Visara LINCS Central Control - Manual (Page 137)

131
Chapter 13. Communications Menu
707024-002
and service. An alternate route is also an indication that a looped network exists (multiple
paths to the destination network and server). In order to be registered with SAP as an
alternate route Service entry in the SAP Service Information Table, the RIP TICKs
count must equal that of the Primary Service.
• Not Best Service - This status indicates that a new or better route to the destination
network and service has been found. This Service entry will be deleted from the SAP
Service Information Table after the better route has been broadcast to the network.
Age
This field applies to servers on remote external networks. This count indicates the time, in
seconds, since the last SAP broadcast was received from the router or server supplying access
to this service. If the Age exceeds the SAP Aging Timer value configured on the Line Options/
IPX Options configuration panel, this Service entry will be flagged as UNAVAILABLE.
Reset IPX Router
This utility allows you to reset the IPX Router if the RIP Routing Information Table or SAP
Service Information Table becomes corrupted for any reason. It provides a Visara
implementation of Novell’s Reset Router File Server Utility. An example panel for Reset IPX
Router is provided.
Under normal circumstances, lost networks and services will normally become known by a
Router Going Down RIP and SAP broadcast, or it will be handled by the RIP and SAP Aging
process. In the event that the router or server went down before a broadcast could be sent or if
the Aging timers have been set to a long time interval, this utility may be used to expedite
removal of the lost networks and servers. Caution should be used when using this utility, as
this may cause networks accessed by other clients and servers in the network to be temporarily
lost while the reset operation is in progress (since the RIP Routing Information Table or SAP
Service Information Table is flushed and rebuilt when this utility is initiated).
For more information on IPX Reset sequence of events, see IPX Reset Operation and IPX
Reset Panel.
IPX Reset Operation
When the Reset IPX Router utility is initiated, all packet counters and error counters are
reset. A RIP broadcast is then sent to all direct connect networks indicating that all remote
networks accessed via this IPX router are no longer accessible. All accessible direct connect
networks and the internal network are broadcast as AVAILABLE in the same RIP broadcast.
A SAP broadcast is also sent to all direct connect network indicating that all services accessible
via the remote networks are no longer available. If any Server resides on the IPX internal
network, any servers which do not require internal cleanup will be broadcast as available.
Otherwise they will be broadcast as UNAVAILABLE, then later broadcast as AVAILABLE
when their internal cleanup is complete. After the reset broadcast sequence is complete, all
UNAVAILABLE RIP Routing Information Table and SAP Service Information Tables entries
are purged, and the IPX Router initialization sequence is initiated. The initialization sequence
(which consists of a broadcast available networks/services, and request information on all
networks and services from other routers and servers on the internetwork) will then allow the
RIP Routing Information Table and SAP Service Information Table to be rebuilt as new
networks and services are learned from the network.