Configuring IPX
Enabling IPX Routing
The first step in enabling IPX routing is to enable it on the router.
If you do not specify the node number of the router to be used on WAN links, the
Cisco IOS software uses the hardware Media Access Control (MAC) address
currently assigned to it as its node address. This is the MAC address of
the first Ethernet, Token Ring, or FDDI interface card. If there are no
valid IEEE interfaces, then the Cisco IOS software randomly assigns a node
number using a number that is based on the system clock.
To enable IPX routing (this enables IPX RIP and SAP automatically), use the
following global configuration command:
Router3(config)#ipx routing
Enabling IPX on Individual Interfaces
After you have enabled IPX routing, you assign network numbers to individual
interfaces. This enables IPX routing on those interfaces. You enable
IPX routing on interfaces that support a single network or on those that support
multiple networks. When you enable IPX routing on an interface, you can
also specify an encapsulation (frame type) to use for packets being transmitted
on that network.
Below lists the encapsulation types you can use on IEEE interfaces and shows
the correspondence between Cisco naming conventions and Novell naming
conventions for the encapsulation types.
Novell Frame Encapsulation
| NetWare Frame Type |
Cisco Keyword |
| Ethernet Frames |
| Ethernet_802.3 |
novell-ether (default) |
| Ethernet_802.2 |
sap |
| Ethernet_II |
arpa |
| Ethernet_SNAP |
snap |
| Token Ring Frames |
| Token-Ring |
sap (default) |
| Token-Ring_snap |
snap |
| FDDI Frames |
| Fddi_snap |
snap (default) |
| Fddi_802.2 |
sap |
| Fddi_raw |
novell-fddi |
Enabling IPX on interfaces
A single interface can support a single network or multiple logical networks.
For a single network, you can configure any encapsulation type. Of course,
it should match the encapsulation type of the servers and clients using that
network number.
To assign a network number to an interface that supports a single network,
use the following syntax
ipx network [network #] encapsulation [encapsulation-type]
The following is an example IPX network 2 on interface ethernet 0, with a
frame type of Ethernet_II.
Router3(config)#ipx routing
Router3(config)#int e0
Router3(config-if)#ipx network 2 encapsulation arpa
Multiple Frame Types
There are two ways to assign network numbers to interfaces that support
multiple networks. You can use subinterfaces or primary and secondary
networks.
Subinterfaces
You typically use subinterfaces to assign network numbers to interfaces that
support multiple networks. A subinterface is a mechanism that allows a
single physical interface to support multiple logical interfaces or networks.
That is, several logical interfaces or networks can be associated with a single
hardware interface. Each subinterface must use a distinct encapsulation,
and the encapsulation must match that of the clients and servers using the same
network number. Any interface configuration parameters that you specify on
an individual subinterface are applied to that subinterface only.
To configure multiple IPX networks on a physical interface using
subinterfaces, use the following syntax
interface [type] [number.subinterface-number]
ipx network [network] encapsulation [encapsulation-type]
The following is an example of 2 IPX networks on ethernet subinterfaces, with
frame types of Ethernet_802.2 and Ethernet_802.3
Router3#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
Router3(config)#int e0.1
Router3(config-subif)#ipx network 1 encapsulation sap
Router3(config-subif)#int e0.2
Router3(config-subif)#ipx network 2 encapsulation novell-ether
Primary and Secondary Networks
When assigning network numbers to interfaces that support multiple networks,
you can also configure primary and secondary networks. The
first logical network you configure on an interface is considered the primary
network. Any additional networks are considered secondary networks.
Again, each network on an interface must use a distinct encapsulation and it
should match that of the clients and servers using the same network number.
Any interface configuration parameters that you specify on this interface are
applied to all the logical networks. For example, if you set the routing update
timer to 120 seconds, this value is used on all networks.
To use primary and secondary networks to
configure multiple IPX networks on an interface, use the
following syntax:
ipx network [network] encapsulation [encapsulation-type]
ipx network [network] encapsulation [encapsulation-type] [secondary]
The following is an example of a primary IPX network with Ethernet_sap
encapsulation and a secondary IPX network on interface ethernet 0, with a frame
type of Ethernet_snap.
Router3#configure terminal
Router3(config)#interface ethernet 0
Router3(config-if)#ipx network 10 encapsulation sap
Router3(config-if)#ipx network 11 encapsulation snap secondary
Verifying the IPX routing Table
To view the IPX routing tables, use the command show ipx route.
IPX routers only know about directly connected networks by default.
However when you turned on IPX routing, RIP is automatically enabled.
Router#show ipx route
Codes: C - Connected primary network, c - Connected secondary network
S - Static, F - Floating static, L - Local (internal), W - IPXWAN
R - RIP, E - EIGRP, N - NLSP, X - External, A - Aggregate
s - seconds, u - uses
2 Total IPX routes. Up to 1 parallel paths and 16 hops allowed.
No default route known.
