Ibm (bitnet) mail to Dec (Arpanet)

[Bob Larson]

Recently, my boss has received a mandate to establish a "campus wide"
electronic mail system. One of the obstacles in this is a reasonable
link between an Ibm 3081 running VM/CMS and MVS/SP (sp?) (and a couple of
others) and our Dec network. The 3081 is on bitnet and 3 of our Tops 20's
are on arpanet, so it is possible we could utilize a bitnet/arpanet gateway.
(wiscvm)
This raises a few questions about such a gateway: What turnaround can
we expect? (minimum, average, and maximum) Would they be willing to
handle our traffic? (At least until the project isn't my responsibility.)
Is there a reasonable user interface on the IBM end (even if we have to pay
for it) or will we have to write our own?
Currently USC has 6 Tops20s, a couple of dozen vax/vms systems, 16 primes,
a 3081 with split personalities, two 4341's (MVS??), a few vax/unix systems,
and uncountable other mini's and micro's. Anyone want to tackle the job
of getting them talking together?

Thanks,
Bob Larson
Arpanet: Bla...@Usc-Ecl.Arpa
Others: Use your favorite gateway to arpanet
-------

[ESTEF...@usc-ecl.arpa]

Hello --

It is my finding to this point that the MMDF system running on some
kind of Unix (Preferably BSD 4.2) is the best central mail transfer
server, since it is designed and implemented to handle most anything
that can be accomodated by anything. Also, more different systems are
interfaced to MMDF than any other such system.

US Army Armaments Research and Development Command is transferring
mail between a VAX Unix 4.2 MMDF at Dover, NJ, and a network of Primes
at Rock Island, Ill. It is not totally automated yet, but ...
CSnet offers PMDF (Pascal Memo Distribution Facility) which can link
MMDF to VAX VMS. You are running PMDF on USC-CSE (BSD4.2) now.
Perhaps also on others of your VAX VMS systems at USC.

There is even a CSnet connected gateway to the new CCITT MHS X.400
International Protocols in Canada, insxtalled at UBC (Univ of British
Columbia) which services a Canadian network of Univerities.

I expect that most BITNET connections are between TOPS-20s and IBM
systems, at places like Stanford and Columbia Universities.

I would suggest that you size the problem and get yourself a 4.2 UNIX
to minimize your porting problems, and install an MMDF Mail Relay, and
obtain or build the required connections to all your other systems as
MMDF channels which will do all the required munging and accomodating.
This will keep all the munging and accomodations on one system, which
would be dedicated to relaying mail.

Of course, it will be expedient to relay through existing connection
pairs, like the BITNET TOPS-20/IBM stuff, though we do know that there
is a CSnet MMDF Phonenet connection to IBM-SJ (San Jose Research
Labs), which might be available.

BSD 4.2 systems are available in the full range you might need, from
the Integrated Solutions 4.2 box ($18k - $31K), to the new Computer
Consoles, Inc 6/32 which they claim is 7 times a VAX 780 for under
$500K. My price quotes are NOT RELIABLE!

Among some things that I know need to be done is to develop a
combination of SMTP with MMDF Phonenet (Packet Level) so we can use
the TOPS-20 SMTP/Phonenet connection software developed by MAILNET for
MULTICS/TOPS-20 transfers. ECL now runs this software on its TOPS-20s
to connect to MIT-MULTICS for MAILNET.

UC Irvine (UCI) is looking at the same set of problems, as are a
number of industrial clients. It seems to me that there should be
some shareable solutions for these problems.

Anyone know about other connections that we should consider?

Best - Stef

[Ron Natalie]

Yech. Going through Wisconsin to go across campus is disgusting.
Why don't you try one of the following.

1. Buy the WISCnet code from IBM and hook up the IBM's and the other
hosts on you DECnetwork with TCP/IP.

2. Get a Vax that is connected to your other networks and obtain the
code from Penn State that will allow you to establish your own gateway
between the IBM RSCS-based networking (what BITNET uses).

I'd go with option number 1 if it were me.

-Ron

[Greg Minshall]

Note, by the way, that if you are a university, and want the Wisconsin code,
you should get it direct from Wisconsin (lhl@wisconsin?), thus getting a
substantial price break.

We run the Wisconsin code, but only for remote logins and FTP-style file
transfer (ie: we don't yet do mail over it- we use some bisync lines for
that).

Greg Minshall

[Laura Breeden]

The WISCNET code is available to universities and colleges
from the University of Wisconsin, Madison at a one-time
charge of $500. A description of the software is appended to
this message.

If your organization is not an academic institution, the code
is also available commercially from IBM (for $17K). For more
information, contact your local IBM sales reps and refer to
Availability Notice G320-9219.

With a Series/1 front end, IBM VM hosts can use this package
to connect to CSNET X25Net.

Laura Breeden
CSNET CIC

------------------------------------
The University of Wisconsin has implemented the DOD Internet
protocols (FTP/SMTP/Telnet/TCP/IP) for IBM VM systems under con-
tract to IBM. This software package, called WISCNET, is owned by
IBM. IBM has licensed Wisconsin to distribute WISCNET to univer-
sities and colleges. Source code [is] included with the dis-
tribution...

To receive WISCNET, a university or college must sign a
license agreement with the University of Wisconsin and pay a
one-time distribution fee of $500. Licenses may be obtained from
and should be returned to:

Lawrence H. Landweber
Computer Science Department
University of Wisconsin - Madison
1210 W. Dayton St.
Madison, WI 53706

ARPANET, CSNET: land...@wisc-rsch.ARPA
UUCP: ...!{seismo,allegra,ihnp4}!uwvax!landweber

Documents describing WISCNET will be sent with licenses.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF WISCNET

WISCNET includes:

(1) An implementation of the standard DOD protocols TCP and IP
under VM/SP Release 2 or 3.

(2) Implementations of the higher-level DOD protocols FTP, SMTP,
and Telnet.

(3) An interface between SENDFILE and SMTP.

(4) Interfaces from IP to the Ethernet and Pronet local area
networks (using a DACU as described below).

(5) An interace from IP to the Telenet public data network
(using a Series/1 as described below).

TCP/IP runs in a separate disconnected virtual machine on
the VM host. Similarly, each of SMTP, server FTP, and server
Telnet occupies a dedicated virtual machine. User FTP and user
Telnet run within a user's virtual machine under CMS. Virtual
machines communicate with one another using the Virtual Machine
Communication Facility (VMCF).

The VM software is written almost entirely in Pascal, with a
small amount of assembler-language support. Standard IBM-released
software is used throughout (i.e., no modified or unreleased sys-
tem software has been employed).

Local area network interfaces are available for Pronet (Pro-
teon Corp. - 10 Megabit/sec token ring) and Ethernet (Interlan -
10 Megabit/sec). The IBM host is connected to these local area
networks via a Device Access Control Unit (DACU), which is a
UNIBUS-to-channel adapter sold by IBM. There is also an inter-
face to the Telenet public data network, using an X.25 implemen-
tation running on a channel-attached Series/1 front end running
the RPS operating system. The latter interface allows CSNET IBM
VM hosts to connect to the DARPA Internet via Telenet.

[Jeff Myers]

More info on the WISCNET implementation of TCP/IP for VM can be obtained
from l...@uwisc.arpa. When I used in early in testing, I was fairly pleased
with the way in which TELNET to unix machines worked.

--
Jeff Myers The views above may or may not
University of Wisconsin-Madison reflect the views of my employers.

uucp: ..!{allegra,heurikon,ihnp4,seismo,uwm-evax}!uwvax!uwmacc!myers