gengenba@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de (Michael Gengenbach) (11/16/89)
Hello,
we have a problem in deciding about the best ethernet configuration for
our DECsystem 5810.
We from the Bavarian AI Research Center are buying a DEC configuration
with a couple of DECstations and a DECsystem as server. We have a University
ethernet, which is fairly loaded, so we want to seperate our ethernet-segment
from the University-segment. On the other hand our server should also
serve some of the University machines.
When asking our DEC people about the problem we didn't find anybody with
experience in hardware and ULTRIX TCP/IP. They did only know about VMS and
DECNET. Our questions are:
- When using 1 ethernet-controller for each segment, do they
filter the traffic between the segments. Is the CPU needed
to do it, or can it be done in the ethernet-cards locally?
- When using a LAN-bridge can we efficiently serve machines over
the bridge? And in this case: Is one DEBNI-ethernet-controller
with a speed of 5 MBit/second enough to serve our local machines
and the University ones?
I hope that somebody can give us some advice on our configuration.
Thank you.
Michael
--
Michael Gengenbach \/\/\/\/\/ gengenbach@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de
AI Research Center \/\/\/\/ gengenbach%unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de@unido.BITNET
University of Passau /\/\/\/\ gengenbach%unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de@relay.CS.NET
West Germany /\/\/\/\/\ Phone: +49 851/509-496grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins) (11/17/89)
In article <787@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de> gengenba@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de (Michael Gengenbach) writes: > Hello, > > we have a problem in deciding about the best ethernet configuration for > our DECsystem 5810. > > - When using 1 ethernet-controller for each segment, do they > filter the traffic between the segments. Is the CPU needed > to do it, or can it be done in the ethernet-cards locally? The CPU has to be involved and probably has to listen to packets it could otherwise tell the interface to ignore. I'd go with the lan-bridge approach. > - When using a LAN-bridge can we efficiently serve machines over > the bridge? Probably, but be sure you have lots of memory and/or a local swapping disk on each of the workstations so you don't put this pointless workload thru the bridge. > And in this case: Is one DEBNI-ethernet-controller > with a speed of 5 MBit/second enough to serve our local machines > and the University ones? This is probably no worse performance than the average ethernet card so I wouldn't expect unusual difficulties. -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing arpa: cbmvax!grr@uunet.uu.net Commodore, Engineering Department fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)
frank@croton.enet.dec.com (Frank Wortner) (11/17/89)
In article <787@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de>, gengenba@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de (Michael Gengenbach) writes:
= Hello,
=
= we have a problem in deciding about the best ethernet configuration for
= our DECsystem 5810.
=
= When asking our DEC people about the problem we didn't find anybody with
= experience in hardware and ULTRIX TCP/IP. They did only know about VMS and
= DECNET. Our questions are:
=
= - When using 1 ethernet-controller for each segment, do they
= filter the traffic between the segments. Is the CPU needed
= to do it, or can it be done in the ethernet-cards locally?
=
= - When using a LAN-bridge can we efficiently serve machines over
= the bridge? And in this case: Is one DEBNI-ethernet-controller
= with a speed of 5 MBit/second enough to serve our local machines
= and the University ones?
=
= I hope that somebody can give us some advice on our configuration.
=
= Thank you.
=
= Michael
Mann can nicht antworten ... (I hope I spelled that right :-)
It is not possible to determine what the efficiency will be from the information
you posted. What do you mean when you use the word "serve?" What types of
services? How many machines are involved? What types of machines are they? Do
you have any plans for future expansion? Do you have any budgetary or technical
constraints? Any answer to your questions would require more information.
Frank