Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!mailrus!uwmcsd1!ig!agate!ucbvax!M5.SDSC.EDU!gkn From: gkn@M5.SDSC.EDU (Gerard K. Newman) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip Subject: RE: Re: Questions on TCP-IP (vs. DECNET) Message-ID: <880716211306.2360009b@M5.Sdsc.Edu> Date: 16 Jul 88 21:13:06 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 42 From: hedrick@topaz.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick) Subject: Re: Questions on TCP-IP (vs. DECNET) Date: 15 Jul 88 06:20:12 GMT Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. DECnet routing tends to be slightly unstable. This is true to some extent, in that a serial line attached to (say) a DECSA router can cause lots of triggered routing updates on an ethernet. But I've also seen some amazingly unstable routing caused by unstable serial lines on IP gateways. Interfacing DEC's mail system into an environoment with DECnet, IP, and BITnet is always a real trip. Yes, it is, although there is some very good software out there which will do just that. My 4 protocol mail gateway (DECnet, IP, BITNET, and MFENET) handles about 5K messages per week with very little non-automated attention. Some of the newer services seem to have no equivalent on DECnet, e.g. the network file system. I haven't heard or X or NeWS over DECnet, though I'd think DEC might have an X over DECnet for its VMS-based workstations. DEC markets a product called DFS which is a distributed file system, but it isn't really based on DECnet. Likewise, the VAXcluster file system isn't based on DECnet, but it too is a distributed file system. DECWINDOWS is DEC's X-Windows product which supports X11R2 on top of DECnet. It is not yet out of field test. gkn ---------------------------------------- Internet: GKN@SDS.SDSC.EDU Bitnet: GKN@SDSC Span: SDSC::GKN (27.1) MFEnet: GKN@SDS USPS: Gerard K. Newman San Diego Supercomputer Center P.O. Box 85608 San Diego, CA 92138-5608 Phone: 619.534.5076