Decnet LAVC Network
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Appendix K - DECnet DECnet Originally created to allow 2 PDP-11s to communicate over Ethernet, DECnet was introduced in 1975 by the Digital Equipment Corporation. DECnet is now used to enable DEC equipment to communicate in an intranet environment. DECnet encompasses 2 architectures, VAX and MIPS. DECnet VAX Architecture VAX, Virtual Address Extension, is a CISC architecture that comprises of Micro-VAX and VAX wide systems. VAX equipment can run either VMS or Ultrix. Most VAX servers can be clustered, thereby creating high availability systems that are scalable, can load balance, and can share data and peripherals. VAX servers and peripherals communicate over an external bus called LAVC or Local Area VAX Cluster. LAVC are characterized with 2 to 96 VAX devices interconnected by an external bus. LAVC also incorporate the use of Terminal Servers. SCA, or System Communication Architecture, provides for LAVC over standard Ethernet. Since Ethernet is an extendable technology, hosts and peripherals can be located in dispersed geographical locations. LAVC over Ethernet can be used to transport various network protocols at the same time. In some cases LAVC devices use a CI bus, or Computer Interconnect bus. This is a high speed bus, usually 70Mbps over 4 coaxial cables, which connects all devices at a star coupler. This bus is limited to 50ft, restricting it to close quartered equipment. On the bus is a HSC, or Hierarchal Storage Controller, that allows for data storage shadowing. Data storage shadowing is a process by which data is written to two dispersed storage devices at the same time. DECnet LAVC Network VT100 VT220 VT52 Computer Terminal server Ethernet VAX Micro VAX Star Coupler CI BUS Micro VAX Disk array Disk array DECnet MIPS architecture DECnet MIPS devices run ULTRIX. ULTRIX is DECs version of UNIX. These devices are LAN attached and run communications protocols like TCP/IP. Page K - 1 Terminal Servers Terminal Servers are used by dumb terminals, (vt220, vt100, vt52), to communicate with a DEC host, such as a VAX, over Ethernet. Terminal Servers offload virtual terminal key processing from the VAX CPUs. The Terminal servers collect key data from the terminals and pack them into an Ethernet frame. At any given time, a frame may be carrying the key strokes from more than one dumb terminal, therefore, Terminal Servers and VAX hosts keep track of sessions. The LAT, or Local Area Transport, is used between the Terminal Server and the DEC VAX host. LAT advertises its services every 60 seconds. This advertisement is sent, via broadcast, to all hosts on an Ethernet. DNA – Digital Network Architecture DECnet is a propriety protocol that has been developed in different stages called phases. The most common DECnet Phase is DECnet Phase IV. Currently DECnet is in Phase V or DECnet/OSI. DECnet Phase IV uses its own 8 layer model, similar in function and structure to the OSI model, to describe its networking features. It is called the DNA, or Digital Network Architecture. The DNA layers are shown below. Page K - 2 The User Layer supports user services and programs. The Network Management Layer is the only layer that has control and direct access to all layers below it. This layer controls and directs access to all layers. The Network Application Layer is responsible for device I/O and file access control. The Session Control Layer controls flow and conversation. The End Communications Layer is responsible for establishing and destroying end to end communications channel. The Routing Layer is responsible with routing of messages to destination. The Data Link Layer is responsible for communication over physical layer. And the Physical Link Layer is the actual hardware transmissions. DECnet Phase V – DECnet/OSI DECnet Phase V, or commonly DECnet/OSI, is a backward compatible protocol that provides for DECnet to run over the OSI Transport, Network and Datalink layers. (See Appendix G – OSI Protocols for more information.) This allows for DECnet systems to operate in a multi-protocol environment. Much of the upper layer protocols are the same in Phase V as in Phase IV. Phase V supports many OSI standard protocols. At the Transport layer Phase V supports ISO TP0 through TP4. Page K - 3 DECnet Applications Much like the OSI model and the DOD model, DECnet uses applications at each layer of its model. DECnet applications resemble those of TCP/IP. They include: MOP, NICE, DAP, CTERM, MAIL, DNS, DFS, DQS, SCP, NSP, and DRP. The diagram below illustrates the layer at which each operates. Page K - 4 NICE NICE is the DEC Network Information and Control Exchange. It is widely