terry@venus.sunquest.com (Terry R. Friedrichsen) (06/25/91)
As promised, here is the summary of responses to my request for TCP terminal server experiences, especially ones with LAT support as well: ----------------------------cut here------------------------------------ We have cisco MSM-2/E servers and are very happy with them. We didn't buy the optional LAT but may do so later. The native TCP/IP works well with everything we have. hoffman@cs.pitt.edu (Bob Hoffman) ------------------------ We use Xyplex 1500 terminal servers. Seem to work fine, and their 800 support is pretty decent. We also have Racal/InterLan terminal servers. They work, but it seems their support group could use an attitude adjustment. krf@wucs1.wustl.edu (Kevin R. Fenster) ------------------------ I use the Micom/Interlan TCP/LAT 8-port terminal servers (NTS-200) -- you can find these in the "Black Box" catalog and other places. They have worked flawlessly. One was up for 230+ days before I had to power it down because of other work ... westerm@aclcb.purdue.edu (Rick Westerman) ------------------------ HEID_JAMES@allin1.adpdp2.lanl.gov (James Heid) sent a long message detailing use of cisco and Xyplex servers for SLIP. In summary, he says that cisco requires the system administrator to tell it which IP address comes in on which port, while the Xyplex learns this information dynamically. He also likes the maintainability features such as hot card swapping and redundant power supplies &c. of Xyplex - features he says the cisco lacks. ------------------------ While at a previous job with Hughes Aircraft (a year ago), I had installed and used Bridge Communications CS/1's (bridge is now owned by 3COM). I know the 3COM servers can support lat, decnet, and tcp/ip. I had no problems with the CS/1's and could even set up networked print devices off of them. I highly recommend them. Another product which looks good, though I haven't tested is a terminal server produced by Equinox (company which makes a data pbx). Their specs look very good and support multiple protocols too. If their term server is as good as their data pbx's, I can readily recommend them. matrey@auto-trol.com (Matthew Reyolds) ------------------------ I strongly recommend the Xylogics Annex. Best product around. mah@awiwuw11.bitnet (Michael Haberler) ------------------------ The VCP[1000 by Datability] is our first multi-protocol box and we love it!!! It is so flex----i---ble, versatile and easy to use. There are so many neat features that I have not finish exploring after 2 months. Robert (last name unknown) from somewhere in Malaysia via mcimail through Western Digital Corporation ------------------------ I've purchased the Datability server. The design is excellent; it approaches the sort of "plug and play" ease that people like to hype these days. It did everything I wanted it to do, with a minimum of fuss and bother. And it's cheap. (He goes on to say that the documentation and user support are lacking, and that the TCP support seems immature.) robinson@cogsci.berkeley.edu (Michael Robinson) ------------------------ I also heard from the Datability product manager, who says "... our TCP implementation incorporates the following: Full IP, Full TCP, TELNET (and Reverse TELNET), ARP, TFTP and BOOTP, Rlogin, ICMP, SLIP and SNMP. In addition, we support Domain Name System and multiple IP addresses." He goes on to mention that they support speeds up to 57.6kb per port. ------------------------ This is me, again: Coincidentally, unbeknownst to me, we had a Datability server in here for evaluation. It was being used LAT-only, so I fired up the TCP stuff. Everything worked just fine, though specifying fully-qualified domain names for hosts got old. (Something called a profile is supposed to alleviate this problem, but the documentation is awful and while I could apparently successfully define one, I couldn't seem to get the server to USE it.) Setting up a TCP printer port was a breeze; the documented commands were specific and worked just fine. Do not be confused by the prose surrounding the commands; the commands do, in fact, do just what you want them to. I called their customer support once and got a knowledgeable and helpful person. (I didn't call 'em about the profile thing; I wasn't in a mood to be civil at that point.) The folks who actually HAVE this box tell me that it hangs about once every day or so, and that the non-volatile parameters have to be cleared before it will even reboot. Datability customer support is puzzled, but has acknowledged that there is a problem, and they are working on it. Note, however, that two other respondents are NOT having this problem; it looks like it is something specific to our unit or usage, and NOT a generic problem. This has the potential to be a really nice box, and they understand what the box needs to be able to do. However, they have some problems to work out yet ... Thanks very much to those who took the time to reply. Terry R. Friedrichsen terry@venus.sunquest.com (Internet) uunet!sunquest!terry (Usenet) terry@sds.sdsc.edu (alternate address; I live in Tucson) Message board: The word is "kernEl", NOT "kernAl", OK? Take the "a"s that you save up and apply them to the word "superscalAr". Quote: "He [Saddam] was pulling on Superman's cape, so we told him he'd better stop." Gen. Colin Powell, JCS Chair