[comp.dcom.lans] level 1 / level 2 / 802.3 co-existence

aad@stpstn.UUCP (Anthony A. Datri) (02/14/89)

I'm having some problems that I'm convinced are due to level 1 / level 2
issues.  I've got a peice of thick coax with 6 3Com 3C100 tranceivers -- 4
connect to DELNI's, one to a DEMPR, and one to an HP 9000/320.  Sun
documentation calls the 3C100's Level 1 and the DELNI's Level 2.  Most of the
equipment attached to the DELNI's and the DEMPR is configured for Level 2.
The HP switches between 802.3 and Level 1, and is at Level 1.  This is the
scene as I discovered it -- I never suspected that we didn't have level 2
tranceivers.  I get intermittent pairs of "server not responding/server ok"
messages on Suns when both the machines and the net are relatively quiet, and
doing sprays between machines sometimes shows 0% loss, sometimes up to 65%
loss.  The HP consistently loses 95% when sprayed.  Diskless machines often
boot extremely slowly.

Hardware on the net:

HP 9000/320
Sun 2/50,2/120,3/50,3/60,3/180,3/280,4/110
PC clone with 3C503 (?) ethernet board (usually turned off)
Apollo DN3000
IBM RT (AIX)
MicroVax II,2000 (Ultrix and VMS)

The Ultrix machine has trailers disabled.

The Questions:
  Are my tranceivers losing terribly?  Should I replace them with
level 2 tranceivers?  What level(2) are the DELNI and the DEMPR?
Should I get a thinnet thing for the HP and run it at 802.3 over
thinnet?

-- 
@disclaimer(Any concepts or opinions above are entirely mine, not those of my
	    employer, my GIGI, my VT05, or my 11/34)
beak is@>beak is not
Anthony A. Datri @SysAdmin(Stepstone Corporation) aad@stepstone.com stpstn!aad