System information

Troubleshooting Novell IPX
Book Title
8-168
Possible Problem Solution
Novell servers not processing
SAP updates as quickly as
router is generating them
Step 1 Use the show interfaces privileged exec command to check for output
drops.
Step 2 If there are excessive drops, use the show ipx servers exec command on
the router. Compare the output of this command with the output of the
display servers system console command on Novell servers.
Step 3 If the display servers output for a Novell server shows only a partial
listing of the SAP entries shown by the router, the Novell servers might be
unable to process SAP updates as quickly as the router is generating them.
Step 4 Use the ipx output-sap-delay interface configuration command to
configure the delay between packets in a multipacket SAP update. Novell
specifies a delay of 55 ms.
Periodic SAP updates are using
excessive bandwidth
In a non-IPX RIP environment (such as on a serial link running Enhanced IGRP),
you can reduce SAP traffic by configuring routers to send incremental rather than
periodic SAP updates. Incremental SAP updates are sent only when there is a
change to the SAP table.
You should have incremental SAP updates enabled only on interfaces that have no
Novell clients or servers attached. Novell clients and servers require periodic SAP
updates.
Use the ipx sap-incremental eigrp interface configuration command to enable
incremental SAP updates.
IPX RIP and IPX Enhanced
IGRP are enabled on the same
interface
Running both IPX Enhanced IGRP and IPX RIP on the same interface is sometimes
desired or required in an IPX network. However, doing so can cause performance
problems in some cases by creating excess traffic and processor overhead.
Step 1 Use the show running-config privileged exec command to view the router
configuration. Check the network router configuration commands
associated with ipx router rip and the ipx router eigrp global
configuration commands to see whether both routing protocols are enabled
on the same interface.
Step 2 If both protocols are enabled, determine whether one or the other can be
disabled without affecting the proper operation of the network. If there is
no need for both protocols to be running on the same interface, remove the
superfluous configuration commands as appropriate.
Router is stuck in active mode
(Enhanced IGRP only)
If you consistently receive “Stuck-in-Active” messages about a particular network,
you probably have a flapping route (typically caused by heavy traffic load). Route
flapping can force routers to use a less preferred route, resulting in slower
performance.
Take steps to reduce traffic on the link or increase the bandwidth of the link.
For more information about troubleshooting serial lines, refer to Chapter 15,
“Troubleshooting Serial Line Problems.”