jbvb@vaxeline.COM (James Van Bokkelen) (01/19/91)
In article <2603@excelan.COM>, donp@na.excelan.com (don provan) writes: > ... ODI serves to hide the datalink protocol itself from the network > protocol.... I suppose it is a matter of definitions. As I define things, knowing whether or not ARP is in use on the datalink, knowing the ARP hardware class, knowing the size of the RIF cache (if present) and its flushing algorithm, and knowing the demultiplexing data to specify to receive particular packets constitutes the greater part of the "datalink protocol". I don't have to know the layout of the MAC header, but I do have to have most of the information that goes into it. One item of concern from the user's point of view is that NDIS and ODI both have an intermediate layer, developed by the vendor supporting the spec, between the MAC driver and the protocol stack. Because NDIS's Protocol Manager was only available with LAN Manager, NDIS was severely handicapped in the academic world during the first year that drivers were available. In October 1989 Microsoft was enlightened and released Protocol Manager as freeware. When I first saw ODI, there was no indication that the intermediate layer would be freely available. Is it, or will it be? -- James B. VanBokkelen 26 Princess St., Wakefield, MA 01880 FTP Software Inc. voice: (617) 246-0900 fax: (617) 246-0901