On Wed, 2003-05-07 at 12:41, Shawn wrote:
> On 07 May 2003 12:30:17 -0500
> Mike Hicks <hick0088 at tc.umn.edu> wrote:
> 
> > Yeah, it's not really possible to fully bridge between ethernet and
> > token ring, unless you hide some information in other places. 
> > Ethernet and token ring packets have fairly similar structures, IIRC,
> > but there are some fields missing from one to the other.  Packets
> > probably won't look the same once they get to the other side..
> > 
>   I'm not to up on various aspects of networking, but could he build a
> linux box with the connection he's looking for, as well as a token
> ring card and us it as router/gateway between networks?

Well, I think the problem Brian is trying to solve is getting data from
his network across a fiber line without jumping for fiber token ring
transceivers.  It might just be that new copper has to be pulled, which
would suck, but it might be possible to just plug it into the token ring
network and have things work.

If that doesn't work because the length is too long or something, a
token<->token bridge of some sort could be used.  I'm not able to find
any reference to anyone doing that with Linux, since most people are
just trying to get on an Ethernet ;-)  It's theoretically possible, but
I don't know if anyone's done it.

I came across a FAQ that said source route bridging was more common with
token ring than transparent bridging (what we're accustomed to in the
Ethernet world).  I suspect that would require going and reconfiguring
all of the relevant client machines though, which is less than
desirable.

Also, they seem to really recommend token ring switches, and I imagine
it would be possible to get switch with a fiber port, but that's
probably even more expensive than the transceiver idea..

http://www.networkuptime.com/faqs/token-ring/

-- 
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[ Mike Hicks | http://umn.edu/~hick0088/ | mailto:hick0088 at tc.umn.edu ]
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