ted@nieland.DAYTON.OH.US (Ted Nieland) (01/06/91)
One of the most interesting pieces of equipment at the Las Vegas DECUS Symposium in December was the InfoServer 100, the long awaited Network CD-Rom server (which strangely enough has not be hyped much by DEC). The InfoServer is prefered consol system for the VAX 6000-5xx (which does not come standard with any console, you have either get a tape unit or an InfoServer and the InfoServer is much cheaper than the tape unit). Anyway, I was just reading through my literatur on the InfoServer 100 and I found two statements that conflict. I was wondering if anyone else out there has any better information to clarify. The statements are: First from the glossy product literature (EC-F0891-41/90) " The server software and the license for its use are bundled with the system, as are licenses for four VMS client systems. Additional VMS client licenses may be purchased" Second from a single sheet COver Letter for InfoServer 100 (AV-PFMAA-TE) " InfoServer 100 is available now! The VMS client code that utilizes the LAD/LAST protocol to access the server is included with and support in VMS 5.4. The VMS client support in VMS 5.4-1 provides read/write access to devices on the server. One client can have write access to a virtual disk." Well, I have been hyping this new product (announced at the same time as the VAX 6000-500, but not hyped). With the large number of VAXen I work with that are not queue bus or VAX Stations, this will finally let us use the consolidated distribution. But it will be hard to justify the system if a additional license have to be bought past the first four VMS systems. SO what gives? Is the code in VMS 5.4, but you have to purchase a license? Or is it only for pre VMS 5.4 that you have to get licenses? This looks to be a great product that I am willing to recomend to a large number of sites I support, but not if the software, both code and license, are included in VMS (and Ultrix when it is added). -- M. Edward (Ted) Nieland Ted@NIELAND.DAYTON.OH.US
tihor@acf3.NYU.EDU (Stephen Tihor) (01/08/91)
My understanding is that the code is bundled, the license is not, and tha the license is relatively cheap.