System information

Troubleshooting Novell IPX
Book Title
8-144
Mismatched Ethernet
encapsulation methods
Step 1 Use the show ipx interface privileged exec command to check the
encapsulation type specified in the router configuration. By default, Cisco
routers use Novell’s Frame Type Ethernet 802.3 encapsulation. (Cisco
refers to this as novell-ether encapsulation.)
Step 2 Compare the encapsulation type configured on router interfaces with the
encapsulation type that is being used by clients and servers.
Step 3 If the router uses one encapsulation type but the clients and servers use a
different type, then there is a mismatch.
Change the encapsulation type used on either the clients and servers or
the router, as appropriate, so that all devices use the same encapsulation
method. On routers, specify the encapsulation type with the ipx network
network encapsulation encapsulation-type interface configuration
command. For information on changing the encapsulation type on clients
and servers, consult the vendor documentation.
LIPX
1
problem If you are using NetWare 3.12 or above and you have LIPX enabled, a client and
server could conceivably negotiate a packet size larger than a router could support.
This can cause intermediate routers to drop packets. Without LIPX, the server
checks the network number for the buffer size request packet from the client, and if
the network number is different from the server’s (which means the packet is from
another network over a router), it orders clients to use 512 bytes (hard coded)
instead.
For information on configuring LIPX, refer to the vendor documentation.
Ring speed specification
mismatch
In a Token Ring environment, all devices must agree on the configured ring speed
(4 or 16 Mbps), or connectivity will fail.
Step 1 Use the show interfaces token exec command on the router. Look for the
ring speed value in the output. Compare this value with the ring speed
specification on Novell servers.
Step 2 If the ring speeds do not match, change the server or router configuration,
as appropriate, so that all stations agree on the ring speed. On routers, use
the ring-speed interface configuration command to change the ring
speed. For information about configuring the ring speed on Novell
servers, consult the vendor documentation.
Duplicate node
numbers on routers
Step 1 Use the show running-config privileged exec command to examine the
current configuration of each router in the path.
Step 2 Check the node number specified in the ipx routing node global
configuration command. The node number is either a user-specified node
number or the MAC address of the first Ethernet, Token Ring, or FDDI
2
in the router.
Step 3 The node number configured on each router must be unique. If the
number is the same on multiple routers, enter the no ipx routing global
configuration command to disable IPX routing on the router.
Step 4 Reinitialize IPX routing by entering the ipx routing command (do not
specify a node number). Use the show running-config command to
verify that the rest of the IPX configuration is still correct.
Possible Problem Solution