A network operating system for interconnected LANs with heterogeneous data-link layers

Microcomputer workstations interconnected by local area networks (LANs) are used extensively for educational computing at the University of Waterloo, Canada. The authors present the user´s view of both the Waterloo JANET LAN and the Project ARIES Network to understand the motivation behind the underlying LAN structure. This is followed by a description of the method of interconnection of the LANs, the addressing conventions used, and the implementation of the network operating system. Because of the variation in data-link layers, many of which did not follow the current standards, it was necessary to construct a network operating system which would tolerate their differences. This network operating system was implemented using the message-passive paradigm