PIX 515 and IPX

[nickmcentyre]

Hi,

I have a Cisco Pix515 firewall newly installed between different sub-networks within my workplace. However, this doesn't support IPX, which is crucial for daily functioning (due to Novell).

Is there a Cisco solution that anyone can recommend, such as an IP/IPX gateway (IPX translation/encapsulation?) or similar box that can be put on the network to resolve this problem?

I would prefer a hardware solution, due to performance issues, although I would be interested in software solutions if anyone has any suggestions.

Thanks for your help,

Nick McEntyre

[ehirsel]

One solution would to be implement cisco routers that would encapsulate IPX in GRE tunnels that in turn would run over IP. The GRE tunnel is a point-to-point logical tunnel (using Tunnel interfaces) and the pix would be configured to allow GRE only between the routers.

The newer cisco ios code allows for dynamic multipoint GRE tunnels to achive scalability without the complex config required to support a large number of GRE tunnels when using a full or partial mesh toplology.

What version of Novell server code are you running? The newer Novell code may allow IPX on one interface, and IP on another to allow the servers to handle the routing (this would require another NIC in each server). If the number of servers is small this may work.

Let me know if I can be of more assistance.