sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) (05/02/91)
I think I badly misstated what we are trying to accomplish and how: We have a pool of 8 modems, and we'll get more if we need them. We need to connect these to our Novell network by some means. The CPUs can come from the various machines we have, or we'll buy one or more access server machines. Some of the solutions we've seen are: - An access server with multiple CPUS. Each incoming connection is assigned a CPU. The user runs PC-Anywhere or something similar. - An access server with a 386 or 486 class cpu that is multitasked among multiple DOS sessions. Users get a virtual machine. - A server that doesn't provide CPU, but which provides a gateway sort of service. We run a TSR on misc machines in our shop. When they've been idle a while, the access server considers them candidates for remote access. It can then "grab" them route a modem connection via IPX to one of these real machines. So far, none of the stuff we've evaluated really meets our needs. Some of the products are buggy or poorly designed. For example, what happens when an application crashes or locks up? At least one product that we tried crashed completely when this happened. That's why I want to hear your experiences. There are some products we haven't evaluated, and surely there are some we haven't even heard of. I'd appreciate your input. Sean Casey Communications Networking University of Kentucky -- ** Sean Casey <sean@s.ms.uky.edu>