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From: ant@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au (Anthony Murdoch)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.apps,comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc,comp.dcom.lans
Subject: LAN MANAGER Questions.
Message-ID: <1991May29.062359.29481@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au>
Date: 29 May 91 06:23:59 GMT
Organization: Prentice Computer Centre, The University of Queensland, Australia.
Lines: 77

Hi Netters,

Sorry about the cross-posting of this article, but the questions I want to
ask cover the realms of a few news groups and there doesn't appear to be
any general lan newsgroup or and group for MS LAN MANAGER.

We are looking into providing support for a LAN package and I have been
made part of an effort to decide which LAN package would be the best to
support.  We already support DEC's PCSA here to provide PC connectivity
to our VAX's, but we are interested in providing connectivity to our other
machines as well as supporting a true LAN (I don't consider PCSA a true
LAN).

Our first consideration was PC/NFS (again not a true LAN), but I have been
recently given some information on Microsofts LAN Manager and it has my
interest arroused.  But the presentation I have leaves some holes
(questions) that I would like answered before I consider it further.  If
someone out there with LAN manager experience, or possibly even someone
from Microsoft, could answer some of these questions, I would be very
appreciative.

1>  Is it absolutely necessary to have an OS/2 server to run LAN manager ?
    We would prefer to be able to run with our UNIX box (SUN 470) as the
    main server.  This isn't a major point though so if there are a lot of
    other advantages we will run with it :)

2>  Which ethernet cards are supported by LM ?  Or is that, which ethernet
    cards support LM ? :)  Particulary, are any of DEC's ethernet cards
    supported.  We have a large number of DEPCA Turbo ethernet boards (for
    PCSA) and so having support for them would be advantage.

3>  Is there any packages (Comercial/Shareware/Freeware) that provide
    TCP/IP over LAN manager ?

4>  Does LAN manager provide file services to UNIX boxes via NFS or does
    it implement its own protocol ?  I'm not sure which of these would be
    preferable, perhaps you can offer some opinion ?

5>  How does the allocation of resources work ?  Does LM allow any user to
    access any resource on any machine so long as the user has the
    permissions ?  If so, then does this include DOS machines ?  I can see
    it working with an OS/2 machine, but does it allow a DOS machines
    resourses (printers etc) to be accessable by others without
    interupting the user on that DOS machine ?

    Does LM allow access to printers on remote UNIX/VMS machines ?

    The kind of situation that we are looking at initially is where a site
    wants to use our UNIX box for some of its file services, but still be
    able to access its own printers etc.  The site is not technically
    orientated and so they want us to handle ALL server maintenance.  Will
    we be able to keep the server on our site or will there have to be a
    duplicate server (or something) at their site to handle all their
    printers etc ?

6>  How good are the mail facilities ?  Is it possible to send mail
    to/from internet machines ?

7>  Is it possible to connect to the LAN from a terminal ?  How would this
    be set up ?  Is it possible to connect to the LAN through TCP/IP
    (telnet) ?  These are picky questions and not that important :)

8>  What is the availability of sercer/connection software for
	- Sun SPARCservers
	- DEC VMS VAXes
	- IBM VM Mainframes
    Who sells/supports each of these ?

Well, I think that's all the questions I have.  My thanks go in advance to
anyone who is willing to provide me any of the answers I need.

ant

  V   ant                       "I killed Laura Palmer"
 \o/  ant@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au
 -O-  Anthony Murdoch           Prentice Centre
 /0\  Phone (07) 36 54078       University of Qld