HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: rohrernl@helix.nih.gov (Nathan Rohrer)
Subject: Re: Cabletron MR9000s
Organization: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 16:57:59 GMT

In article <1992Aug19.123754.6749@super.org> rsh@super.org (Randall S Hammel) writes:


>       I was curious if any other people out there are using
>Cabletron MR9000 multiport repeaters, and if so have they had 
>any problems with power supplies on these units.  

>We have about 30 or so of these in use on our network, and have found
>there power supplies to be very flakey.  Even now with all of them
>protected by UPS's, the last time we had a scheduled system wide power
>outage there were symptoms of flakey power supplies in about 25 percent
>of the units for the first few minutes after they were powered back
>on.  The symptoms are the continuous blinking on and off of the lights
>(receive, collision, and fault) on the front display.

>       In many cases the units have never recovered and have been
>       shipped to Cabletron for repair.  This approach to the problem
>has been unsatisfactory because it is too time consuming (two weeks at
>best to get the unit out of the facility, repaired and back) and too
>expensive (typical power supply replacement costing $250).  We had at
>one point queried Cabletron tech support asking if we could just
>acquire the power supplies ourselves from them and have our own
>technicians do the repairs on site, but Cabletron indicated that they
>wouldn't provide the power supplies.

We just went through the same problem.  We have four of those repeaters and 
when we had a power outage two of them gave us the power problems (flashing 
lights problem).  One of the two never came back up and we had to ship it 
off to Cabletron for repair.

>       Has anyone else had this problem and managed to come up
>with a better solution?

Sorry.

>                                       Randall S. Hammel
>                                       rsh@super.org
>                                       (301) 805-7414


/*********************************************************************/
/*                       --- Nathan Rohrer ---                       */
/*  NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE, OFFICE OF SCIENCE POLICY AND LEGISLATION */
/*              MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS SECTION               */
/* BITNET: NLR@NIHNEI31                  BETHESDA, MD 20892-0031     */
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Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc
From: peterd@tscc2.macarthur.uws.edu.au ()
Subject: token ring area - time for one !
Organization: University of Western Sydney
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 00:38:48 GMT

Isn't it about time we had a comp.dcom.lans.tokenring ? or c.d.l.token 
I hate having to look in the misc group every time I'm after token
ring info !

Surely there are other token-ring users who feel the same ?

(If there is already a token ring area *tell me*, I haven't seen it.)

BTW. How are these areas set up ?

--
Peter Degotardi        (__)   *  University of Western Sydney, Macarthur
PC Support Programmer  /00\   *  Computing Centre.
Fax    +61 46 26-6937   oo    *  Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia !
Email  p.degotardi@uws.edu.au *  Just in case - 'My opinions are all mine !'
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc
From: tbooth@netcom.com (Todd Booth)
Subject: A Seminar & Data Networking Design Session with AT&T and Wellfleet
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 23:32:44 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Distribution: ca

AT&T and Wellfleet
	Consultants
	Designers
	Bell Labs Specialists

Routing ... Solutions ...

Consolidating your LAN and non-LAN based applications

August 21st, 1992
The Irvine Marriott (Orange County, California)
A.M. and P.M. Sessions

8:00 Continental Breakfast
8:30 A.M. Session
12:00 Buffet Lunch
12:30 P.M. Session

RSVP 
	Katherine Gray (714) 757-6668
	or Jim Baker (714) 253-5771
From: dan@gacvx2.gac.edu
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc
Subject: Re: ethernet vs. 16mb token ring
Date: 12 Aug 92 14:19:16 -0600
Organization: Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota

> 	I remember reading some years ago (in RISKS Digest, perhaps?) that
> some hospital was installing a network and decided against ethernet
> specifically because it has collisions.  The thinking went something along
> the lines of "In a hospital, people's lives depend on no data getting lost
> and it's simply unacceptable for two packets to occasionally collide and
> get destroyed".

I don't know, but I feel the hand of an IBM sales person in this one.  I once
had an IBM rep tell me that if there was a cable problem on one part of an
ethernet, the whole network would go down.  He wanted to know how I could
build a campus wide net based on a technology like that.  In his defense, he
only knew what he was told by IBM.

On a similar note, I was just reading the sale liturature for TCP/IP for OS/2
and was quite interested to see this on page 6:

         Product Positioning:

         IBM's networking vision is to provide customers the ability
         to collect, manage, access and integrate information among
         departments, locations and companies worldwide and do it
         simply and easily.

