Networking —

TCP/IP Routing

TCP/IP is a fully routable protocol, making it a natural choice for large networks and those that span multiple locations. As mentioned previously, TCP/IP is a protocol suite; there are two primary protocols within TCP/IP that provide the routing functionality Routing Information Protocol (RIP) and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF).

Protocol Summary

The most pertinent information from this section is listed in Table 6.

Table 6 Comparison of the Various Protocols Discussed in This Chapter

Protocol

Overview

Routable

Addressing

IPX/SPX

Used to be the default protocol for NetWare, but now TCP/IP is preferred. Still supported by Netware, Windows, and Linux. Simplest addressing scheme of routable protocols discussed here.

Yes

Uses the MAC address to identify the node, and an eight character (4-byte) hexadecimal address to identify the network.

NetBEUI

Used by Windows.

No

Uses NetBIOS names to identify systems on the network.

AppleTalk

Used by Macintosh withsome support on other platforms.

Yes

Uses a two-part addressing scheme. The first is a randomly generated number for the node address, and the second an administrator assigned number for the network address.

TCP/IP

Used by default with UNIX, Linux, NetWare and Windows systems. Also supported by Macintosh systems and practically every other computing platform. The most inter-operable of all protocols.

Yes

Uses four sets of 8 bits referred to as octets. A subnet mask is used to define what parts of the address refer to the network, and what parts refer to the node.