Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!mordor!sri-spam!rutgers!ucsd!ucbvax!ftp.UUCP!jbvb
From: jbvb@ftp.UUCP (James Van Bokkelen)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc
Subject: Re: TCP/Novell gateway
Message-ID: <8801262037.AA20097@spdcc.COM>
Date: 26 Jan 88 20:11:48 GMT
References: <519@interlan.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 30


      [] Disclaimer - I have a vested interest in what I'm writing about!

Of course, so did/do I.

      ......
      But a gateway works on all types of subnets, and on a flat network
      provides security by forcing a gateway user to log in to Netware before
      accessing TCP hosts.  Also, a gateway only takes up 1 IP address, while
      each workstation is it's own TCP host.
      ......
						   Larry Backman
						   Micom - Interlan

This is my personal opinion: I think that the days of "one media/protocol
over here, another over there, and we'll put a translating gateway between
them when we need one" are numbered, if not already past.  Were I advising
someone who didn't already have an investment in incompatible hardware, I'd
tell them to use all Ethernet, or all ProNET-10, or all 802.5, or at least
a mix of Ether and Starlan (for which TCP/IP and MAC-level bridges to
interconnect the two speeds are already available).  Ethernet happens to
be the media available on the widest range of machines, by a large margin,
so that's why I mention it first.  Starlan has identical packet formats...

The issue of IP addresses for workstations is a real one, but the process
of making configuration automatic upon power-up is relatively well-understood.
I'd expect it to be addressed by at least one commercial supplier sometime
during 1988.

James VanBokkelen
FTP Software Inc.