NetWare 4.1/9000 Concepts

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NetWare Glossary

For example, a NetWare router can connect a network using the Ethernet

addressing structure and RG/58 coaxial cable to another network using the

ARCnet addressing structure and RG/62 coaxial cable.

Local vs. remote

When a router is used within the cable length limitations for its LAN drivers,

it is a local router. If the router is connected beyond its driver limitations or

through a modem, it is a remote router.

Router Information Protocol (RIP)

A protocol that provides a way for routers to exchange routing information

on a NetWare internetwork.

RIP allows NetWare routers to create and maintain a database (or router

table) of current internetwork routing information.

Workstations can query the nearest router to ﬁnd the fastest route to a distant

network by broadcasting a RIP request packet.

Routers send periodic RIP broadcast packets containing current routing

information to keep all routers on the internetwork synchronized. Routers

also send RIP update broadcasts whenever they detect a change in the

internetwork conﬁguration.

By default, a NetWare router sends RIP packets to each of its connected

network segments every 60 seconds.

Routes that do not appear in these periodic broadcasts (because a router has

failed) are aged. After a certain period of time (default: 3 minutes), routers

delete the aged routes from their router tables.

To reduce trafﬁc on lower bandwidth (X.25 and asynchronous) segments,

network supervisors can conﬁgure routers to send only RIP updates rather

than periodic RIP broadcasts over those segments.

However, turning off the periodic RIP broadcasts can cause inconsistencies

on the internetwork. For example, if an unreliable segment loses a RIP

update packet, routers on that segment will broadcast old information.

The nwcm utility allows network supervisors to conﬁgure RIP broadcasts

for each network segment.