AppleTalk Internet Router: Doesn‘t Translate DDP-to-IP (11/94)

QUESTION --------------------------------------------------------

Is there any way using the Apple Internet Router and the MacTCP drivers to encapsulate an AppleTalk protocol and place it on a TCP/IP-based backbone?

The reason I ask is that I have a customer changing their networking strategies to implement a TCP/IP-backbone only. If you can't play in this environment, they don't want you on the backbone. What the customer wants is to connect their 30 Macintosh networks onto the backbone using TCP/IP. They like the idea of the Internet Router over a Cayman- or Kinetics-type solution.

With the release of the newer Apple Internet Router, TCP/IP tunneling is possible. Also the Apple IP Gateway is a DDP-to-IP gateway. For more information about these products use them as a search string.

The older AppleTalk Internet Router does not provide DDP-to-IP translation. It also does not have the ability to encapsulate AppleTalk packets within IP packets to ship the packets to another router over a backbone. It provides AppleTalk Phase II routing over multiple physical media (Token Ring, Ethernet, and LocalTalk).

MacTCP performs the opposite of what your customer is requesting. When it is on a machine on an AppleTalk network, MacTCP encapsulates TCP/IP packets within AppleTalk packets. It then sends the packets to a DDP-to-IP gateway, which strips the AppleTalk information and sends the TCP/IP packets to the appropriate TCP/IP network device, such as a UNIX system.

The Cayman GatorBox and Kinetics FastPath are examples of the DDP-to-IP gateway mentioned above. They do not encapsulate AppleTalk packets within TCP/IP packets either. Also, when they act as AppleTalk routers, they perform the same types of operations for an AppleTalk Phase I network as the Apple Internet Router provides for a Phase II network. Note that we are discussing the current versions of these products, which do not yet support AppleTalk Phase II; however, adding Phase II support to these products still would not provide the functionality your customer desires.

For more information, search on "Cayman" or "Kinetics" in the Tech Info library.


Article Change History:
30 Nov 1994 - Added references to the newer Apple Internet Router and the
Apple IP Gateway.

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Published Date: Feb 18, 2012