Subject: HPR encodings on FR - J.Cobban's note dated Feb. 14th

From: "Marcia Peters (8-444-4380)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 96 11:07:44 EST

HPR over frame relay has been at Closed Pages for nine (9) months.
Members had many months to review it prior to CP.  Of course if an
architecture turns out to be actually broken, it behooves us to revisit a
prior approval phase.  But from Jim's note it does not sound like that is
the case.  It sounds like a platform-related implementation issue.  (If I
misinterpreted your statements, please correct me.)

To the best of my knowledge, three HPR products are already shipping, and
it would not surprise me to hear of others shipping soon.  We can of
course bring this issue up at the next AIW meeting, but I imagine that an
effort to get a consensus to change shipped products that aren't broken
may be unfruitful.

If, after further consideration, you still want this on the agenda let me
know.

Marcia Peters
Chair

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From: "jim (j.) cobban" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 17:31:00 -0500

The current architecture expressly states that it assumes that the THDR
starts on a word boundary.  With the current specification of the frame-relay
encapsulation that cannot be achieved.  This is not a problem which could
reasonably have been anticipated until this late stage.  I do not feel
that this is limited to a specific implementation.  The only way that it can
be supported is by the implementation copying the entire THDR to another work
area so as to align it properly.  That defeats the whole point of HIGH
Performance Routing.  If the members of this SIG can suggest an alternative
solution to this problem then I will withdraw the complaint, but that will
probably require time on the agenda.

I objected to this encapsulation at the time.  I was shouted down on this and
on problems with other encapsulations.  I really do not appreciate IBM's
attitude with regard to this area of the architecture.  More and more I wish
that I had rejected consensus on the HPR specification 9 months ago as I had
been authorized to do by my management if it proved necessary.  I am sorry
now that I decided to be a nice guy and let the standard progress.