Conference koolit::vms_curriculum

    	A draft of the first Sys/Net III chapter entitled:
    
		Configuration Planning
    
    		is available for review in:
    
    		SUPER::ES$REVIEW:[SYSNET_III]SYSNETIII_CHAP1.PS
    
    Please consider that this chapter serves as an introduction to the
    entire course. Have I left out any conceptual material that should be
    covered here to support the next three chapters (the ones dealing with
    VMS, DECnet, and VAXcluster installation)?

    					Val

    
    It is misleading to talk in a chapter CONFIGURATION PLANNING about
    network concepts. In this chapter we are not talking about network
    planning, so these subjects must be excluded. When they will be
    included, the title of  this chapter must be: 

    Configuration planning and DECnet concepts

    

    About the module: Network considerations		 
    		      ======================

    The subtittle assumes that several considerations will be discussed.
    Where are they? They are all rules or concepts.

    General aspects are up-to-date and complete for this audience. Taken
    from the DECnet management course and updated to include FDDI.

1-31 	I prefer to include the TCP/IP gateway, a product available 
	on our DECnet/ULTRIX  nodes. Why include an SNA-gateway, and not TCP/IP 
	gateway, standard available in this software?

1-32/1-35 
	Why talking about DECnet Routing? This is discutable.
	When included it must be discussed veeeerrrryyyy globally by the 
	instructor.


    
    Joop

    
    
    I have the new material, and still see that only the SNA and X.25
    Gateway is referred to. 
    
    I prefer to include also the Internet gateway, because it is inside our
    own DECnet/ULTRIX product and of equal importance as the SNA and X.25
    Gateway. Ok, it not a major issue, but nice to have.
    
    Joop
    
    

  I am in the process of prepping for this course and will be posting
  concerns, errors, etc.  Hopefully the problems can get fixed in the 'next
  release' and others will find a few helpful tips in these postings until
  then.


  Chapter 1, System and Network Confusion

  Talk about an awkward chapter and a really weird way to start out a
  course!  I'm very distressed and am considering skipping this chapter
  ENTIRELY!  At best, I will probably start with chapter 2, put the DECnet
  discussion from this module in the DECnet module later in the week and
  put the Hardware stuff as an optional topic for late Friday.

  The first thing we hit the students with in a new course on Monday
  morning is a discussion of upgrading a 6310 (yeah, still in the book)
  with 4 more RA90s!?  Forget it, RA92's have been available since April of
  1990 (V5.3-1) and RA90s have officially reached 'end of production' this
  year!  So we need 4GB?  Buy 3 RA92s (about 1.5GB each), put 2 in the
  existing cabinet and the 3rd in the TA cabinet!  Yeah, we'll still need
  the 2nd controller.

  Other than picking on old hardware, I think the HW config part of Module
  1 is relatively good and not that different than what was in the SMII
  course.  Its teachable, but like I said, a weird topic to start Monday
  morning with!

  As for the DECnet part -- yuck!  It is *not* configuring networks, it 
  is DECnet/Ethernet/Network/FDDI *concepts* with a little configuration
  *concepts* at the end -- like note .2 mentioned!  We missed the boat here. 
  We are not talking about "configurations" like we did in the HW part, we
  are talking about *concepts* and configurations as how networks 'look' or
  might be laid out.  Two distinctly different concepts, two different
  topics jammed together in the same module.

  Everything from page 1-17 through 1-30 might best be placed in the DECnet
  module later in the book.  There are some redundant redundancies (compare
  1-17 and 1-28) and some topics that are really out of order, for instance
  the TOP of page 1-28 should be discussed BEFORE page 1-27, maybe even
  placed right behind page 1-17 or 1-18.  

  Again, let's take the 2nd half of this chapter and either put it in the
  DECnet chapter or create a separate chapter maybe called "DECnet/Network
  Concepts and Configurations".  

  So, getting practical...assuming we get to use the chapter as it is
  presented for the next few months, a few typos/mistakes:

  1-35, 2nd bullet, "dc" should be "DC"

  1-19a, "FDDI can also run on Thinwire..."  Wording problem.  FDDI is a
         set of four ANSI standards that defines a high speed (100MB/sec)
         general purpose LAN.  It can be CONNECTED to Thinwire, but it
         can't run on Thinwire.  DECbridge 500 connects an Ethernet/802.3
         to the FDDI network as a Single Attachment Stations and will  
         handle the activity similar to how an Ethernet LAN Bridge works.

  More later...

  $

    Configuration Planning page 1-12
    
    > You must use the same generation of chips .
    
    
    This is completely WRONG !!! This may have applied to the 11/780
    10 years ago, but even the 11/750 could have mixed generation 
    chips already. 
    
    Modern Memories (BI, XMI ) are autosizing and can be intermixed at
    will.
    
    Just for the sake of truth,	no critiscism intended.
    
    						Raymond.

    Not much we can say about the comments for now execpt "noted, and many
    thanks." We are producing the Sys/Net III text-based course right now;
    it's based on the LL and we are fixing the technical errors you've
    reported so far.
    
    As for chapter 1, we couldn't really think of a great place to put the
    material, and decided to put it early so it wouldn't break up the flow
    of the rest of the course. Your suggestion may work even better, and as
    usual I'd like to hear some consensus.
    
    					Val

>    As for chapter 1, we couldn't really think of a great place to put the
>    material, and decided to put it early so it wouldn't break up the flow
>    of the rest of the course. Your suggestion may work even better, and as
>    usual I'd like to hear some consensus.
    
Here are my 2 pennies....

I'd like to see the hardware configuration info in Module 1 moved to the end of
the course as it is in SM II.  That way it doesn't break the flow of the course
and it has the added benefit of ending the week with a lighter topic than
performance.

However, I agree with Buck (doing my part for consensus here!) that the network
concepts belong in the Setting Up a Network Module.  At any rate, I intend to 
teach it that way next week.

					Susan

  I didn't have time to teach the hardware stuff out of chapter 1, I ran 
  out of time, so I didn't have to worry with it during my last teach.
  Putting the HW configuration stuff as the very last topic, or even as an
  appendix to the trouble-shooting module, would be fine.
  
  $