Cisco Compatible Micro Router Series

This document provides answers to frequently asked questions about Novell and IPX networking.

A. Starting with router OS v4.3.04, Compatible Systems routers whose model number ends with " i " support IPX Routing. You need CompatiView 4.8.7 or later on your Windows PC*. If the IPX Routing selections do not appear on the screen, then you must select

• CompatiView v4.x - File/Delete and then Administration/Add Device to delete and add the router

• CompatiView v5.x - Database/Delete Device and then File/Open/Deviceto delete and add the router

CompatiView reads a table of flags when the router is added. One of these flags controls the IPX Routing selection parameters. Without deleting and adding the router, CompatiView will not have this flag set.

* If you have downloaded CompatiView 5.0 or later, we recommend that you download router OS 4.5 or later.

A. If you just changed the Default Transport Protocol from IP to IPX, close CompatiView and then relaunch CompatiView. If no devices appear in the list, power off both the device and the workstation. Power on the device first, wait about 30 seconds, then power on the workstation. If there is an existing IPX network, both the device and the workstation should now be on the same IPX network. Launch CompatiView and try again. If this fails, isolate the Compatible Systems device and the workstation on their own network and re-try the above procedure.

A. When IPX transport is used to communicate with a router from CompatiView on a Windows 95 PC, the frame type must be specifically set to 802.2 or 802.3, not AUTO.

In the Network Control Panel, select the IPX protocol/Properties/Advanced/Frame Type. Choose 802.2 or 802.3 then restart the PC.

A. The router will dial out initially, then store the network number and server information. Any access to the remote network will cause it to dial. At this time, it will check the SAP and routing tables to determine if there are any changes that need to be made to these tables. For IPX WAN routing, you must use the "triggered", not "periodic", update method.

A. You need to be using VLM.EXE version 1.2 or later for the Novell client software. NETX.EXE will not work for a 28.8 link.

A. No, Compatible Systems routers do not support Novell's IPXWAN software. If you can change the MPR to support the industry standard PPP, it will connect with IPX.

A. The 3.11 server is not optimized for WAN traffic. For each packet sent between server and workstation, an acknowledgment is sent. This slows transmission considerably. To fix this problem, the server must have PBURST.NLM loaded in the AUTOEXEC.NCF file and have the SET NCP PACKET SIGNATURE OPTION = 0. The workstations also need to be using the VLM.EXE client (version 1.20 or later). This will cause the server to send multiple packets before expecting an acknowledgment. Version 4.0 does not require any user configuration to enable Pburst.

A. Performance of networks where 3.12 servers are being used is a known problem. While we are not completely clear on the reasons, we do know that the following steps have either reduced or eliminated the problem. First, workstations need to use the VLM.EXE client (version 1.20 or later). In addition, the server should have both the PBWANFIX.NLM and PM312.NLMs installed with the Patch Manager on the server.

A. Due to the very low connection rates of a WAN link relative to Ethernet, procedures that are unnoticeable on LANs can take a very long time over a WAN link. On a LAN, when the user selects the f: drive and types login, the LOGIN.EXE application is loaded from the server to the workstation before being executed. This file is usually around 300KB and takes very little time on a LAN to be transferred and executed. If this same procedure is used on a WAN link, the whole application must still be transferred over the WAN before it can be executed. In a best-case, one direction only, scenario a 300KB (2,400,000 bits) file will take 43 seconds to just transfer across the WAN link. Account for acknowledgment packets and allowance for other people using the link and the transfer easily gets into minutes.

Any applications that would normally be launched from the server should be stored locally on the workstations.