LETTERS
Imitation Is A Form Of Flattery?
Earle: Hey, Behzad and Ron, check out this On The Wire article in the March
15 issue ("Big RIPoff: Do You Know Where Your Packets Are?," page
103). Is this the way RIP works?
Behzad: Let me see that. (Glances at graphic by Michael Klein.) Hey, these
are the same guys who wrote that article on watchdog. I corresponded with
them several times to straighten out problems.
Ron: Hmmm Are they saying that both the third-party router and the NetWare
server/ router will respond to the RIP request from the local segment?
Behzad: That's the way it looks to me. The router on the local segment will
not respond to this RIP request, assuming it is following Novell's IPX routing
specification.
That's because the router knows that the server is on the
same segment as the workstation and, at one hop, is the shortest route,
while the router makes the server two hops away.
Ron: And check out what they recommend as a solution. Having the router
delay the response to a RIP request forces all traffic through the file
server. On a big network, that could cause terrible congestion.
Earle: Besides that, you've got a very expensive router doing nothing, since
the file server will now be routing all traffic.
Behzad: This can be easily tested and verified by replacing the router with
another NetWare server, then analyzing a trace of the network traffic.
Ron: The only case where both routers will respon
d to a RIP request is when
they are both the same distance from the server the workstation is attempting
to communicate with. In this case, the workstation will use the first one
that responds. Let me draw it on the whiteboard:
Behzad: It sounds like they lo
oked at a trace. They must have a really old
router, or else one that doesn't follow the current IPX specification.
Earle: Do you think we should tell them about this?
Ron: I'm not sure. Do you think it will hurt their feelings?
Behzad: Nah. Like I said, I've worked with these guys. They'll do the right
thing and print a correction, I bet.
Earle Wells, Ron Richardson, Behzad Moaddeli
Product Support Engineer
Novell
Bill Alderson and J. Scott Haugdahl reply:
Love the response, guys.
We will respond to the technical issues in a future column.
Social Skills
I've just finished reading Bill Frezza's column for the second time ("Standing
on the Threshold of Social Computing," March 1, page 31). I am one
of those who viewed 3-D interactive virtual reality (VR) as "just another
cute interface geegaw." After reading Frezza's article, I am convinced
it will be as important to the development o
f the Internet as a keyboard
was to the PC.
I have to disagree with the determination of value in a virtual world. In
the real world, scarcity is what creates value. I see no practical need
to limit the speed at which one can move around a virtual world. Since the
barriers of time and space are removed, why build a model based on an outmoded
concept? Why penalize the virtual traveler for the sake of the virtual baron?
There is no way to correlate the value of real-world assets to the virtual
worlds they contain. A 4-GB hard drive that holds Las Vegas, Alphaworld
is worth far more than $2,000. Since you can simply add capacity ad infinitum
to expand virtual worlds, how do you maintain value among virtual urban
sprawl? You can't create scarcity with r
eal-world barriers to entry.
As often happens with a new discovery, invention or concept, those who are
there at the beginning set the rules. Worlds, Inc., and anyone who joins
it can easily create boundaries to the universe. Any t
rue society will work
out the issue of value once the borders have been marked. It's up to you
whether you plant corn or build skyscrapers.
Terry Hostetler
Network Consultant
Georgia-Pacific Chemical Division
I Want My PGP
I read Christine Hudgins-Bonafield's article "Laptops Across National
Borders" (Network Computing Online, March 1, http://techweb.cmp.com:80/techweb/nc/704/704f3.html).
I travel to London on occasions and I have PGP on my laptop. Am I technically
breaking the law if I use it for my personal business?
Name Withheld Upon Request
Christine Hudgins-Bonafield replies:
You might want to check it out
with the State Department. I heard secondhand that the regulation I wrote
about creating a personal exemption was accepted. At least in its early
stages, the regulation required that you sign your laptop in and out upon
leaving the country and attest that you wouldn't sell or otherwise propagate
the encryption on
it.
Correction
The Telebit FastBlazer 8840 Modem, an Honorable Mention for the Well-Connected
Modem Award, is priced at $1,099. The April 1 issue listed an incorrect
price, supplied by the vendor.
May
15, 1996
|
RSS
