RE: [Linux-decnet-user] Can only connect to three out offourofourVMS nodes

[Ben A. <be...@bg...>]

On Mon, 2003-02-24 at 16:35, Colin Butcher wrote:
> If you really mean not in use at all (no cable even) then OK

That's correct.

> , I'd probably
> enable it on both and then you have a measure of manual failover, or better
> would be to use the available bandwidth out of the box and run DECnet over
> one interface and IP etc. over the other one, plug them both into the same
> switch and off you go. Be careful about doing this if you're also running
> clustering (SCS protocol) and LAT etc. Might be a nice plan to run the SCS
> traffic over a private 4 box ethernet (if they all have dual 100Mbit/sec FDX
> NICs or even better Gigabit NICs), disable SCS on the rest
> (SYS$UPDATE:LAVC$STOP_BUS). It all depends on what's out there and what
> protocols you need where.

I believe DECnet use on our network is declining and in fairly low
demand.  At least, that's how it seems from doing a bit of traffic
monitoring, so I doubt if running both interfaces would be worth the
added complexity.  Anyway, I'll mention the manual failover point to my
sys admin and let him choose whether to leave phaseiv enabled on the
unused interface or not.

> NET$CONFIGURE in ADVANCED mode will be your friend (@NET$CONFIGURE
> ADVANCED) - also lets you set things like the ES hello timer values. Read
> the manual carefully first - it does vary slightly depending on which
> version of VMS you're running.

It turns out my sys admin is wary of running NET$CONFIGURE at all
because he's afraid of the possibility of inadvertently toasting
currently working settings.  He tells me if he knew exactly which NCL
script(s) to modify manually and how, that would be his preferred way to
go about it, as then we could back things out easily by simply renaming
files if something went wrong.

> Also, if you're going to be rebooting - remember to install the current
> patches for VMS. There's at least one very useful fix for ethernet link
> speed / duplex autonegotiation. You probably want to check your Alpha's
> firmware version while you're at it and update that too.

I believe our sys admin stays on top of these things already, but I'll
mention it anyway.  The system is showing 38 days uptime which means
some system maintenance has been performed recently.  (I can't remember
the last time our UPSes completely conked out during a power outage, or
a piece of equipment in this system failed. :)

So now I'll have to look over the NCL stuff.  My first barrier to
overcome is that as an ordinary unprivileged user, I cannot see
SYS$MANAGER:*.NCL (my best guess at where to start).  So, where to go
from here?  I'm sure my sys admin will grant me any reasonable access to
materials needed to research this configuration change.

Thanks for bringing me this far.

Ben
-- 
      Ben Armstrong                -.       Medianet Development Group,
      BAr...@dy...         `-.    Dymaxion Research Limited
      <URL: http://www.dymaxion.ca/>    `-  Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada