[Info-vax] What would you miss if DECnet got the chop? Was: "bad select 38" (OpenSSL on VMS)

[Dirk Munk]

Hans Vlems wrote:
> I guess commercially DECnet is as dead as a dodo.
> Functionally, for my own use, three things speak for it:
> 1 it is very nicely integrated into DCL
> 2 it allows network connectivity to systems that do not have IP
> 3 it allows me to configure the IP stack and log on via ethernet (yes LAT dors that too).
>
> I'll stay away from the phase IV / V discussion because it's outside the scope of the question.
> Hans
>

No, it is not.

DECnet Phase IV and DECnet Phase V are two completely different products.

Phase V has a IP transport stack, DECnet nodes are known by their IP DNS 
names. So you can use DECnet Phase V in an IP-only network.

Phase IV only knows the old Phase IV DNA stack, very much unwanted in 
modern networks, and unusable on the internet.

Multinet can tunnel Phase IV traffic over IP, but that is a rather 
static affair. You still have to use DECnet names, Multinet will 
translate them to IP DNS names from a translation table.

If we both would have DECnet phase V over IP enabled, then I could use 
this commandline to get a file from your VMS system:

copy vax.vlems.freenet.de::dka500:[public]text.txt []

No need for any preparation or configuration what so ever.

This will never be possible with Phase IV.