         IBM believes that the customer's enviroment will be composed
         of OSI, TCP/IP, SNA and other networks coexisting in a
         heterogeneous state.

         IBM must support the customer's freedom of choice, and
         flexibility required to create a network from diverse
         technologies, with total interoperability and comprehensive
         end-to-end management support and functions.

         In today's enviroment, TCP/IP is the most widely accepted
         product for support of multivendor networks.  TCP/IP Version
         1.2 for OS/2 interoperates with IBM's TCP/IP products for VM,
         MVS, DOS, AS/400, System/88 and the AIX family and products
         that provide equicalent protocol support.

I found it interesting.  I have never been a fan of IBM, this alone won't
change my mind, but I do admit there are a lot of good people at IBM.  I also
don't complain too loudly when their view appears to match mine.  Any errors
were introduced by me.

-- 
Dan Boehlke                    Internet:  dan@gac.edu
Academic Computing             BITNET:    dan@gacvax1.bitnet
Gustavus Adolphus College
St. Peter, MN 56082 USA        Phone:     (507)933-7596
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc
From: J045820@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM
Subject: can tcp/ip and novell exist on a PC simultaneously
Organization: Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc.
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 17:30:19 GMT


As I understand it using NDIS and or ODI drivers you can switch between
a novell file server and a system running tcp/ip without a reboot of the
PC. Is this correct or am I misguided in my thinking. I have been testing
this for some time using a 3com 3c503 and NDIS under IBM TCP/IP for DOS.
Presently we are using novell's ODI drivers in conjunction with the TCP/IP.
A session can be started with either of the two independantly of the other,
but when I attempt to leave TCP/IP for example for a Novell session the
machine will lockup, the same happens going in the other direction. If anyone
could be of help or point me in the direction of help ...please do.
                                      Thanks Billy Smith
Xref: sparky comp.dcom.lans.misc:660 comp.dcom.lans.ethernet:1667
From: croussel@hayes.com
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc,comp.dcom.lans.ethernet
Subject: Re: 802.5 transparent briding question
Date: 19 Aug 92 11:40:21 EDT
Organization: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Norcross, GA

In article <1992Aug18.141851.22311@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu>, craven@egr.msu.edu (Dean Craven) writes:
> Hi,
> 
> Here is a question for folks with 802.5 briging experience.  If there is
> a better newsgroup for this area, please let me know.
> 
> What are the options for setting the A and C bits of the Frame Status byte
> when doing transparent bridging on 802.5 LANs?  IEEE 802.1d defines both
> MAC and MAC relay software entities.  If I'm reading 802.1d correctly, the
> MAC level in a bridge is allowed to set the A and C bits to 1 whenever it
> receives a user_data_frame to be given from the MAC entity to the MAC
> relay entity (i.e., the A and C bits are set before the MAC relay entity
> checks the filtering database to decide whether to really forward the
> frame - thus the bridge sets the A and C bits for all user frames on the
> source ring).
> 
> Am I reading 802.1d correctly?  Are bridge developers setting the A and C
> bits for all user frames?  What are the ramifications of setting these
> bits for other nodes on the LAN?  Alternatively, what are the ramifications
> of not setting the A and C bits when forwarding a frame?
> 
> Please respond via email.  Thanks.
> 
> Dean Craven		(craven@egr.msu.edu)
> Software Engineer
> Dale Computer Corp.
It's true that 802.1d does not specify whether bridges will
set the A and C bits on frames they forward or not.  802.1
simply "punted" on this issue.  

To do the right thing (set A and C bits only on frames that
are bridged) requires extra (expensive) hardware.  CAMS must
be used to quickly determine is the destination address is
one the bridge knows about.

There may be some low-end bridge vendors that set A and C
for every packet that goes by (as 802.1 allows) but most
everyone that I became familiar with at 802.5 were intending
to add the CAMs and do it right.

If you don't add the CAMs, LAN manager will get deluged with
error messages about duplicate stations on the ring (if you
set A and C).  If you always leave A and C clear, some old
NETBIOS applications, will retransmit excessivly.

This is definitely a point where 802.1 compliance doesn't
mean much.  Welcome to the murky world of token-ring
interoperablility.  (Don't even ask about multicast addressing).

