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From: boerner@ut-emx.uucp (Brendan B. Boerner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.novell
Subject: Re: Token Ring vs. Ethernet vs. Novell
Message-ID: <43324@ut-emx.uucp>
Date: 28 Jan 91 19:42:20 GMT
References: <1991Jan27.195418.2062@engin.umich.edu>
Organization: UT Austin Computation Center, Microcomputer Technologies
Lines: 25

In article <1991Jan27.195418.2062@engin.umich.edu> cerberus@caen.engin.umich.edu (R Eric Bennett) writes:
>who make products for IBM.  I know that NoVell is BIG, but are they proprietary
>and do they make Token RIng and Ethernet systems.  The NoVell networks I've
>seen seem  to be centered around a single fileserver, whereas the token ring
>networks I've used allows access to what seems to be every node in the ring.
>Right or wrong?  Where does ethernet fit in?

Novell's flagship product is NetWare, which is software which runs
on 80[234]86's to make them high performance file servers.  (NetWare
can also be ported to UNIX systems (Portable NetWare) and there is
a version for VMS systems.  It's beyond the scope - let me know if
you need more information).  Anyway, NetWare is LAN hardware
independent - it can run over Arcnet, Token-Ring, Ethernet, what
have you.

For purposes of communicating between two nodes, from a logical
point of view, there is no difference between Ethernet and Token
Ring.  From a more detailed pov, there are differences, some of
which are cost(s) and political factors.  I've seen sites which do
nothing but TR, some others Ethernet is the way to go.  Personally
I favor Ethernet.  In any case, NetWare will work as long as you
have a driver for your particular board.

Hope this helps a bit,
Brendan