The NetWare Link Services Protocol (NLSP) is an advanced link-state routing protocol developed by Novell for use in Novell NetWare. NLSP has several advantages over IPX RIP. NLSP enables you to remove IPX SAP advertisements from an identified network segment. NLSP then handles network updates. The protocol reduces both IPX RIP and SAP advertisements by sending updates on changes to a database, rather than by sending the complete table every 60 seconds. This is another routing protocol that sends an update only if a change in the network topology has occurred, unless no activity takes place for two hours, after which time the NLSP-enabled interface will send an update to all of its neighbors. Enabling NLSPTo enable NLSP, use the ipx nlsp enable command on each interface connecting to segments that need to have NLSP enabled. You must then identify the NLSP area address. You need to configure a couple of prerequisites when using NLSP. The area-address area mask command is used to define which IPX addresses are part of a particular area. You can use zero for area address and zero for the mask. Using zeros indicates that all area addresses are to be included in this area. NLSP requires use of the ipx internal-network command to identify the IPX internal network. When configuring NLSP, we must first enable IPX routing by using the ipx internal-network command to identify the IPX internal network for the router. Next , configure both active the default encapsulation (HDLC on Serial 0, novell- ether on Ethernet 0) on the interface, and identify the networks connected to each interface. The following shows an example: DCS2514# config terminal DCS2514(config)# ipx routing DCS2514(config)# ipx internal-network d DCS2514(config)# ipx router nlsp DCS2514(config-ipx-router)# area-address 0 0 DCS2514(config)# interface serial0 DCS2514 (config-if)# ipx network 100 DCS2514(config-if)# ipx nlsp enable DCS2514 (config-if)# interface ethernet0 DCS2514 (config-if)# ipx network 300 DCS2514(config-if)# exit DCS2514(config)# NLSP Troubleshooting CommandsIn order to troubleshoot the NLSP protocol, you can use the following show commands to verify the configuration is correct and that NLSP is functioning correctly:
In the next sections, let's take a look at each command and its output. show ipx route CommandWhen you configure NLSP, the routing table output produced by using the show ipx route command shows a serial route, as in this example: DCS2514# show ipx route Codes: C - Connected primary network, c - Connected secondary network S - Static, F - Floating static, L - Local (internal), W - IPXWAN R - RIP, E - EIGRP, N - NLSP, X - External, A - Aggregate s - seconds, u - uses 3 Total IPX routes. Up to 1 parallel paths and 16 hops allowed. No default route known. L 400 is the internal network C 500 (HDLC), Serial0 C 200 (NOVELL-ETHER), Ethernet0 show ipx servers CommandYou can use the show ipx servers command to view all the known routes to the servers learned by the router. The following is an example of using the show ipx servers command: DCS2514# show ipx servers Codes: S - Static, P - Periodic, E - EIGRP, N - NLSP, H -Holddown, + = detail 2 Total IPX Servers Table ordering is based on routing and server info Type Name Net Address Port Route Hops Itf N 4 File&Print1 100.0000.0000.0001:0000 12/02 2 Se0 N 4 CAD1 100.0000.0000.0002:0000 12/02 2 Se0 show ipx nlsp neighbors CommandThe show ipx nlsp neighbors command can be used to display all the known NLSP neighbors, which are NLSP resources that are directly connected to the router's interfaces. The following is an example of using the show ipx nlsp neighbors command as well as the output. DCS2621# show ipx nlsp neighbors NLSP Level-1 Neighbors: Tag Identifier = notag System Id Interface State Holdtime Priority Circuit Id DCS2514 Se0 Up 55 0 04 DCS2621 has one NLSP neighbor, DCS2514. By adding the detail command, the output includes the IPX internal network number and the uptime. DCS2621# show ipx nlsp neighbors detail NLSP Level-1 Neighbors: Tag Identifier = notag System Id Interface State Holdtime Priority Circuit Id DCS2514 Se0 Up 43 0 04 IPX Address: 100.0000.0000.0001 IPX Areas: 00000000/00000000 Uptime: 01:13:09 show ipx nlsp database CommandThe show ipx nlsp database command provides information on the NLSP processes, as in the following example: DCS2514# show ipx nlsp database NLSP Level-1 Link State Database LSPID LSP Seq Num LSP Checksum LSP Holdtime ATT/P/OL DCS2501.00-00 * 0x0000043B 0x2C77 203 0/0/0 DCS2514.04-00 * 0x000001D2 0x1A2D 440 0/0/0 DCS2514.00-00 0x00000023 0x1CAA 2311 0/0/0 DCS2621.03-00 0x00000A22 0x9DE9 892 0/0/0 DCS2621.00-00 0x00000342 0xCD9B 821 0/0/0 RSM1.00-00 0x00000221 0x2C99 16 0/0/0 RSM.02-00 0x00000361 0x235B 16 0/0/0 The preceding output shows each entry in the NLSP database that is using a link state protocol identifier (LSPID). This column contains a value including a system identifier, a pseudonode circuit identifier, and a fragment number. The link state protocol (LSP) is the foundation of NLSP, and the show ipx nlsp database command reports significant information, including the last sequence number, the checksum, and the LSP holdtime. The holdtime indicates when the information will be flushed from the database, if a Hello packet or update is not received. The ATT/P/OL field is used by the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) for troubleshooting. This field is used to describe the Layer 2 attachments and the overload bits. The P bit (partition) indicates whether or not a partition is used. |