C 10 SAP, Et0.1
C 20 SNAP, Et0.2
C 25 HDLC, Se0
R 55 [07/01] via 25.00d1.20ea.c349, 14s, Se0
R 33 [07/01] via 33.0000.0c7d.1d6f, 16s, Fa0/0
R 44 [07/01] via 44.0000.0c7d.1d70, 17s, Fa0/0
Monitoring IPX on Cisco Routers
Show IPX Servers
The show ipx servers command is a lot like the display servers
command in NetWare. To list the IPX servers discovered through SAP
advertisements, use the show ipx servers EXEC command.
show ipx servers [sorted [{name | net | type}]]
Syntax Description
sorted (Optional.) Sorts the display of IPX servers according to the
keyword that follows.
name (Optional.) Displays the IPX servers alphabetically by server name.
net (Optional.) Displays the IPX servers numerically by network number.
type (Optional.) Displays the IPX servers numerically by SAP service
type. This is the default.
Router3# show ipx servers
Codes: P - Periodic, I - Incremental, H - Holddown, S - static
1 Total IPX Servers
Table ordering is based on routing and server info
Type Name Net Address Port Route Hops Itf
P 4 MAXINE AD33000.0000.1b04.0288:0451 332800/1 2 Et3
Show IPX Server Field Descriptions
| Field |
Description |
| Codes |
Codes defining how the server was learned. |
| P |
Server information was learned via the normal periodic SAP updates. |
| I |
Server information was learned using the incremental SAP capability in IPX
EIGRP. |
| H |
Server is believed to have gone down and the router will no longer advertise
this server's services. |
| S |
Statically defined server (via the ipx sap command). |
| Total IPX servers |
Number of servers in the list. |
| Table order is based on routing and server info |
Entries listed are based on the routing information associated with this
SAP. Server information is used as a tie breaker. |
| Type |
SAP service number. |
| Name |
Server name. |
| Net |
Network number of the server. |
| Address |
Node address of the server. |
| Port |
Socket number. |
| Route |
Metric/hop count for the route to the network. |
| Hops |
SAP-advertised number of hops from the router to the server's network. |
| Itf |
Interface through which this server was first discovered. |
Load Balancing with IPX
The ipx maximum-paths command is designed to increase throughput by
allowing the router to choose among several equal-cost, parallel paths.
(Note that when paths have differing costs, the router chooses lower-cost routes
in preference to higher-cost routes.) IPX does load sharing on a
packet-by-packet basis in round-robin fashion, regardless of whether you are
using fast switching or process switching. That is, the first packet is
sent along the first path, the second packet along the second path, and so on.
When the final path is reached, the next packet is sent to the first path, the
next to the second path, and so on.
Limiting the number of equal-cost paths can save memory on routers with
limited memory or very large configurations. Additionally, in networks
with a large number of multiple paths and systems with limited ability to cache
out-of-sequence packets, performance might suffer when traffic is split between
many paths.
To set the maximum number of equal-cost paths the router uses when forwarding
packets, use the ipx maximum-paths Global Configuration command.
To restore the default value of 1, use the no form of this command.
ipx maximum-paths [paths]
no ipx maximum-paths
Show IPX traffic
To display information about the number and type of IPX packets transmitted
and received by the router, use the show ipx traffic EXEC command.
Router3# show ipx traffic
Rcvd: 32124925 total, 1691992 format errors, 0 checksum errors, 67 bad hop count,
18563 packets pitched, 452467 local destination, 0 multicast
Bcast: 452397 received, 1237193 sent
Sent: 2164776 generated, 31655567 forwarded
0 encapsulation failed, 2053 no route
SAP: 3684 SAP requests, 10382 SAP replies
259288 SAP advertisements received, 942564 sent
0 SAP flash updates sent, 0 SAP poison sent
0 SAP format errors
RIP: 0 RIP format errors
Echo: Rcvd 0 requests, 0 replies
Sent 0 requests, 0 replies
4252 unknown, 0 SAPs throttled, freed NDB len 0
Watchdog:
0 packets received, 0 replies spoofed
Queue lengths:
IPX input: 1, SAP 0, RIP 0, GNS 0
Total length for SAP throttling purposes: 1/(no preset limit)
IGRP: Total received 0, sent 0
Updates received 0, sent 0
Queries received 0, sent 0
Replies received 0, sent 0
SAPs received 0, sent 0
Show IPX Interfaces
The following is sample output from the show ipx interface [type
number] command, and gives you the interface status of IPX and IPX
parameters configured on each interface. It also shows the IPX address and
the encapsulation type.
