From: brent@uwovax.uwo.ca (Brent Sterner)
Subject: Re: Multinet vs UCX vs POSIX ?
Organization: University of Western Ont, London
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 16:46:48 GMT

In article <9200677@MVB.SAIC.COM>, Mark.Berryman@Mvb.Saic.Com (MUMPS Wizard) writes:
> brent@uwovax.uwo.ca (Brent Sterner) writes:
>>   A few weeks ago I installed POSIX on our VMS 5.5-1 system running
>>Multinet version V3.1 Rev D.  Several things happened which has caused
>>me to leave it unstarted for the time being.  (POSIX was installed as
>>an experiment; it is not critical for production, though it might be of
>>benefit to some of our clients.  The objective was simply to play with
>>the product to see what benefit it might provide, and at what cost.)
>>
>>   One problem was that rlogin apparently stopped functioning.  (There
>>were some other happenings on the system at the time which may or may
>>not have been causal, but our local Multinet person has indicated there
>>are problems between Multinet and UCX, which is used by POSIX, and I'm
>>inclined to trust this person's judgement in networking matters.)
>>
>>   This is a request for guidance.  Is there a *reliable* way to integrate
>>(the startup of) POSIX and Multinet to avoid problems with functionality?
>>Once Multinet has been started (as it is at boot time here), is there a
>>safe way to start up POSIX without interfering with existing links?  Will
>>a future release of VMS, POSIX, or Multinet reduce the danger enough that
>>I should hold off for now, but try again later?  Should I abandon all hope
>>of ever running POSIX on my VMS system?

> I have never encountered any problems between Multinet and the portion of UCX
> used by POSIX.  I have run Multinet V3.0, V3.1, and the current beta of V3.2
> with POSIX and have never had a single problem with either.  I just tried
> rlogin on a couple of systems running both Multinet and POSIX and it worked
> just fine.  I start both Multinet and POSIX at boot time.

   In what sequence please?  Below you suggest Multinet 1st; then POSIX.
   Is that your systartup ordering?

> Note that this only shows that the products do work together.  It doesn't say
> anything about your particular system.  Did you try booting your system (with
> Multinet starting at boot time), verifying that rlogin works, then starting
> POSIX and verifying that rlogin stopped working?

   No, I have not.  In fact I've backed away from POSIX until I have other
   assurances (such as your own) that there should not be problems.  (In my
   post I did say "apparently".  It was not clear to me that POSIX caused
   the problem; our Multinet person thought it might have (she said there
   was considerable discussion about it recently, though I don't recall any.)

   Our VAX is a production system.  I'd rather not proceed until I have
   seen more evidence that POSIX does not cause problems, or that work-arounds
   are reliable.  (We also found that our local VMS WHO command broke; I'm
   pretty sure that relates to the POSIX WHO product installation, which I
   can fix by de-installing it.  Perhaps VMS WHO should be defined as the
   foreign command "POSIX WHO".  Anyone else see this?)

   I'm still waiting to hear from others who remember the recent problem
   discussion, or more confirmation that the problem is resolved/non-existant.

   Thanks Mark for your reply.  I am encouraged, but still apprehensive.
   Anyone from TGV care to comment?  (Perhaps their silence indicates there
   is no known problem; perhaps it is under further investigation?)  b.
--
Brent Sterner                       Manager, Academic Technical Support
Fast:       <BRENT@uwovax.uwo.ca>   <129.100.2.13>
Telephone:  (519)661-2151 x 6036    Fax:   (519)661-3486
Slow:  Computing & Communications Services, Natural Sciences Building
       The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada  N6A 5B7