HP A-MSR Series User manual

HP A-MSR Router Series
IPX
Configuration Guide
Abstract
This document describes the software features for the HP A Series products and guides you through the
software configuration procedures. These configuration guides also provide configuration examples to help
you apply software features to different network scenarios.
This documentation is intended for network planners, field technical support and servicing engineers, and
network administrators working with the HP A Series products.
Part number: 5998-2034
Software version: CMW520-R2207P02
Document version: 6PW100-20110810

Legal and notice information
© Copyright 2011 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
No part of this documentation may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior
written consent of Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.
HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND WITH REGARD TO THIS
MATERIAL, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for
incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.
The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements
accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional
warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

iii
Contents
Configuring IPX ································································································································································ 1
Address structure ······················································································································································1
RIP ··············································································································································································1
SAP ············································································································································································1
NetBIOS ····································································································································································2
Protocol and standards············································································································································2
Configuring IPX basic functions·······································································································································2
Configuring IPX routing ····················································································································································3
Configuration prerequisite·······································································································································3
Configuring an IPX static route ·······························································································································3
Configuring IPX route number limitation················································································································4
Enabling IPX RIP static route redistribution ············································································································4
Configuring IPX RIP parameters······························································································································5
Configuring IPX SAP ·························································································································································5
Configuration prerequisite·······································································································································5
Enabling IPX SAP······················································································································································5
Configuring IPX SAP timers ·····································································································································6
Configuring IPX SAP GNS request response mode······························································································6
Configuring IPX service information·······················································································································7
Configuring the IPX forwarding feature··························································································································8
Configuration prerequisite·······································································································································8
Configuring triggered updating······························································································································8
Pinging an IPX network·····················································································································································9
Configuration prerequisites ·····································································································································9
Configuration procedure ·········································································································································9
Displaying and maintaining IPX configuration ··············································································································9
IPX configuration example ············································································································································ 10
Troubleshooting IPX configuration································································································································ 12
IPX forwarding failure ··········································································································································· 12
Troubleshooting IPX RIP ········································································································································ 13
Troubleshooting IPX SAP······································································································································· 14
Troubleshooting IPX routing management ·········································································································· 15
Support and other resources·········································································································································17
Contacting HP ································································································································································ 17
Subscription service ·············································································································································· 17
Related information························································································································································ 17
Documents······························································································································································ 17
Websites ································································································································································ 17
Conventions ···································································································································································· 18
Index················································································································································································20

1
Configuring IPX
IPX is a network layer protocol of NetWare that can be used by the HP A-MSR Router Series. Its position in
NetWare is similar to IP’s position in TCP/IP. It implements such functions as address filling, routing and
packet forwarding.
IPX is a connectionless protocol. Though both data and the destination IPX address are included in an IPX
packet, IPX does not confirm whether the packet is forwarded successfully. Such functions as confirmation of
forwarding success and connection control are provided by the protocol at the layer above IPX. Any IPX
packet is considered an independent entity that is not related to any other IPX packets logically or
sequentially.
Address structure
The IPX address structure differs from IP. An IPX address consists of the network address and node address,
in the format: network.node.
Network address—Identifies the physical network where the site lies. It has a length of 4 bytes,
expressed by an 8-digit hexadecimal.
Node address—Identifies a node in the network. It has the same structure as MAC address and a length
of 6 bytes. It is entered as three parts of two-byte digits separated by hyphens (-) and it cannot be a
broadcast or multicast address.
For example, in the IPX address bc.0-cb-47, the network address is bc (more accurately, it is 000000bc) and
the node address is 0-cb-47 (more accurately, it is 0000-00cb-0047). Therefore, an IPX address can also be
expressed in the form of N.H-H-H, in which N is the network address and H-H-H is the node address.
RIP
IPX employs RIP to maintain and advertise dynamic routing information.
Via RIP, an IPX router exchanges routing information with neighbors and maintains an inter-network routing
information database (usually called "routing table") according to network changes. When the router
receives a packet, it finds a next hop from the routing table to forward the packet.
SAP
SAP is used to advertise the service types that servers provide and their addresses. IPX advertises dynamic
service information through SAP. When a server starts, it broadcasts services it can provide through SAP.
When being shut down, the server informs clients of the termination of services through SAP.
Through SAP, an IPX router creates and maintains an internetwork service information database (usually
called "service information table"). A server on the same network periodically broadcasts its service types
and address. Clients not on the same network as the server cannot get such information directly, which is
collected by the SAP proxy and saved in the server information table in the IPX router for advertisement to
such clients. Because server information is dynamically updated by SAP, clients can always obtain latest
server information.
SAP defines three types of packets, service query, service response, and periodic updates. The following
subsections describe how SAP operates:

