Subject: Parallel Links for LAN Nodes

From: Howard Blevins <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 16:26:49 PDT

This is a follow up e-mail on the discussion I started at AIW5 about
Parallel Links for LAN Nodes. My issue was, if you are going to change
DEFINE_LS to add a Source SAP, then DEFINE_PORT should be changed as well.

My point is that many vendors allow remote nodes to call in with out
already being defined. This feature is present to reduce system definition.
This really makes sense for a Network Node that services many ENs.
An operator will prefer not to enter every End Node that might connect
to the Network Node.

So with that it mind, I feel that the DEFINE_PORT should include a
range of Source Saps (or a list of valid saps this port will accept for
incoming calls). Someone suggested that each different Source Sap should
be treated as a seperate port; however, adding ports is resource
intensive and is not a viable solution.

Any comments?,

Howard Blevins
3Com Corp
[email-masked]
(408) 764-6985

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From: [email-masked] (Dave Finnie)
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 94 10:21:05 EST

I would like to add my support for Howard's suggestion of defining SAPs
on PORT resources.

Our node currently supports the dynamic addition of LSs that initiate a
connect to us. In our environment we are able to accept incoming connections
for any local SAP value, but in some environments this may not be possible,
and therefore configuration of the allowable SAPs would be desirable.

Another thought that I would like to add to the whole dynamic definition
debate is that the Discovery architecture sounded like a real step forward
in this direction. What ever happened to this architecture ? A scenario that
I could see it used for would be for an EN to discover a NN server. This
would make it exceedingly easy for sites to install ENs - virtually no
configuration would be necessary, and there would not need to be any
manual configuration of MAC addresses. Of course there are many other uses
for this architecture.

Dave

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From: "jim (j.) cobban" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 10:26:00 -0400

In another context I have objected to the practice of APPN implementations
getting around restrictions in the CS architecture by defining a single
physical external port as multiple APPN "ports".  I have advocated amending
the architecture so that there is always at least the option of defining a
single port to APPN to represent that APPN node's use of a particular
physical interface.

This enhancement of the architecture is applicable to all interfaces which
use IEEE 802.2 LLC.  That obviously includes all of the IEEE 802.x LANs and
MANs, FDDI, and also Frame-Relay as specified by Frame-Relay Forum
TRF92.32R.

I therefore concur with the requirement for the DEFINE_PORT to provide a list
of source SAPs and for DEFINE_LS to have a single source SAP.