7.3-1 to 5.2-1 Connectivity

[Alfonso Urdaneta]

Also, I am currently using

DECnet for OpenVMS Networking Manual - AA-PV60A-TK
DECnet for OpenVMS Guide to Networking - AA-PV5ZA-TK

If anyone can point me at documentation that is perhaps better suited for what I want to do, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[Steven Schweda]

I don't know about the license, but isn't
DVNETEND exactly the PAK one needs for
good-old DECnet Phase IV? (Of course, either
form of DECnet should be good enough.)

> If I can do (on the alpha) "set host 13.37"
> and get the same result as "set host 0",
> is it safe to assume that my configuration
> is correct and it is a hardware issue?

It sounds plausible, but I've lost track of
what the current configurations are, and of
what works and what doesn't.

[Volker Halle]

Alfonso,

using SET HOST 0 or SET HOST 13.37 only confirms, that DECnet functionality on the local host is o.k. It does not send any messages out via any of your 2 routing circuits, so it doesn't test your routing configuration.

A DVNETEND license (technically) allows you to run either DECnet Phase IV or DECNET-Plus, but that's not your problem.

If your license would not be sufficient, you would not be able to ENABLE your routing circuits. Check the state of your routing circuits with:

$ MC NCL SHOW ROUTING CIRCUIT * STATE - they both should on ON.

You need to find out, if there is a DECnet router on your LAN connected to EIA (CSMACD-0). If so, all outgoing connections would go to that router and it wouldn't know how to reach your VAX:

$ MC NCL SHOW ROUTING CIRC csmacd-0 ADJ * ALL

If there is a router, you have to connect your VAX to that LAN, i.e. plug in your VAX to the HUB connected to EIA0.

Note that we also need to check the line/circ state on the VAX:

$ MC NCP SHOW KNO LINE
$ MC NCP SHOW KNO CIRC

If they are both ON, try SET HOST 37 or SET HOST INDRA0 from the VAX. You can use NCP {SET|DEFINE} NODE INDRA0 ADDR 13.37 to set/define the nodename in the DECnet database on the VAX.

All OpenVMS documentation is on the WEB, DECnet/Plus is at:

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/decnetplus82.html

DECnet-Plus also includes a trace tool (CTF), so you could use: $ TRACE START/LIVE "ROUTING CIRCUIT csmacd-1" to see DECnet packets being send/received on that LAN interface. Running trace needs the user to have the NET$TRACEALL identifier. You should see DECnet ES Hello messages being sent (Tx) from time to time (wait at least 10 minutes). While waiting, try SET HOST 37 from the VAX again... You can abort live tracing with CTRL-C.

Good luck,

Volker.

[Alfonso Urdaneta]

So I had a friend that knows more about VMS come by and look at the machines that I was hooking up, and after a few hours, we got it figured out. Just to give a mental image, I was hookup up two monstrous stations, each one about 10 feet wide and about 7 feet tall and 5 feet deep to a network. They are each built into their own housing bay.

1) The hub did not work.
2) The spare hub, which I used to verify that the first hub worked, also did not work.
3) The coax->cat5 adapter hooked up to station B did not work.
4) The cable coming out of station A's cable bracket was actually wired into station B and vice versa.

Moral of the story: When someone hands you a bunch of hardware and tells you "this was all working at the last installation", do not believe them.

Moral 2: If you did not install the hardware yourself, always verify the wiring. Even if it means getting a forklift and moving a 8,000lb test station.