www.ibm.comLANDP Webpage

LANDP Mixed Transports

Introduction

It is possible to use both the NetBIOS and the TCP/IP transports within the same workgroup. Workstations can be configured to use either NetBIOS, or TCP/IP, or both. However, each workstation must use the same protocols as the other workstations that they need to communicate with (related workstations).

For example, if a workgroup has a SNA gateway with some clients configured to use the TCP/IP transport and some other clients configured to use the NetBIOS transport, the SNA gateway workstation must be configured to use both NetBIOS and TCP/IP transports.

When a workstation is configured to use both transport protocols the required NetBIOS resources can be reduced to be sufficient for only the number of related workstations using the NetBIOS protocol.

Scenario for the Mixed Transport Functionality

Imagine your LANDP workgroup has a single server and a large number of DOS clients using the NETBIOS networking protocol.

You may wish to add some new clients to the workgroup that can access the server over a TCP/IP link. Using TCP/IP, the clients may be situated remotely from the server, or linked over a modern structured Intranet. Linux clients also require the use of TCP/IP.

Using mixed transports, you do not have to modify the DOS systems. Simply reconfigure the server with both TCP/IP and NETBIOS transport protocols enabled, and attach the new clients. The old clients will continue to work as normal.

Customizing a Mixed Transport Workgroup

To illustrate a mixed transport scenario, customize a LANDP workgroup containing 3 workstations.

The transport protocol used by a workstation is specified in the LWSCONF vector for that workstation in the LANCONF.SPC file. The server, for example should have it's XPORT parameter set to TN to indicate both transport protocols are to be used.

You may find the following tutorials helpful during the customization.

Introduction New to LANDP? Make the most of LANDP Solving LANDP problems Feedback