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amitcp4.2.txt
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1997-11-07
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Path: rcfnews.cs.umass.edu!barrett
From: markus@tiger.teuto.de (Markus Illenseer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: AmiTCP/IP release 4, commercial version
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.networking
Date: 28 Feb 1995 15:59:54 GMT
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Lines: 512
Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <3ivh9q$9fd@kernighan.cs.umass.edu>
Reply-To: markus@tiger.teuto.de (Markus Illenseer)
NNTP-Posting-Host: scooby.cs.umass.edu
Keywords: networking, datacomm, TCP/IP, commercial
Originator: barrett@scooby.cs.umass.edu
PRODUCT NAME
AmiTCP/IP release 4, commercial version
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
A TCP/IP protocol stack for the Amiga with many supplied programs
for use in networks and of course the Internet. Currently, it is the most
popular TCP/IP stack for the Amiga. With this product, you can connect your
Amiga to networks and use remote resources and services.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: NSDi Network Solutions Development Inc.
Address: P.O. Box 32
FIN-02151 Espoo
Finland
FAX: +358-0-452-1998
E-mail: info@nsdi.fi to obtain automatically submitted
informations (robot) for further use
World Wide Web: http://www.xgw.fi/biz/NSDI/
LIST PRICE
AmiTCP/IP 4.2 commercial version, one licence for one machine, costs
$99 (US) (156DEM, 64GBP), excluding shipping fee, excluding VAT of 22% in EU
and other countries.
Special prices for full-time students available.
A demonstration version can be found on AmiNET in /comm/tcp.
It is fully functional!
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
You don't really need any special hardware to use this product. The
built-in serial port of the Amiga is sufficient for a simple network
solution. Any further network activities would probably require an ethernet
or arcnet board.
If you have network hardware available, be sure you have the
required SANA-II network device driver for this hardware. AmiTCP/IP
requires this driver to contact to your hardware and use it for networking.
HARDWARE
NON-NETWORK
Any suitable Amiga. Works on Amiga equipped with MC68000 as
well as MC68020 and above. For heavy network usage, a faster
processor would be more useful.
1MB RAM required.
2MB of free disk space required for a complete installation.
NETWORK
One of the following hardware is required to run a network
using AmiTCP/IP. Any further hardware not mentioned requires
a functional SANA-II network device driver.
Any serial port, for simple null-modem or often used as SLIP
and PPP connections over a modem.
Any supported parallel port to use Liana or PLIP devices.
CBM A2065 Ethernet
Hydra Ethernet
ASDG EB920 Ethernet
Village Tronic Ariadne Ethernet
Ameristar A4066 Ethernet
QuickNet Ethernet
Golden Gate wd80xx (Timo Rossi) and appropriate
ISA-Ethernet hardware
Crosslink NE2000 (Carsten Heyl) and appropriate
ISA-Ethernet hardware
CBM A2060 or A560 ArcNet
SOFTWARE
AmigaDOS version 2.04 or newer.
Suitable SANA-II network device driver for your network
hardware. Drivers for serial port and updated drivers of the
Commodore hardware are supplied.
COPY PROTECTION
No copy protection.
First time you (re-)install the software you need to register the
software by typing in a (rather long) registration key which you will obtain
from NSDi when buying their product. Using an invalid key will result into
non-functional software. Once done, you will not notice the product
running, other than a simple window pops up at start time which will vanish
automatically.
You are not allowed to copy the software for more than one
backup-copy. You are though allowed to install it on up to three
non-commercial, private Amigas for your personal needs.
The mechanism is terrible and undergoes the work of Marc
Barrett for AmiTCP/IP 4.0 DEMO. :-)
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
Because this product is a networking product, I used a network to
test it of course. The simple network I used was a two-machine network
consisting of my two Amiga 3000's. The other - a stress test - was made
during a developers conference ('Freak Meeting') held in Karlsruhe, Germany
in January 1995, where at least 100 of the participating 150 (mostly) Amiga,
Linux, NetBSD, Sparc and other machines were hooked up in a local network as
well as to the Internet.
Amiga 3000/25, 16 MB Fast RAM, 2 MB Chip RAM.
A2065 Ethernet board
A2060 Arcnet board
AmigaDOS 3.1 and NetBSD-Amiga 1.0
(...and several hard drives, CD-ROM, tape, graphic board, etc.,
not important for the test.)
Amiga 3000/25, 4 MB Fast RAM, 2 MB Chip RAM.
Village Tronic Ariadne Ethernet board
A2060 Arcnet board
AmigaDOS 3.1 and NetBSD-Amiga 1.0
INSTALLATION
The installation of the software is very easy, and the Commodore
Installer program is used. The installation process is split into two
parts: one copies the software from the floppy disks to any place you want
it, as well as adding some startup commands into S:User-Startup, using the
AmiTCP_install script.
The second part is more tricky and requires reading the manual if
you are doing this procedure for the first time and have no knowledge about
TCP/IP networks. Using the AmiTCP_config script, you will be asked about
your IP number, the router, nameserver, and so forth. This part probably is
the toughest part of the installation and will require help if you are a
novice.
REVIEW
I wont review how TCP/IP, SANA-II and networking in general work.
There are many other articles available for these topics. For example you
may read the manual of AmiTCP, Dale Larsons 'Connect your Amiga!', the RFC
1180 tutorial on TCP/IP, or the Comer's books about networking.
As usual, I have some background about the product I review that I
would like to share with you. In the beginning, there was nothing. Then
there were two Amigas desperately seeking to be connected. There was
expensive hardware and expensive software available: A2065 and AS225R1,
used only by professionals. Some years later SANA-II, was introduced, but
for a long, long time there was no product using this network layer. Then
Envoy popped up: shiny, fancy, easy to use and to install. Alas, it was
useless on networks and the Internet as it didn't use the TCP/IP protocol.
AS225R2 was far from being ready, and it still isn't available (although
there are rumours of some US companies selling it).
At that time, some enthusiastic developers from Finland started a
nice project. They ported the BSD Net/2 code, which is freely
distributable, to the Amiga. AmiTCP/IP was born. The first AmiTCP/IP
kernels were terrible, and only very few programs could use it. I remember
the days where we were happy to start a "ping" without crashing the whole
machine. By the time AmiTCP/IP became more and more stable, more
developers around the world started using and programming it. Until then
AmiTCP/IP was freely distributable. The effort the developers from Finland
made on their baby - full time job - yielded the idea to found a company.
At that time, Commodore was already in the middle of bankruptcy. So it was
a difficult start for the new founded company NSDi. But the gang of four --
Jarno Rajahalme, Markus Peuhkuri, Pekka Pessi and Tomi Ollila -- have done a
very good job, and I wish them best luck with their product.
For what purposes can a TCP/IP stack protocol be used? TCP/IP is
the most popular and most used network protocol in computer networks. The
whole Internet is based upon it. Usually the stack protocol is incorporated
in the kernel (operating system) that is using it. This works fine on Unix
machines and the upcoming OS/2 and Windows NT. The Amiga though, has no
source code for a kernel, and hence the protocol can not be incorporated into
the OS that easy. But the Amiga is not a stupid machine; it is a
multitasking computer. So the AmiTCP/IP stack protocol is running as an own
task, which also makes it possible to start and stop it whenever you need
to. All programs using the protocol will only have to access to another
fine concept of AmigaDOS, a shared library, to have full access to network
resources.
The shared library is very compatible with existing libraries and
interfaces on other platforms. It is hence easy to port existing programs
to the Amiga. This is why you will find all the basic utilities commonly
known as 'network tools' in the AmiTCP package.
You want to use AmiTCP/IP if you want to share resources with your
computers in your local network, ie. NetBSD- or Linux-PC, or simple PC
using WinSock or PC-TCP/IP. But also it is very useful for using SLIP or
PPP to connect to the Internet using your modem as network device. All
important tools to interconnect are available for AmiTCP/IP.
Back to the Amiga and back to the beginning.
After the installation of the software, the configuration of the
network is imminent. This requires knowledge of the network used. As I
have that knowledge, I had no problems at all configuring my two Amigas and
had them connected within less than half an hour. And I had not seen the
new method of installation before, as it differs from the one used in the
demo version of AmiTCP/IP and of older versions of AmiTCP/IP - quite
impressive. At the mentioned meeting, quite a lot of newbies installed the
demo version of AmiTCP. It became quickly clear that AmiTCP/IP is easy to
install even for them, even though they didn't knew what they were doing.
All they need was their hostname, their IP Number, the name of the (local)
nameserver, and their broadcast number. Using the networking programs
afterwards brought them back to the normal user level they have on
Unix-machines used in Universities or at their companies. Ftp, telnet,
Mosaic - easy.
So, don't worry about the installation if you have a simple
network; only fear your Internet provider and kneel down to hail him
and praise him for all required information. :)
Wandering around, I peeked at the startup-script of AmiTCP/IP - I
didn't recognized it at first, it is completely different from older scripts
and had almost nothing in common with usual networking scripts. Then I
detected the magic. AmiTCP/IP 4.1 and newer use BOOTP to configure all the
required stuff with one single command! Very tricky, very nice, but also
annoying for the intermediate user. The standard 'ifconfig' commands to
configure a networking device have almost vanished. Instead, bootpconfig is
used. The big advantage is, that once this concept is used everywhere,
networking becomes even more simple. All you need for LANs is to know the
BOOTP server in your network - no more! No need to stump in configuring
sessions; just install AmiTCP/IP once on your Amiga and simply tell it the
new server! This is a great thing for fast-changing networks such as for
meetings, large companies, developers caves, and more. You need to
configure only the BOOTP Server with the new network member (i.e., your
machine), and that's it. BOOTP is part of the concept of Windows NT and
probably also Windows 95 (a.k.a. Chicago). Unfortunately, setting up a
BOOTP-Sever is not easy, and I didn't have the time to test this yet. It
sure is worth the effort though. Of course, ifconfig still works and even
must be used to set up special network hardware and gateways.
Now I was eager to see which networking programs are
supplied. Here is a listing from the "bin" directory of AmiTCP/IP 4.2:
(list w/o SDK-binaries)
arp ch_nfsctl inetd netmount resolve stopnet
askhost ch_nfsmount Installer netstat route SynClock
bootpconfig ch_setowner letnet offline rpcinfo telnet
ch_chmod finger login online rsh traceroute
ch_die hostname ls passwd showmount umask
ch_mknod id napsaterm ping startnet whoami
ch_nfsc ifconfig ncftp portmap
The reader might see that all common user programs are supplied,
though some of them are Rexx scripts which addresses the AmiTCP/IP kernel to
extract information or to alter configurations. Others are third-party
products and offer some useful functionality to the user.
The most important programs probably are telnet, ncftp and
ch_nfsmount. The latter makes it possible to mount remote filesystems on
your Amiga (networking filesystem). The remote filesystem is often exported
by Unix machines and makes it possible to use tools like DirOpus and of
course your shell (even Workbench) to browse and work on remote
filesystems. At the time of this writing, an NFS Server for the Amiga is
still missing. An NFS Server for the Amiga is not easy, as it requires a
very good idea for the implementation and a heavy testing. But it is
already now possible to mount and export AmigaDOS partitions and directories
between Amiga Computer using AmiTCP. NetFS from Timo Rossi makes it
possible. Unfortunately there is almost no protection scheme and once you
export a drive, everybody in the network can access it - read and write. The
Amiga is missing a multi-user system.
You are probably disappointed about the number of available user
programs supplied with AmiTCP/IP. This has several causes. The company is
still small and they had lot to do to start the business. Also many of the
third party products have their own disclaimer and Copyrights which do not
allow them to be sold within a commercial product, or where the developers
had not yet contacted the programmer of that tool to get a written
permission. Almost all the special tools are made freely available on the
AmiNET though.
There are many tools like AMosaic (WWW Browser), GRn (NNTP-based
Online Newsreader), AmyIRC (Shell-based IRC Client), Grapevine (GUI-based
IRC Client), MUIAdt (Aminet Download Tool), AmiTalk (talkd-compatible Talk
client), and many many more. Some of them are not explicitly written for
AmiTCP but for AS225R2 (which is as yet only available for certified
Commodore developers). You can use these programs using the socket.library
which emulates the socket.library from AS225R2 and the uses the appropriate
entries in the BSDsocket.library of AmiTCP. The socket.library can be found
on the AmiNET.
Throughout the test, I tried either to stress AmiTCP/IP on my poor
A3000, or to stress remote machines. Lot of fun. It was very simple to use
ftp in the local network, Mosaic on the Internet, NFS mount a remote
filesystem, do IRC and sending mails around - all at the same time, just
like you want it! Sometimes I could see my machine working like hell to
fetch all the incoming packets or to send them, but I never had trouble, nor
was I able to purposely cause trouble on remote machines with the software of
AmiTCP/IP. The hardware is another topic and probably worth another review
*hmpf*.
Testing the speed of AmiTCP is a difficult task. The overall
performance is very good for a TCP/IP stack not being native part of the
operating system itself. Using ethernet between my two Amiga, I got up to
300KB/s transfer rates using FTP. Using NFS (one machine ran NetBSD), I got
up to 360KB/s, which is what I expected to get. Please remember that current
Amiga ethernet boards are programmed I/O interfaced and that the CPU must
drive them. A test in the large network showed that AmiTCP can do more.
Connected with a fast Linux-Box I got up to 430KB/s (peak) using FTP and the
Ariadne board, but the used Amiga was an A4000/40. All speed tests used a
150MB file to transfer - a size which wouldn't match any cache.
How about reliability? Broadcasting ping packets (really a nasty
bandwidth waste!) through the whole network - not only one remote machine -
yielded only some very few dupes (erratic packets). Those dupes were quickly
discovered to be caused by a misconfiguration on those machines. During the
meeting, one of my Amigas was used as dedicated gateway between Arcnet and
Ethernet for AmiTCP/IP and Envoy at the same time. Later I was told that
the machine wasn't booted more than twice (in 54 hours uptime) - once
because Envoy had to be reconfigured, and once because of re-installation of
a server. This rates AmiTCP/IP as very reliable - as it should be.
One thing I certainly would have reviewed would have been the
behaviour of AmiTCP/IP using a Slip or PPP networking interface over the
modem to the Internet. Unfortunately, my PPP server is somehow incompatible
with the PPP.device from Holger Kruse, and the terminal server does not
serve Slip. Local tests using Slip over a nullmodem cable showed that the
overall behaviour is great.
Last thing I would like to review would have been the software
development kit of AmiTCP/IP. As far as I've seen everything you need to
program your own networking programs is included on the disks.
Unfortunately I don't have the time to review this matter.
DOCUMENTATION
The product comes with a very good English manual in printed and (!)
electronic form. 154 pages, typeset with TeX, give you a full overview about
TCP/IP, how to install the software, how to configure it, and of course how
to use the software. All the important configuration files are described in
detail, as well as examples and demonstrations of the output of standard
user programs. Even non-included third-party programs are not only
mentioned but also described to simplify their usage. The many Internet
services are also well described, and the reader is shown how to use these
resources. Best of all, you can browse through the manual using AmigaGuide
and searching or seeking for references by simply clicking on buttons. But
the printed manual is worth the time to read it, with its very well edited
and researched contents. The intermediate user might see that some of the
chapters look very identical to specific RFCs or other manuals - but alas,
the material is the same all over in the TCP/IP world, so what do you expect?
The manual does tell about all topics required to use a TCP/IP
network and it does a good job to tell you more than that. It does address
beginners as well as intermediate and professional users. Although the
latter will probably only read the AmiTCP/IP specific part of it.
LIKES
Being a user of AmiTCP/IP since the dawn of it, I still must admit
that the commercial version of this product suits my needs and likes. It
offers quite much for small amount of money.
I like the bootpconfig, which will probably set a new standard in
networking on the Amiga if used consequently.
The split of the installation into the installation of the software
and the configuration of the network is a good idea. You don't even see the
need of a GUI-driven interface, which personally is not really what I expect
from the AmiTCP/IP developers.
The manual is one of the best I've ever seen in this domain. Easy
to read, easy to understand and vitamin enriched for the user as well as the
'SysOp'.
DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS
There is not much I dislike.
I dislike the window which pops up at starttime, I'd thought that a
registered version wouldn't be in the need to pop up advertisements any more
(in fact, it is the copyright message). Fortunately the window vanishes
automatically after some few seconds.
The installation of the software is good, but the entries in the
S:User-Startup are not what I would like them to be: None of the commands
are redirected to NIL:, so a window pops up at that time. Most often,
AmiTCP/IP is started before the WB opens and then the WB opens a window
(which will close automatically of course). Please add >NIL: (or make it
optional) - the only advantage in not doing so could be to see any problem
with the network, but then, what for is the Log Daemon for?
The Log Daemon pops up a window every time either a network problem
occurs, or some action from the inetd is to be reported. This window is
hard to configure and annoying, too. Make it pop up optionally only and
write the output into a file.
The product registration form (already pre-filled-in!) asks you (the
customer) what you would like to have implemented next. For several reasons
I strongly suggest to implement email tools and probably even other online
tools - just like OS/Warp is offering. The average user must be able to use
the Internet. More GUI and more simple access to the network is what is
required - not rarely used tools like telnet daemon and NFS server.
COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS
I used AS225R1 some years ago. At that time, TCP/IP was new to me and
I must admit that I had lot more trouble setting up the network. Not that
the manual was bad, but the software was. Also at that time, there were no
SANA-II drivers used, but hard-coded drivers which made it more difficult to
elaborate problems.
AS225R2 (beta 5), the Commodore TCP/IP stack for the Amiga, is still
not available (I am told that Interworks and CPR in the US of A. do sell
it, but I never got affirmative confirmation). I had the chance to use it
though, and must say that nowadays I would not use it any more. The only big
advantage of AS225R2 is a NFS server, although the implementation of it is
no more than a nasty hack.
Compared with TCP/IP stacks for other computer platforms, such as
Sunsoft PC-TCP/IP for MS-DOS, AmiTCP/IP offers at least as much
documentation and even more programs and functionality for less money.
Compared with Envoy, the Commodore networking (now maintained by
IAM) facilities, AmiTCP/IP offers much more if you are using a
multi-platform environment. Envoy probably is best choice if you have an
Amiga-only network. Also, to my surprise, Envoy is faster regarding speed
over network filesystem. But Envoy is less stable, too. I can crash some
versions on purpose (I haven't tested the brand new 2.0 release of Envoy
yet).
BUGS
Throughout the test, I tried to find obvious bugs. I found only one
minor bug in the stack, which I will have to elaborate before reporting it.
All other observed 'bugs' were either caused by misinformation or
mis-installation (RTFM? :-). Some minor bugs are to be complained for the
clients ncftp and telnet, but both are of course under development.
VENDOR SUPPORT
I have known the AmiTCP group for a long time and have personal
contact with them since I met them last year on the WoA/Cologne, Germany
They do answer very promptly on emails and FAX.
As the current release of AmiTCP/IP is the first official release of
the commercial product, I cannot say how updates of the package will be
handled. I was told that updates and bug fix patches will be uploaded to
the AmiNet.
WARRANTY
NSDi offers no warranty of any kind for this product.
CONCLUSIONS
This is one of the most usable product I ever obtained, even though
it is sometimes not obvious that you actually use it - a silent product.
I rate it 4.5 stars out of 5. The last half point can be obtained if
the product offers localized manuals and more user programs. Something which
is easy to do.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
This review represents my honest opinion; your mileage may vary, so
tell me about it! If you use this review in any way - republishing for
example, the author requests at least a copy of the used media. Special
thanks to the disk magazine 'Amiga Gadget' who did so in the past.
Copyright 1995 Markus Illenseer. All rights reserved.
You can contact the author at:
Markus Illenseer
Kurt Schumacherstr. 16
33615 Bielefeld
GERMANY
markus@tiger.owl.de
--
Markus Illenseer
---
Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu
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