Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att-cb!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ukma!nrl-cmf!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!LARRY.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU!philipp
From: philipp@LARRY.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU (Philip Prindeville [CC])
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re:  A network you can trust
Message-ID: <8804032049.AA05594@Larry.McRCIM.McGill.EDU>
Date: 3 Apr 88 20:49:55 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 20


    Ignoring hosts, however, and just considering the network layer,
    the discussion is still interesting.  I like datagram in the sense
    that the network isn't obligated to do sequence and guarenteed
    delivery and so on, and can squash packets if it has to.  However,
    I like some of the "set up" notions of VC.  These days, there are
    many things that one might want to "set up" (or more appropriately,
    cache) in the gateways along the path.  These include routing
    information, address information (like a Landmark Address, for instance),
    VISA information.  All of these things can be done without destroying
    the "datagram" aspect of the network.

Paul,

    Sounds to me like you want a frame-relay network.  Sort of a
hybrid...  You set up a "channel" by specifying an end-point, type of
service, etc.  All packets associated with that channel will have those
properties.  The subnet maintains state at the sender's DCE only.

-Philip