  Is it possible to connect to the LAN through TCP/IP
>    (telnet) ?  These are picky questions and not that important :)

Not that I know of.  Not really.  It depends on what you mean by "connect to
the LAN".
>
>8>  What is the availability of sercer/connection software for
>	- Sun SPARCservers
>	- DEC VMS VAXes
>	- IBM VM Mainframes
>    Who sells/supports each of these ?

I have'nt heard of anyone porting LanMan to Any of these machines but maybe
someone has.

If you have anymore questions, feel free to drop me some email.


-- 
Eric Kozowski         kozowski@ohsu.edu
Networks & Computing Dept.
Oregon Health Sciences University

mshiels@tmsoft (Michael A. Shiels) (05/31/91)

1>  Is it absolutely necessary to have an OS/2 server to run LAN manager ?
    We would prefer to be able to run with our UNIX box (SUN 470) as the
    main server.  This isn't a major point though so if there are a lot of
    other advantages we will run with it :)
Answer: AT&T/SCO and Microsoft (plus others!) have a working LAN Manager/X
        which is LAN Manager for Unix.  There are other platforms that LAN 
        Manager is being ported too as well.

2>  Which ethernet cards are supported by LM ?  Or is that, which ethernet
    cards support LM ? :)  Particulary, are any of DEC's ethernet cards
    supported.  We have a large number of DEPCA Turbo ethernet boards (for
    PCSA) and so having support for them would be advantage.
Answer: Any card with an NDIS specification driver will work.  This includes
        some of the DEC cards, 3com, Western Digital, Racal ......

3>  Is there any packages (Comercial/Shareware/Freeware) that provide
    TCP/IP over LAN manager ?
Answer: There are TCP/IP packages for OS/2 (which will co-exist with LAN
        Manager) from IBM, Essex, FTP software etc.  Some have a NetBIOS over
        TCP/IP layer which will then allow you to run LAN Manager ontop of
        TCP/IP.

4>  Does LAN manager provide file services to UNIX boxes via NFS or does
    it implement its own protocol ?  I'm not sure which of these would be
    preferable, perhaps you can offer some opinion ?
Answer: You can use LAN Manager/X Client for Unix to access OS/2 servers or
        you could see if there is an NFS server out from any of the  TCP/IP
        vendors.

5>  How does the allocation of resources work ?  Does LM allow any user to
    access any resource on any machine so long as the user has the
    permissions ?  If so, then does this include DOS machines ?  I can see
    it working with an OS/2 machine, but does it allow a DOS machines
    resourses (printers etc) to be accessable by others without
    interupting the user on that DOS machine ?
Answer: DOS machines can only be clients not servers.

    Does LM allow access to printers on remote UNIX/VMS machines ?
Answer: Not right now but there are people working on that.

    The kind of situation that we are looking at initially is where a site
    wants to use our UNIX box for some of its file services, but still be
    able to access its own printers etc.  The site is not technically
    orientated and so they want us to handle ALL server maintenance.  Will
    we be able to keep the server on our site or will there have to be a
    duplicate server (or something) at their site to handle all their
    printers etc ?

6>  How good are the mail facilities ?  Is it possible to send mail
    to/from internet machines ?
Answer: Microsoft Mail has just been announced and includes gateways to SMTP,
        X.400 etc.

7>  Is it possible to connect to the LAN from a terminal ?  How would this
    be set up ?  Is it possible to connect to the LAN through TCP/IP
    (telnet) ?  These are picky questions and not that important :)
Answer: Not really.

8>  What is the availability of sercer/connection software for
	- Sun SPARCservers
	- DEC VMS VAXes
	- IBM VM Mainframes
    Who sells/supports each of these ?

Well, I think that's all the questions I have.  My thanks go in advance to
anyone who is willing to provide me any of the answers I need.

ant

  V   ant                       "I killed Laura Palmer"
 \o/  ant@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au
 -O-  Anthony Murdoch           Prentice Centre
 /0\  Phone (07) 36 54078       University of Qld

ant@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au (Anthony Murdoch) (05/31/91)

rbn@ralph.uucp (Bob Boyd) writes:

>I'm curious.  The original poster on this claimed that PCSA and PC/NFS
>aren't "True LAN" implementations.

>What are the characteristics of a network client/server/peer architecture
>that you believe make it a "True" LAN implementation?

I guess it depends on what you expect out of a LAN.  Things like PCSA and
PCNFS are designed to provide connectivity from you PC to some non-PC (ie
mini or above) computer (ie PCNFS to UNIX host/servers and PCSA to VMS
host/servers)

I see a LAN as something that provides PC-PC connectivity, as well as
PC-(big machine) connectivity.  I guess my ideals are approaching a
distributed network (everyone can access everything).