2
Initializing NetWare client
When a NetWare client is initializing, it needs to locate a server. To do so, the client broadcasts a GNS
request. At least one router or server can give a SAP response, which contains information such as packet
type, service type, and server name and address. The NetWare client can communicate with the server
through the IPX address in the response packet.
Because the GNS request is broadcast, the client can only get a response from the server in the local IPX
network. To locate a server in another network, the IPX router can send a RIP request to get the route to the
server, and send the route and service information to the client. In this way, the client can communicate with
a server in another network.
Updating SAP periodically
A server broadcasts a SAP packet to provide the service name and type, and its IPX address. The IPX router
that receives the broadcast adds the service to the service information database and periodically broadcast
such information in the directly connected networks. The advertisements can thus flood the entire network.
By default, SAP broadcasts are sent every 60 seconds. Each packet can have up to 7 service information
items by default. If a large amount of service information needs to broadcast, the information can be sent in
several packets. For example, 20 service information items can be sent in 3 packets.
NetBIOS
To enable use of network basic input/output system (NetBIOS) in a NetWare environment, Novell provides
the following solutions:
As a broadcast, a NetBIOS packet is not routable. A mechanism is needed for the routing device to forward
these packets. The mechanism used by Novell is to set the packet type contained in the IPX header to 20,
indicating that the IPX packet is a NetBIOS packet. A device must forward such packets according to certain
rules to make sure that NetBIOS packets are transmitted in the IPX network.
Protocol and standards
RFC 1132, Standard for the transmission of 802.2 packets over IPX networks
RFC 1634, Novell IPX Over Various WAN Media (IPXWAN)
Configuring IPX basic functions
The node address specified with ipx enable [ node node ] is the global node address used by all interfaces
but the Ethernet interfaces on the router.
If no node address is specified, the router specifies the MAC of the first Ethernet interface as the global
node address.
If no Ethernet interfaces are available, the router generates the global node address randomly
according to the system clock.
An Ethernet interface uses its own MAC address as the node address rather than the global one.

3
The VLAN interface uses its own MAC address as the node address. You need not specify a node
address when enabling IPX.
Step
Command
Remarks
1. Enter system view.
system-view
—
2. Enable IPX protocol.
ipx enable [ node node ]
Required.
Disabled by default.
3. Enter interface view.
interface interface-type
interface-number
—
4. Configure an IPX
network number for
the interface.
ipx network
network-number
Required.
By default, no network number is specified for the
interface—IPX is still disabled on the interface even
IPX is enabled in system view.
An interface can only have one network number. If
the IPX network number of an interface is deleted, its
IPX configuration and static routing information is
deleted.
Configuring IPX routing
With the IPX protocol enabled on an interface, the system automatically enables RIP to maintain and
advertise dynamic routing information. Configure the following routing features based on the actual network
requirements:
Configuring IPX static routes
Configuring IPX route number limit
Configuring IPX RIP static route redistribution
Configuring IPX RIP related parameters
Configuration prerequisite
Before this configuration, you must configure basic IPX functions.
Configuring an IPX static route
Step
Command
Remarks
1. Enter system view.
system-view
—
2. Configure an IPX static
route.
ipx route-static dest-network
{ network.node | interface-
type interface-number }
[ preference value ] [ tick ticks
hop hops ]
Required.
The IPX static route with a network number of
0xFFFFFFFE is the default route.
The specified interface-type interface-number
can only be a current PPP interface.

4
Configuring IPX route number limitation
In IPX, the maximum number of static and dynamic routes to the same destination address permitted in the
routing table can be configured. The number of equivalent routes for load balancing can also be configured.
The two configurations have no direct relation, so changing one of the configurations does not affect the
other.
When the number of dynamic and static routes to the same destination reaches the upper limit, newly found
dynamic routes are discarded instead of being added to the routing table. If the newly configured maximum
value is smaller than the previous one, the excessive routes are not deleted until they get aged out or until they
are deleted manually.
If the number of equivalent load balanced routes is less than the number of active routes, the system turns the
excessive active routes into inactive routes; if the number of newly configured equivalent routes is bigger than
the number of active routes, and equivalent inactive routes exist, the system changes these inactive routes to
active ones to reach the number of configured equivalent load balanced routes.
Step
Command
Remarks
1. Enter system view.
system-view
—
2. Configure the maximum number of routes to the
same destination.
ipx route max-reserve-path paths
Optional.
The default is 4.
3. Configure the maximum number of equal cost
routes for load balancing.
ipx route load-balance-path paths
Optional.
The default is 1.
Enabling IPX RIP static route redistribution
Routing protocols can redistribute routes from one another to share routing information. However, a RIP
router can only redistribute active static routes rather than inactive static routes and advertise them to directly
connected networks.
Step
Command
Remarks
1. Enter system view.
system-view
—
2. Enable IPX RIP to redistribute static routes.
ipx rip import-route static
Required.
Disabled by default