-- 
Chris Roussel 			   internet: hayes!croussel@uunet.uu.net
(404) 840-9200 (x.2147)                uucp: ...uunet!hayes!croussel
Hayes Microcomputer Products       U.S.Mail: p.o.box 105203, Atlanta, GA 30348
Xref: sparky comp.dcom.lans.misc:662 comp.dcom.lans.ethernet:1672
From: shepperd@netcom.com (David Shepperd)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc,comp.dcom.lans.ethernet
Subject: Re: Cabletron MR9000s
Date: 20 Aug 92 02:33:43 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

rohrernl@helix.nih.gov (Nathan Rohrer) writes:
: In article <1992Aug19.123754.6749@super.org> rsh@super.org (Randall S Hammel) writes:
: 
: 
: >       I was curious if any other people out there are using
: >Cabletron MR9000 multiport repeaters, and if so have they had 
: >any problems with power supplies on these units.  

Yep. I have one MR9000 and after a couple of years, it failed to
power on after a scheduled shutdown. This was a Sunday and I had to
have the network up on monday, so I just grabbed a couple off the
shelf power supplies and connected them up appropriately (I seem
to recall it needing +5,-5 and +9). Of course, this means the PS
is outside the MR9000, but I don't mind. It's to be replaced with
a THN-MIM in a few days anyway.

: >We have about 30 or so of these in use on our network, and have found
: >there power supplies to be very flakey.

You could subscribe to Cabletron's maintenance program. With that, they will
Federal Express you a new one overnight and you send them the dead one at your
convienence. I don't know for sure, but I'd expect that to cost about $200/yr
each. $200x30 = $6000. I think you'd be much better off getting a spare or two
and at $6000/yr, you could buy lots-o-spares. With a spare, in won't matter
if it takes 2 or 3 weeks to get a dead one fixed (unless another one dies
in the meantime).

You might also consider getting the spares from someone other than Cabletron
since we now know what the MR9000's are like.

Good luck.
-- 
Dave Shepperd.          shepperd@netcom.COM  or  netcom.netcom.com!shepperd
The company probably doesn't know what I say or do, but they pay me anyway.
From: vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com (Vernon Schryver)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc
Subject: Re: ethernet vs. 16mb token ring
Keywords: throughput, token ring, ethernet
Date: 15 Aug 92 01:41:17 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA

In article <1992Aug14.184942.1790@ultra.com>, shj@ultra.com (Steve Jay {Ultra Unix SW Mgr}) writes:
> Hear, hear.  We just got done analyzing a "problem" in which hosts
> on an ethernet were reporting 30% "collision" rate.  We were pumping
> back-to-back packets (minimum inter-packet spacing) out of one host
> with ttcp, and not surprisingly, every ACK packet coming back from
> the receiving host got a "collision".  That is, the receiving host always
> tried to send its ACK at exactly the same time as the transmiting host
> put its next packet on the wire.  Each host would then back off (by
> slightly different amounts in each host), and things would proceed
> normally.
> 
> It took us a while to realize that this was totally correct behavior...
> the extraordinary collision rate being reported by the hosts was not
> an indication of anything wrong.
> 
> We were seeing > 1.1 Mbyte/second transfer rate between the two hosts
> while the 30% collision rate was occuring.  We get the same transfer
> rate between other pairs of hosts without the high collision rate.  We
> decided that this likely has to do with the ethernet chips actually
> using a value slightly different than 9.6 microseconds for the inter-
> packet time.  Just a few nanoseconds difference will prevent the
> "collision".


AMD LANCE 7990's have a bug wherein they are slow to start after 
deferring.  They don't do anything really wrong, but they are more
"polite" than other chips.  On a "small enough" network (as measured
in microseconds between stations), this politeness yields significantly
better TCP/IP throughput, if you use relative large TCP windows.  The
total number of collisions is reduced, and so more time is spent moving
data bits and less deciding whose turn it is to talk.


