JRD@cc.usu.edu (Joe Doupnik) (01/04/90)
Albert, It's not the Ethernet boards which should concern you but rather the packets flowing across the network. An internal NetWare bridge understands only Novell IPX and SPX style packets, and not those of other constructions. Thus it acts as a first level filter on network traffic and cannot bridge things it cannot understand. If you want a simple MAC level bridge which concerns itself only with Ethernet addresses then these are readily available for $2K and under. Anything more elaborate needs to understand the contents of the data field of packets, a protocol converter, and Novell File Servers are not of that variety. NetBios is a double headed affair too, carried across a variety of media. Novell File Servers don't really understand NetBios chatter at all even if it is carried within IPX/SPX packets. Those packets can be bridged the same as any other homogeneous network. NetBios sits on top of the network proper and the underlying parts have to communicate first and then there has to be a NetBios receiving task ready to look at the results. Joe D.