Lucent Technologies 6000 - Manual (Page 489)

Configuring IPX Routing
Introduction to IPX routing
MAX 6000/3000 Network Configuration Guide 12-3
packet. If more than one IPX router is advertising the default route, the unit makes a routing
decision based on hop and tick count.
IPX and PPP link compression
NetWare relies on the data-link layer (also called Layer 2) to validate data integrity. STAC link
compression, if specified, generates an 8 bit checksum, which is inadequate for NetWare data.
If your MAX unit supports NetWare (either routed or bridged), and you require link
compression, you should configure your unit in one of the following ways:
• Configure either STAC-9 or MS-STAC link compression, which use a more robust
error-checking method, for any Connection profile supporting IPX data. Configure link
compression by setting the Ethernet > Answer > PPP Options > Link Comp parameter and
the Ethernet > Connections > any Connection profile > Encaps Options > Link Comp
parameter.
• Enable IPX checksums on your NetWare servers and clients. (Both server and client must
support IPX checksums. If you enable checksums on your servers but your clients do not
support checksums, they will fail to log in successfully.)
• Disable link compression completely by setting Ethernet > Answer > PPP Options > Link
Comp to None and Ethernet > Connections > any Connection profile > Encaps Options >
Link Comp to None. If you disable link compression, the unit validates data integrity by
means of PPP checksums.
Lucent extensions to standard IPX
NetWare uses dynamic routing and service location, so clients expect to be able to locate a
server dynamically, regardless of its physical location. To help accommodate these
expectations in a WAN environment, Lucent provides two IPX extensions: IPX Route profiles
and IPX SAP filters.
(For information about the Handle IPX parameter and IPX bridging, see Chapter 14,
“Configuring Packet Bridging.”)
IPX Route profiles
IPX Route profiles specify static IPX routes. When a MAX unit clears its RIP and SAP tables
because of a reset or power-cycle, it adds the static routes when it reinitializes. Each static
route contains the information needed to reach one server.
If the unit connects to another Lucent INS unit, some sites choose not to configure a static
route. Instead, after a power-cycle or reset, the initial connection to that site must be activated
manually. After the initial connection, the unit downloads the RIP table from the remote site
and maintains the routes as static until the next power-cycle or reset (Lucent-to-Lucent WAN
links).
Static routes need manual updating whenever you remove the specified server or change the
address. However, static routes help prevent timeouts when a client takes a long time to locate
a server across a remote WAN link. (For more information, see “Configuring static IPX routes”
on page 12-19, or see the Configurator Online Help for information about parameters in a
profile.)