The second choice would be Cisco tunneling which is familiar to me also. The bridge software would be the third choice if the others don't work. In that case I would build it on Tru64unix. I guess it is doable. Haven't tried though. I really would like to have my own area - for a couple of reasons. First, I do possess over 60 VMS systems which have their own DECnet addresses and I wouldn't like to change them when I want to use them. Second, the area routing is set up already and it would be a lot easier to add an area than to reconfigure the whole routing. Third, it is easy to add nodes to the area when it is needed if the area is self managed. I understand that Johnny is a busy man. Maybe he has time to give me some advise about the (area) routers to which I should try to connect (by DECnet-over-IP). When I'm done with the connection and have it up and running, I'll be happy to share my experiences with all of you. Hi, Kari. I thought I had replied to you in the past. Maybe the mail got lost somewhere. Anyway, to try to answer your questions: Your own area: no problem. DECnet+ over IP: I have no idea if it is doable, but if it is, feel free. HECnet as such is totally connection-agnostic. Anything that works is acceptable. My experience (both from myself, and others) is that DECnet+ is more of an headache than a win, but that's more from an adminitrative point of view. Technically, it works just fine. I'm uncertain if DECnet+ can act as an area router though, so you might need to have atleast one DECnet node, in order to have your own area. Bridge on Tru64: I have no idea, but I think it should be possible. What is required isn't that exotic. You need the normal packet filter functionality in the system (I believe Tru64 have this), and you need libpcap. Your hardware also needs to allow you to create raw ethernet packets with different source address than what the ethernet controller itself have. Apart from that, it's a simple C program. How to go about things: first you decide on how to connect, and find someone that can be the other end of your connection. If you decide on a bridge, then you can connect to me. For DECnet over IP in any form, you'll have to find someone else around here who can do that (I can't). Cisco requires that you find someone else with a Cisco box. Once that is done, create the connection. Renumber your machines to the right area, and away we go. The other part you might want to do is sync up nodenames with me. I have a master database for DECnet nodenames here, which people normally copy, which helps us having a uniform view of the nodenames. Not requires, but nice. Johnny