mjl@tropix.UUCP (05/15/87)
Here is the summary of responses I received to my request for SunLink
DNA experiences. Based on these, we're going to order the package
for our system.
Mike Lutz
tropix!mjl
==== From tessi!joey (Joe Pruett)
== a) ease of installation
Pretty easy to install. You need to be familiar with DECNET host
numbering, and known how to drive NCP (Network Control Program).
== b) reliability
We haven't had any connections get dropped, or files get transferred
incorrectly. Quite a few obnoxious bugs, though (see below).
== c) ease of use
Easy to invoke. The dnacp program (copy files) is much nicer than
standard DECNET accesss (passwords not necessary on the command line).
== d) support
Not so good. Our local SUN rep is having a hard time finding who
to talk to in order to complain about bugs.
--------
Bugs
--------
Line editing is broken fairly badly. You can use DELETE and ^U, but
^D ^F ^E ^H ^J don't work correctly. Even worse, it tries to do
some mapping from UNIX editing chars to VMS, so a ^W does what ^J
would on VMS, and ^H does a DELETE, but doesn't move the cursor.
^C can be very unresponsive, and seems to work only when output
is generated.
The only terminal type you can set VMS to is vt100.
Setting the VMS tty to PASTHRU ... doesn't work for ^C
Tabs don't get echoed.
Sometimes newlines don't appear at the correct place (not very often).
--------
Even with the problems ... SunLink/DNA is preferrable to ... TCP/IP for VMS.
The package comes with small programs demonstrating task-to-task communication.
==== From acad!robert (Robert Wenig)
I have been using Sun Link Dna for about 4 months now. I find it
invaluable in moving files back and forth from a set of microvaxes.
The only thing that I find that is wrong is the terminal emulation
when doing a set host from the vax.
The installation will take about 2 hours -- you must carefully
reconfigure your kernel on the Sun side. The Sun product understands
all of RMS -- which is no small feat. I have gotten excellent support
directly from the developers at Sun. I think you will find it is much
cheaper to buy Sun's product, than to buy an ethernet board and
TCP/IP software or NFS from somebody else.
[In response to a return query about the terminal emulation problem
mentioned above, Robert replied:]
What's wrong with the terminal emulation from the Vax to the Sun side has
mostly to do with vi and "^D". Sun seems to be aware of the problem and
is supposed to be fixing it.
Going from the Sun to the Vax seems to be no problem, they even provide
a VT100 emulator that runs in Sun Windows.
==== From gitpyr!allen (P. Allen Jensen)
We have been using Sunlink/DNA for about 2 weeks now. Our reaction is
that it does the things it is supposed to do very well. It provides
3 user-level services: 1. Virtual Terminal Support
dnalogin <hostname>
2. File transfer
dnacp filename 'node::file-spec'
3. Directory Services
dnals 'node::directory-spec'
File transfers may only be initiated from the SUN. This means that a Vax
user must do a set host to log in to the SUN then issue the dnacp command.
Also, the Virtual Terminal support only works well from inside of a
vt100tool window on a sun workstation. If you have logged in from
an ascii terminal (like a vt100) to the SUN and do a dnalogin to a Vax
system, the escape sequences the vt100 sends to not get transmitted
(at least we have not been able to get them to work).
==== From sunybcs!loverso (John LoVerso)
Its just a repackaging of Technology Concept's "CommUnity" software;
its that same thing that Convex, Celerity, National Semi, Elxsi, and
Unisys are using to access DECNET. The last things I heard about it
were its got lots of ragged edges.