User`s guide

Prestige 128+ ISDN Router
Bridging Setup 7-1
Chapter 7
Bridging Setup
This chapter shows you how to configure the bridging parameters of your
Prestige.
7.1 Bridging in General
Bridging bases the forwarding decision on the MAC (Media Access Control), or
hardware, address, while routing does it on the network layer (IP or IPX) address.
Bridging allows the Prestige to transport packets of network layer protocols that
the Prestige does not route, e.g., SNA, from one network to another. The caveat
is that, compared to routing, bridging generates more traffic for the same network
layer protocol and it also demands more CPU cycles and memory.
For efficiency reason, do not turn on bridging unless you need to support
protocols other than IP and IPX on your network. For IP and IPX, enable the
respective routing if you need it; do not bridge what the Prestige can route.
7.2 Bridge Ethernet Setup
Basically, all non-local packets are bridged to the WAN; however, your Prestige
applies special handling for certain IPX packets to reduce the number of calls,
depending on the setting of the Handle IPX field.