Router3#show ipx interface ethernet 0
Ethernet0 is up, line protocol is up
IPX address is 1111.0000.0c01.d87a, NOVELL-ETHER [up], RIPPQ: 0, SAPPQ: 0
Secondary address is 2222.0000.0c01.d87a, SNAP [up]
Outgoing access list is not set
IPX type 20 propagation packet forwarding is disabled
IPX SAP update interval is 1 minute(s)
IPX Helper access list is not set
SAP Input filter list is not set
SAP Output filter list is not set
SAP Router filter list is not set
SAP GNS output filter list is not set
Input filter list is not set
Output filter list is not set
Router filter list is not set
Netbios Input host access list is not set
Netbios Input bytes access list is not set
Netbios Output host access list is not set
Netbios Output bytes access list is not set
Update time is 60 seconds
Delay of this interface, in ticks is 1
IPX Fast switching enabled
Show Protocols
Use the show protocols EXEC command to display the configured
protocols. You can see the encapsulation types for primary and secondary
interfaces, but not with subinterfaces as in the example below.
Router_2#show protocols
Global values:
Internet Protocol routing is enabled
IPX routing is enabled
Ethernet0 is up, line protocol is up
Internet address is 192.168.1.1/24
IPX address is 1.0000.0c8d.5c9d
IPX address is 2.0000.0c8d.5c9d
Serial0 is up, line protocol is up
Internet address is 10.128.22.3/24
Serial1 is administratively down, line protocol is down
Debug IPX
Use the debug ipx routing EXEC command to display information on IPX
routing packets that the router sends and receives. The no form of this
command disables debugging output.
[no] debug ipx routing {activity | events}
Syntax Description
activity
Displays messages relating to IPX routing activity.
events
Displays messages relating to IPX routing events.
Normally, a router or server sends out one routing update per minute. Each
routing update packet can include up to 50 entries. If many networks exist on
the internetwork, the router sends out multiple packets per update. For example,
if a router has 120 entries in the routing table, it would send three routing
update packets per update. The first routing update packet would include the
first 50 entries, the second packet would include the next 50 entries, and the
last routing update packet would include the last 20 entries.
The following is sample output from the debug ipx routing command:
Router# debug ipx routing
IPXRIP: update from 9999.0260.8c6a.1733
110801 in 1 hops, delay 2
IPXRIP: sending update to 12FF02:ffff.ffff.ffff via Ethernet 1
network 555, metric 2, delay 3
network 1234, metric 3, delay 4
Debug IPX SAP
Use the debug ipx sap EXEC command to display information about IPX
Service Advertisement Protocol (SAP) packets. The no form of this command
disables debugging output.
[no] debug ipx sap {activity | events}
Syntax Description
activity
(Optional) Provides more detailed output of SAP packets,
including displays of services in SAP packets.
events
(Optional) Limits amount of detailed output for SAP packets
to those that contain interesting events.
Normally, a router or server sends out one SAP update per minute. Each
SAP packet can include up to seven entries. If many servers are
advertising on the network, the router sends out multiple packets per update.
For example, if a router has 20 entries in the SAP table, it would send three
SAP packets per update. The first SAP would include the first seven
entries, the second SAP would include the next seven entries, and the last
update would include the last six entries. Obtain the most meaningful
detail by using the debug ipx sap activity and the debug ipx sap
events commands together. Caution -because the debug ipx sap
command can generate a lot of output; use it with caution on networks that have
many interfaces and large service tables.
The following is sample output from the debug ipx sap command:
Router3# debug ipx sap
IPXSAP: at 0023F778:
I SAP Response type 0x2 len 160 src:160.0000.0c00.070d dest:160.ffff.ffff.ffff(452)
type 0x4, "Hello2", 199.0002.0004.0006 (451), 2 hops
type 0x4, "Hello1", 199.0002.0004.0008 (451), 2 hops
IPXSAP: sending update to 160
IPXSAP: at 00169080:
O SAP Update type 0x2 len 96 ssoc:0x452 dest:160.ffff.ffff.ffff(452)
IPX: type 0x4, "Magnolia", 42.0000.0000.0001 (451), 2hops
Use the undebug ipx sap activity or no debug all command
from privileged EXEC mode to turn IPX routing debugging off.
Ping IPX
To check host reach ability and network connectivity, use the ping
privileged EXEC command.
#ping [ipx] [network.node]
| ipx |
(Optional) Specifies the IPX protocol. |
| network.node |
(Optional) Address of system to ping. |
To check host reach ability and network connectivity, use the ping ipx
user EXEC command.
>ping ipx {host | address}
| ipx |
Specifies the IPX protocol. |
| host |
Host name of system to ping. |
| address |
Address of system to ping. |
|