One of the challenges that LAN administrators face is ensuring that the adapters
they want to use are supported and then finding the latest level of device drivers
for these adapters. Another problem they face is trying to find information about
known software bugs and their corresponding fixes. This appendix is included to
help readers solve these problems.
B.1 Finding Compatibility Information on the World Wide Web
IBM does extensive testing on each new system before it is introduced to ensure
that it is compatible with the wide variety of IBM and non-IBM adapters which
exist in the marketplace. Recently, this information has been made public and is
now maintained and updated on a regular basis on a World Wide Web (WWW)
site. The Universal Resource Locator (URL) for this site is:
•http://www.pc.ibm.com/compat/compat.html
This site has a wealth of valuable information. It contains information by server
(for example IBM PC Server 320, IBM PC Server 500, and so on). For each
machine, it has reports on:
•LAN adapters
•WAN adapters
•Peripheral interface adapters
•Storage devices
•Other devices such as video chip sets
Figure 145 on page 200 shows a sample report on Ethernet LAN adapters tested
on the PC Server 320.
Copyright IBM Corp. 1995 199