breu@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de (Michael Breu) (07/05/89)
Hello Netlanders!
Thank you to all, who helped us, to decide for a hardware configuration for our
new MAC-IIx and MAC-IIcx and the network.
Unfortunately our local dealer can't help us very much, whether this
configuration does fulfil our needs, because he doesn't have much experiences
with complexer networks and communication with Unix.
We are planning to have the following configuration:
An ethernet with repeaters or (?) bridges
several Unix workstations with TCP-IP/NFS
4 MacII with ethercard connected to the ethernet (new)
1 Gatorbox with ethernet and localtalk connection (new)
and several old Mac+ connected to the old localtalk
Unix-Workstations/ Server with NFS
___ _____ ______
|Sun| | Dec | | HP |
|___| |_____| |______|
| | ... | ________ EtherNet
=====================================|Repeat./|=================================
| EtherNet |Bridge | | | | |
__|__ -------- __|__ __|__ __|__ __|__
|Gator| |MacII| |MacII| |MacII| |MacII|
| Box | |__cx_| |__cx_| |__c__| |__c__|
|_____| 4 Mac II with ethercard
|
L|
o| ______
c|--|Mac+|
a| ------
l| ...
T| ______
a|--|Mac+|
l| ------
k|
|
Before we buy the MacII's and the GatorBox, we would like to get definitive
answers to the following questions:
1. GatorBox:
a) Can the Unix-workstations play the role of a file server via
NFS <-> GatorBox <-> Appleshare as well for the Mac+'s and the
MacII's ? I.e. can the GatorBox be configured in such a way,
that it accepts apple share commands both from LocalTalk and
EtherNet and translates them into NFS commands and vice versa.
b) Is this solution crash proof, i.e. if the NFS-server crashes
and restarts, can the apple share clients continue their file
operations after restart of the server?
c) Does the GatorBox support the use of a LaserWriter connected
to one of the Unix-workstations?
d) Performance for
7 Mac+ with small document transfer/email
+4 MacII with small/medium document size transfer/email ?
2. remote login
Can we use this configuration, to do simple telnet-/ftp-login from the
MacII's and Mac+'s to the Unix-crunchers with NCSA-software or any
other?
3. MacX or eXodus
The main reason to decide for this configuration was, that we
can use the MacII as X-window display server for the
Unix-crunchers. The software package eXodus implements such a
server. Apple has anounced its on product called MacX.
a) Who knows: Are there differences is the functionality of
eXodus and the proposed MacX ? Are there differences in the
performance ?
b) It is not clear to us, whether the
communication between the MacII and the Unix-Workstations uses
the capability of the GatorBox to translate between AppleTalk
(bottle neck) and TCP/IP or does the MacII speak directly
TCP/IP with the Unix machines via the MacOS or via some
additional software drivers?
4. Bridge versus repeater
Do we run into any problems, if we connect the two parts of our
ethernet with a bridge, that filters throughput and not by a
repeater.
We would appreciate any answers and comments to any of the four questions above.
Thank you
Michael Breu Email: breu@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de
Innstrasse 33 breu@unipas.uucp
8390 Passau ...!mcvax!unido!unipas!breu
W.-Germany Tel: 0851/509-354
--
Michael Breu Email: breu@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de
Innstrasse 33 Tel: 0851/509-354
8390 Passau
W.-Germanykent@lloyd.camex.uucp (Kent Borg) (07/06/89)
In article <594@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de> breu@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de (Michael Breu) writes: >We are planning to have the following configuration: > > An ethernet with repeaters or (?) bridges > several Unix workstations with TCP-IP/NFS > 4 MacII with ethercard connected to the ethernet (new) > 1 Gatorbox with ethernet and localtalk connection (new) > and several old Mac+ connected to the old localtalk Looks to me like your plan will do what you think it will, my question is about speed. We recently got a Gatorbox and it seems to mostly work. I'm not sure we have it installed correctly, but going from a Mac IIx through a Kinetics EtherTalk card through the Gatorbox to a Sun (3/60?), it seems to be slightly *slower* then an SE running AppleShare, talking to another SE over PhoneNET. When transferring files to the server, both can do about a megabyte a minute. When opening and closing folders on the server, AppleShare is rather fast, the Gatorbox/Sun combination is much slower. Anybody know how fast the Gatorbox *should* be? Shouldn't it be faster than AppleShare on an SE over a twisted pair? It costs enough... Kent Borg kent@lloyd.uucp or ...!husc6!lloyd!kent
kdb@InterCon.uu.net (Kurt Baumann) (07/11/89)
In article <9520@fluke.COM>, jeff@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Stearns) writes: > In article <594@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de> breu@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de > (Michael Breu) writes: > > >2. remote login > > Can we use this configuration, to do simple telnet-/ftp-login from the > > MacII's and Mac+'s to the Unix-crunchers with NCSA-software or any > > other? > NCSA telnet works just fine. > > -- > Jeff Stearns John Fluke Mfg. Co, Inc. (206) 356-5064 > jeff@tc.fluke.COM {uw-beaver,microsoft,sun}!fluke!jeff NCSA Telnet, SU-MacIP, Kinetic's HostAccess, and InterCon's TCP/Connect will all work just fine over a GatorBox. MacTCP (Apple's Drivers) have a problem running over a GatorBox currently (unless Cayman or Apple has changed this recently). I am not sure about Kinetic's drivers, but I would imagine that they would have no problem either. -- Kurt Baumann InterCon Systems Corporation 46950 Community Plaza Suite 101-132 Sterling, VA 22170 Phone: 703.450.7117