Node Number - Novell NETWARE 6-DOCUMENTATION Manual

Internal Network Number

Node Number

NetWare 3 servers and NetWare 4 servers have an additional identifier called
an internal network number. This is a unique hexadecimal number between
one and eight digits that is assigned to the server at installation. The internal
network is a logical network that NetWare uses to advertise services and route
IPX packets to the physical networks attached to the server.
The internal network number overcomes some routing and connectivity
limitations inherent in NetWare 2. These are summarized in the following
paragraphs.
A NetWare 2 server selects a primary interface and advertises its services as
reachable through that interface. On a network with more than one server,
packets might travel an extra hop to reach their destination.
A NetWare 2 server loses network connectivity if its primary network
interface board fails, even if the server has Network-layer connectivity
through another interface. Consider a NetWare 2 server with connections to
two networks. The server advertises its services through the primary interface
attached to one of the networks. If that interface fails, workstations attached
to the server through the second network might not be able to log in to the
server.
The node number is the 6-byte hexadecimal address that identifies a device on
an IPX network. This device can be a file server, router, workstation, or
printer. The node number is identical to the physical address assigned to the
interface board that connects the device to the network.
The IPX header contains a Destination Node field and a Source Node field.
These fields contain the same destination and source node addresses found in
the MAC header. A NetWare workstation, for example, uses the destination
node address to locate and forward packets to another workstation on the same
network segment.
IPX requires the node number to be unique only within the same IPX network.
For example, a node on network FEDCBA98 can use the number
1A2B3C5D7E9F, and a node on network 1234567D can also use the number
1A2B3C5D7E9F. Because each node has a different network number, IPX
recognizes each node as having a legitimate, unique address.
19
Understanding