authorplaceholder@gorgo.UUCP.UUCP (03/29/87)
I am trying to reach a person on a decnet node in Syracuse NY, at one of the General Electric plants. She tells me that the nodename is 'c5vb' and that the next node immediately upstream is 'elab', and she knows that there is a con- nection to 'decwrl' someplace along the way. I have tried all manner of tricks to get through, but my mail keeps getting returned with "unknown node: c5vb". Does anyone know about decnet nodes in Syracuse, or within GE? Can you offer some specific advice as to how I should send my mail? And equally important, how this person should address her mail for the return trip (as she knows next to nothing about this topic)? Thanks much, David Drexler ihnp4!occrsh!gorgo!ddrex
dovich@ge-dab.UUCP (04/01/87)
Part of the problem in routing to the General Electric Decnet via
"decwrl" is that that does not get you to "our" Decnet. "decwrl"
is at most a gateway to the DEC EasyNet, and certainly is not a
member of the GE-Decnet. That explains why the "unknown node: c5vb"
errors are returned, "decwrl" has probably never heard of such a host
on their Decnet. Remember, Decnet is a product of Digital Equipment,
and not a single network that "everyone" connects to. DEC has a Decnet
network, GE has a Decnet network, Chase Manhattan has a Decnet network,
etc. ad nauseum.
There have been several requests over the past month, hence the posted
article. There have been a bit of changes lately on how the General
Electric domain (GE.COM) is reached. From the UUCP Zone, "ge-dab" serves
as the primary gateway. Our configuration will route between the GE-Decnet
and the UUCP network. Other possible gateways include "ge-rtp", and "edison".
Sending mail into GE-Decnet does not require any routing beyond that
required to find the gateway. If your mailer understands domain addressing,
you should be able to reach your destination with "username@c5vb.GE.COM".
The UUCP path address is "...!ge-dab!c5vb.GE.COM!username". Those who need
to use the gateway from within GE-Decnet need to address their mail to
ADVAX::"username@host.do.main"
The double quotes in the address portion are necessary for VMS-Mail to deal
with the message. Shudder. Consider that my comment on VMS Mail addressing.
Those who do not need to deal with mail in the UUCP and Decnet (and domain
addressing) environments should consider themselves fortunate.
"ADVAX" is the traditional GE-Decnet name for the gateway host. It was a
well-known VMS host long before Ultrix was loaded. If the "ge-rtp" gateway
is used, replace "ADVAX" in the above address with "RTPUX1". "edison" is
not directly on the GE-Decnet, and the address for VMS Mail is not worth
the trouble. Use ge-dab/ADVAX or ge-rtp/RTPUX1 for any gateway traffic.
The ge-dab gateway is reachable via "...!mcnc!codas!ge-dab!...", or
"...!sunfla!ge-dab!...". The ge-rtp gateway talks to "mcnc" and "rti-sel".
Other connections can be discussed with "postmaster@ge-dab.GE.COM".
All of the gateways will only route Decnet Mail to those systems which are
registered members of GE-Decnet. As there are systems in the network which
are unregistered systems (it is like UUCP, not all the systems are in
the map) some problems will occur if the gateways are asked to route mail
to those systems.
Hopefully this information should be sufficient to enable access. If I have
neglected to mention something critical, or if there are questions about how
to reach a particular host, direct queries to ge-dab!postmaster.
--
Steven J. Dovich <dovich@ge-dab.GE.COM>
General Electric Company
UUCP: ...!mcnc!codas!ge-dab!dovich 1800 Volusia Ave, Rm 4336
Voice: +1 904 258 2564 Daytona Beach, FL 32015