Subject: AppleTalk and DECNet on the campus network!

Date: 17 Aug 1999 06:28:07 -0400 From: gogan@net.unc.edu (Jim Gogan) Organization: Supporting Guru Newsgroups: unc.support
AppleTalk's time is increasingly running out ....
The North Carolina Networking Initiative (NCNI), consisting of UNC-CH, Duke, NCSU and MCNC, is in the process of significantly upgrading the Internet/Internet2 connectivity among these institutions. By early Novemeber, the existing router connections from each campus to the regional Internet/Internet2 through the NCNI will be replaced with new Cisco GSR 12000 routers, consisting of 2 OC-48 (2.4 Gb/sec) links to the NCNI backbone and gigabit Ethernet links to the campus network.
In order to connect to these switch/routers, each campus will be upgrading its existing on-campus router to new multigigabit switch routers, capable of filtering and forwarding many gigabits/second of traffic at wire speed, supporting Quality of Service mechanisms for differentiated service levels.
It is important to note that the Cisco GSR and the other gigabit switch/routers that we are looking at for the campus upgrade DO NOT SUPPORT AppleTalk OR DECNet!!! The GSRs support IP ONLY; other vendors' products support IP and IPX ONLY.
Given that the current campus network architecture uses two main routed domains to the Internet: one consisting of the School of Medicine, the other consisting of the rest of campus, this means that once these new switch/routers identified above go in place later this calendar year (the exact date is still not known for sure -- depends on deployment of Interpath fiber, which is now scheduled for November 1st), we will NOT be able to forward AppleTalk or DECNet traffic between the School of Medicine and the rest of campus.
As the growth in on-campus network traffic (and the need for differentiated services) requires further deployment of these switch routers, the inability to forward AppleTalk or DECNet traffic will extend throughout the on-campus network. This is something that we have stated for the past year now -- vendors of new generation gigabit switch routers are NOT supporting protocols other than IP or IPX. That is just a given of the current marketplace.
Macintoshes will continue to work on the campus network; AppleTalk will not!! If you have old Macintoshes that cannot support recent versions of the OS that can utilize IP for print/file services or you have old Apple LaserWriters that can only utilize AppleTalk, you need to evaluate upgrades for these as soon as possible.
To be as specific as possible in terms of dates, it appears as though, as noted above, AppleTalk and DECNet traffic between the School of Medicine and the main campus will no longer be able to be forwarded effective November 1, 1999. In terms of elsewhere on campus, departments should begin planning for the end of AppleTalk and DECNet throughout the campus network (even within buildings) by August 1, 2000 at the latest!
If there are questions, please contact me directly. Thanks!
-- Jim Gogan Director, ATN Networking and Commuications