Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!hellgate.utah.edu!cs.utah.edu!haas
From: haas@cs.utah.edu (Walt Haas)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Re: Multiple Novell Servers on on eEthernet
Message-ID: <1990Mar3.225007.27221@hellgate.utah.edu>
Date: 4 Mar 90 05:50:07 GMT
References: <539@opus.NMSU.EDU> <1990Feb20.113920.19222@hellgate.utah.edu> <7288.25e915df@dit.ie> <883@ftp.COM> <7314.25ed5fcd@dit.ie>
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept
Lines: 20

In article <7314.25ed5fcd@dit.ie> alawlor@dit.ie (Aengus Lawlor) writes:
>... if ECONFIG doesn't let IPX packets be read as
>TCP/IP / XNS / FOO.BAR / ...   packets, then what's it for? (NETBIOS aside,
>that was just an example)

IPX packets are encapsulated in a low-level protocol appropriate to the
hardware medium (Ethernet, Arcnet, token ring etc.) that they travel over.
In the case of the Ethernet medium, you have a choice of *two* low-level
protocol standards:
1) The old Ethernet standard.
2) The IEEE 802.3 standard.

If you use Novell with the ECONFIG option, the software will conform to
standard 1) above.  If you don't use ECONFIG, the software will behave in
a way that is likely to become troublesome if it shares a wire with other
software which correctly implements IEEE 802.3 and its corresponding
higher level protocol 802.2.  So if you ever hope to have Novell running
on a large diverse network like we do, use the ECONFIG option.

-- Walt