[comp.dcom.lans] TCP/IP Socket to X.25 Gateway?

rbr@tdmfed.UUCP (Rick Rump) (05/01/89)

Hello,
We have a customer developing a Unix-based application which must communicate
over X.25 to host applications.  Since there are several different Unix
machines involved in the solution (not all with compatible X.25 programmatic
interfaces) I was wondering if anyone knew of a TCP/IP to X.25 Gateway
product that documented the interface, so that a socket interface on the 
Unix system could access X.25 packets?  This, it seems to me, would keep the
customer's development interface standard (TCP/IP sockets) and let an
external box handle the X.25 interface. (Ethernet TCP/IP to X.25)

Is this feasible?  Anyone know of a product that would meet this requirement?
Please email responses.
Thanks,

Rick Rump  (tdmfed!rbr)                      It's Non-Stop Fun Here!
Tandem Computers U.S. Federal Operations
Reston, VA (703)476-3508

ron@ron.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) (05/02/89)

My guess, without knowing your application, is that the CISCO
product may do what you want.  There seems to be all kinds of
features in the code, we use ours to gateway terminal sessions
from pads around the state into TCP telnet sessions.  Another
strategy would be to develop something on some system like a
SUN that you could get both TCP/IP and X.25 stuff to play gateway.

-Ron

smart@ditmela.oz (Robert Smart) (05/03/89)

In article <416@tdmfed.UUCP> rbr@tdmfed.UUCP (Rick Rump) writes:
> We have a customer developing a Unix-based application which must communicate
> over X.25 to host applications.  Since there are several different Unix
> machines involved in the solution (not all with compatible X.25 programmatic
> interfaces) I was wondering if anyone knew of a TCP/IP to X.25 Gateway
> product that documented the interface, so that a socket interface on the 
> Unix system could access X.25 packets?  This, it seems to me, would keep the
> customer's development interface standard (TCP/IP sockets) and let an
> external box handle the X.25 interface. (Ethernet TCP/IP to X.25)
>

There is a standard for X.25 over ethernet (well 802.3 really).
There are X.25 switches available: Camtec has a switch, Spider has
an X.25-ethernet converter (sort of like a switch with one port),
there is an Austrian X.25 switch that sells as megapac in Australia.
I have suggested to several people that it would be much more useful
to have an X.25 switch with a TCP/IP interface. Cisco are the only
people to not give the impression that I'm mad, so you might like
to talk to them.

Bob Smart

P.S. Just to prove that the idea has some merit, DEC has come out
with the X25portal-2000 which does the sort of thing you want, but
with DECNET instead of TCP/IP.

mah@hpuviea.UUCP (Michael Haberler) (05/03/89)

From article <416@tdmfed.UUCP>, by rbr@tdmfed.UUCP (Rick Rump):
> Hello,
> We have a customer developing a Unix-based application which must communicate
> over X.25 to host applications.  Since there are several different Unix

Poor guys.

> machines involved in the solution (not all with compatible X.25 programmatic
> interfaces) I was wondering if anyone knew of a TCP/IP to X.25 Gateway
> product that documented the interface, so that a socket interface on the 
> Unix system could access X.25 packets?  This, it seems to me, would keep the
> customer's development interface standard (TCP/IP sockets) and let an

If you get an HP 9000/800 series machine with 'native' X25 access, 
you can use X25 VC's via sockets. It's just another adress family (AF_X25).

> external box handle the X.25 interface. (Ethernet TCP/IP to X.25)

Makes a fine gateway, too.

-michael
-- 
Michael Haberler		mah@hpuviea.uucp 
Hewlett-Packard Austria GmbH, 	...mcvax!tuvie!hpuviea!mah
Lieblgasse 1 					...hplabs!hpbbn!hpuviea!mah
A-1220 Vienna, Austria		Tel: (0043) (222) 2500 x412 (9-18 CET) 	

jmagee@fenix.UUCP (Jim Magee) (05/11/89)

>Hello,
>We have a customer developing a Unix-based application which must communicate
>over X.25 to host applications.  Since there are several different Unix
>machines involved in the solution (not all with compatible X.25 programmatic
>interfaces) I was wondering if anyone knew of a TCP/IP to X.25 Gateway
>product that documented the interface, so that a socket interface on the 
>Unix system could access X.25 packets?  This, it seems to me, would keep the
>customer's development interface standard (TCP/IP sockets) and let an
>external box handle the X.25 interface. (Ethernet TCP/IP to X.25)

I has attempted to do this about a year ago to the SunLink X.25 from
several different Unix boxes.  I just used the Sun RPC code (all the 
machines I was working with had NFS) to implement the X.25 interface
calls. 

I only ran into one are that really didn't fit this model.  The SunLink
X.25 sockets hand back "out of band" data at several different levels.
X.25 resets had the highest priority level.  Trying to implement this
feature using TCP/IP sockets (single level Out of Band Data) was very
difficult.  But since handling of X.25 reset is in itself a difficult
thing at best, this just put one more fly into the ointment.

The result was a slightly less that transparent interface, but it was
good enough (I was trying to provide a generic interface for people to
code to, and something like this can be a show stopper for some 
appliations)

-Jim
+-------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Jim Magee - Unix Development	| Encore Computer Corp 			|
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+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

notesuser@hpgnd.HP.COM (Notes User) (05/18/89)

The HP-UX 9000 X.25 products briefly described might be what you
are looking for.  The same interface on the S800 and S300 machines
gives you a socket interface to X.25 directly and TCP/IP which can
be routed over an X.25 link.  

Paul Congdon
Hewlett Packard
Grenoble Networks Division
Grenoble, France