Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!voder!berlioz.nsc.com!dunkin!my From: my@dunkin.nsc.com (Michael Yip) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans Subject: Re: FDDI as a network backbone Keywords: FDDI, backbone, ethernet Message-ID: <1991Jun10.153141.23507@berlioz.nsc.com> Date: 10 Jun 91 15:31:41 GMT References: <23114@shlump.lkg.dec.com> Sender: my@dunkin (Michael Yip) Distribution: comp Organization: National Semiconductor Corporation Lines: 42 In article <23114@shlump.lkg.dec.com>, koning@koning.enet.dec.com (Paul Koning) writes: |> |> |> |> |>I've recently heard it alleged that using FDDI technology as a network |> |>backbone (as a way of aggregating multiple ethernets) would be a |> |>disaster. Further, I was told that FDDI is a very fragile technology, |> |>not suitable for production networks, not really suitable for much |> |>at all outside the lab -- and probably never would be. |> |> |> |>Does anybody with actual experience with running a large, production |> |>network that includes FDDI as an important part of the transport have |> |>a concurring or dissenting opinion about this? I've got some |> |>very important decisions facing me, and I don't want to do the |> |>wrong thing. |> |> |> |>-M |> |> |> |> FDDI is certainly newer than Ethernet, so the number of people who understand |> it in detail is quite a lot smaller. It is also more complex than Ethernet. Well, understanding FDDI protocol and SMT in detail is definitely NOT required. If a network adminstrator who installed Ethernet (10BaseT) before, then FDDi shouldn't be that much harder. Basically just hooking up workstations to FDDI concentrators (instead or 10BaseT concentrators). But if someone wants to get the most out of FDDI, he probably should study a few papers for half a day or so and he can probably design a FDDI network with good performance and high fault torelance(sp?). |> On the other hand, if you take the time to learn about FDDI, you should |> certainly be able to build a production network that works well. We have been using FDDI in our Lab for over 9 months and it seems to be working very well. We have some SUNs and quite a few PCs on that network. We run TCP/IP and use one of the SUn as a TCP/IP gateway between the lab and the main Ethernet backbone. We just installed fiber in our offices and we are planning to put FDDI concentrators up to connect workstations and file servers. FDDI is still very new. When people first installed Ethernet, they too ran into problems because they have no experience in Ethernet. -- Mike Yip my@berlioz.nsc.com