[Info-vax] terminal servers etc

[Phillip Helbig---undress to reply]

I would like to connect some real terminals far away from my cluster to 
a LAT service on the cluster so that I can hit RETURN on the terminal 
and one of the nodes will offer the login prompt.  If I have the basic 
idea correct, I can connect the terminals to a terminal server via a 
serial connection then connect the terminal server to the LAN where it 
can talk to the cluster via TCPIP or LAT.

I've used a similar setup, years ago, but have no idea how it was set 
up.

Speed is not an issue since I can't type much faster than 100 b/s.  :-)

Some questions (note: I'm not looking for actual instructions; I'll look 
them up if I decide to go this route):

How difficult is this to set up on the VMS side?

Is LAT preferable (easier, better) than TCPIP?

I have stuff like DECserver 90TL, DECserver 90M.  Will this do what I 
want?  (I also have some DECserver 200MC and 250 but I assume the 90s 
are the better choice here.)

The DECrepeater 90T is functionally equivalent to a 10 Mb/s hub (but
amplifies the signal, hence a repeater and not a hub), right?

T is TCPIP, L is LAT, TL is both, M is both and more?  Since a hub or 
repeater is essentially a dumb device, why can't it handle all protocols 
as long as the wiring is correct?

Is the only network connection on the server the BNC coax connector?  If 
so, I'll probably need one of the repeaters in order to connect this to 
a twisted-pair network.  I have both standalone server and repeater as 
well as some which connect to a backplane (and have the backplane as 
well).  Will the backplane provide a network connection between server 
and repeater?  (If so, I might be able to avoid BNC.)