Bridging Novell Networking

RouterOS General
1

We have a customer using a combination of new and very old software. They are in the same building as another company. Each company have their own DHCP, DNS server, Gateway and IP range. For this the two networks have to be isolated from each other.

Both companies however use the same Novell server for one of their old software packages. This works over IPX (not IP).

To get this working, we have done the following:

  1. Connected one company’s network to ether1 of a RB532.
  2. Connected the other company to ether2 of the same RB532.
  3. Created a bridge on the RouterBoard.
  4. Added ether1 and ether2 as ports on the bridge.
  5. Added a bridge filter that “Accepts all MAC Protocol 8137 (IPX)” traffic.
  6. Added a bridge filter that “Drops all NON MAC Protocol 8137 (IPX)” traffic. (to not bridge IP, DHCP, etc)

For some reason the novell networking does not work. I think it has trouble discovering the Novell server. What is the hex values of all the protocols we need to bridge to make it work? (Accepting all NON IP causes some things on the network to not work, so please do not recommend it).


Thanks

2

What version of Netware..
That stacks are loaded.

3

To be honest with you, I really have no idea. The server runs on DOS and the Workstations on Windows 98 (very old setup).

Does the Novell version make a difference?

How can I check the version? I generally do not work on Novell at all.

4

From Ver. 4.X of netware (4.11 esp) IP becomes more and more important.

3.X can use IP but it was a bit “ODD”…

Version info would help to figure what needs to cross the bridge end what NOT to pass..

5

Try permitting 802.3 traffic also.