*********************************************************************** *** IBM LANSCREAMER Newsletter: October 1994 *** *** "A quarterly newsletter for LAN professionals" *** *********************************************************************** Get ready for some great new Token-Ring, Ethernet, and ATM products! Our development team has been working hard and working smart to bring you the very best LAN technology in the industry. This issue of LANScreamer focuses on our new product announcements such as plug and play token-ring adapters, a new EISA Ethernet adapter, new ATM products, and much more! IBM has the most comprehensive networking offering in the industry and is your total LAN provider. We invite you to request more information on our networking solutions and welcome your input. Our goal is to be your network provider of choice. Sincerely, Dennis Kekas Director, LAN/WAN Products, IBM ============================================================================================== NEW TOKEN-RING ADAPTERS! Our new Token-Ring Adapters are high performance adapters designed to operate with Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus computers. They support operation at either 16 or 4 Mbps over unshielded twisted pair (UTP) or shielded twisted pair (STP) media. The IBM Auto 16/4 Token-Ring ISA Adapter is the recommended adapter for ISA bus clients operating in a DOS environment. It is fully compatible with and replaces the current IBM 16/4 ISA-16 Adapter and also enables Plug and Play features for fast and easy installation. The IBM Auto LANStreamer PCI Adapter expands the LANStreamer token-ring family to PCI bus products, allowing these systems to take advantage of the high throughput performance and media speed capabilities of the IBM LANStreamer architecture. Both of these new adapters also offer the following enhancements: * Automatic ring speed selection, automatically determines and sets or 4 Mbps), simplifying installation and reducing network down time * Supports both UTP (with onboard filters) and STP media with a single RJ-45 connector, which simplifies installation * External status light-emitting diodes (LEDs) make it easy to determine adapter and ring status without disrupting operation * Includes device drivers for many of today's leading operating and network operating systems, including DOS, OS/2 and Novell Netware * Full-duplex enabled for future growth capability In addition, all of our adapters now come with a lifetime warranty! ============================================================================================== NEW IBM 8230 Model 3! The IBM 8230 Model 3, the newest member of the IBM 8230 intelligent token-ring concentrator family, provides unprecedented granularity and modularity making it a very versatile wiring concentrator that provides what's needed when its needed. Similar in form and function to the IBM 8230 Models 1 and 2, the Model 3 is affordable for low end configurations where only a few managed token-ring connections are needed. For instance, installing the Model 3 in branch office and remote locations makes perfectly good sense. Unlike the Models 1 and 2, which begin at 20 ports, Model 3 can be purchased as an entry-level workgroup concentrator having as few as 2 ports. At a later time, when there is a need for more ports, simply purchase additional Lobe Insertion Units (LIUs) to plug into the base unit. The base unit can connect up to 20 token-ring devices over unshielded-twisted pair (UTP) cabling and by using the IBM 8228 Multistation Access Units as lobe splitters (fanouts), the base unit can support up to 80 token-ring connections. If more connections are desired, the Model 3 has provisions to connect up to three 20 port Lobe Attachment Modules (LAMs) currently used with Models 1 and 2. If extended geographic coverage is desired, the new Remote LAM can be connected to the Model 3 and located up to 100 meters from the base unit to support up to 16 additional connections. For token-ring LANs requiring extra reliability, the IBM 8230 Model 3 has an optional Dual Ring Redundancy feature for use with optional RI/RO modules. Network Management can be via SNMP or LAN Network Manager and an RS-232 serial port is provided for out-of-band initialization and management. Additional features of the IBM 8230 Model 3 include faster processing, Flash memory for software upgrades via simple download, a much broader range of cabling options, speed detection and easy installation. Never before has such flexibility been available at a price that is so affordable. ============================================================================================== IBM EtherStreamer Switch Enhancements The IBM EtherStreamer Switch, originally announced in March 1994, is being enhanced with a number of significant functions that will extend customers' flexibility in constructing switched local area networks, enhance their ability to manage the traffic that flows through their EtherStreamer Switches, and to make it easier to remotely manage their EtherStreamer Switches from a central location. These enhancements to the IBM EtherStreamer Switch include: * Address Filters * Virtual Switch Support * Etherpipe Support * BOOTP/TFTP Support * 8271 Netview for Windows (separate program) Address Filters: Often, for either security or traffic load management reasons, it