Bridging over a Tunnel Interface

[bchemin]

Hi,

We want to extend two networks :

- one bridged

- one routed

over a serial link with two 2600 routers.

We configured these routers with CRB bridging using tunnel interface.

The problem is that the command bridge-group xx is not allowed on the tunnel interface :

hostname(config-if)#bridge-group 1

% This command is an unreleased and unsupported feature

But on a physical interface, the command is allowed.

Here is the platform :

cisco 2621 (MPC860) processor (revision 0x102) with 27648K/5120K bytes of memory.

Here is the IOS :

c2600-io3-mz.122-15.T5.bin

Can you help us on this issue ?

Best regards.

[a.awan]

Bridging is not supported on GRE tunnels. I had a requirement recently to extend layer 2 networks over IP and i had to go with the L2TPv3 feature. It is supported even on the 1720s so i have no doubts that the 2600 will support it. You might have to go with a higher IOS though. If this is not a feasible solution then you will have to do bridging over the physical serial interface.

[m.laporta]

Depending on the protocol you want to bridge, you may find a solution.

- If you need to bridge SNA or NetBIOS, then I suggest you to evaluate the use of DLSw;

- If you need to bridge any other, non-IP protocol (e.g., IPX, Appletalk, etc.), then I suggest you to evaluate the use of transparent bridging, i.e. (a)disable CRB if enabled; (b) disable routing of the non-IP protocol (default setting); (c) enable bridging on both the LAN and the serial interface and test the protocol behaviour

- If you need to bridge IP, sorry but I don't have the solution.

Hope this helps