5
Configuring IPX RIP parameters
Step
Command
Remarks
1. Enter system view.
system-view
—
2. Specify an IPX RIP update
interval.
ipx rip timer update
seconds
Optional.
The default is 60 seconds.
The IPX RIP update interval must be identical
on all routers in the network to keep
consistency of routing tables.
If a route entry is not updated within the
aging interval, it is removed from the routing
table and the associated dynamic service
information entry is also removed.
3. Configure an aging interval
for IPX RIP routing entries.
ipx rip multiplier multiplier
Optional.
The default is 3 times the update interval.
4. Enter interface view.
interface interface-type
interface-number
—
5. Configure the maximum
length of IPX RIP updates.
ipx rip mtu bytes
Optional.
The default is 432 bytes.
Configuring IPX SAP
With IPX enabled on an interface, the system automatically uses SAP to maintain and advertise dynamic
service information. You can also configure the SAP related parameters or service information based on
actual network requirements.
Configuration prerequisite
You need configure IPX basic functions before this task.
Enabling IPX SAP
Step
Command
Remarks
1. Enter system view.
system-view
—
2. Enter interface view.
interface interface-type
interface-number
—
3. Enable IPX SAP.
undo ipx sap disable
Optional.
By default, IPX SAP is enabled after IPX is enabled on
the interface.

6
Configuring IPX SAP timers
In a large network, IPX SAP broadcasts may occupy much bandwidth. Changing IPX SAP update interval is
an effective way to reduce bandwidth occupation. You can configure IPX SAP aging interval as a value
multiple times the update interval.
During configuration you should make sure that all servers and routers on the network have the same SAP
updating interval. Otherwise, a router may consider a working server failed.
If the service information is not updated within the aging interval, it is deleted from the service information
table.
Step
Command
Remarks
1. Enter system view.
system-view
—
2. Specify an IPX SAP update
interval.
ipx sap timer update
seconds
Optional.
The default is 60 seconds.
3. Specify an aging interval
for IPX SAP service
information entries.
ipx sap multiplier multiplier
Optional.
The default is 3 times the update interval.
4. Enter interface view.
interface interface-type
interface-number
—
5. Configure the maximum
length of IPX RIP updates.
ipx sap mtu bytes
Optional.
The default is 480 bytes—seven 64-byte
service information items can be included in
a SAP update.
Configuring IPX SAP GNS request response mode
GNS is a SAP message, broadcast by a SAP-enabled NetWare client. A NetWare server responds to the
request with a Give Nearest Server message.
If the NetWare server and the client reside in a common network, the server responds to the client. If no
NetWare server is available on the client’s network, the connected router responds.
You can configure a router to respond to a SAP GNS request with:
The nearest server information. The nearest server has the least hops in the service information table, or
All available servers in turn—Round-robin mode.
Step
Command
Remarks
1. Enter system view.
system-view
—
2. Configure the router
to respond to a
request.
In round-robin
mode
ipx sap gns-load-balance
Optional.
By default, the round-robin
mode is used.
With the nearest
server
undo ipx sap gns-load-balance
3. Enter interface view.
interface interface-type
interface-number
—
4. Enable the interface to respond to GNS
requests.
undo ipx sap gns-disable-reply
Optional.
Enabled by default.

7
Configuring IPX service information
Typically, a client only uses the service advertised by NetWare server and saved by the advising router. In
order that the client can always use a specific service, static service information can be manually added to
the service information table.
An IPX router supports up to 10,240 service information items, 2048 service types, and 5120 static service
information items (including all service types). You can configure the maximum service information items for
a certain type of service.
If the route associated to a static service information item is invalid or deleted, the static service information
item is prevented from broadcast, until the router finds a new valid route associated to the service
information.
The maximum queue length of the same service type items does not limit the amount of static service
information but the amount of dynamic service information. If the newly configured queue length is less than
the original length, the table items in the service information table are not deleted; if the amount of service
information for the same service type reaches the configured value, new service information items are not
added.
To configure IPX service information:
Step
Command
Remarks
1. Enter system view.
system-view
—
2. Add an IPX static service information item.
ipx service service-type server-name
network.node socket hop hopcount
[ preference preference ]
Required.
3. Configure the maximum queue length of
the same service type items.
ipx sap max-reserve-servers length
Optional.
2048 by default.
The following table gives values of some service types:
Service type
Value
Unknown
0000h
Print Queue
0003h
File Server
0004h
Job Server
0005h
Print Server
0007h
Archive Server
0009h
Remote Bridge Server
0024h
Advertising Print Server
0047h
Reserved
Up To 8000h
Wildcard
FFFFh (-1)