[Info-vax] DECnet use in today's world, was: Re: Tangent about DECnet versions.

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2018-05-20 00:32, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> On 2018-05-19 21:32:57 +0000, Simon Clubley said:
> 
>> On 2018-05-19, Stephen Hoffman <seaohveh at hoffmanlabs.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>> There is ample evidence of production use of DECnet Phase IV+ and 
>>> Phase  V around.
>>>
>>> Phase IV and earlier are point-to-point or multipoint and predate 
>>> Ethernet support, so those do tend to be somewhat more rare.  Though 
>>> undoubtedly a few installations do still exist.
>>
>> AA-N149A-TC (DIGITAL Network Architecture (Phase IV), General 
>> Description) just calls it DECnet Phase IV, but also includes the 
>> description of the Ethernet support in DECnet Phase IV.
> 
> Yes; I'm aware that the distinction between Phase IV and Phase IV+ was 
> dropped in many contexts, and it's so old now that many of the 
> contemporary references have long since disappeared.
> 
> "Eventually a number of enhancements were made to DECnet Phase IV. These 
> enchancements become known as DECnet Phase IV+. DECnet Phase IV+ systems 
> were completely interoperable with DECnet Phase IV. In fact most DECnet 
> Phase IV systems are actually DECnet Phase IV+ systems. Most of the 
> enhancements were performance improvements such as the addition of path 
> splitting in Routing and the addition of delayed ACKs and a out of order 
> cache in NSP. There was, however, one significant new functional 
> enhancement: the addition of proxies in Session Control."
> 
> IIRC, Phase IV+ and Ethernet support and some other related bits all 
> arrived around the same time; in the mid VAX/VMS V3 range.

You are correct on just about everything except ethernet support. 
Ethernet support was one of the main enhancements of Phase IV, and it 
was there from the start. (The other main enhancement was the addition 
of areas, and lifting the number of nodes in one area to 1023).

IV+ did add those other bits you mention.

Phase IV was early 80s. Wikipedia says 1982, which I think sounds about 
right. And I believe that should somewhere around VMS V3.

   Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
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