[comp.protocols.appletalk] NBP problems?

wnn@DSUNX1.DSRD.ORNL.GOV (W. N. Naegeli) (05/31/89)

Bob Morgan writes:
>>>>>
There's some difference with how the KFPS-U with K-Star responds
to NBP lookups with * as the zone, compared to how KIP responds.  Some
of our users had trouble with CAP locating resources on LocalTalks
behnd upgraded boxes.  The solution in most cases so far has been to
completely specify printer names (MyPrinter:LaserWriter@MyZone instead
of MyPrinter:LaserWriter@*).  You should also specify the zone name
when using atlook, etc.
<<<<<
We have a similar problem with the Nuvotech TurboBridge.
If we set the TuboBridge up to use different zone names on each sice of the
bridge, it works as expected.  However, if we use the same zone name (but
different network numbers, of course) to make the bridge transparent to the
users, nodes on the network connected to port B cannot see each other but
only nodes on the network connected to port A.  Nodes on port A can see
each other as well as nodes on port B.  Transparent bridging is one of the
things that Nuvotech claims to support.  We first noticed the problem when
laser printers on network B became invisible in the Chooser of Macs on net-
work B.  They could still select printers on network A.  When opening the
Chooser on a Mac in network A, laser printers on network A always came up
and printers on network B came up about two thirds of the time. If they did
not show up right away, they would not do so even if you waited for a long
time. But whe you were lucky, they were there right away.  Later we found
the problem with Tops too, and InterPoll, when run on a Mac on network B,
listed only the TurboBridge and the Mac it was running on at best, ignoring
all other devices on network B.
Nuvotech technical support seems to be at a loss.  They suspected that the
problems might be caused by the FastPath (a KFPS-3u) connected to network A.
I tried with the KFPS turned off, but the problem persisted.  Perhaps I did
not wait long enough for tables in the TurboBridge to clear, but the Chooser
and InterPoll showed only the single zone when trying a few minutes after
turning off the FastPath.
Does onyone have an idea where the problem is?
Wolfgang N. Naegeli
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
wnn@dsunx1.dsrd.ornl.gov (128.219.96.46)
(615) 574-6143