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The Question is:
Our branch office was handed down some old Digital hardware that we intend on
getting up and running. We received 2 MV3100's and 2 DELNI's. I'm assuiming
that the DELNI's need software on the host VAX to boot with. My question is
what software do I need t
o get the DELNI's up and communicating with the MV3100's? It may possibly be
already be installed on the 3100's so how do I tell if it is?
I browsed through the FAQ's and did some searches on Compaq's site but couldn't
find the answer to my question.
Thanks.
The Answer is :
The DELNI can be thought of as a box containing a length of "ThickWire"
ethernet cable with eight AUI connectors (numbered 1 to 8) spaced along
the cable at the required separation interval. The DELNI does not need
to be booted, nor does it run any software, nor is its presence in the
network visible to any network applications. A DELNI requires power,
AUI cables, and the appropriate setting for the "global" switch.
The only configuration issue is if the ninth AUI connector (the "global
port" connector; female, and labelled with a small square) is used to
connect the DELNI into a larger network, the adjacent slide switch should
be pushed to the end marked with a square. If used locally, the switch
should be moved to the end marked with a square containing a diagonal
line.
There are rules governing the maximum cascade of DELNI devices, which
depend somewhat on what other devices are present -- in particular,
multiport repeaters such as the DEMPR, and multiple levels of DELNI
devices. There should be no transceiver heartbeat configured when
the global port is connecting to the backbone, or when a repeater is
in use. And if you have two or more DELNI devices connected to the
same backbone segment, the maximum cable length of the backbone is
limited to 300 meters. These and the few other rules involved are
unlikely to be relevant in configurations with a single DELNI, in
configurations such as yours.
For a two node network, you will need at most one DELNI. Simply connect
the systems to the DELNI, place the global switch into local mode, turn
on the power, and you have the equivalent of an Ethernet network cabled
with the requisite amount of "ThickWire" cabling.
That said, most (all?) MicroVAX 3100 models had both thin and "ThickWire"
ethernet connectors. I'd recommend using thinwire to connect the two
nodes. The ThinWire network will operate at the same 10 megabit speed
as the "ThickWire" Ethernet network, but rather with less clutter and
with one less powered device.
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