About the CSX20014 CSX200 Family User’s GuideCSX200 Bridging and Routing — The CSX200 can operate as a bridge, a router, or both. TheCSX200 operates as a router for network protocols that are supported when routing is enabled andoperates as a bridge when bridging is enabled. When both bridging and routing are enabled,routing takes precedence over bridging; i.e., the CSX200 uses the protocol address information ofthe packet to route the packet to the correct destination. However, if the protocol is not supported,the CSX200 operates as a bridge and uses the MAC address information to send the packet.Operation of the CSX200 is influenced by routing and bridging controls and filters set duringCSX200 configuration. General IP routing, and routing or bridging from specific remote routersare controls set during the configuration process.IEEE 802.1d Bridging — The CSX200 supports the IEEE 802.1d standard for LAN to LANbridging. Bridging is provided over PPP and Frame Relay as well as adjacent LAN ports. Thebridging software uses transparent bridging. When the CSX200 is configured as a bridge, the unitbridges data packets to the destination, regardless of the network protocols used.The CSX200 uses the Spanning Tree Algorithm to provide bridging redundancy while preventingdata loops and duplicate data. This is a self-learning bridge, i.e., the bridge builds and updates anaddress table with each MAC source address and associated information when the packets arereceived.IP Routing — IP routing support provides the ability to process TCP/IP frames at the networklayer for routing. IP routing support includes the Routing Information Protocol (RIP) that allowsthe exchange of routing information on a TCP/IP network. The CSX200 receives and broadcastsRIP messages to adjacent routers and workstations.IPX Routing — Internet Packet Exchange (IPX) routing support provides the ability to processNovell proprietary frames at the network layer for routing. IPX routing support includes bothRouting Information Protocol (RIP) and Service Advertising Protocol (SAP) that allows theexchange of routing information on a Novell NetWare network. The SAP provides routers andservers containing SAP agents with a means of exchanging internetwork service information.
