Routing Information

Routing information for Reality networking is used by the Reality session manager process to establish and maintain connections between Reality databases and other network devices, such as printers.

UNIX

On UNIX, the host file /etc/ROUTE-FILE is used to hold all Reality routing information. This specifies the network protocol - TCP/IP, OSI (full- or null-network), or X.25 - and also specifies whether a particular connection uses character mode or the Northgate DDA protocol.

The ROUTE-FILE can include the following types of entry:

• Destination entry - defines a route to a remote host so that outgoing connections can be built.
• Listening entry - defines a route to the local host so that the session manager can accept incoming calls.
• Reality entry - identifies a local Reality database. Formerly called a RealityX entry.
• Q-type entry - references a destination entry. It is used to route outgoing calls to a Reality database on a remote host, to route calls to a remote host via an intermediate host or to route calls between Reality databases on the same host.
• Alternative Host entry - contains a list of equivalent destination hosts in the order in which connection is to be attempted.
• Heartbeat entry - contains Heartbeat application names.
• Local Host entry - allows you to specify a DDA network name for your host.
• SovereignX entry - accepts incoming calls for a SovereignX environment (not used on Reality).

Special types of Listening and Destination entry (local loopback) enable connections between two processes on the same host.

For details of the ROUTE-FILE Maintenance Utility, used to set up /etc/ROUTE-FILE entries, refer to The ROUTE-FILE in UNIX-Connect System Administration.

Windows

On Windows, Reality routing information is held in the Registry. This includes the following types of entry:

• Host - entries which define a route to a remote host, allowing outgoing connections to be built. Host entries can be of two types:

  • Destination Host - entries which contain connection information for a particular remote host.

    A localhost destination entry is created automatically when Reality is installed and enables connections between two processes on the same host.

  • Alternative Host List - entries that contain a list of equivalent destination hosts, in the order in which connection is to be attempted.
• Listening - entries which define a route to the local host, so that the session manager can accept incoming calls.
• Remote Database - entries that allow connection to Reality databases on remote hosts.
• Local Database - entries that allow connection from remote databases and between local databases. They also specify the version of Reality to be used when connected remotely.

The information in the registry defines the TCP/IP network connection between two hosts, specifying whether a particular connection uses the DDA protocol or character mode (telnet).

The netadmin utility is used to set up routing entries.