may be desirable to control the traffic that flows through the IBM EtherStreamer Switch. Address filtering on the IBM EtherStreamer Switch provides the ability to filter or inhibit frame flow at port of entry. The EtherStreamer Switch can be configured with a filter table consisting of LAN (MAC) addresses and related switch port number. Ethernet frames destined for any of the specified addresses sent from any station on the associated switch port will not be forwarded to any other switch port. These addresses may be unicast, multicast, or broadcast addresses. Virtual Switch Support: It may sometimes be desirable to construct a switch network of less than eight ports. That is, again for security or traffic load management reasons, it may be desirable to group switch ports so that no traffic (including broadcasts) flows between the ports within the group and any other switch ports outside the group. This capability may sometimes be referred to as broadcast domains. Virtual switch support on the IBM EtherStreamer Switch allows a single physical IBM EtherStreamer Switch to be divided into two to four switches, each consisting of a non-overlapping set of two to four switch ports. Etherpipe Support: To construct switch networks consisting of more than eight LAN segments, users of the IBM EtherStreamer Switches with Release 1.0 of the microcode may interconnect two IBM EtherStreamer Switches by connecting a single port on one switch to a single port on the other, for a maximum bandwidth of 20 Mbps between the switches. With Etherpipe support in Release 1.1 of the microcode, this interconnection capability is expanded so two IBM EtherStreamer Switches can be interconnected using up to four links in parallel. Each of these inter-switch links is a full- duplex Ethernet connection that provides up to 20 Mbps of bandwidth between switches, or a maximum of 80 Mbps of bandwidth (using 4 lines) between switches. Traffic is automatically distributed on each of these links using destination addresses so that traffic load can be more evenly balanced across each of the parallel links between the switches in a manner consistent with any Spanning Tree features configured at the time. Etherpipe support provides customers with the ability to grow and tune the bandwidth required between their IBM EtherStreamer Switches. BOOTP/TFTP Support: BOOTP/TFTP support enhances customers' ability to remotely manage their IBM EtherStreamer Switches from a central location. BOOTP/TFTP support allows the IBM EtherStreamer Switch to participate in RFC 951-compliant environments. By installing a central BOOTP server, BOOTP-compliant SNMP devices, such as the IBM EtherStreamer Switch, can be downloaded with their IP addresses. This allows IBM EtherStreamer Switches to be more easily installed, eliminating the need to individually configure each switch via the console attached to the serial port on the switch. Additionally, BOOTP servers can designate (by IP address) the Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server that contains an image of the IBM EtherStreamer Switch microcode. Via either the serial console or via an SNMP management console, users may request a download of the EtherStreamer Switch microcode from this server. This allows new releases (eg. containing service modifications) to be easily distributed to a network of geographically dispersed switches. IBM EtherStreamer Switches with Release 1.0 of the microcode only support microcode download via the serial port. 8271 Netview for Windows (Separate Program): The 8271 Netview for Windows program complements and enhances the functions of the IBM EthreStreamer Switch by providing a network management application for Windows environments. The 8271 Netview for Windows program is the product specific module (PSM) for the IBM EtherStreamer Switch that runs on the IBM Netview for Windows management platform. The IBM Netview for Windows management platform provides a cost-effective network management solution for networks that use the Simple Network Managment Protocol (SNMP) and can be used to manage a variety of SNMP devices in addition to the IBM EtherStreamer Switch, such as hubs, bridges, and routers. With the 8271 Netview for Windows program, network managers can perform a variety of configuration/performance management and monitoring tasks. ============================================================================================== New IBM Network Resource Reservation Program: As sophisticated distributed applications, such as distributed multimedia, have evolved, they have placed new requirements on the networks over which they communicate. These applications not only place demands for higher bandwidth on the network, but they are increasingly implemented on established customer networks previously established to only carry conventional traffic. Additionally, these distributed applications, especially multimedia applications, often require that networks provide a predictable Quality of Service (QoS). This contention for bandwidth, as well as the QoS demands of this class of distributed application, has given rise to requirements for network resource management. Sophisticated multimedia systems often include resource reservation systems that work to ensure that all of the varied resources required for uncompromised playback of audio/video data are available. These resources may include the server system resources (eg. disk, processor, system bus, memory, etc), and in a distributed multimedia environment, the network connecting server and client. The IBM Network Resource Reservation program works with multimedia applications, such as IBM LAN Server Ultimedia by providing dynamic bandwidth reservation facilities that can ensure that sessions between multimedia clients and servers can be provided with the requisite Quality of Service, especially when implemented using LAN architectures that support some form of prioritization, such as token-ring and FDDI. By configuring the reservation facilities of the IBM Network Resource Reservation program (in concert with those of IBM LAN Server Ultimedia), network administrators can establish an environment that will ensure that the requisite network resources are available to support the sessions with multiple multimedia servers and, in environments where multimedia traffic is mixed with conventional data traffic, ensure that customer priorities concerning the sharing of network bandwidth can be observed. Ethernet LANs are also supported but, due to the differences in the architectural capabilities of these types of LANs, more conservative management policies may have to be implemented to ensure acceptable quality of the multimedia sessions. The IBM Network Resource Reservation program will be available later this year. ==============================================================================================8230 Microcode Update: 8230 MICROCODE UPDATE: There is a new release of the 8230 Maintenance Facility (MF) disk available which includes the following changes to the MF and the 8230 microcode: * Fixed a problem in V2R2 which resulted in the 8230 sending unnecessary address mismatch alerts (DFIPD441E) to LNM. * Included V2R2 PTF (UR40719) to allow MF and Ring Diagnostic to run with ISA-16 and Credit Card adapters. Note: The MF does not contain the adapter driver needed for the credit card adapters. To run with credit card adapters, follow this procedure: 1) Boot DOS and load the normal Token-Ring driver for the adapter; 2) Make disk drive containing the MF disk the default drive; 3) Execute MF as a normal program. Customers may request a new 8230 MF diskette by calling 1-800-334-1089 and requesting part number 04H7797. The 8230 MF is also available electronically from the Network Support Center (NSC) Bulletin Board by calling 1-919-517-0001. It is contained in Network Support Files, directory number 32, as MFV213.DSK. ============================================================================================== IBM LANSTREAMER SWITCH PREVIEW: Comparable to the IBM EtherStreamer Switch, the IBM LANStreamer Switch will provide high-speed forwarding of token-ring frames among up to eight shared or dedicated token-ring LAN segments. Similar in function to a multiport transparent bridge, the IBM LANStreamer Switch will forward token-ring frames from one of the eight ports to another, based on token-ring MAC addresses. Shared or Dedicated Token-Ring Segments One or two types of token-ring segments will be able to be connected to each of the eight ports on the IBM LANStreamer Switch: shared or dedicated media segments. Shared media token-ring segments consist of two or more token-ring stations that are part of the same ring and share the 16Mbps of bandwidth associated with that segment. Dedicated token-ring segments consist of a single token-ring station that is able to utilize the entire 16Mbps of bandwidth associated with that segment. Any mix of shared or dedicated segments will be supported on a single IBM LANStreamer Switch. High Performance With a highly-parallel internal design optimized for performance, the IBM LANStreamer Switch will be able to maintain high-speed frame transfer between each of the possible four distinct pairs of ports simultaneously. When all of the ports on the IBM LANStreamer Switch are operating in half-duplex mode, the IBM LANStreamer Switch may achieve an aggregate bandwidth of up to 64 Mbps, or 128 Mbps with an ATM uplink, providing networks with traffic patterns and uplink connections able to take full advantage of the IBM LANStreamer Switch. When all of the ports on the IBM LANStreamer Switch are configured for full-duplex operation, this aggregate bandwidth could be as high as 128 Mbps, or 256 Mbps with an ATM uplink. Additionally, the IBM LANStreamer Switch will use a switching technique sometimes referred to as "on the fly" switching, which provides for low latency or delay as frames traverse the switch. Minimal Additional Investment IBM LANStreamer Switch ports will connect to a shared LAN segment (or dedicated media LAN segment operating in half-duplex mode), by connecting to a port on an external token-ring concentrator, such as the IBM 8228 Token Ring Multistation Access Unit, the IBM 8230 Token-Ring Controlled Access Unit, or the IBM 8250 or 8260 Multiprotocol Intelligent Hub. Additionally, full-duplex token- ring capability will be available later this year on existing IBM token-ring adapters, such as the IBM Auto LANStreamer MC32 Adapter or the IBM Dual LANStreamer MC32 Adapter, without changes to adapter hardware. With a minimum of disruption to existing networks, and minimal additional investment in network infrastructure components only, customers can go a long way in addressing current LAN performance requirements. High Speed Uplink The IBM LANStreamer Switch will provide an optional, field installable, high-speed uplink. Using ATM uplinks, multiple IBM LANStreamer Switches will be able to be interconnected via an ATM backbone network. This will be an effective, scalable method of constructing larger (greater than eight segments) switched token-ring networks. Additionally, the high speed uplink will allow the token-ring stations attached to a IBM LANStreamer Switch to access high-speed devices (eg. servers) that are directly attached to Switches. With the ATM uplink, significant synergy will be achieved between the LAN switching technology in the IBM LANStreamer Switch and the cell switching technology of ATM. The IBM LANStreamer Switch with this capability will allow customers to make an easy, cost-effective, transition between conventional LAN technology and ATM. ============================================================================================== IBM EISA ETHERNET ADAPTER: IBM extends its leadership position in full-duplex Ethernet technology with the introduction of the IBM EISA Ethernet Adapter. This adapter is a 32-bit busmaster adapter designed for servers and high-performance workstations. It increases the network performance by reducing the number of host CPU cycles required to send and receive data on the network and by increasing the throughput of data onto the Ethernet network. The IBM EISA Ethernet Adapter can operate in full-duplex or half-duplex modes, allowing transmission on the Ethernet network at 20Mbps or 10Mbps, respectively. The IBM EISA Ethernet Adapter allows attachment to an Ethernet network using 10BaseT (twisted-pair), 10Base2 (thin coaxial) or AUI (thick coaxial or fiber) meida. It has a lifetime warranty and is compatible with other ethernet adapters. The protocols conform to IEEE 802.3 and Ethernet Version 2 standards. In June, 1993, IBM was the first company to introduce a full-duplex adapter. The EtherStreamer MC 32 Adapter provided full-duplex support for MicroChannel machines. In March, 1994, IBM became the first company to offer a full-duplex solution when it introduced the 8271 EtherStreamer Switch. In June, 1994, IBM extended its full-duplex solution for MicroChannel users by offering the Dual EtherStreamer MC 32 Adapter. With the announcement of the IBM EISA Ethernet Adapter today, IBM becomes the first company to offer a full-duplex solution over multiple computer platforms. ============================================================================================== IBM ATM PRODUCTS: On June 28th, 1994, IBM announced several new ATM products and previewed products rolling into 1995. The announcement covered LAN to WAN, desktop to mainframe connectivity. The following campus networking products were a part of this announcement: * TURBOWAYS 25 ATM Adapter: A 25.6 Mbps Dedicated Full Duplex adapter for ISA bus computers. The adapter supports STP and UTP Category 3, 4, or 5 cabling systems. * TURBOWAYS Concentrator Provides attachment for up to 12 TURBOWAYS 25 ATM adapters via STP or UTP Category 3, 4, or 5 cable. The TURBOWAYS Concentrator attaches to the ATM Switch via a 100Mbps multimode fiber. The concentrator is a managed product and provides SNMP MIB II support. * TURBOWAYS 100 ATM Adapter The TURBOWAYS 100 ATM Adapter provides a ATM high performance attachement for Novell Servers (3.12, 4.01 or higher) operating on Micro Channel bus computers. * LAN Emulation LAN Emulation software is provided with each TURBOWAYS ATM Adapter (25 or 100). LAN Emulation gives existing network devices transparent access to the ATM network and also maps MAC to ATM addresses. * 8281 ATM LAN Link Allows multiple Token-ring and Ethernet attached LAN segments to communicate with users and servers attached to the ATM network. Consultant feedback and initial press articles are positive: "IBM has done a great job putting together an A-to-Z ATM strategy that starts at the desktop and goes throughout the enterprize network," said Frank Dzubeck, president of Communications Network Architects, Inc. "IBM has fleshed out its stated strategy with real products that address every piece of the ATM fabric," said Dave Passmore, president of Decisis, Inc. And Tom Knolle, president of CIMI, believes IBM prices are cheap enough to create a real demand for ATM instead of just an experimental market. For more information on IBM ATM products, call 1-800-IBM-3395 and press 1, 1, 1, 10150. ============================================================================================== FOR MORE INFORMATION: To order products or to discuss LAN solutions, contact your local IBMrepresentative or IBM business partner. Some products mentioned in thisnewsletter may not be offered by IBM in all countries. Customers inside theUSA can order products by calling 1-800-IBM-CALL (8AM-8PM EST). To order free literature containing product information and helpful hints via FAX: 1-800-IBM-3395 For a catalog of networking documents press 1, 1, 2, 5. Customers outside the US should contact their local IBM business partner. For subscriptions or letters to the editor please write by mail or via Internet: IBM Corporation John Mitchell - B002/C18 3039 Cornwallis Rd. RTP, NC 27709 USA Internet ID: JMITCHELL@VNET.IBM.COM IBM PROFS: MITCH3JJ @ RALVM29 FAX#: 1-919-543-0159