Newsgroups: comp.protocols.appletalk
Path: utzoo!utgpu!cunews!bnrgate!bwdls61.bnr.ca!usenet
From: bschmidt@bnr.ca (Ben Schmidt)
Subject: ATP2 bridging (was Phase 1 vs. Phase 2)
Message-ID: <1991Jan23.142109.21188@bwdls61.bnr.ca>
Sender: usenet@bwdls61.bnr.ca (Use Net)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research
References: <1991Jan17.205340.11378@pbs.org> <48241@apple.Apple.COM> <29515@usc> <48379@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 91 14:21:09 GMT

In article <48379@apple.Apple.COM> hayes@Apple.COM (Jim Hayes) writes:
>You cannot easily BRIDGE Phase II over FDDI...  That's our fault not the
>bridge vendor's.
>
>[SHORT and LONG STORIES omitted...]
>
>CONCLUSION:
>
>Bridge manufacturers should agree on a way to correctly recognize this
>packet and reconstitute it on the other end.  You can tell a Phase I
>AARP from a Phase II AARP by looking inside the packet.  The network
>number will always be zero in Phase I, and always non-zero in phase
>II.  

BEEEEEEP!!!  Wrong answer!  Next contestant, please!    :^)

(Let me get this straight.  Apple broke it.  But everyone else (the 
bridge guys) should have to fix it!?  Has Jim Hayes, a refreshing 
breath of reality from Apple on the net, been kidnapped by Apple 
Marketroids and beaten into submission on the company line!?  Don't 
touch that News Reader dial!  Enquiring minds need to know!) 

>I don't think there is an easy way to "fix" the Phase II spec. in this
>regard. 

True enough.  It's always better to do it right the first time.  :^)

But I'd rather Apple fix this AARP kludge.  Even if it means swallowing
another set of router upgrades! That's better IMHO than going through
special-casing every out-of-spec anomaly on every protocol we have 
to "support" on every piece of network hardware, especially on bridges
which are supposed to be "transport independent".  I thought that's 
why we (the vendors & the customers) subscribe to standards anyhow?
  :^)  :^)

Ben Schmidt     Bell-Northern Research, Ltd.   Ph: (613) 763-3906
Information     P.O. Box 3511, Station C       FAX:(613) 763-3283
Technology      Ottawa Canada K1Y 4H7          bschmidt@bnr.ca  

/* The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to 
   choose from */