JMS@ARIZMIS.BITNET (04/16/87)
There's been a lot of discussion about DECnet in the VMS V5 timeframe. Please remember that those two products are separate, and it is very unlikely that Digital will release major changes to them in close time areas. DECnet Phase V is an OSI implementation of DECnet. This means (in response to Marty Sasaki's comment) that you'll get the full 40 octets of addressing available in things like NSAPs etc. So, yes, there will be plenty of addresses, although how the DECnet folks are going to remain compatible with Phase IV is beyond me (I suspect that only "short" OSI addressed nodes will be able to talk to Phase IV nodes). Because OSI is designed to supplant TCP/IP protocols, you will find support for them decreasing -- this is probably a reason why Digital is selling the Wollongong package, rather than put any time of their own into writing one. There are other interesting things which DECnet Phase V has in it that you can find out by asking for a standard presentation from your local office (may involve non-disclosure agreements as well). That above was facts. Here's some speculation on my part -- I believe that there will never be a PDP-11 implementation of DECnet Phase V. Too much work, too little address space, too few customers. So, don't go out and buy a DECSA gateway; it'll probably be replaced by a DECSx gateway, where the PDP-11 turns into a MicroVAX I/II/III?. I also believe that you won't see a Phase V release until well after VMS V5 is available; almost certainly the only BIG change in VMS V5 will be multi-processing and some of the RMS stuff that they've been promising for so long. Another guess is that little things will come a little at a time in 5.x releases. Some questions for you-all -- How many have gotten VMS 4.6 ? Joe Bingham seemed to indicate that he's read the release notes, but his site is big enough to be a beta. And, I never seem to get my own INFO-VAXes back -- anyone else on the BITNET side of the redistribution have this problem? +-------------------------------+ | Joel M Snyder | BITNET: jms@arizmis.BITNET | Univ of Arizona Dep't of MIS | Internet: jms@mrsvax.mis.arizona.edu | Tucson, Arizona 85721 | Pseudo-PhoneNET: (602) 621-2748 +-------------------------------+ ICBM: 32 13 N / 110 58 W (std. disclaimer in re: nobody taking anything I say seriously) "Sure looks like Plant Food to me !" - Seymour, and Audrey II
sasaki@HARVARD.HARVARD.EDU (Marty Sasaki) (04/20/87)
I don't think that you will see a rapid decrease in TCP/IP support in general. Outside of DEC, there hasn't been any real move to the OSI protocols. Apparently (I'm not a network guru, so I only know what I read) there are things wrong with the OSI protocols that won't make it worth changing over from TCP/IP, better to wait and see what the next set of protocols will be. I believe that 4.6 is still in field test. ---------------- Marty Sasaki uucp: harvard!sasaki Ziff Davis Technical Information Co. arpa: sasaki@harvard.harvard.edu 80 Blanchard Road bitnet: sasaki@harvunxh Burlington, MA 01803 phone: 617-273-5500