Operation Manual – IP Address-IP Performance-IPXH3C S7500 Series Ethernet Switches Chapter 3 IPX Configuration3-1Chapter 3 IPX ConfigurationWhen configuring IPX, go to these sections for information you are interested in:z IPX Protocol Overviewz Configuring IPXz Displaying and Maintaining IPX Configurationz IPX Configuration Examplez Troubleshooting IPX Configuration3.1 IPX Protocol OverviewThe internetwork packet exchange (IPX) protocol is a network layer protocol in theNetWare protocol suite. IPX's position in the Novell Netware protocol is similar to that ofIP in the TCP/IP protocol suite. IPX can address, route and forward packets.IPX is a connectionless protocol. Though an IPX packet contains a destination IPXaddress in addition to the data, IPX does not ensure that packets are forwarded to thedestination successfully. Packet forwarding results and connection control must beprovided by protocols above IPX. In IPX, each IPX packet is considered as anindependent entity that has no logical or sequential relationship with any other IPXpackets.IPX Address StructureIPX and IP use different address structure. An IPX address comprises two parts: thenetwork number and the node address; it is in the format of “network.node”.A network number identifies the network where a site is located. It is four bytes long andexpressed by eight hexadecimal numbers. A node address identifies a node on thenetwork. Like an MAC address, it is six bytes long and comprises three 2-byte numbers(separated from each other using “-”). The node address cannot be a broadcast ormulticast address. For example, in the IPX address bc.0-0cb-47, bc (or 000000bc) isthe network number and 0-0cb-47 (0000-00cb-0047) is the node address. You can alsowrite an IPX address in the form of N.H-H-H, where N is the network number and H-H-His the node address.3.1.1 Routing Information ProtocolIPX uses the routing information protocol (RIP) to maintain and advertise dynamicrouting information. With IPX enabled, the switch exchanges routing information withother neighbors through RIP to maintain an inter-network routing information database(also known as a routing table) to accommodate to network changes. When the switchreceives a packet, it looks up the routing table for the next site and forwards a packet (ifavailable). The routing information can be configured statically or collected dynamically.
