Alcatel Carrier Internetworking Solutions Omni Switch/Router - Manual (Page 536)

The Switch Menu
Page 18-40
Default Autoencapsulation
Autoencapsulation is a technique employed by AutoTracker software to learn the protocol
and encapsulation type used by a source MAC address and automatically translate frames
bound to that MAC address to the appropriate encapsulation type.
Normally all devices attached to a switch port receive frames translated according to the trans-
lation options defined for that port. However, some devices attached to the same port may
require different frame formats.
For example, one workstation may support IPX 802.3 frames and another may support IPX
SNAP frames. The switch port may be configured to translate incoming IPX 802.3 frames to
LLC frames, which would not satisfy either of the workstations. If autoencapsulation is on,
then the switch would translate frames for the first workstation to IPX 802.3 and frames for
the second workstation to IPX SNAP. The translation setting for the port is overridden for
those ports that require a special translation.
Autoencapsulation operates only on learned unicast frames. It does not work for broadcast,
multicast, or unlearned unicast frames. For this reason it is recommended only for ports
attached to client devices. It is not recommended for ports attached to servers due to high
volume of broadcast traffic on such a connection.
In addition, autoencapsulation is not supported for Banyan Vines frames. It operates only on
IP and IPX frames.
To turn on autoencapsulation type the following at the prompt:
autoencaps on
To turn off autoencapsulation type the following at the prompt:
autoencaps off