Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!csfst1
From: csfst1@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Charles S. Fuller)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: networking apollos to foreign systems (i.e. Sun)
Summary: ... no problem ...
Message-ID: <74452@unix.cis.pitt.edu>
Date: 31 Dec 90 17:26:48 GMT
References: <1990Dec31.031121.8773@ecf.utoronto.ca>
Reply-To: fuller@nye.nscee.edu
Organization: Westinghouse Corporate Computer Services
Lines: 45

In article <1990Dec31.031121.8773@ecf.utoronto.ca>, apollo@ecf.toronto.edu (Vince Pugliese) writes:
> 
> realizing that most if not all of the apollo tcp-ip software was(is)
> busted ...
> Question 1: is the above a safe assumption or, is there a later patch tape
> which fixes a vital piece of tcp-related software?

Not knowing what level of the OS you are running, it's difficult to give
a short answer, so ...

Under SR9.x, TCP/IP was, indeed, prone to failure for a number of  
reasons.  It did (and still does, at our site) do the job, but
resembles nothing that you'll be familiar with in the non-Apollo world.
In our current usage of this software, the SR9.x TCP is used to allow
E'netted, non-Apollo workstations at a remote site to pass IP packets
through an Apollo token ring co-located at that site (running 9.7),
across a Domain/Bridge-A link, through our token ring, and onto our
E'net.  Once configured, it does, in fact, move IP packets.

The "SR10.>0" TCP/IP implementation is much more elegant, and actually
"looks" like most of the other TCP/IP's out there.  There's actually
an /etc/hosts, not a /sys/tcp/hostmap/local.txt .  And it's fairly
robust.  You should have no difficulty communicating with SPARCs, or
anything else, for that matter.  We routinely talk with machines from a
number of vendors, running God-knows-what TCP/IP, with no problems.

One major "gotcha" with SR10.2 is the "pty corruption" problem.  I
mention it here because it will affect telnet access to your Apolli.
If you're going to be running SR10.2, be prepared for users being unable
to login to the machine until you destroy the pty files and re-create
them.  Frequently.  This problem is fixed in 10.3, by the way.

> Question 2: are the instructions in the Configuring and ... TCP/IP still
> valid and correct or is there a new set (e-mailable or ftpable??) that
> reflects more  accurately real-life user experience?

From my experience, the manuals released with "SR10.>0" are very useful,
even to a novice IP administrator like me.  Make sure you have the
proper manuals for your level of the system, though; the SR9.x manuals
are completely useless for SR10 TCP/IP.  As for being "e-mailable or
ftpable" ... manuals are kinda big; I doubt you'll find them on-line
anywhere ... but good luck.

Chuck Fuller
fuller@nye.nscee.edu