Apple Releases Preview of IP over FireWire

A user writes, "Apple has finally released IP over FireWire drivers for Mac OS X. It is now possible to connect two or more Macs together with FireWire cables and if needed, FireWire hubs."

Comments

Re:Hey, they're innovating again

[zmalone]

Way to go with your innovate thinking. Apple is one of the major companies behind firewire, and they have been working on the standard for years. I seem to recall finding early references to firewire going back to 1995. So if Apple comes up with a standard, which Microsoft then implements before them, thats Microsoft innovating?

I can't make up my mind as to whether you are trolling, or just poorly informed.

On XP it works nicely.

[kmellis]

I've been using IP on 1394 from my desktop box to my Sony laptop. I just bridge my ethernet and firewire NICs on my desktop PC, and the Sony has an Internet connection over Firewire (which they call "i.Link"). It works great. Theoretically, I should be seeing four times the bandwidth on the 1394 link than I see with 100 Ethernet, but in reality it's not that big of a difference. As people are saying about gig-ethernet, other things, like the PCI bus, start to be limiting factors.

Re:Crossover cable

[Spencerian]

I oversimplified, you're right.

This link from Apple's support page tells which Macs do and do not need a crossover cable today.

Re:Hey, they're innovating again

[Guy Harris]

A subset of the SCSI-3 standard, also known as IEEE 1394, Firewire is a new high speed data exchange protocol developed at Apple. Occasionally it is referred to as "serial SCSI" because it is a serial protocol and conforms to SCSI standards as well.

They stated that in a fashion that is, at best, a bit confusing. This draft specification for the SCSI architectural model shows on page 10 a diagram showing that there are several interconnect layers for SCSI, including the classic parallel SCSI bus (SPI), and three count 'em three serial layers, namely Fibre Channel (FC-PH), FireWire ("IEEE 1394 High Performance Serial Bus"), and IBM SSA (SSA-PH), with each interconnect layer having a protocol used to implement SCSI on that layer.

Then there are the SCSI commands, which are mostly if not entirely independent of the interconnect layer and protocol. They can be sent over parallel SCSI, Fibre Channel+FCP, FireWire+SBP, SSA-PH+SSP, {pick your link layer}+IP+TCP+iSCSI, Ethernet+HyperSCSI, or the Serial ATA link layer+serial attached SCSI, and, apparently USB+some way of sending SCSI commands over USB. (There certainly don't seem to be many bit-serial links over which you can send SCSI commands and replies.... :-))

FireWire isn't "SCSI", it's an interconnect over which you can send SCSI commands and replies. It's also an interconnect over which you can send stuff that has nothing to do with SCSI, e.g. IP datagrams (we ignore here the possiblity of IP datagrams containing TCP segments that make up iSCSI PDUs :-)), just as Fibre Channel is an interconnect over which you can send SCSI commands and replies, as well as stuff that has nothing to do with SCSI, e.g. IP datagrams, and just as USB is an interconnect over which you can send SCSI commands and replies, as well as stuff that has nothing to do with SCSI, including network packets.

My take....

[djupedal]

I've been testing the FireWire networking software solution from
UniBrain. Unibrain's solution, by the way, provides for more than just
I.P. ...it supports other protocols as well. I'm looking forward to
having Firewire networking built into OS X. More choices are good. I'm
wondering if this indicates a move towards next generation 800mbps
Firewire, by Apple, as well.

On my Mac, Firewire networking software provides two more ports similar
to built-in ethernet, and treats them the same in the network panel in
OS X. They show up as two additional ethernet adapters. What I'm really
looking for is the same capability under Linux, so I can connect two
computers using firewire networking...OS X and Mandrake Linux 9.0. So
far, only custom Linux kernals built for clustering offer this ability.
[
http://kenlinux.no-ip.org/gallery/vie w_photo.php?s et_albumName=Stuff-
01&id=net01 ]

Theoretically, I can dual mode the two firewire channels in my
computers to run at 800Mbps (channel bonding). Of course, gigabit
ethernet would provide increased speed, but it would also involve
buying more hardware, at least in my case. Like we say "...run what ya
'brung..." If your hardware provides gigabit ethernet, use it :)

Distance between nodes is a problem for Firewire networking. Maximum
distance is about 15 feet without repeaters, etc. At this time,
Firewire hubs cost approx. the same as ethernet hubs. Note I don't
think that all Firewire hubs offer similar capability/compatibility.
Test before you buy.

Don't forget Apple's Firewire target disc mode if you simply want to
pass files between two computers in a hurry.

Here is a quick little generic Firewire networking guide:
[ http://www.homenethelp.com/network/firewire.asp ]

Unibrain:
[ http://www.unibrain.com/products/ieee-1394/firenet .htm ]
(If you don't qualify as an Apple Developer, but you still wish to take
a look at OS X Firewire networking, Unibrain has a timed demo available
for testing)

Also note that firewire networking is currently a part of Windows XP.
OS X is playing ketchup.

Re:It deleted my network settings

[tim1724]

aha.. macfixit.com has the solution. It turns out that for some reason /var/db/SystemConfiguration/preferences.xml is renamed to preferences.xml-old .. so just move it back:

cd /var/db/SystemConfiguration/
mv preferences.xml-old preferences.xml