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From: casey@gauss.llnl.gov (Casey Leedom)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems,comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Looking for a few good terminal servers ...
Summary: Looking for a high performance terminal server to use as part
	of a dial in, high speed modem pool
Keywords: terminal server, TCP/IP, EIA232, flow control, high speed modems
Message-ID: <65225@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV>
Date: 23 Jul 90 21:53:59 GMT
Sender: usenet@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV
Followup-To: comp.dcom.modems
Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lines: 91


  We have a rack of eight (8) high speed modems (Telebit T2500s).  We're
looking for a high performance terminal server to hang these guys off
of.

  I'd appreciate any input anyone, vendor or user, may have on terminal
servers you think would satisfy our needs (or should be avoided at all
costs.)  Thanks in advance.  Please send email directly to
casey@gauss.llnl.gov.  I will summarize all responses.  (If you ask not
to be included in the summary I will respect your wishes.)

Casey

-----
ABSOLUTE MUSTS:
    1.	There shall be a minimum of eight (8) EIA232 serial interfaces
	and one (1) Ethernet interface.

    2.	Serial interfaces shall handle at least 38.4K bits/second on all
	lines.  If two terminal servers are equivalent in other features,
	the one with the highest throughput (serial and Ethernet) will be
	selected.

    3.	Serial interfaces shall support hardware modem control (DTR/CD)
	and hardware flow control (RTS/CTS) simultaneously.  (I.e don't
	even bother talking to me about the Xylogics Annex I or Annex
	II.  The upcoming Annex IIe does fulfill this requirement
	according to their marketing blurbs.)

    4.	Shall be able to set up completely transparent 8-bit clean
	connections.  Yes, I realize that once such a connection is set
	up the user wouldn't be able to escape out to other sessions.
	Tough.  Some of our applications need a clear channel.

    5.	Shall support TCP/IP telnet protocol.  Shall support BSD rlogin
	protocol.

    6.	Shall support passworded logins.

    7.	Shall use BIND for host name lookup.

    8.	Shall listen to RIP for routing information.

    9.	Shall respect ICMP redirects.

   10.	Shall incorporate Van Jacobson/Michael Karels TCP/IP
	improvements: Slow start, retransmit timing, round trip timer,
	etc.

DESIRED FEATURES:
   11.	SLIP (RFC1055).  It would be nice to be able to dial in and set
	up a SLIP connection.  Preferably this should be implemented
	either with subnetting (which means the terminal server will
	have to participate in RIP) or by the terminal server proxy ARPing
	for the remotely connected SLIP host.

   12.	SLIP with header prediction (RFC1144).  More performance for the
	above ...

   13.	SNMP monitoring/setup.  It's the wave of the future.  If SNMP
	setup is provided for, it shall be possible to restrict such
	SNMP access to a restricted list of authorized hosts.

   14.	Respond to ICMP ECHO requests.  Useful for determining if the
	terminal server is up, etc.

   15.	AppleTalk/EtherTalk gateway capabilities.  We have a lot of
	people with Macintoshes at home who would like to dial in and
	simply become part of the AppleTalk community for file sharing,
	printing, etc.  If such a facility is offered, it shall use
	AppleTalk Phase II.  (And no, I don't want to hear about Shiva
	modems.  We already have one high speed modem pool I don't see
	any point at all in fragmenting our resources.  If we need more
	modems, I just want to toss them on the already existing GENERAL
	PURPOSE modem pool.)

   16.	More than eight (8) EIA232 serial interfaces.  We might want to
	expand the modem pool in the future.

   17.	Greater than 38.4K bits/second.  Not likely, but with V.32bis
	(probably coming within a year) and V.42bis modem standards,
	we're looking at the possibility of achieving bursts of up to
	57.6K bits/second over the phone lines.  It sure would be nice to
	be able to get at that bandwidth ...

   18.	Dialback capabilities.  Since all modems tend to use at least
	slightly different commands, etc.  I don't hold out any hope
	at all for this, but it would be nice.

   19.	LAT.  We don't have any LAT users, but every once in a while we
	run into one.  We won't cry for a second if this isn't available.