Communications/Token Ring/Ethernet/TCP/IP Question... ;-)-Reply

[Harry Palmer <PALMERH@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

  What you are tring to do is pretty nasty!!  Mixing IPX and SNA on a
Token Ring and Ethernet WAN :(  Running Workstations with Dixie Mae
drivers :(  
  Dixie Mae drivers are touchy about when they are loaded into
memory.  You might try moving them around in the CONFIG.SYS file. 
Try loading them first.  They are also picky about working with memory
managers.  Are you using them with Loadhigh commands (LH)?  Try
loading them without LH. (This uses up more conventional memory!)  
  If you are not going to use TCP/IP you might want to get some Netware
for SAA gateways.  These would allow you to run IPX traffic from the PC
workstations to the SAA gateway and only send SNA between the AS/400
and the SAA gateway.  They work very well and they could eliminate the
Dixie Mae drivers from your PCs as well!  If you ran with SAA gateways
you could also look into setting up your AT&T routers on the FrameRelay
to source route bridge the SNA traffic between the AS/400s and not send
any SNA traffic from workstations over the Frame at all.  Source Route
Bridging adds overhead to your routers so you should make sure they
can handle it.  
  You might want to think about doing more IP.  TCP/IP has some nice
advantages and simplifies things for the LAN/WAN hardware.  FTP is alot
faster than SNA file transfers, Printing to LAN printers with remotes out
queues with IP is cool.  Ping is cool.
  We are currently using WRQ Reflections at the desktops and telnet
connections to our AS/400s on our LANs and on our Frame Relay WAN. 
This is all IP traffic and it works great.  The two draw backs we have
found using telnet to the AS/400 is 1) You get a virtual device.  There is
no assigned device ID for a telnet workstation.  Some of our hospital
software needs device IDs on workstations.  2) You can't use the
workstation entry commands to control what subsystem a session will
come up in.  
  Reflections is a good way to go IP in a Windows 3.1 environment but of
course it cost money!

  Gosh I mentions alot of product so I guess it is time for the Midrange-L
disclaimer.

  I have no financial interest in any of the companys or products I
mentioned.  And there are other products out there that can do the same 
things but I mentioned the ones I am familiar with.

>>> Chuck Lewis <clewis@iquest.net> 07/04/97 12:59am >>>
Hello All,

I'VE "got one for the books", one MOMBO question...

We have various locations across North America that are ALL attached
to
a central AS/400 via various means (i.e.19.2 analog leased, 56k digital
and we are are switching ALL of these over to Frame Relay (via AT&T).
Presently the LAN's (all Novell 4.11) at half of the sites are attached
via the frame to of  course form a WAN. These have all been token ring
and we are running Client Access over the frame (the AS/400 is on the
ring) thus reducing the number of control units needed.

We are NOW ready to start bringing on the ethernet sites. We have set
up
a Multiple Protocol Router that can handle token ring and ethernet and
have been TRYING to get Client Access to work. We can get an ethernet
machine to hit the AS/400 and create the APPC controller. We fire up
PC5250 and it creates those devices. You can sign on and send a
message
or something and then the PC locks up HARD (only way out is to turn it
off and back on.

We are running IPX on the LANS (16mbs T/R and 802.3 ethernet).  We
have
brought in a communications consultant, who is VERY good and VERY
knowledgeable, to try to figure out if we are doing something wrong. He
said that the MPR was setup (OK. He said that what we are trying to do
is outdated (still using IPX, the DXMA and DXMC drivers, Windows 3.11,
etc.) and that his others accounts are using TCP/IP, Windows 95, etc.

My REAL question - is ANYONE doing what we are TRYING to do ? We
WILL
NOT use Windows 95 (we are planning on migrating to NT...). Are we the
ONLY ones attempting anything like this ?

Sorry for the length of this and I thank you in advance for any help !!!

AND for you fellow USA folks, have a happy and safe 4th 9of July !!!


Chuck


Chuck Lewis
CLEWIS@IQUEST.NET
Indianapolis, IN


"The opinions that are shown, are exclusively my own. All my own, all my

own..." and NOT my employer's (with apologies to Emerson, Lake and
Palmer)...


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