Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!ll-xn!husc6!spdcc!ftp!dab
From: dab@ftp.COM (Dave Bridgham)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc
Subject: Re: NetBIOS v/s NFS
Keywords: NetBIOS NFS
Message-ID: <610@ftp.COM>
Date: 31 Mar 89 14:32:02 GMT
References: <15732@admin.mips.COM> <8903231542.AA05216@vax.ftp.com> <467@trwind.UUCP>
Organization: FTP Software Inc., Cambridge, MA
Lines: 46

In article <467@trwind.UUCP>, msd@trwind.UUCP (Marc S. Dye ) writes:
> JBVB has alluded to a basic misunderstanding with what most people call
> NetBIOS.  NetBIOS per se is a protocol suite and API

Here is precisely what James was talking about.  NetBIOS is *not* a
protocol suite, it is only an API.  That API can be (and has been)
implemented using any of a number of methods on any of a number of
protocol stacks only one of which is on top of TCP/IP with the method
specified in RFCs 1001 and 1002.

> I'm not in total agreement with James' notion that NetBIOS itself must
> be DOS/PC specific, though the NCBs themselves certainly are.  I'm
> aware of at least one implementation that layers the NCB API atop a
> portable NetBIOS interface which isn't OS-specific.

Not only are the NCBs rather MSDOS specific but using software
interrupt 5C is *very* MSDOS specific.  If NetBIOS is the interface
specification (the API) then NetBIOS is exactly NCBs and INT 5C.

> But, NetBIOS does implement a more robust file locking mechanism than
> does NFS.

But, NetBIOS doesn't implement any file locking at all.  If it's done
at all it's done by some application running on top of NetBIOS.

> I'm not really sure NFS-based applications can
> participate in the Unix-style locking mechanisms -- I've never seen 
> it done, nor tried to do it myself.

If you're writing an application that uses filelocking you don't want
to base the locking on NFS or NetBIOS; you want to base it on MSDOS.
Then NFS should translate the MSDOS locking calls into the appropriate
NFS (or rather lockd) operations.  I believe Sun's PC/NFS does this.

> If you're interested in remote
> file systems with commercial-type file access control, I'd be more
> inclined to look to someone like Novell to attempt to unify TCP/IP
> and these notions than to buy into NetBIOS-atop-TCP/IP or NFS at this
> point (my opinion).

I agree.  You should be able to implement MSDOS locking with NFS, but
Novell is using a protocol specific to MSDOS so they can guarantee an
exact match.

						David Bridgham
						FTP Software, Inc.