jln@accuvax.nwu.edu (John Norstad) (10/19/89)
We have a FastPath 2u (a FastPath 2 that was upgraded to a FastPath 4) connecting a LocalTalk internet to our campus TCP/IP internet. We run the K-STAR software with atalkad and CAP. Within the LocalTalk internet we use Hayes InterBridges. All of our MacTCP software crashes and hangs with annoying frequency with this configuration. This includes the MacTCP versions of NCSA Telnet 2.3 and (prelease) MacTCP versions of Stanford's MacIP and MacMH programs, as well as the StarNine bridge to QuickMail. On my Mac II, where I use the NCSA and Stanford software heavily, I experience one or two bombs or hangs every day. In particular, recent attempts to use NCSA Telnet to talk to a campus host at the other end of a 19.2 SLIP line have all resulted in hangs five or ten minutes into the session. On our Mac SE 2/40 QuickMail/StarNine mail server I've experience several crashes, hung outgoing mail, and other problems. At other locations on campus we use the NCSA and Stanford software with MacTCP on Macs that are directly connected to Ethernets with no problems. I've also talked to people who use true FastPath 4 boxes with no problems. QuickMail/StarNine users with direct Ethernet connections and true FastPath 4 boxes also report that they have not experiences crashes or hangs like ours. Has anybody else experienced similar problems with upgraded FastPath boxes? At Interop a Kinetics (Novell) representative admitted that 2u and 3u boxes are "known to be flaky," but was unable to supply details. I'm not yet ready to claim that our 2u is definitely the problem. It could be a MacTCP bug, bugs in the applications, some kind of INIT conflict, a misconfigured FastPath box, etc., etc., etc. But the evidence does seem to point to the 2u. I have some more experiments I hope to run to narrow down the problem. Here at Northwestern we're on the verge of an explosion in the use of this kind of network software, especially mail systems like MacMH and QuickMail/StarNine. My main problem now is to find systems that work reliably enough to unleash on novices. I've been a user of AppleTalk and TCP/IP networks for many years, but I'm just a beginner in network management and troubleshooting. Any help or advice that folks more knowledgeable in these matters could supply would be very greatly appreciated. John Norstad Northwestern University jln@acns.nwu.edu