IPX traffic

[Munro]

We have a very flat network which has significant broadcast issues.

We have around 500 printers set up using print queues. Many are set up
using HP jet direct cards.

We see a lot of Rip & Sap traffic.

We have a number of applications that require us to retain IPX.

We are considering ways to reduce the traffic and it has been suggested
that we should implement NDPS & NLSP.

Question:
Resources are an issue and we would struggle to implement the 2 at the
same time. Which one would have the quickest/most impact on the network
for the least amount of work.

Regards

Munro

 

[summoner]

NDPS is nice since the server can speak to the printer using IP, even in a client/server IPX network.

You might also consider partitioning your network into VLANs and make sure your switches can do IPX routing/VLANs.

 

[lgarner]

To continue the thought, NDPS printers can service print queues, and disabling IPX on the JetDirect cards (along with NetBeui and Appletalk, which are also on by default) will definitely reduce the IPX traffic.

 

[marvhuffaker]

Just another thought.. NLSP is an IPX routing protocol. I understand you need IPX, but you should certainly be able to reduce the amount of IPX traffic with other means.

I would focus on moving to NDPS printing using TCP/IP.. And cutting out IPX whereever possible. The ultimate goal would be to eliminate IPX and move to an IP only network except for those applications that require IPX.

I would consider NLSP only to be a temporary solution, but I'm not really sure how it would benefit you anyway. You said your network is flat, so I assume that there is not any routing going on. Maybe my assumption is wrong.

Another thing that can reduce IPX traffic is to optimize your NDS replicas. When you add excessive replicas, it increases the sync traffic significantly.

Furthermore, if you haven't already done it, implement SLP. Get your servers talking to each other via IP if they are not already doing so.



Marvin Huffaker MCNE, CNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting

http://www.redjuju.com