Multiservice Networking, IPX Networking, and Security - CCIE Routing and Switching Exam Certification Guide - page 568

IPX Addressing
An IPX address is an 80-bit value that consists of a 32-bit network number and a 48-bit host
number. The 32-bit network address is represented in hexadecimal format and is configured by
the network administrator. The host part of the IPX address is the 48-bit Media Access Control
(MAC) address of the network node. The host part is not configured by the network adminis-
trator; although, it can be changed on some devices, such as routers. Novell's strict definition
of the address also includes a 16-bit socket number that makes the address 96 bits in length.

Table 12-6 shows an IPX network number in binary and hexadecimal format. Every 4 bits of
the binary number is converted to hexadecimal, and vice versa.

IPX Network Number in Binary and Hexadecimal

Table 12-6

Binary 0000 0001 0011 1111 1100 0101 0010 1110

Hexadecimal 0 1 3 F C 5 2 E

A host in the 013FC52E network can have the IPX address of 013FC52E.00c0.02a2.04bc.
Some valid network addresses include 00000001, 0000dead, 00035a8, dadadada, 0abcdef0,
00badbad, and 00addbed.

IPX RIP and SAP
IPX RIP is a legacy distance vector routing protocol for the Novell operating system when using
IPX. IPX RIP sends periodic updates every 60 seconds and flushes routes in 180 seconds. IPX
RIP uses tick as the distance vector metric. A tick is a delay assigned to interfaces of a router.
One tick is 1/18 th of a second. LAN media has by default 1 tick, and any WAN media has a
6-tick metric. In the case of two paths with equal tick counts, hop count is the tiebreaker. As
with IP RIP, IPX RIP has a maximum hop count limit of 15 hops. IPX RIP updates include 50
routes per packet.

IPX SAP advertises the addresses and service capabilities of network resources, such as file and
print servers. SAP is a companion protocol to IPX RIP. RIP takes care of network advertising,
and SAP takes care of service advertising. AS with IPX RIP updates, SAP advertisements are
sent every 60 seconds. Routers gather SAP advertisements, add them to the local SAP table,
and broadcast their SAP table every 60 seconds. IPX SAP includes 7 SAP entries per packet.

Configuring IPX RIP
IPX networks are enabled by configuring interfaces with IPX network numbers and enabling
IPX RIP on routers. Example 12-6 shows a configuration example of IPX. First, IPX routing is
enabled with the ipx routing command. Interfaces are configured with the 32-bit IPX network
number with the ipx network command. In Example 12-6, Ethernet 0 is configured with IPX
network 0x10. IPX RIP is enabled with the ipx router rip command.