Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hplabs!hpda!hpcuhb!hpindda!dfc
From: dfc@hpindda.HP.COM (Don Coolidge)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: HP/3000 TCP/IP - is it standard?
Message-ID: <4310028@hpindda.HP.COM>
Date: 3 Feb 89 01:50:20 GMT
References: <1078@pyrltd.UUCP>
Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 28

>Does anyone out there know about HP's TCP/IP offering on the 3000 series
>under MPE ? Is it the "real thing". Has anyone connected successfully to HP
>3000 using TCP/IP from a "foreign" machine (non-HP), if so what?

>I have been told by a HP user that the 3000 TCP/IP is "non-standard" and
>work may be required to talk to it!

The answer is yes and no.

The 3000 has a real TCP/IP implementation. However, the only networking
and network services currently running on 3000s in the field is the
HP-proprietary NS (HP Network Services). No ARPA/Berkeley services exist yet;
only IEEE 802.2/.3 link level transport is supported (no Ethernet); and all
IP-to-physical address resolution is done by HP's proprietary Probe protocol.
So, any machine you might have that doesn't speak HP's NS (which exists only
on HP machines, and on VAXen running the NS/VAX product) won't be able to talk 
to a 3000. (It takes more than just TCP/IP on both machines for them to
communicate - they also have to be compatible in link transport, IP->link
address resolution, and upper-level protocols.)

However, that's in the process of changing. The MPE/V OS (for non-RISC HP 3000
machines) is planning a release of Ethernet/ARP and selected ARPA/Berkeley
services in the near future. I have no idea as to the actual release date,
so contact HP for any hard info.

Don Coolidge
HP Information Networks Division
hplabs!hpda!dfc