wmah@nro.cs.athabascau.ca (Wayne Mah) (12/05/90)
Does anyone have any experience (good or bad) with 10Base T ethernet concentrators? I am interested in a comparison between CableTron, David Systems, Synoptics, and NetWorth. I am interested in how each fares in regard to reliability (i.e. built in redunancy), network management features, IPX management, connections to other TCP/IP ethernet hosts, and compatibility with the Western Digital 10Base T card (EtherPlus Card). Thanks in advance to all those reply.
phil@shl.com (Phil Trubey) (12/08/90)
Tried to mail a response, didn't get through... >Does anyone have any experience (good or bad) with 10Base T ethernet >concentrators? I am interested in a comparison between CableTron, David >Systems, Synoptics, and NetWorth. > >I am interested in how each fares in regard to reliability (i.e. built in >redunancy), network management features, IPX management, connections to >other TCP/IP ethernet hosts, and compatibility with the Western Digital >10Base T card (EtherPlus Card). > >Thanks in advance to all those reply. We've used both Cabletron and Synoptics 10BaseT concentrators with the WD cards - they work OK. Synoptics and Cabletron stuff interop OK, we have had Cabletron 10BaseT xvrs hooked into our Synoptics hubs and vice versa. The Synoptics and Cabletron hubs we have had have been equally reliable. Synoptics network management is OK - it has a flashy Windows interface (note can only run in Windows 3.0 in real mode, not 386 extended mode), but true to form of Windows programs, the UI manages to be clumsy and inefficient. Major piece of missing functionality is that the concentrator only grabs stats from the concentrator since it does not communicate with the ethernet cards ( no SNMP support). This means that a major piece of diagnostic info is missing. Cabletron network management also has a clumsy Windows interface. It uses SNMP however, so you can see if the card has seen the packets you are sending it ... this only applies if you have Cabletron cards however, since WD cards do not *yet* support SNMP (although they are planning it). Neither network manager has IPX management support (and aren't likely to - different protocol levels) - why would you want to use Novell anyways?? :-). -- Phil Trubey SHL Systemhouse Inc. (Internet: phil@shl.com UUCP: ...!uunet!shl!phil) -- Phil Trubey SHL Systemhouse Inc. (Internet: phil@shl.com UUCP: ...!uunet!shl!phil)
donegan@stanton.UUCP (Steven P. Donegan) (12/09/90)
We have a very large facility that uses WD twisted pair ethernet cards and Synoptics concentrators/hubs. The network functions flawlessly and the net management (proprietary Synoptics) works just great. The facility is a 14 storey building with concentrators on each floor and roughly 1100 ethernet cards (WD networks everything :-) ). I'm a bit biased - I designed most of the building network and used our own product for a lot of it. -- Steven P. Donegan (stanton!donegan) The opinions expressed here are mine Telecommunications Engineer donegan@stanton, stanton!donegan Corporate Telecommunications Services 714-932-6055 voicemail Western Digital Corporation 714-894-2246 uucp - nuucp no word
jbreeden@netcom.UUCP (John Breeden) (12/10/90)
In article <1990Dec08.035741.21006@shl.com> phil@shl.com (Phil Trubey) writes: > >sending it ... this only applies if you have Cabletron cards however, since >WD cards do not *yet* support SNMP (although they are planning it). > Why not just run FTP's or Wollongong's agent on the card? If you use a packet driver or NDIS driver, you don't have to wait for Cabletron to support SNMP on the card of your choice - don't see any advantage to Cabletron unless they are extending the standard mib on the PC card. This works great in my environment (using NetLab's monitor) and it's pc card independent (and vendor independent). -- John Robert Breeden, netcom!jbreeden@apple.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."
dricejb@drilex.UUCP (Craig Jackson drilex1) (12/11/90)
In article <18422@netcom.UUCP> jbreeden@netcom.UUCP (John Breeden) writes: >In article <1990Dec08.035741.21006@shl.com> phil@shl.com (Phil Trubey) writes: >>sending it ... this only applies if you have Cabletron cards however, since >>WD cards do not *yet* support SNMP (although they are planning it). > >Why not just run FTP's or Wollongong's agent on the card? If you use a packet >driver or NDIS driver, you don't have to wait for Cabletron to support SNMP >on the card of your choice - don't see any advantage to Cabletron unless they >are extending the standard mib on the PC card. I recently saw announcements from Cabletron that they now have SNMP agents for WD and 3com cards. The agent for the Cabletron card is a 20-30k TSR. I'm not familiar with the FTP or Wollongong agents--how are they packaged? Cabletron claims that the SNMP agent is independent of other protocol stacks using the card, including TCP/IP. I'm not sure how that could be done. I haven't had the chance to really dive in and figure it out. (Note: I don't know any more info about the Cabletron WD and 3com agents. With their own cards, most of their workstation drivers are packet-driver based. One could assume that their 3com and WD agents are also packet-driver based, but one could easily be wrong.) -- Craig Jackson dricejb@drilex.dri.mgh.com {bbn,axiom,redsox,atexnet,ka3ovk}!drilex!{dricej,dricejb}
barry@brahms.udel.edu (Barry Fausnaugh) (12/11/90)
In article <18378@drilex.UUCP> dricejb@drilex.UUCP (Craig Jackson drilex1) writes: > >Cabletron claims that the SNMP agent is independent of other protocol >stacks using the card, including TCP/IP. I'm not sure how that could >be done. I haven't had the chance to really dive in and figure it out. I believe that the SNMP stuff is built directly into the code that drives the card itself. We have some Cabletron cards here and that is how I remember it being explained to me when we asked about that. -- Barry T. Fausnaugh | Internet: barry@brahms.udel.edu 023 Smith Hall | or: Barry_Fausnauug@taco.acs.udel.edu University of Delaware | Bitnet: FFO02150 at UDELVM Newark, DE 19716 | HELP ME! I've fallen and spilled my beer!!!