Connecting 386i to non-sun network

[Glenn Roberts]

> We have a single Sun 386i which we would like to have connected to the
> university's ethernet and internet backbone.  We don't want to serve
> anyone.  Apparently, the 386i MUST run yellow-pages.  As best as I could
> determine, the system must be configured as a master server with no
> clients.

As far as I can tell there's nothing to prevent one from disabling all the
stuff Sun put in to make the 386i's "plug and play".  This would be a lot
of work, but if you know what you're doing it should be possible to make
the 386i act just like any other Sun you're used to.

If you think you're going to add more 386i's to your network though I'd
think twice before doing this.  I think Sun has done a nice job of
integrating the 386i's via NFS.  My system is the YP server for our
3-system '386 network and this has not caused me any problems.

> A related question:  as a master server with no clients, why
> doesn't SNAP work?  Even root cannot do anything but backup
> and restore.

I haven't had the problem you describe, but I have had some problems with
SNAP (e.g. our site requires that user id be same as badge number, but
SNAP tries to generate its own user id).  SNAP is a neat idea but it needs
some work - I generally don't use it.  Read the manual called "Sun386i
Advanced Administration" - included with the Programmers Guides manual
set.  It contains all the information you need to administer your system
without using SNAP.

- Glenn Roberts, The MITRE Corp., McLean VA (703)-883-6820
  gfr%wolfgang at gateway.mitre.org