Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!CU.NIH.GOV!RAF
From: RAF@CU.NIH.GOV (Roger Fajman)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc
Subject: Re:  Two TCP/IP stacks on one PC
Message-ID: <9006062334.AA16458@alw.nih.gov>
Date: 6 Jun 90 23:34:01 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 31

> I think we need to clarify the way in which 3Com 3+Open uses XNS
> and TCP/IP.  3Com uses XNS under Open exclusively for 3+Mail.
> Assuming the correct PROTOCOL.INI you can demand load XNS prior
> to running mail and then release it.  All other 3+open operations
> make no use of XNS whatsoever.  In much the same way, you can
> demand load 3Com's 3+Open TCP to Telnet, FTP, etc.  Once finished,
> you can unload the TCP/IP stack.

I'm told by 3Com that this is true for the workstations, but that
3+Open servers do support Netbios over XNS.  They are coming out
with Netbios over XNS for the workstations in some later release
of 3+Open.

> As you mentioned, 3+Open TCP is not all it is cracked up to be.
> As an alternative you can use the NDIS/PACKET DRIVER version of
> PC/TCP from FTP Software.  I am running this right now on top
> of Open.  When finished with this session, I will use the usual
> INET UNLOAD to release the RAM it occupies.  This is working
> very smoothly.

Glad to hear that it works well.  This is fine as long as you use only
NBP and XNS with 3+Open itself.  But if 3+Open starts to use TCP/IP,
you have the much dreaded two TCP/IP stacks on one PC.  One solution
proposed for that problem was to run 3+Open over FTP Software's
Netbios.  But that Netbios has only B-nodes, so there's no
internetworking of Netbios.  Also, there might be a problem with 3+Open
Mail wanting to load XNS, although perhaps a 3+Open over TCP/IP
wouldn't use XNS, even for 3+Open Mail.

I was told by 3Com today that their initial release of Netbios over
TCP/IP in 3+Open TCP will be B-node only too.