Actually, Phil, the problem is both DEC's and Joiner's, with a little help from the local system administrator to boot. DEC made things difficult for the world by not requiring a VAXCluster to be symetrical. These things aren't like Multi-Porcessor VM systems, they're acutally several independent, Uni-Processor VMS systems that share some hardware. Each can have its own SYS$UAF file (the equivalent of the CP directory), and not all users on node X need to be allowed on node Y. In fact, there's no requirement that user Q on cluster node X be the same user as Q on node Y. So that's a strike against DEC, albeit one that gives their customers better control over their systems. Joiner couldn't simply assume that messages directed to Q@CLUSTER should be sent to any Q logged into any cluster node. They decided to handle the problem by allowing the system administrator to set a cluster up as either a single system, sending out messages and mail as <user>@<clustername>, or as several systems, each sending out meesages and mail as <user>@<clusternodename>. Either way, mail and messages will be accepted for <user>@<clusternodename>. Clusters set up the first way will also accept mail to <user>@<clustername>, but not messages. So that's a strike against Joiner. Some system administrators apper to have configured their systems in such a way as to be unreachable, or difficult to deal with, so that's one on them. Ross Patterson Rutgers University