| > We are close to sell AlphaServers 4000, on Digital Unix,
>to a customer having quite a lot of old VaxStations. This customer
>wants to use them as X-terminals to connect to the AS4000's.
EWS does not support Digital UNIX as a login host. You need a VMS or
ULTRIX system somewhere to get booted and to get logged in. After that
you can do anything you want including rlogin or telnet to Digital
UNIX.
Mike
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I am not sure to understand well.
1 - Does one of the VaxStation able to be the boot host
(for the others VaxStation and itself) ?
2 - As a X-terminal I want to be able to log on the
AlphaServer 4000 with Digital Unix and get the DCE
login window, is it possible ?
Because, I am already able to telnet or rlogin on a
AlphaServer D.Unix from a VaxStation without EWS, but
with UCX (FTP Services for VAX/VMS).
Thanks in advance,
Eric
[Posted by WWW Notes gateway]
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| > 1 - Does one of the VaxStation able to be the boot host
> (for the others VaxStation and itself) ?
>
> 2 - As a X-terminal I want to be able to log on the
> AlphaServer 4000 with Digital Unix and get the DCE
> login window, is it possible ?
There are three kinds of hosts that an EWS node talks to -- the boot
host, the configuration host and the login host.
The boot host provides the EWS workstation with a boot file via the MOP
ethernet protocol. The EWS workstation bootstraps itself with that file
over the network. Any system which supports MOP (including Digital UNIX
via DECnet/OSI) can be configured to boot an EWS workstation. The
problem is that at the time EWS was developed, Digital UNIX didn't
exist. There was only VMS and ULTRIX. The product installs on VMS or
ULTRIX and correctly configures those systems to act as a boot host. It
does not install correctly on Digital UNIX. You would have to configure
Digital UNIX to act as a login host for EWS by hand.
The configuration host (in most cases it's the same system as the boot
host) provides the EWS workstation with configuration information like
its internet address, subnet mask and information about possible login
hosts. The configuration host must be running the ewsd daemon. This
daemon is not supported on Digital UNIX. The work to port it from
ULTRIX has never been done.
The login host (usually selected by the user after the EWS workstation
is booted) runs the host login program and displays it on the EWS
workstation, where the user logs in. The login host must also be
running the ewsd daemon. Again, this daemon is not supported on Digital
UNIX.
Your problem is that Digital UNIX can act as neither the configuration
host nor the login host. There has to be a VMS or ULTRIX system(s)
somewhere to perform these functions. The user would have to log into
VMS or ULTRIX. Even an Alpha system running VMS can do the job. VMS is
VMS. However, Digital UNIX is not ULTRIX.
> Because, I am already able to telnet or rlogin on a
> AlphaServer D.Unix from a VaxStation without EWS, but
> with UCX (FTP Services for VAX/VMS).
Of course. The difference, however, is that you have to run VMS on
those VaxStations. You lose everything that's good about X Window
terminals like fast boot and minimal system management per seat. Ever
watch a VAXstation 2000 boot as a VMS sattelite? It takes about a half
hour. The equivalent EWS system takes about 30 seconds.
A couple people have tried to hack EWS to run on Digital UNIX over the
years with varying degress of success. There's yet to be a
general-purpose solution to the problem. You'd have to modify the
existing ewsd program and make the Digital UNIX xdm program fit into
the EWS protocol. The group which invented EWS is not interested in the
X Window Terminal business anymore. If anybody else wants to do the
work, send mail to HELIX::EWS and we'll set you up.
M
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