Chapter Thirteen
The Other Protocols
Objectives
• You’ll get a brief overview of
– IPX/SPX
– NetBEUI
– Appletalk
• How each protocol handles addressing
• The pros and cons of each protocol
IPX/SPX
• Internetwork Packet Exchange/Sequenced
Packet Exchange
– Developed by Xerox in the early 80s
– Adopted and tweaked by Novell to become their
protocol of choice in NetWare
Addressing in IPX/SPX
• 32-bit network address
• MAC address of interface becomes host address
• A socket number assigned to the process or
application running on the device
– This is NOT the same as the sockets discussed in the
Transport layer.
• The station address
– The combined network/host address
Configuring IPX/SPX
• If no network number is statically assigned, the
host will send out a broadcast looking for a SAP
server.
• The SAP server will assign an address.
• Correct frame type is necessary in IPX.
– Auto Detect usually works pretty well.
Frame Types
• 802.3 (Raw)
– The typical Ethernet frame
• 802.2
– An older frame type used by non-Ethernet
protocols
• Ethernet II
• Ethernet SNAP
Routing in IPS/SPX
• If a packet isn’t addressed to the local network,
the transmitting station will broadcast a RIP
packet.
• Available routers with access to the target
network number respond with their node
address and the number of hops to target.
• Transmitting workstation picks the router with
the fewest hops and transmits the packet.
Pros and Cons of IPS
• Pros
– Light overhead on the individual workstations
– Very easy to configure and hard to mess up
• Cons
– Very HEAVY overhead on the network as a
whole
– A limited number of hops prevents extremely
large networks (like the Internet)
NetBEUI
• NetBIOS Enhanced User Interface
– Developed by Microsoft for early versions of NT
– A Layer 2 protocol
– No longer supported by Microsoft
• XP does not install NetBEUI by default, but the
protocol can be added from the installation CD.
Pros and Cons of NetBEUI
• Pros
– Easy to configure
• All you need is to put all workstations on the same
workgroup, but make sure they have different names.
– Extremely fast with low overhead on network
and workstations
• Cons
– Not routable
AppleTalk
• Developed by Apple Computer Corporation
• Has a lot of similarities to TCP/IP
– Layered functionality
– A robust collection of related protocols
• Moves data in datagrams
Addressing in AppleTalk
• Each host is assigned a node ID and an entity
name.
– The Node ID is similar to the IP address.
– The entity name is similar to a NetBIOS name.
• Networks are numbered (like in IPX/SPX) with
16-bit network numbers.
• The Name Binding Protocol (NBP) resolves
node IDs and entity names to MAC addresses.
Some AppleTalk Protocols (1 of 2)
• Datagram Delivery Protocol (DDP) provides point-topoint delivery of user data.
• Routing Table Maintenance Protocol (RTMP) allows
routers to dynamically build routing tables.
• AppleTalk Echo Protocol (AEP) is Apple’s version of
ICMP.
• AppleTalk Transaction Protocol provides connectionoriented data delivery services.
Some AppleTalk Protocols (2 of 2)
• AppleTalk Data Streaming Protocol (ADSP)
provides jitter-free delivery of multimedia.
• AppleTalk Session Protocol (ASP) opens,
maintains, and closes sessions.