136 SunFDDI/P1.0 Adapter User’s Guide—May 1997
A
•Can I use SunFDDI/P 1.0 in a redundant single-attached station (RSAS)
configuration?
No. This configuration, which was supported by SunFDDI 5.0 SBus,
provides a redundant connection that is used in the event of a link failure.
The equivalent configuration for SunFDDI/P 1.0 is provided by a dual-
attached station connected in dual-homing mode. See “Concentrators with
Dual-Homing” on page 74 for moreinformation.
•Can I use the SunFDDI/P 1.0 software with a hardware interface from a
third-party vendor?
No. The device driver does not support any third-party hardware products.
•Can I connect two single-attached stations “back-to-back”, without
connecting them to a concentrator?
Yes.This configuration is supported by the FDDI specifications. You can also
connect two single-attached stations and one dual-attached station directly
in a ring, but this configuration is not supported by the FDDI specifications
and is not recommended.
•What is dual-homing?
Dual-homing is a special configuration that connects a single dual-attached
station to two concentrators so that there is a redundantpath, which is used
in the event of a link failure. See “Concentrators with Dual-Homing” on
page 74 for moreinformation.
•What is the MTBF for the various SunFDDI/P options?
The calculated mean time before fail (MTBF) for each of the SunFDDI/P
interface cards is 1231176hours
This number was obtained using the standard method for calculating MTBF.
•Why can’t I connect port A to port A, or port B to port B?
This type of configuration is forbidden by the FDDI specifications. It is
called “twisting” or “crossing” the ring. If you connect your FDDI station in
this configuration, the link status indicator will remain blinking green to
indicate an invalid connection. See Chapter 2, “HardwareInstallation,” for a
description of the differentdiagnostic LEDs and Chapter 7, “FDDI Network
Topologies,”for a description of the valid network configurations.