used to manage hosts and the processes that run on them. It can be used for the upload and download of system configurations as well as tracking and trapping network/system events, and can be used to perform tests on hosts. MOP Most Terminal Servers are diskless and therefore uses MOP to get their configuration form a VAX host known as the Boot node. The Boot node contains an image of the OS and its configuration for each diskless host on the network. MOP, or Maintenance Operation Procedures, is used to download operating environments to VAX diskless servers much like BOOTP. It is also used to perform diagnostics on VAX hosts. DAP Similar to TCP/IP FTP, DAP, or Data Access Protocol, allows users and systems to access local file systems remotely. It is currently being replaced by DFS, (Distributed File System), in the DECnet Phase IV model and with FTAM, (File Transfer, Access, and Management), in DECnet/OSI. MAIL MAIL simply is an e-mail transport system for DECnet. CTERM CTERM, (Communications Terminal Protocol), is much like TCP/IP TELNET. It is an alternative to LAT. DNS DNS, (Distributed Naming Services), provides the naming service for DECnet devices. Its purpose is to map names and network addresses. DFS DFS, (Distributed File System), is much like TCP/IP NFS. It allows hosts to mount file systems that are located on other hosts. DQS DQS, (Distributed Queuing Services), provide for job control on print queues throughout the DECnet network. SCP SCP, (Session Control Protocol), is DECnet session layer protocol. It is responsible for the building and teardown of logical links between hosts on an as needed basis. NSP NSP, (Network Services Protocol), is the transport layer protocol for DECnet Phase IV. It is connection oriented. It is responsible for Data segmentation and reassembly, error correction, flow control, windowing and congestion control. DECnet OSI uses TP4 at this layer. DRP DRP, (DECnet Routing Protocol), is the network layer protocol for DECnet Phase IV. It is responsible for determining the best route between hosts. It does this based on cost. Page K - 5 DECnet at the Datalink Layer At the Datalink layer, DECnet Phase IV uses a frame called the DDCMP or Digital Data Communications Message Protocol. DDCMP is implemented on both Multipoint and Point-To-Point connections. DDCMP provides flow control and error correction over both synchronous and asynchronous communications. Much like the 802.3 frame, DDCMP includes a byte count with in its frame to denote how many bytes are in the frame. Unlike any other frame, DDCMP includes 2 CRC fields, one for the header and 1 for the data. The DDCMP header is 42 bits in length. 2 Bytes are used for frame synchronization. The total maximum frame size is 16402 bytes, or 16.4KB. Over Ethernet DECnet is carried by Ethernet II and 802.2 LLC frames. No other Ethernet frame is defined for use with DECnet. Ethernet II frames use the following type codes: Hex Type Code Function 60-01 MOP dump/load 60-02 MOP Remote Diagnostics 60-03 DRP 60-04 LAT 60-07 LAVC DECnet Phase IV addressing DECnet Phase IV hosts addresses are 16 bits in length. The address is broken down into a 6 bit area number and a 10bit node number. The address is written is dotted decimal notation. Therefore, Area 6, Host 17 would be written 6.17 The 16 bit address space allows for a total of 63 areas and for 1023 hosts. There can be no host with the address 0 or with the address of 1024. Host address 1024 is reserved for directed broadcasts. Similarly, there can be no network with the address 0 or with the address of 64. The network address of 64 is reserved for limited broadcast. There is only 1 DECnet address per host. That is to say, the address is given to the host not the interface on the host. Each DECnet host imbeds its address in to a DECnet MAC that is used by every interface on the host. Page K - 6 DECnet and MAC addresses DECnet addressing affects the MAC addresses of hosts. Essentially, DECnet overwrites the MAC with its own version of a MAC address. Only 1 MAC address per host is allowed, no matter the number of interfaces the host may have. This may impact any other protocol one may have configured for the host to use. To create the new MAC address DECnet devices go through the following steps: 1. Takes the assigned area number and multiplies it by 1024. 2. Add the host node number to the product of step 1. 3. Swap the two high order bytes of the sum from step 2. 4. Prepend the DEC prefix of AA00.0400 to the number from step 3. Below is an example of the DECnet MAC conversion process. Given a host id of 4.3, Step #1, 4 x 1024 = 4096 Step #2, 3 + 4096 = 4099 All MAC are in Hex so convert the number to hex.