Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucsd!pacbell.com!tandem!mytardis!jb
From: jb@mytardis.UUCP (John Bartas)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.programmer
Subject: OS/2 Network APIs
Message-ID: <118@mytardis.UUCP>
Date: 31 Jul 90 21:04:52 GMT
Lines: 90



Doug Harvey writes:

>I've got several applications in mind that would work great if I could
>connect two OS/2 workstations across our Token Ring LAN.
>
>We are running OS/2 EE v1.2 on IBM PS/2 70's with 120MB and 10MB+ RAM.
>Also, our LAN software is IBM LAN Server v1.2.
>
>What I want to do:
>
>Be able to connect any two workstations together so they can "talk",
>whatever that might mean (up to the application).
>
>What I've tried:
>
>Experimented with named pipes, but it doesn't look like I can connect
>(from a requester) to a named pipe that resides on another requester.
>The named pipe has to be on a server.
>
>I think APPC would do the job, but APPC imposed quite a bit of overhead,
>both in terms of running it, and coding the application.

. . . . .

>Doug Harvey
>--
>Hewitt Associates
>100 Half Day Road
>Lincolnshire, IL  60069
>(708) 295-5000

Doug;

	One quick solution to your problem would be to use comercial 
TCP/IP packages. These are now available for OS/2 over token ring, and 
I think most of them include the Sockets API. Sockets is a de-facto 
standard for calling TCP/IP fuctions in UNIX systems and as such 
supports peer to peer connections of the type you need.

	You have touched on a basic flaw in the Lan Manager model of
Networking: the artificial division of clients (or as IBM likes to
call them "requestors") and servers. On most non-PC oriented
networks, (ie tcp/ip) every machine is logically a peer of every
other machine, so they each have the option of beening client or
server or both. There is no technical reason why two OS/2 requestors
couldn't communicate via named pipes. This restriction is imposed for
a variety of marketing reasons.

	You may have seen rumors in PC trade rags that TCP/IP is slow
or hard to use. These rumors are (I think) perpetuated by big companies 
who want to lock you into their proprietary protocols. A good TCP/IP
stack is about as fast and much more versatile than any of the "PC-only"
networks.

	FTP Software Inc. (ph# 617-868-3878) is a reputable supplier 
of TCP/IP products which has just released an OS/2 product. The
Wollongong Group (415 962-7100) has a product in Alpha test. I know
there are other vendors, but I don't have the phone numbers handy.
You don't mention a budget for your projects, so I suspect the prices
($575 for FTP's OS/2 product in single quantities, probably similar
for their competitors) may be a problem.  But at least you can
threaten your IBM/Microsft salesperson with buying peer-to-peer APIs
from third parties; and maybe someday they will allow it in named
pipes.

	One last thought: The july 8th issue of Network World had an
article on Token Ring software products which included a usefull table
describing features and price of many OS/2 products (I got the FTP
info there). The article started by asserting that 16Mb Token Ring
would be cost competitive with ethernet in less than a year (which I
would bet a LOT of money against) but once you get past that it
contains a lot of usefull information. I noticed several products
claiming peer to peer connectivity, so you may find other solutions
there. 

	Another last thought: The 3com 3+open Lan Manager provided a
NetBios API which supported peer to peer connections. Does your IBM
product include a NetBios API? An application written to this would 
be very portable to other OS/2 platforms and you may already have all
the software you need.

Good Luck!

-JB-

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