Newsgroups: bit.listserv.banyan-l
Date:         Tue, 15 Dec 1992 12:14:46 CET
From:         Bent=Tranberg%Data%AID@BAN.AID.NO
Subject:      re: PCTCP 2.1x

>5. We use LIM EMS because it can be used on 8086s, too, and when we
>committed to it DPMI was not as stable as it is now.  We're aware of
>the issue.

Thank you! I guess that means you will probably use extended memory in some
future version. I have to admit I forgot EMS was the only thing available
on the 8086, but then how many of us are using old '86s in these days of
Windows 3.1? We have used what we have left for PC-based printing services
for a long time, and soon we will throw them out and replace them with the
ATs. Almost everyone is using 486s here.

If you use FTP on a non-Banyan'ed PC, you might have room for a page frame,
but we are using most of the upper memory for the Banyan drivers and no page
frame. If Banyan would put their drivers in extended memory, that would have
the greatest impact. Another thing is the size of each part of the drivers
during initialization and while resident. If they could try to squeeze it
into 32K blocks, we could loadhi it into B000-B7FF or the area containing
BASIC on the PS2, or somewhere else I'm sure.

                        >This is also where the IP addresses and user
>ids are, so the file already has to exist on a per-PC basis.
>
>James B. VanBokkelen            2 High St., North Andover, MA  01845
>FTP Software Inc.               voice: (508) 685-4000  fax: (508) 794-4488

Most of the configuration is identical for all of our users. I will try to
use a CONTINUATION file, but the manual says only that "if a section is not
found in the current file, PC/TCP scans the specified file." I haven't tested
yet, but I should think this means that sections cannot be split between
files. I hope I am wrong; I would like to have "[pctcp general] domain=" in
the shared network file, and "[pctcp general] host-name=" ( and serial numbers
if need be ) in the local file. ( That was just one example. I want to split
most sections. )

>       As I understand it (caveat), ebanyan uses Banyan type ethernet
>drivers to run in parallel with Vines, and ibanyan actually runs over
>Vines, so that the IP is encapsulated in Vines packets. Both ibanyan and
>ebanyan require Vines drivers; Ibanyan is recommended for people with
>several Vines LANs networked together.

Unlike Novell networks with more than one server, Banyan VINES networks with
more than one server are not several LANs networked together, but a single
LAN. Hip-hip-hurray!!! ( I just couldn't resist commenting this. :-)  )

>When requesting support of your VAR or OEM, keep two things in mind:
>First, we are giving your VAR a substantial price break to support the
>product. If they are not providing their customers with adequate support,
>we want to know! Also, if your VAR cannot answer your questions, _they_
>should call us, rather than you calling us. That way, at least one person
>in the VAR's technical support department gets educated on your problem,
>and future customers with that problem will get better support.
...
>Frances K. Selkirk              fks@ftp.com             (508) 685-3600
>FTP Software, Inc.              2 High Street, North Andover, MA 01845

I don't blame our VAR on this one, it seems everyone is equally confused the
first time :
We were asked "do you have ethernet? I guess then you want the ethernet
version?", and we said "guess so...". When we asked if we needed one
TCP/IP option in every server, or just one on the entire network, we got
lots of answers, some with contradictory statements in them, and "guess
you just have to try it out". Probably the technicians knew what they were
talking about, but the salespeople we talked to may have been confused and
did not understand that this had to do with the two drivers. We ordered
the TCP/IP routing option and the ethernet specific version. It took us
two months to sort out the facts and get the software we should have had
in the first place. ( We all got educated. ) Jamie at FTP and this list
helped me get the facts straight in the end, but all the names everyone
used for the different versions did not exactly help: IBanyan/EBanyan,
PC215/PC216, ethernet spesific/non-ethernet spesific ( was totally
misleading to us ), VINES virtual TCP/IP network/?, TCP110/TCP111,
TCP120/TCP121, are there more?

I would like to suggest once more that both drivers (IBanyan and EBanyan) be
put in the same box. It would put an end to a lot of problems. I can't see
any harm in it, after all you can only use one driver at a time. We have a
site lincence and the IBanyan driver, but would prefere the EBanyan driver on
half of the PCs ( so that we won't have to go through a server and/or the
students can have a look at real IP packets on the cables, and who knows
if not other reasons will pop up.. ).

Bent.Tranberg@ban.aid.no
Agder College of Engineering, Grimstad, Norway
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU