Introduction to Networking for NonStop S-Series Servers

TCP/IP Network Connections
Introduction to Networking for HP NonStop S-Series Servers—520670-005
10-5
LAN and WAN Connections
LAN and WAN Connections
The TCP/IP products support both LANs and WANs by running over the SLSA
subsystem and X25AM, respectively. (If you use X25AM, TCP or UDP uses the routing
services of X25AM as well as IP.) The application interface is the same for LANs and
WANs.
NonStop TCP/IP supports Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, token-ring, and
ATM connectivity. Parallel Library TCP/IP and NonStop TCP/IPv6 support Ethernet,
Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. Section 9, Local Area Network (LAN)
Connections, describes the Ethernet and token-ring interfaces. To use the token-ring
interface, select the Subnetwork Access Point (SNAP) encoding option in your
NonStop TCP/IP configuration.
Berkeley Sockets Programmatic Interface
The TCP/IP application program interface (API)—based on the Berkeley Software
Distribution (BSD) UNIX 4.3 sockets interface—is one of the few interfaces offered by
HP that does not take the form of file-system procedure calls. The TCP/IP API enables
you to port existing TCP/IP applications to NonStop S-series servers from other
computers. It also allows programmers who are familiar with the Berkeley sockets
interface to work in HP online transaction processing (OLTP) environments.
A socket is a logical connection between two applications across a network. The same
application or system can use multiple sockets. A socket is associated explicitly or
implicitly with an address and a logical port number. When you identify the process or
device with which you want to communicate, you identify the remote socket by
specifying the address and port. (Each server on a host has its own port number.)
The sockets interface consists of a library of C language functions that give you access
to TCP or UDP or direct access to IP.
OSS sockets are not BSD and have their own set of functions. For more information
about OSS sockets, see the OSS Porting Guide
and the OSS Programmer’s Guide.
File Transfer and Access Facilities
NonStop TCP/IP includes two utilities that let you transfer unstructured binary or ASCII
files between computer systems. The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) runs over TCP and
provides for reliable file transfers. It is suitable for most file transfers between NonStop
systems and other systems on the network. The Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP)
runs over UDP; it is connectionless and does not include any user-authentication
mechanism, so its overhead is low. One good application of TFTP is to provide boot
files for diskless workstations or shop-floor controllers.
Terminal and Workstation Interfaces
The TCP/IP products include components that support terminal and workstation
access to applications across a TCP/IP network.