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From: kik@CERNVAX.BITNET.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: Response to anti-bridge comments
Message-ID: <460@cernvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 6-Apr-87 02:26:02 EST
Article-I.D.: cernvax.460
Posted: Mon Apr  6 02:26:02 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 8-Apr-87 00:20:19 EST
References: <8704022034.AA09965@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
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Reply-To: cernvax!kik ()
Distribution: world
Organization: CERN European Laboratory for Particle Physics, CH-1211 Geneva, Sw
Lines: 29
Keywords: Bridge, network, load sharing
Approved: tcp-ip@sri-nic.arpa


   I get the impression that, in the discussion  on  Bridge  functionality,
people  are  not taking enough trouble to distinguish between the *service*
and the *communications*.

   The service is to filter and  forward,  based  on  destination  address.
There  is  no reason for the filtering not to be shared, in a disjoint way,
by any number of devices.  In fact, we intend to do this.  The load-sharing
and backup algorithms are designed and we plan to implement them on our own
equipment once we get the time.

   The communications can be based  on  point-to-point  links,  satellites,
etc.  In  fact,  the  choice  of  communications  is  limited  only by your
networking ability.  For  example,  DEC  and  Vitalink  have  "invented"  a
spanning-tree  approach  to provide redundant communcation.  This is really
primitive.  We, at CERN, use a genuine communications subnet  with  all  of
the  build-in  advantages  (originally designed for inter-computer traffic,
and all the better for that!).  The ideal backbone for such purposes  would
be a high-speed bus-type network (we're hoping for FDDI).

    I am trying to rewrite the IEEE 802.1 document on MAC-level bridges  to
reflect the clear separation between
   a) address resolution and
   b) routing
so that the current confusion can be avoided.

          Cheers

               Crispin PINEY