digennar@umbc3.UMBC.EDU (Mr. Jerry DiGennaro) (06/04/90)
A friend of mine wants to put a 4-user Novell file server up running ELS 1. This server is to be on a network with several DEC-stations. So far so good. These DEC-Stations and their network are currently bridged to a larger network using a RETIX bridge. On this larger network are several VAX minis and a few Novell servers running Netware 2.15. Novell claims that ELS 1 does not support bridging and/or internetworking. We interpret that to mean that a PC workstation attached to the ELS 1 server will not be able to "see" or "get to" the VAX or the other servers. Is that correct? It is operationally imperative that these users get to the ELS server, the other servers and the VAXEN. Are there any reasonable work-arounds? One possible solution is 2 network cards in each PC and 2 different sets of network.bat files to connect to each network separately. Another solution is to just have 2 different network.bat files, one network card and 2 connections that are manually changed as needed. Does it matter what side of the bridge this proposed server is on? The suggestion that I like best is to scrap this whole idea and put up a server running 2.15. Have I missed anything? You can send e-mail to jad@loyvax.bitnet or digennar@umbc3.umbc.edu or postto this newsgroup. Thanks for your replies and advice.
JRD@cc.usu.edu (Joe Doupnik) (06/05/90)
NetWare ELS I does not do "Novell Bridging", which means it can't route NetWare packets. Also, the Retix "bridge" is most likely a multiport repeater. Nevertheless, here is the easy way to manage things - Put the users of the ELS 1 system on the same Ethernet wire as the other machines, convert the ELS system to speak Ethernet TYPE 8137 (use ECONFIG.EXE on NET$OS.EXE), convert the PC clients to speak the same TYPE (either use ECONFIG on the NetWare shells or use a Packet Driver). If the Retix MPR has spare ports (8 overall is normal) they form a single logical wire and the new ELS 1 users can attach to the Retix box to see all machines. The key is the logical wire part, TYPE 8137 is nice but secondary. Joe D.