Vernon Schryver,  vjs@sgi.com

P.S.  7990's are disappearing because other, simpler chips are easier
 and cheaper to interface to high speed buses, at least in my vicinity.
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc
From: tim@animal.gcs.co.nz (Tim Frost)
Subject: Re: can tcp/ip and novell exist on a PC simultaneously
Organization: GCS Limited, Wellington, New Zealand
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 02:23:22 GMT

In article <92227.37083.J045820@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM> J045820@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM writes:
>
>As I understand it using NDIS and or ODI drivers you can switch between
>a novell file server and a system running tcp/ip without a reboot of the
>PC. Is this correct or am I misguided in my thinking. I have been testing
>this for some time using a 3com 3c503 and NDIS under IBM TCP/IP for DOS.
>Presently we are using novell's ODI drivers in conjunction with the TCP/IP.
>A session can be started with either of the two independantly of the other,
>but when I attempt to leave TCP/IP for example for a Novell session the
>machine will lockup, the same happens going in the other direction. If anyone
>could be of help or point me in the direction of help ...please do.
>                                      Thanks Billy Smith

It is possible to use both TCP/IP and Netware simultaneously, by correct
configuration of the ODI interface.  One of our clients was using an IBM
RS/6000 connected to PC's and PS/2's, with the RS/6000 to provide shared
disk via Netware for Unix, and an Oracle database was being accessed
using Oracle Card over TCP/IP.  We configured  a minimal entry for the
3C503 in the NET.CFG file, then loaded the drivers in order: ODI driver
for the 3C503, then the IPXODI driver, then the generic TCP/IP driver
for FTP Software's PC/TCP, then ran LSL, before loading NETX.COM.

I hope this helps.

Tim


-- 
________________ Tim Frost, Technical Consultant, GCS Ltd  __________________
_________ P.O. Box 11-642, Manners Street, Wellington, New Zealand. _________
______________ Voice: +64 4 801-8000   Fax: +64 4 801-8888 __________________
______________________ Email: tim@animal.gcs.co.nz ___________________________
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc,comp.dcom.lans.ethernet
From: rsh@super.org (Randall S Hammel)
Subject: Cabletron MR9000s
Organization: Supercomputing Research Center (Bowie, MD)
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 12:37:54 GMT


	I was curious if any other people out there are using
Cabletron MR9000 multiport repeaters, and if so have they had 
any problems with power supplies on these units.  

We have about 30 or so of these in use on our network, and have found
there power supplies to be very flakey.  Even now with all of them
protected by UPS's, the last time we had a scheduled system wide power
outage there were symptoms of flakey power supplies in about 25 percent
of the units for the first few minutes after they were powered back
on.  The symptoms are the continuous blinking on and off of the lights
(receive, collision, and fault) on the front display.

	In many cases the units have never recovered and have been
	shipped to Cabletron for repair.  This approach to the problem
has been unsatisfactory because it is too time consuming (two weeks at
best to get the unit out of the facility, repaired and back) and too
expensive (typical power supply replacement costing $250).  We had at
one point queried Cabletron tech support asking if we could just
acquire the power supplies ourselves from them and have our own
technicians do the repairs on site, but Cabletron indicated that they
wouldn't provide the power supplies.

	Has anyone else had this problem and managed to come up
with a better solution?


					Randall S. Hammel
					rsh@super.org
					(301) 805-7414
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc
From: jukkao@sulo.otol.fi (Jukka Oraj{rvi)
Subject: Re: Connecting an HP Laser Printer on the Ethernet
Organization: Oulu Institute of Technology, Finland
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 17:43:13 GMT

From article <2230232@hprnd.rose.hp.com>, by ptc@hprnd.rose.hp.com (Paul Congdon):
> 
> You can buy a network card from HP that plugs directly into
> your laser printer.  There are IPX/SPX, AppleTalk, and TCP/IP
> versions of the card.  Call HP at 1-800-752-0900
Also 3+Open & MS Lan Manager REMOTEBOOT (LLC).

-- 
#  Jukka Oraj{rvi, Oulu Institute of Technology, Finland                #
#  X.400: g=jukka/s=orajarvi/o=otol/p=sapina/a=mailnet/c=fi             #
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc
From: duzan@slagheap.cis.udel.edu (Gary D. Duzan)
Subject: Network Terminal Programs
Organization: Your Organization Could Be Here!
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 23:49:28 GMT

   What DOS or Windows terminal programs are there that can use the 14h
or 6Bh interrupts for network modem connections? I'm trying out COM-AND
now, but it only does 14h and I'd like to check out my options. Thanks.

