paulb@mlacus.oz (Paul Bandler) (08/30/90)
Can anyone please provide me with information regarding the status of the following API's? TLI - Transport Layer Interface. NLI - Network Layer Interface DLI - Datalink Interface I believe they were defined by AT&T for Unix environments and perhaps proposed in industry standard forums (UI?). However I would like to know (particularly for NLI and DLI): What is there acceptance status? Where are the specs available from? What implementations are available? Are they applicable to non-Unix environments? Please email info as postings take a long time to filter down here. I'll summarize if there is sufficient interest. Thanks in anticipation, Paul Bandler ACUS - Australian Centre for Unisys Software Fax: +61-3-267-4692
dougm@ICO.ISC.COM ("Doug McCallum") (08/30/90)
In reply to your message of 30 Aug 90 06:45:51 GMT ------- > TLI - Transport Layer Interface. This is part of V.3 and V.4 UNIX. X/Open's XTI interface in XPG3 is based on TLI. > NLI - Network Layer Interface There isn't a current NLI. There is a draft of NPI (Network Provider Interface) that is currently being updated by UNIX International (OSI Working Group). NPI will become the network protocol interface for V.4. > DLI - Datalink Interface DLPI (Data Link Provider Interface) is currently undergoing revision within the same UI working group. There is no user level interface defined at present. > I believe they were defined by AT&T for Unix environments and perhaps proposed > in industry standard forums (UI?). However I would like to know (particularly > for NLI and DLI): AT&T did the original specifications. The refinement has been picked up by UI in the OSI Working Group. > What is there acceptance status? They will exist for V.4 UNIX. TLI/TPI appears to be done. The others are being finalized within UI. > Where are the specs available from? UI or AT&T. > What implementations are available? TLI has been around for several years in the UNIX System V Release 3. It was refined and adopted by X/Open in XPG3. UNIX V.4 also comes with TLI. Ultrix 4.0 is supposed to have an XTI (X/Open TLI) interface in it but I don't have that version yet. I don't know of any NPI implementations other than possibly AT&T's OSI implementation which I suspect uses NPI but don't have any concrete proof of. DLPI implementations (to earlier drafts) are in the V.4 system and are used by the TCP/IP that is part of the V.4 source release. > Are they applicable to non-Unix environments? No reason they couldn't be but they do assume a STREAMS type of structure for the provider level interface since the provider is defined in terms of STREAMS. TLI definitely isn't restricted to UNIX. TLI is the user level interface. TPI is the STREAMS level interface for implementing protocols that can be used by TLI. A TLI implementation doesn't need to have an exactly TPI conformant protocol implementation under it as long as it has the same semantics from the programmer's perspective. Does this help? Doug McCallum Interactive Systems Corp. dougm@ico.isc.com
J.Crowcroft@CS.UCL.AC.UK (Jon Crowcroft) (08/31/90)
do any of TLI, NLI or DLI contain something with more functionality than sockets - like a standard management interface, or a standard packet filter or traceer interface - and i dont mean ioctl and nit like vaguaries if not, i suggest its just more noiseware to make unix less useful, designed by manufacturers running scared from real open systems and shareware... jon.