Subj : thanks :) To : David Calafrancesco From : Stewart Honsberger Date : Thu Mar 01 2001 02:17 pm Hello David! Feb 17 2001 15:29, David Calafrancesco wrote to Stewart Honsberger: [..InJoy dropping LAN connection to InterNet..] DC> Interesting... I have the 4-5 machine license and have used it since DC> it was in alpha release. I have even had more machines connected than DC> my license allows and still didn't have your problem. Were you DC> running a static IP or a dynamic IP from your ISP? It was a static IP over a 28.8 dial-up connection. If I thought really hard I could probably even come up with the IP, gateway, DNS server(s), and SNM. ;> We had that IP for quite some years, and used InJoy for most of them. SH>> Inquiries were sent repeatedly to the author, who repeated time and SH>> time again that it was not his fault, and even at times became SH>> highly belidgerant with us. DC> There were known IBM TCPIP stack issues that were fixed and yet I DC> still heard of a very few people having problems... often it was DC> found they hadn't updated the stack... being on the alpha team we DC> tried duplicating the problems and when we were able to definatively DC> say that it was this combination of factors it was either fixed by DC> Bjarn or sent on to IBM for them to fix. I recall Bjarn made a fix to DC> his product that would work around IBM not fixing their problem. I recall him sending responses that said point blank that it wasn't his fault, and that was the end of the conversation. We updated the OS/2 TCP/IP stack when it was released (4.1?) to the public (quite the download, BTW, at 28.8!); and with it was the MPTS update. We were also always at the latest fixpack level. (Whatever it may have been at the time). SH>> We decided at that point to 'borrow' a friend's platinum (IIRC) SH>> license for some 20 workstations, but all that did was increase the SH>> time before the client would blow up from 2-3 days to 5-6 days. SH>> Either way, we never saw a ten day uptime for that OS/2 box. DC> What version of InJoy were you running? Version? Hmm.. 2.30 rings a bell, but I couldn't come up with a definite answer as to the version number. We also had an upgrade or two during the time we ran it. All I do remember for certain was the fact that we owned a 5 machine license. SH>> We've since given up entirely on the InJoy line of products and are SH>> now quite happily running ipchains under Linux (soon to be SH>> iptables, when I get around to learning the new syntax). No client SH>> restrictions, no licensing, no support hassles, no expensive SH>> upgrades, no hassles period. DC> If a Linux box is an option then by all means go for it. I too plan DC> to switch my gateway to a Linux box but I just haven't had the time DC> to set it up. I must confess to have cheated. :> I've set up quite a number of them, including ipchains firewall, MASQ, forwarding, etc.. setups, so it was quite a simple task for me. I accomplished it (along with putting some 6GB of files onto the shiny-new 30GB drive ;> ) in the better part of an afternoon and evening, with a break for dinner interspersed in there along the way. SH>> So be warned that you will most likely not get what you pay for SH>> from FX. DC> I am sorry you had problems... I am curious on what your scenario was DC> as I have been using InJoy for a very very very long time without the DC> problems you have described. I don't think I have had more than 7 or DC> 8 systems connected at the same time so the 5 system license was DC> adequate for my purposes. I don't think we were doing anything truly special. The gateway machine ran a multi-node BBS; I believe it had three dial-up and two telnet at one point. It also ran WWW, SMTP, POP3, FTP, Ident, and IRC servers. The two of us had our machines on at all times, and the other machines were on quite often and for rather extended periods of time. That InterNet connection was used and used to the best of our ability, let me tell you. All of the IPs on our LAN were static (and we're still using the same set, though we've since moved across town and upgraded our network from thinnet to Cat 5, and upgraded virtually all hardware). Thing is; after all these years I know a LOT more about networking, and would really like to get that setup back and be able to diagnose it with my current skill-set. That way I could atleast narrow down the source of the problem a bit more definitively. My big problem at the time, and even still, was with Bjarn (Bjorn?) not offering any assistance for our problem. We got a few tips from other InJoy users on the InterNet, and a few people on various BBSs/echomail networks that helped, but we never did get the problem nailed down. Stranger still; when we updated to the InJoy Firewall software (FX Gate), we didn't make any changes to the OS/2 box (other than to install the second NIC) and we never once had problems with the IP table afterwards. In fact, we hit all-time record uptimes with the machine that would exhaust many uptime display clients due to the date wrapping. I think we re-booted three times this past year to borrow hardware twice and once for a hardware upgrade, and twice it went down for a power failure. Otherwise it would have run forever. I suppose I could go either way. FXGate seemed to offer us everything we needed at the time (albeit a tad pricey; especially if we'd opted for the firewall aspect) and ran at top-speed without fail for as long as we needed it. [Stewart Honsberger] [blackdeath@softhome.net] [http://tinys.cx/blackdeath/] The secret to not getting burned out is to play at working hard, and not taking things too seriously. -- Linus Torvalds --- Msged/LNX TE 06 (pre) * Origin: Stewart's Echomail Node-Holder (1:229/604) .