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From: storm@nas.nasa.gov (Steve Storm)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: 802.3 vs ethernet
Message-ID: <1991Jun21.162957.24583@nas.nasa.gov>
Date: 21 Jun 91 16:29:57 GMT
Sender: news@nas.nasa.gov
Reply-To: storm@nas.nasa.gov (Steve Storm)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center
Lines: 44

I have been asked some questions about my machines that I have
no answer for.  Maybe some kind soul out there can give me some
info about this or some pointers to info.

The issue concerns 802.3 and ethernet packets.  Recently, we tried 
bring up some machines at a remote site and among the other confusions
of a new site, we found that their hosts were talking 802.3 only.
Some of our hosts didn't understand at all.  Others seemed to understand
the 802.3, but insisted on replying in ethernet mode.  The answer we
came up with was to have the remote hosts switch to ethernet.  (Which
took them a while since they weren't too knowledgeable about their
systems.)

The point that was brought up is...they shouldn't have to do that.
In the best of all possible worlds, we should be able to reply in
the same dialect that we receive.  If a host starts up in 802.3,
we should answer in 802.3.  If the host starts talking to us in ethernet,
we can reply in ethernet.  If our host starts the conversation our
host gets to choose.  One of my questions is...is this unreasonable?
Does this exist anywhere?

Another question is, which hosts actually support 802.3 packets?
How can I tell?  How do I test this?  Anybody got any clues.

I'll gice you one thing I have found that is amusing.  One of our
machine types is SGI workstations.  Checking the docs reveals this
information.  Yes, their chip set understands 802.3.  No, their software
doesn't understand 802.3.  Where does this leave me?  (Waiting for the
next release, that's where.)

If anyone can get me anywhere on this little puzzle, I offer my
heartfelt gratitude and appreciation.  (In other words, thanks
in advance!)

-storm

-- 

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