tas@mcnc.UUCP (Tim Seaver) (09/19/86)
Has anyone run into the problem of running multiple subnets of a single class B internet network on a single (bridged) ethernet? We're looking into it, but there seems to be no way (in 4.3 BSD or Ultrix 1.2) to gateway through any host on the ethernet that isn't also in the local subnet, because the local host does not have an interface on the remote subnet (which is really local), as its ethernet board is configured with the local subnet address. (Repeat that three times, quickly...) We can't do without the subnets because we really do have other subnets gatewayed into the bridged ethernet. The obvious answer is to make the bridged ethernet a single subnet, which is what we may end up doing, but the ethernet will expand slowly, eating existing subnets as it goes. Going with a single subnet means changing all addresses in a given subnet as it is eaten by the ethernet bridge monster. The only other possibility I can come up with is to allow multiple internet addresses associated with each network interface, so a host can recognize that it has direct access to multiple subnets through its single ethernet board. This might not be a difficult extension to the miltiple address-family code in 4.3 BSD, but I'd like to hear from anyone who has faced similar problems or has any good ideas on the subject before tackling either the single subnet or the 4.3 code. Thanks. Tim Seaver Microelectronics Center of North Carolina mcnc!tas tas@mcnc.org