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From: chris@mimsy.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: DEC DELUA or Interlan N1010A ??
Message-ID: <6717@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 16-May-87 14:33:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: mimsy.6717
Posted: Sat May 16 14:33:31 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 17-May-87 02:58:35 EDT
References: <552@hsi.UUCP> <7873@utzoo.UUCP> <916@nrcvax.UUCP> <1645@tekcrl.TEK.COM>
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 29

>In article <916@nrcvax.UUCP> msd@minnie.UUCP (Marc S. Dye),
talking about the slower operation of the N1010A when it does
address comparison and insertion in software, writes:
>>This is not usually an issue when Network Layer to Link Layer
>>address mapping is performed by something like ARP (normal TCP/IP
>>fare these days), but has caused trouble in multiple controller
>>installations of XNS protocols ....

In article <1645@tekcrl.TEK.COM> terryl@tekcrl.TEK.COM writes:
>    I'm not sure what you mean by this. Are you talking about multiple
>ethernet cards on one machine???

He is.  The Xerox network concept of an address is quite different
from that in TCP/IP.  There are no classes; all addresses are a
six byte object that looks (surprise!) just like an Ethernet address.
In the Xerox scheme, this address is (at least conceptually) wired
into the CPU backplane, rather than being present on each Ethernet
board.  The thing that distinguishes between multiple boards on a
single machine is the `network number', a four byte object.  Any
machine with more than one board can act as a packet router between
its two or more networks, but it must have the same Ethernet
address on each cable.

There is code in 4.3BSD to set the Ethernet address of the DEUNA
or the N1010A, for those who use the kernel XNS protocol and must
do this sort of thing.
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7690)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	seismo!mimsy!chris