Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) is the OSI-model Network layer protocol in the IPX/SPX protocol stack.
The IPX/SPXM protocol stack is supported by Novell's NetWare network operating system. Because of Netware's popularity through the late 1980s into the mid-1990s, IPX became a popular internetworking protocol. Novell derived IPX from Xerox Network Systems' IDP.
IPX did not scale enough for large networks such as the internet[citation needed] and as such, IPX usage decreased as the boom of the Internet made TCP/IP nearly universal. Computers and networks can run multiple network protocols, so almost all IPX sites will be running TCP/IP as well to allow for Internet connectivity.[1] It has also been possible to run Novell products without IPX for some time, as they have supported both IPX and TCP/IP since NetWare reached version 5[2] in late 1998.
IPX addressing
- Logical networks are assigned a unique 32-bit address in the range 0x1 to 0xFFFFFFFE (hexadecimal).
- Hosts have a 48-bit node address which by default is set to the network interface card's MAC address. The node address is appended to the network address to create a unique identifier for the host on the network.
- Network number 00:00:00:00 means current network
- Broadcast address is FF:FF:FF:FF
Similarities with IP
The IPX network address is conceptually identical to the network part of the IP address (the parts with netmask bits set to 1); the node address then has the same meaning as the bits of IP address with netmask bits set to 0. As the node address is usually identical to the MAC address of the network adapter, the Address Resolution Protocol is not needed.
For routing, the entries in the IPX routing table are similar to IP routing tables; routing is done by network address, and for each network address a network:node of the next router is specified in a similar fashion an IP address/netmask is specified in IP routing tables.
IPX over Ethernet
IPX can be transmitted over Ethernet using one of the following 4 encapsulation types:
- 802.3 (raw) is used in legacy systems and involves IPX data starting immediately after 802.3 frame header. The packet starts with the destination ethernet address (6 bytes), source ethernet address (6 bytes), and frame length (2 bytes) followed by two bytes 0xFF 0xFF then the IPX data. The presence of the two FF bytes can be used to differentiate this type of IPX encapsulation from next two types.
- 802.2 (Novell) comprises 802.3 frame header (destination, source, length) followed by LLC header (3 bytes - 0xE0, 0xE0, 0x03) followed by IPX data. The 0xE0 fields of the LLC header indicate 'Novell' protocol.
- 802.2 (SNAP) comprises 802.3 frame header, LLC header (3 bytes - 0xAA, 0xAA, 0x03), SNAP header (5 bytes - 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x81, 0x37) and IPX data. The 0xAA fields of the LLC header indicate 'SNAP'. The first three bytes of the SNAP header are OUI followed by 2 bytes of IPX EtherType.
- Ethernet II comprise an Ethernet II frame header (Destination, Source, EtherType) followed by IPX data.
References
- ^ TechRepublic - Do you still support IPX/SPX on your Windows servers?
- ^ Maintaining IPX Compatibility During a Migration to TCP/IP on a NetWare Network
External links
