ZyXEL Communications Prestige 642R Series - Manual (Page 90)

Prestige 642R Series ADSL Router
Bridging Setup 7-1
Chapter 7
Bridging Setup
This chapter shows you how to configure the bridging parameters of your Prestige.
7.1 Bridging in General
Bridging bases the forwarding decision on the MAC (Media Access Control), or hardware address, while
routing does it on the network layer (IP or IPX) address. Bridging allows the Prestige to transport packets
of network layer protocols that it does not route, e.g., SNA, from one network to another. The caveat is that,
compared to routing, bridging generates more traffic for the same network layer protocol, and it also
demands more CPU cycles and memory.
For efficiency reasons, do not turn on bridging unless you need to support protocols other than IP and IPX
on your network. For IP and IPX, enable the respective routing if you need it; do not bridge what the
Prestige can route.
7.2 Bridge Ethernet Setup
Basically, all non-local packets are bridged to the WAN, however, your Prestige 642 applies special
handling for certain IPX packets to reduce the number of calls, depending on the setting of the Handle IPX
field.
Enter 4, from Menu 3 – Ethernet Setup, to bring up Menu 3.4 – Bridge Ethernet Setup as shown next.
Figure 7-1 Menu 3.4 - Bridge Ethernet Setup
The following table describes how to configure the Handle IPX field in Menu 3.4.
Menu 3.4 - Bridge Ethernet Setup
Handle IPX= None
Press ENTER to Confirm or ESC to Cancel:
Press Space Bar to Toggle.