I have to thank everyone for the answers provided, though one thing
worries me.  Some of the answers have completely different answers.

ant

  V   ant                       "I killed Laura Palmer"
 \o/  ant@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au
 -O-  Anthony Murdoch           Prentice Centre
 /0\  Phone (07) 36 54078       University of Qld

lowey@f43.n140.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Kevin Lowey) (06/01/91)

 AM> I guess it depends on what you expect out of a LAN.  Things like PCSA and
 AM> PCNFS are designed to provide connectivity from you PC to some non-PC (ie
 AM> mini or above) computer (ie PCNFS to UNIX host/servers and PCSA to VMS
 AM> host/servers)
 AM> 
 AM> I see a LAN as something that provides PC-PC connectivity, as well as
 AM> PC-(big machine) connectivity.  I guess my ideals are approaching a
 AM> distributed network (everyone can access everything).

PCSA provides PC to PC connectivity as well.  For example, you can leave a 
program running on your PC which will allow other programs to copy files
to and from it.  Thats under the MS-DOS version.

I use the OS/2 version.  Pathworks under OS/2 provides full 
interconnectivity.  I can run my PC as a server, a client, or both at the 
same time.  It is a full MS Lan Manager compatible implementation.

However, I see your point.  It would be nice to have something like what is 
in the Macintosh system 7 software.  It allows EVERY machine to be both a 
client and a server for any other machine on the Appletalk network.  That 
support is built right into the operating system.

- Kevin Lowey


--  
Kevin Lowey - via Benden Weyr - FidoNet Node 1:140/22
    Internet: lowey@sask.usask.ca
    Standard Disclaimers Apply...

d9mikael@dtek.chalmers.se (Mikael Wahlgren) (06/01/91)

In article <m4bgf8cq0@tmsoft> mshiels@tmsoft (Michael A. Shiels) writes:

>7>  Is it possible to connect to the LAN from a terminal ?  How would this
>    be set up ?  Is it possible to connect to the LAN through TCP/IP
>    (telnet) ?  These are picky questions and not that important :)
>Answer: Not really.

It is possible to connect to an OS/2 full screen session with a terminal,
by using Os2You (shareware).  The solution is to install Os2You on one 
of the servers/requesters on the LAN, and you would be able to connect
to an OS/2 full screen session via async. line (modem or cable).

It works quite like the dial in unix machine I am running now.

Mikael Wahlgren      d9mikael@dtek.chalmers.se

d9mikael@dtek.chalmers.se (Mikael Wahlgren) (06/02/91)

In article <m4bgf8cq0@tmsoft> mshiels@tmsoft (Michael A. Shiels) writes:

>7>  Is it possible to connect to the LAN from a terminal ?  How would this
>    be set up ?  Is it possible to connect to the LAN through TCP/IP
>    (telnet) ?  These are picky questions and not that important :)
>Answer: Not really.

It is possible to connect to an OS/2 full screen session, by using the program
Os2You (shareware).  The solution is to install Os2You on a server or requester
and Os2You will let you access an OS/2 full screen session via an asynchronous
terminal via cable or modem.  It works just like the dial in unix machine I
am running now.

Mikael Wahlgren      d9mikael@dtek.chalmers.se

d9mikael@dtek.chalmers.se (Mikael Wahlgren) (06/02/91)

In article <1991Jun1.090049.8256@mathrt0.math.chalmers.se> d9mikael@dtek.chalmers.se (Mikael Wahlgren) writes:

>It is possible to connect to an OS/2 full screen session with a terminal,
>by using Os2You (shareware).  The solution is to install Os2You on one 

Sorry if this showed up repeatedly.  I wasn't aware that the message made it
through, as it certainly didn't look like that when I sent it.

Mikael Wahlgren      d9mikael@dtek.chalmers.se

qseclrb@prism.gatech.EDU (BOB BAGGERMAN) (06/05/91)

In article <1991May29.151027.27342@ohsu.edu>, kozowski@ohsu3b2.ohsu.EDU (Eric Kozowski) writes:
> >    We have a large number of DEPCA Turbo ethernet boards (for
> >    PCSA) and so having support for them would be advantage.
 
> It depends on what the vendor decided to support.

LanMan Client (and Server) 'talk' to the NDIS driver.  NDIS drivers are 
available almost all e-net boards, even the newer DEC ones.
 
> >
> >3>  Is there any packages (Comercial/Shareware/Freeware) that provide
> >    TCP/IP over LAN manager ?
 
> Most vendors have some sort of LanMan - TCP gateway available.  TCP/IP
> and LanMan can run concurrently over the same network (both CSMA/CD).

With NDIS you can run multiple protocols over the same interface.  The setup
I use (which I think works pretty spiffy) is to use Microsofts NetBEUI 
protocol to do LanMan stuff, load and bind the NDIS to Packet driver interface,
and then use packet driver based TCP/IP software (like PC/TCP or CUTCP) to do
TCP/IP kinds of stuff.

> >4>  Does LAN manager provide file services to UNIX boxes via NFS or does
> >    it implement its own protocol ?  I'm not sure which of these would be
> >    preferable, perhaps you can offer some opinion ?
 
