Q: DHCP doesn't work with my Token Ring adapter.
A: Certain dhcp servers and clients do not work properly with token
ring drivers. This is especially true with the 2.4 kernels. During
the development of the 2.3.x series of kernels the internal type
for token ring was changed to accomodate multicast support over
token ring. The solution is to upgrade your dhcp client/server
to a version that supports token ring and/or the latest kernel
versions.
Q: I can't set the LAA on my adapter with ifconfig tr0 hw tr 4000DEADBEEF.
A: Firstly, double check that your adapter/driver support setting the LAA,
and that you've supplied a valid LAA. Also, most drivers will only allow
this to be set before the adapter is opened onto the ring.
Again, this is related to the change in the internal type for token ring
in the 2.4 kernels. A patch is available from the
web site for nettools
that fixes this and allows the LAA to be set.
Q: My Linux machine is on a bridged network and I'm having connectivity
issues with machine beyond the bridge.
A: The token ring source routing code in the kernel uses the spanning
tree algorithm. Contact your network administrator to enable this
protocol on the bridges.
Q: Can I use a Linux machine to bridge between token ring and
ethernet ?
A: The simply answer in no. Briding network topologies in software
is incredibly complicated and while it is possibly, nobody has
written the code to do it. If you must bridge there are several
manufacturers that produce hardware bridges (most notably Cisco).
Q: OK, if I can't bridge, how do I connect my Token Ring and
ethernet networks ?
A: A cheap linux box with a token ring and ethernet adapter makes
an excellent router. There is no difference between setting up
a token ring/ethernet router and an ethernet/ethernet router.
You can do masquerading (NAT) and filtering on the router as
per usual. For more details see the Netfilter howto.
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