Chester Copeland <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Yes you can bridge your DTC LAN with your PC LAN but;
>-The PCs in Bldg A will have to connect to the LAN via a Network Interface
>Card and be running a TCP/IP stack (best bet is to upgrade them to Windows
>NT) as well as the appropriate Reflections for the stack (ie. Reflections
>for HP with NSVT).

Well, Minisoft might have something to say about that! :-)

MS92 (Minisoft's termulator) will run using WIN95's TCP/IP stack - don't 
know about NT.

>-You will require NS3000 on your HP3000 in order to get NSVT.

Hmmmm.  Isn't NSVT bundled with the MPE/iX OS?  I know it is with 
5.5, but I don't know about earlier versions.

>-These PCs will no longer require their async (serial) connection to the
DTC
>and if all users in Building A are PCs connecting in this manner, you will
>no longer require the DTC there. In fact, if all users have PCs equipped
in
>this manner, you would not require any DTCs.

Unless you have serial, spooled printers.

>The HP3000 NS protocol can coexist on a LAN with a protocol such as
>Microsoft Networking (which your NT servers are probably running) or Novel
>Networking. I doubt there is any good reason for isolating DTC traffic
from
>your PC LAN but if you want, you could use an intellegent bridge between
>your (new) DTC LAN with its added PCs and your existing PC LAN. This would
>isolate HP3000 traffic to your segment of the LAN and it would not be
passed
>through the bridge to the PC LAN. Traffic that is destined for another
>segment (such as Internet traffic) would pass through. I believe most
>bridges will do this.

We run all our traffic over the same WAN link (using frame relay) and that 
includes NSVT, DTC (unrouted), Netbuei, IPX/SPX, and TCP/IP (for C/S ODBC).
 
We have not seen any problems with bandwidth, and believe me, we have a 
very small CIR on our frame.  We have only a router at each end of the WAN,
and have no problems with the LAN.  In fact, our DTC's are connected to 
the same hub as all the other devices via 10BaseT.

Jim Phillips                            Manager of Information Systems
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]      Therm-O-Link, Inc.
Phone: (330) 527-2124                   P. O. Box 285
  Fax: (330) 527-2123                   Garrettsville, Ohio  44231