[comp.dcom.lans] 3+Open from 3Com - mail question

jonas@lkbpyr.UUCP (Jonas Heyman) (01/17/90)

Hello,

Is there a solution to connect mail with "3+Open 3Com LAN" and UNIX mail.
Any suggestions is welcome.

Sincerely Jonas,

-- 

--
  jonas@lkbpyr.lkb.se 

psrc@pegasus.ATT.COM (Paul S. R. Chisholm) (01/30/90)

< Krasny Oktyabr:  the hunt is on, March 2, 1990 >

In article <410@lkbpyr.UUCP>, jonas@lkbpyr.UUCP (Jonas Heyman) writes:
> Is there a solution to connect mail with "3+Open 3Com LAN" and UNIX mail.

Let's start with a massive disclaimer:  the product I'm about to
recommend is not only sold by my employer, it's written, maintained,
and supported by my group.

AT&T Mail PMX/STARMail is one of the e-mail products AT&T sells for
MS-DOS PCs.  It can tie together PCs with a DOS server running StarLAN,
3 Com, PC Network, and . . . um, at least one other LAN, but I can't
remember which one off hand.  We also sell versions for a Novell
server, or a 3B2 or 6386 UNIX(R) server.

It can also tie LANs together, and tie LANs to the AT&T Mail service
and UNIX-based systems.  The STARMail server can talk over an async
line, using a simple protocol called DDCP.  (Any relation to UUCP is
greatly limited by available memory!  Sorry, it didn't fit.)  We offer
PMX/STARGate, DDCP software for 3B2s and 6386s running UNIX System V;
it's not a separate product, just ask for it when you order
PMX/STARMail.

If your UNIX based system isn't a 3B2 or a 6386 (other 386's are
complicated; send e-mail and I'll explain), PMX/STARMail will still be
able to exchange e-mail with the AT&T Mail service, and the service can
talk to any system that knows UUCP.

To order PMX/STARMail, to register a UNIX-based system with AT&T Mail,
or for more information, please call the AT&T Mail Customer Assistance
Center, 1-800-MAIL-672.  (There's a non-800 number, but I don't have it
handy, sorry.)

> Sincerely Jonas, jonas@lkbpyr.lkb.se 

Paul S. R. Chisholm, AT&T Bell Laboratories
att!pegasus!psrc, psrc@pegasus.att.com, AT&T Mail !psrchisholm
I'm not speaking for the company, I'm just speaking my mind.

les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) (02/07/90)

In article <4442@pegasus.ATT.COM> psrc@pegasus.ATT.COM (Paul S. R. Chisholm) writes:

>AT&T Mail PMX/STARMail is one of the e-mail products AT&T sells for
>MS-DOS PCs.
[...]
>It can also tie LANs together, and tie LANs to the AT&T Mail service
>and UNIX-based systems.

Is there any way to give an RFC822 style address to the STARMAIL mailer?
I'm using a 3B2 server with DOS clients over Starlan and haven't found
any way to give an address that contains anything but a name in the
unix machine's passwd file, or a machine name found in the Systems
file or in the PMX sysmap file to the left of the first "!".  The
new unix /bin/mail that comes with the PMX products can handle some
forms of routing but the PMX mailers won't pass anything to it unless
it looks like a valid uucp address.  Am I missing something?

>The STARMail server can talk over an async
>line, using a simple protocol called DDCP.  (Any relation to UUCP is
>greatly limited by available memory!  Sorry, it didn't fit.)

This is for DOS based servers, of course. The unix servers just hand
off to the enhanced unix /bin/mail.  However, DDCP takes 90K to run -
aren't some of the versions of UUPC smaller than that?  Using a
proprietary protocol means that DOS server users are forced to use
the attmail service unless they have a 3B2 or 386 unix machine to
forward for them.  And then there is ACCESS PLUS, a similar system
for stand-alone PC's that uses Yet-Another-Protocol over dial-up
lines and requires yet another program on the previously mentioned
3B2 or 386 forwarder or you are again forced to use the attmail service.

Actually, I like the programs or I wouldn't bother to complain about
this (and nits like keeping a plain-text copy of your unix password
in a configuration file on the PC or losing your mailbox contents when
the receiving PC's disk is full ). I would just like to see a cleaner
separation between the user interface and the transport with the details
of the linkage documented so users could roll their own connections.

Les Mikesell
  les@chinet.chi.il.us