Limiting IPX broadcasts

[tmclean]

I remember reading at some point that a router could be configured to respond to GNS requests from clients so that IPX traffic could be eliminated from those segments. We have hundreds of server advertisements that get broadcast and although we don't generally need access to these servers, in the past when IPX traffic was not flowing right client PCs would hang upon bootup waiting for a response from a server. Any suggestions.

[moacir.ferreira]

If configured properly, the router will respond to GNS after an “ipx gns-response delay” period if no local server respond to it. In case the router gives an answer to a GNS because no local server respond to it, it could be done on a round robin fashion (“ipx gng-round-robin”). It does not mean that you can live without all this traffic crossing your network.

There are several techniques you can use to minimize these broadcasts (like IPX watchdog-spoof, spx-spoof, changing the SAP updates interval on a link, creating static SAPs, etc.).

However, the best technique I have seen is to filter unnecessary traffic in their source. I.e. on the updates sent between Boston and Paris, the Boston router does not need to receive a print server SAP located Paris since, usually, no one from Boston would print something in Paris. Some places may need only a default route instead of running full RIP.