[Info-vax] Unthinking Existing VMS Networking, Moving Forward was Re: Rethinking DECNET ?

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2014-09-01 21:10, David Froble wrote:
> JF Mezei wrote:
>> On 14-08-31 09:07, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
>>
>>> Restarting work with Phase IV means re-implementing a sizable hunk of
>>> what V already offers.  Which probably means ending up with something
>>> about the size of Phase V.
>>
>>
>> I am not concerned about the transport itself. So decnet 4 or 5 by
>> themselves are not relevant to me.
>>
>> What I am concerned about is the functionality that is embedded within
>> VMS and how to translate/maintain that functionality in a more modern
>> environment.
>>
>> the file system for instance understands that node::filename  gets sent
>> over to FAL. So an updated FAL could then make use of IP instead of
>> DECNET.  Same for task to task communications etc.
>>
>> So in essence, keep the same DECNET functionality at the user level
>> while ditching DECNET at the transport level.
>
> FAL is an application ...
> FAL is an application ...
> FAL is an application ...
>
> Get the idea yet?

Well, it is not that easy/obvious.
FAL is just one half of the picture. The other half is DAP, which is the 
client side. And in VMS, that is baked into RMS. Which means all 
applications can access it, but no application have any code themselves 
for it. It lies inside the services provided by the OS.

> What FAL does could be implemented using TCP/IP.

Indeed. No argument about that part. But then again. Anything can be 
done by any computer/OS. It's all just software. The question is only 
how big an effort it might be.

> DECnet is strictly a task to task communication product.  Anything else
> is an application, perhaps bundled in with the communication package,
> but still an application.

All networking is.

> Yeah, now go ahead and shoot down that argument by saying DECnet is also
> an application.  From some perspective, VMS is an application.

Yes. This is the logical conclusion of your argument. Don't really get 
us anywhere, does it? :-)

	Johnny