> LanMan uses ISO/OSI protocols.

Huh?  Actually the modular nature of LanMan allows you to use any one of a
number of protocols.  The ones I know of are NetBEUI, NBP, XNS, and TCP/IP.
 
> >5>  How does the allocation of resources work ?  Does LM allow any user to
> >    access any resource on any machine so long as the user has the
> >    permissions ?  If so, then does this include DOS machines ?

LanMan resource serving is done from an OS/2 based system.  For now that means
that your server runs OS/2.  There is third party software available to allow
DOS machines to offer disk and printing resources to the rest of the LanMan 
clients.  In the future if and when clients dump DOS and move to OS/2 then
LanMan can start to look more and more like a peer to peer network because
OS/2 workstations can then act as both a client server.  Could be neat!

> (don't think VMS is supported by anyone yet, though).

> >8>  What is the availability of sercer/connection software for
> >	- Sun SPARCservers
> >	- DEC VMS VAXes
> >	- IBM VM Mainframes
> >    Who sells/supports each of these ?
> 
> I have'nt heard of anyone porting LanMan to Any of these machines but maybe
> someone has.

Now the real reason I replied to this article (sorry, I always get carried 
away).  I understand that DEC Pathworks 4.0 is based on LanMan 2.0 code.
I think it is not a full LM 2.0 implementation but it has been implied that
if the TCP/IP transport is chosen for both the VMS side and the PC side then
LanMan 2.0 client can connect to VMS Pathworks 4.0 server.  I have not tried
this but would love to hear from anyone who has.  I like the LanMan product
and think for larger LANs it has some strong features.  It should be 
interesting to see how the market responds to LM 2.0 especially the Unix
ports of LM 2.0 which are now showing up.  I wonder if anything can slow
the Novell juggernaut. 

Bob     rwb@csdvax.gatech.edu
-- 
Bob Baggerman                         !  rwb@csdvax.gatech.edu
Communications Laboratory             !  qseclrb@hydra.gatech.edu
Georgia Tech Research Institute       !  bbaggerm@gtri01.gatech.edu
Atlanta, GA  30332                    !  404-894-3525 or 404-528-7660

jbreeden@netcom.COM (John Breeden) (06/05/91)

In article <30582@hydra.gatech.EDU> qseclrb@prism.gatech.EDU (BOB BAGGERMAN) writes:
>Now the real reason I replied to this article (sorry, I always get carried 
>away).  I understand that DEC Pathworks 4.0 is based on LanMan 2.0 code.
>I think it is not a full LM 2.0 implementation but it has been implied that
>if the TCP/IP transport is chosen for both the VMS side and the PC side then
>LanMan 2.0 client can connect to VMS Pathworks 4.0 server.  I have not tried
>this but would love to hear from anyone who has.  I like the LanMan product
>and think for larger LANs it has some strong features.  It should be 
>interesting to see how the market responds to LM 2.0 especially the Unix
>ports of LM 2.0 which are now showing up.  I wonder if anything can slow
>the Novell juggernaut. 

Close. Acually DEC's Pathworks supports two different servers. The PathWorks
server for VMS is the same server that they used for PCSA (MS Network over
DECNet), so in that respect PathWorks is the same as PCSA when viewed from
services provided from a VMS/VAX box (MS Network over DECNet - resource
security only, no support for mailslots and named pipes (the 'stuff Lan
Man layers on top of SMB).

DEC also sells PathWorks for OS/2. This IS Lan Man 2.0 with DECnet as a 
transport. It also seems to imply that you could take the PathWorks/OS2
DECNet transport driver (decnet.os2?) and run it on an MS Lan Man server
giving you PathWorks via MS Lan Man (which is prob. the same as DEC's
OS/2 PathWorks - ie: they just repackage MS's Lan Man with a DECNet
transport.

The NDIS driver that DEC ships with PathWorks is an NDIS to DLL driver
(dll.dos & dll.os2). DECnet's transport runs on top of the dll driver.
It also means that you can run the OLD PCSA 'stuff on top of this
driver (PCSA over NDIS). The only gotcha you need to watch out for is
dll.dos and dll.os2 make the "optional" ndis "change hardware address"
call - not all NDIS MAC drivers support it at this time.

This was the state of PathWorks as of Networld Boston and comes from the
DEC engineers.
-- 
 John Robert Breeden, 
    jbreeden@netcom.com, apple!netcom!jbreeden, ATTMAIL:!jbreeden
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 "The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose 
  from. If you don't like any of them, you just wait for next year's 
  model."

les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) (06/06/91)

To what extent can various Lan Manager implementations talk to each
other and how can you bridge differing media?  For example, can
an AT&T StarGroup net (1M starlan) be connected to an IBM token
ring net?  What services would be available?

Les Mikesell
  les@chinet.chi.il.us