                                   Gary D. Duzan
                                   Network Administrator
                                   Delaware State Hospital



-- 
                             duzan@cis.udel.edu
   _o_                       ------------------                         _o_
 [|o o|]       Virtual Reality? No thanks, I've already got one.      [|o o|]
  |_O_|       Disclaimer: I have no idea what I am talking about.      |_O_|
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc
From: craven@egr.msu.edu (Dean Craven)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc,comp.dcom.lans.ethernet
Subject: 802.5 transparent briding question
Date: 18 Aug 92 14:18:51 GMT
Organization: Michigan State University, College of Engineering
Originator: craven@eecae.ee.msu.edu

Hi,

Here is a question for folks with 802.5 briging experience.  If there is
a better newsgroup for this area, please let me know.

What are the options for setting the A and C bits of the Frame Status byte
when doing transparent bridging on 802.5 LANs?  IEEE 802.1d defines both
MAC and MAC relay software entities.  If I'm reading 802.1d correctly, the
MAC level in a bridge is allowed to set the A and C bits to 1 whenever it
receives a user_data_frame to be given from the MAC entity to the MAC
relay entity (i.e., the A and C bits are set before the MAC relay entity
checks the filtering database to decide whether to really forward the
frame - thus the bridge sets the A and C bits for all user frames on the
source ring).

Am I reading 802.1d correctly?  Are bridge developers setting the A and C
bits for all user frames?  What are the ramifications of setting these
bits for other nodes on the LAN?  Alternatively, what are the ramifications
of not setting the A and C bits when forwarding a frame?

Please respond via email.  Thanks.

Dean Craven		(craven@egr.msu.edu)
Software Engineer
Dale Computer Corp.
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc
From: jdb@arp.anu.edu.au (John D. Barlow)
Subject: HiPPI distributor info needed
Organization: Parallel Computing Research Facility, ANU.
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 05:53:50 GMT

hmm - maybe this isn't exactly a "lan" question, but I am trying to
locate a specific distributor of HiPPI equipment (which attaches to
a Sun Workstation via the Sbus).  I have the following information:

CHI SYSTEMS, Inc.     SBus/HiPPI Interface	    $6500 Nov-Dec 92
Doug Felder, VP Mktng Dual slot SBus card providing   (availability)
Tel: 510-464-2322     connection to Bi-directional
FAX: 510-464-2513     HiPPI channel. (Uses Motorola
		      MC92001 SBus chip.)

BUT the phone and fax numbers just don't work (they appear to be
ex-Wells-Fargo bank numbers).  Does anybody have (a) contact numbers
for the above manufacturer (b) a contact which can supply an
equivalent product (c) recommendations against hooking a Sun
to HiPPI via the S-bus ?

-- 
John Barlow, Parallel Computing Research Facility, Australian National
University, I-Block, PO Box 4, Canberra, 2601, Australia.
email = John.Barlow@anu.edu.au
[International = +61 6, Australia = 06] [Phone = 2492930, Fax = 2490747]
From: shj@ultra.com (Steve Jay {Ultra Unix SW Mgr})
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc
Subject: Re: ethernet vs. 16mb token ring
Keywords: throughput, token ring, ethernet
Date: 14 Aug 92 18:49:42 GMT
Organization: Ultra Network Technologies

In <odahios@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com> vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com
(Vernon Schryver) writes:

>It really is too bad that they used a word like "collision" with such
>ugly connotations to describe the process wherein two or more ethernet
>stations automatically decide which gets to transfer next.

Hear, hear.  We just got done analyzing a "problem" in which hosts
on an ethernet were reporting 30% "collision" rate.  We were pumping
back-to-back packets (minimum inter-packet spacing) out of one host
with ttcp, and not surprisingly, every ACK packet coming back from
the receiving host got a "collision".  That is, the receiving host always
tried to send its ACK at exactly the same time as the transmiting host
put its next packet on the wire.  Each host would then back off (by
slightly different amounts in each host), and things would proceed
normally.

It took us a while to realize that this was totally correct behavior...
the extraordinary collision rate being reported by the hosts was not
an indication of anything wrong.

We were seeing > 1.1 Mbyte/second transfer rate between the two hosts
while the 30% collision rate was occuring.  We get the same transfer
rate between other pairs of hosts without the high collision rate.  We
decided that this likely has to do with the ethernet chips actually
using a value slightly different than 9.6 microseconds for the inter-
packet time.  Just a few nanoseconds difference will prevent the
"collision".

Steve Jay
shj@ultra.com  ...ames!ultra!shj
Ultra Network Technologies / 101 Dagget Drive / San Jose, CA 95134 / USA
(408) 922-0100 x130	"Home of the 1 Gigabit/Second network"
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc