A user solution to internetworking

Abstract

This paper discusses the need in the Computer Science Department at Central Michigan University to interconnect PCs, SUN workstations, Novell LAN servers, a DEC VAX 8530, and an IBM 3090 mainframe. In addition access to Internet needed to be established. We describe our experience gained through installing a network ourselves which required learning about Ethernet protocol, and various components of a network including network software. Considerations in the selection of the Ethernet components and software are presented. The problems encountered in installing the network are discussed. Experience gained through our phased approach to internetworking and the advantages of implementing the network are discussed the purpose of this paper is to illustrate the method we used in attacking our internetworking problem. We can claim that our project was a success but we do not claim that this method is the best one.<>