davide@cs.qmc.ac.uk (David Edmondson) (05/10/89)
I am slightly confused about Liaison. Descriptions on the net describe it as software which runs on a mac with ethernet and localtalk to act as a bridge, this is what I want. However the write up in a Mac product directory describes it as "...a software bridge to allow remote users or networks to dial into and connect to Appletalk and ethertalk networks..." which sounds more like the Shiva netserial/netmodem products. Is liason the former, the latter or both. It may be a sensible alternative to buying an additional Kinetics box for just a handful of plusses. Any practical experience? Cheers, Dave -- David Edmondson UUCP: davide@qmc-cs.uucp or ...seismo!mcvax!ukc!qmc-cs!davide ARPA: davide%cs.qmc@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk Post: Dept of Computer Science JANET: davide@uk.ac.qmc.cs Queen Mary College Easylink: 19019285 University of London Telex: 893750 QMCUOL Mile End Road Fax: +44 1 981 7517 London E1 4NS Voice: +44 1 975 5250 England
hpoppe@bierstadt.ucar.edu (Herb Poppe) (05/11/89)
In article <978@sequent.cs.qmc.ac.uk> davide@cs.qmc.ac.uk (David Edmondson) writes: > >I am slightly confused about Liaison. Descriptions on the net >describe it as software which runs on a mac with ethernet and >localtalk to act as a bridge, this is what I want. However the >write up in a Mac product directory describes it as "...a >software bridge to allow remote users or networks to dial into >and connect to Appletalk and ethertalk networks..." which >sounds more like the Shiva netserial/netmodem products. > >Is liason the former, the latter or both. It may be a sensible >alternative to buying an additional Kinetics box for just a >handful of plusses. Any practical experience? Liaison can do both; sort of. The following caveats apply: 1) I don't recall if it can do both AT THE SAME TIME. 2) Unlike a Kinetics or Gatorbox gateway, Liaison does not support the TCP/IP protocols; it only supports AppleTalk protocols on Ethernet. That is, you can't use such Mac programs as NCSA Telnet to talk to Telnet servers on Ethernet. Note that Liaison can also act as an AppleTalk to AppleTalk bridge as well. It can speak AppleTalk protocols through the serial port. Herb Poppe NCAR INTERNET: hpoppe@ncar.ucar.edu (303) 497-1296 P.O. Box 3000 CSNET: hpoppe@ncar.CSNET Boulder, CO 80307 UUCP: hpoppe@ncar.UUCP
alexis@ccnysci.UUCP (Alexis Rosen) (05/22/89)
Someone else has answered the questions posted about Liason, so I will only
add two things:
1) It is true that Liason will not convert from AppleTalk to TCP/IP. For
that, you'll need a Kinetics (or Cayman or MultiGate) box. But, it's
a pretty good guess that they will support that in he relatively near
future- maybe as soon as June, though I'm just guessing at the date.
2) Liason does what it says it will do, and it does it very very well. I'd
buy it again without hesitation (and recommend it to all my clients with
AppleTalk bridge needs).
---
Alexis Rosen
alexis@ccnysci.{uucp,bitnet}
alexis@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (last resort)davide@cs.qmc.ac.uk (David Edmondson) (05/23/89)
Thanks for the info about Liaison. We bought a copy and although we will probably not use it as a permenant solution it will be extremely useful for temporary bridging requirements e.g. to provide printing services when our CAP server is down for maintenance. Liaison is extremely easy to configure although I haven't tried the asynchronous appletalk facilities yet. I was unable at first to use it for telnet access in spite of telling config.tel where the fastpath was etc. however we have just put in a fastpath 4 on test and this now works fine. I don't know if the difference is just due to a better configuration or if this is something the 2 couldn't cope with. Dave -- David Edmondson UUCP: davide@qmc-cs.uucp or ...seismo!mcvax!ukc!qmc-cs!davide ARPA: davide%cs.qmc@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk Post: Dept of Computer Science JANET: davide@uk.ac.qmc.cs Queen Mary College Easylink: 19019285 University of London Telex: 893750 QMCUOL Mile End Road Fax: +44 1 981 7517 London E1 4NS Voice: +44 1 975 5250 England