Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!wang!comm.wang.com!lws
From: lws@comm.wang.com (Lyle Seaman)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Re: TCP/IP on same wire as Ethernet
Message-ID: <1991Feb21.132214.24088@comm.wang.com>
Date: 21 Feb 91 13:22:14 GMT
References: <6JcNX1w163w@ersys.uucp>
Organization: Wang Labs, Platform Comms.
Lines: 29

ersys!wmah@nro.cs.athabascau.ca (Wayne Mah) writes:

>Forgive me if this question has already been answered.  I somewhat 
>familiar with TCP/IP and Novell, but am still learning new terms and 
>concepts through this echo.
> 
>1) Can I use the same wire for Novell packets and ethernet packets.  My 
>goal is to boot my workstation and have access to the Novell network and 
>unix system at the same time.  I have Novell 2.15 SFT Rev A.  unix is 
>running on ethernet (TCP/IP).  

I'm not the most able person to respond to the other questions, but the
definitive answer to the first question is, YES.  However, the fundamental
issue isn't that some packets are "Novell" packets and the others are 
"ethernet" packets.  Novell servers and workstations can be configured
to use any of a number of different protocols at the Link layer.  By 
default, they use 802.3.  This is really quite unfortunate, since they
misuse 802.3.  However, 802.3 and Ethernet-II packets will coexist on 
the same wire.  Since they misuse 802.3, it is safest (for the long run)
to configure the Novell servers and workstations to use EthernetII 
instead.  The default configuration interacts badly with other protocols
which use 802.3 correctly (such as the ISO protocols).  Also, it is 
slightly easier for network administration if the number of protocols
on the networks is minimized.


-- 
Lyle                  Wang           lws@capybara.comm.wang.com
508 967 2322     Lowell, MA, USA     Source code: the _ultimate_ documentation.