Routing Types

IPXWAN negotiates the WAN routing type, which determines which IPX routing protocol---if any---runs over the connection. NetWare routing supports the following routing types for IPX exchanges over a WAN connection:

NOTE:  The first four routing types operate only between routers; the fifth, WAN Workstation , operates between a router and a NetWare workstation.

• WAN NLSP ---Uses NLSP to exchange routing and service information over the connection. This is the most efficient---and preferred---routing type for WAN connections requiring an active routing protocol. A WAN NLSP connection does not require an IPX network number.

• Unnumbered RIP ---Uses RIP and SAP to exchange routing and service information over the connection but requires no IPX network number.

• Numbered RIP ---Also uses RIP and SAP to exchange routing and service information over the connection but does require an IPX network number.

• On-Demand ---Uses no active routing or service advertising protocol, but rather a set of static routes and services on each router.

• WAN Workstation ---Enables a NetWare workstation to connect to an IPX internetwork through a remote router. No routing protocol runs over the connection, except when the workstation sends a route or service request to the router.

To choose the most suitable routing type, IPXWAN considers the following criteria during its negotiation process:

• Which versions of the routing software are running on the routers

  Earlier versions of the routing software, such as NetWare Multiprocessor Router Plus^TM 2.1x software and NetWare WAN Links^TM 2.0 software, support only Numbered RIP connections.

• Which routing protocol---RIP or NLSP---is enabled on the WAN interfaces at each end of the connection

  For example, two routers running NLSP at their respective WAN interfaces automatically use the WAN NLSP routing type over the connection.

• Whether a third-party router is running at the other end of the connection

  Some third-party routers might support only Numbered RIP connections for IPX routing over WANs.

• Whether the WAN call destination is configured as a permanent call or an on-demand call

  WAN NLSP, Unnumbered RIP, and Numbered RIP operate only over permanent calls; the On-Demand routing type operates only over on-demand calls.