Cabletron Systems CyberSWITCH CSX150 User Manual

Also see for CyberSWITCH CSX150: User guide Quick start guide

Contents

Small Office Remote Access Switch 291CONFIGURING APPLE T ALK ROUTINGAppleTalk PortsTHE ZONE C ONCEPTA zone is a logical group of nodes on an internet, much like the concept of subnetting with theworld of IP. Within the framework of Phase 2 the logical assignment of zones is limited to 255 zonenames for a network. Each name can be configured to represent a logical group within thatrespective internet. An example would be zone 1=Marketing, zone 2=Engineering etc. Byconfiguring an AppleTalk router with logical zones you establish a mode of efficient data transportthat acts much the same as IP with multiple subnets.Although the concept of zones are the same as IP subnets, zone names do not have to be configuredto encompass nodes with one physical location. Zones can be configured to incorporate nodes thatare geographically diverse. Within this framework the dynamic address assignment allows theuser to view all zones that are configured, and have been set up to give that particular user accessto these zones. Thus, with this framework, a user can select the zone in which they want to be a partof for that particular task. Later, at a user’s discretion, they may choose to be part of a different zone.If a user does not choose to associate with a respective zone, in a multi-zone internet a default zoneis configured and all non-selective nodes will be associated with the default zone until a choice ismade.With the above in mind, continuing on with the ability to set up zones with non-local nodes, thenetwork has an associated zone multicast address. When a device chooses a zone, it registers itself toreceive packets sent to the specific zone-multicast address associated with that zone. Zone-multicast addresses are used to significantly reduce the overhead associated with dynamic naming.A PPLETALK R EMOTE LANOverviewAn AppleTalk WAN (Remote LAN) port connects remote bridge devices to other AppleTalk routerports. The AppleTalk router treats all bridge devices connected to the Remote LAN as if they wereon an Ethernet LAN segment. That is, the CyberSWITCH emulates an Ethernet medium over theseries of ISDN point-to-point connections. The AppleTalk router encapsulates AppleTalk data forthe Remote LAN port in Ethernet packets and forwards the data to the remote bridges.If the Remote LAN only has Macs connected to it, these Macs assume the AppleTalk network number/range assigned to the Remote LAN port. For these simple remote networks, you are not requiredto configure an AppleTalk network number for the remote bridge device. When the remote bridgeconnects, it is associated with the first configured AppleTalk Remote LAN port.If the Remote LAN has both AppleTalk routers and Macs connected to it, the Macs assume the AppleTalknetwork number/range of the remote AppleTalk routers. For these remote networks, theAppleTalk Remote LAN network number/range must correspond to that of the remote AppleTalkrouter. In this case, you should configure an explicit AppleTalk network number for the remotebridge device so that the same network number is applied to the Remote LAN each time it connects.When the remote bridge connects, it is explicitly associated with the AppleTalk Remote LAN portthat corresponds to the AppleTalk network number in the bridge device table entry.Remote LAN ports differ from LAN ports on the handling of a configured network number/rangeversus a learned network number/range. LAN ports are by default soft seeds when a networknumber/range is configured. This means that if an RTMP packet is received with a differentnetwork number/range than configured, the LAN port assumes the RTMP packet contains thecorrect network/range and begins using the learned network number/range. If the network