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From: jensen@convex.com (Bill Jensen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm,comp.protocols.appletalk
Subject: Re: Is there a Mac->NFS solution other than a GatorBox?
Message-ID: <1991Feb07.010801.4940@convex.com>
Date: 7 Feb 91 01:08:01 GMT
References: <1991Feb5.223218.10341@athena.mit.edu> <38955@cup.portal.com>
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Organization: Convex Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx.
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Wollongong does have a product, PathWay Client NFS, that plays NFS
to a file server.  Of course what the user sees is a remote volume
which appears to have all the features of an Appleshare volume.

I have had a copy for about a month but haven't used the NFS feature
much due to hardware problems on my Mac.  In fact, my primary
reason for getting it was for evaluation and to see what the
LPR server feature was like.

Perceived performance isn't all that high, but that doesn't have
to be Apple's or TWG's fault.  My server may not be totally
up to the job either.

The version I have is also revision 1.0, so it has a few bugs
that can cause some consternation.  None of these bugs is serious
and TWG has told me they will be remedied in 1.1.  This update
is scheduled for March or April.  None of the bugs are fatal
and they don't cause you to lose data (from what I have seen).

Overall, for the suggested retail price (around $200) it seems
like a good buy, especially since it also does printing.  I haven't
used it enough to get a feel for it, but I would say that
people who are used to using Appleshare over a localtalk link
will not have a problem with the performance.  If you are used
to Sun to Sun NFS performance, this product may feel really slow.
I think they did a fairly good job for this first version.

Here is some data:

	-  Uses MacTCP, thus it can handle IP on ethernet and IP
	   encapsulated in Appletalk packets.  MacTCP is on the
	   product disk.  Get the MacTCP version of NCSA Telnet
	   and they will play together.

	-  Appleshare/NFS mapping is only available on the machine
	   that is running the software.  It doesn't turn your Mac
	   into a Gatorbox-like server.

	-  It emulates the berkeley lpr system and will allow
	   Unix machines who run the berkeley spoolers to send
	   text files or PostSript programs to a laserwriter.
	   What you get on the laserwriter with version 1.0
	   may surprise you, but the problems can be worked
	   around for text files and I am looking at a work
	   around for PostScript files.

	-  Files are stored in a modified Appledouble form. TWG
	   ships an editor that is knowledgable about various
	   end of line sequences, so it will play with Unix, DOS
	   and Mac files.

	-  The product requires your server to run Sun's pcnfsd.
	   As an alternative, TWG ships the source to their own
	   authentication daemon, nfsad.  If you don't have
	   pcnfsd be prepared to port their daemon.

	-  Because each apple volume has its own Desktop file
	   and the NFS server cannot coordinate updates to this
	   file, a volume mounted with PathWay is only supposed
	   to be mounted by one Mac.  I was told by a TWG person
	   that the likelihood of colliding updates isn't
	   very high, but since I am only running this on one
	   machine I cannot check this out.

Bill Jensen
Convex Computer Corp.
jensen@convex.com