NOTICE:  AppleTalk and IPX routing will be discontinued January 1st, 2007.

January 11, 2006

Historic Importance

Networking protocols are designed to transport data reliably across multiple types of networks operating in many different ways.  They operate at the third conceptual layer above this differing physical media and hardware layers and are termed as "layer-3" protocols.  The most popular layer-3 protocol today is the Internet Protocol (IP) and is the only globally routed protocol in use today.  It is also called TCP/IP for Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol, but simply IP suffices.

In the past, there were many competitors for the dominant layer-3 protocol.  In the late 1980s, Apple Computer, Inc. was developing AppleTalk as a layer-3 protocol that allowed users to quickly and easily patch together a small network using LocalTalk for layer-2 which was nothing more than serial cables and phone wire tied together.  Eventually, AppleTalk was also made to work over Ethernet.  Novell, Inc., was also working on their internetworking protocol, called Internetwork Packet Exchange (or IPX) during the same period.  Both protocols had the advantage over IP as no configuration was required:  simply patching multiple stations or servers together would create a viable network with each station using automatic addressing.  This was something that IP did not have which added to the popularity and early adoption of AppleTalk and IPX. 

However, this automatic configuration came at the cost of network efficiency as both protocols used inefficient all-points broadcasts to announce various information about the network and services available on the network.  Given the shared media of the time and the relative small size of networks, these were reasonable things to do to make configurations easier.

Differences Today

As networks got larger and larger and as regional, national, and even global networks started to appear, it became increasingly apparent that these ease-of-use features of AppleTalk and IPX made them poorly suited for the job.  Therefore, IP became the clear leader and the use of AppleTalk and IPX was relegated to Institutional or Campus uses with little transport occurring to outside entities.   The statically coding of IP addressing and network information and old IP BOOTP configuration servers fell away in favor of more modern Dynamic Host Configuration Protocols (DHCP).  Now IP was also "plug and play" which increased the popularity of IP over AppleTalk and IPX even more.  So much so, in fact, that it is now becoming increasingly harder to find support for these protocols.  Some of the reasons include:

• The inventors of AppleTalk and IPX don't even use them anymore!  Apple Computer, Inc. stopped using AppleTalk about a decade ago.  With the advent of their OS X system, users can configure their Macs to use IP instead of AppleTalk and as of OS X 10.3 using IP is the default behavior.  Novell Netware 4.11, released many years ago, allows the use of IP instead of IPX and Netware 5, also out for a long time, is IP only!
   
• Network manufacturers don't support AppleTalk or IPX either.  Differing physical networks are tied together by routers and organized into homogeneous networks using layer-3 protocols.  Because the protocols are dying out, router manufactures see no reason to spend research and development time in creating newer, higher speed routers that also support AppleTalk and IPX.  All research and speed improvements are being put into IP.  Some devices, such as Missouri State University's building routers currently don't support AppleTalk or IPX at all and haven't for years!  We found ways to shoehorn or kludge the service in using inefficient bridging technology but even this is disappearing.
   
• AppleTalk and IPX are inefficient and strain networks.  Because these protocols rely so heavily on brosdcasts, they are very chatty and produce huge amounts of unneeded traffic.  Back when networks were shared instead of switched and everyone heard everyone's traffic anyway, this was not a big problem.  But now that networks are larger and traffic is isolated through switching, supporting AppleTalk and IPX is very inefficient:  it uses inappropriate amounts of bandwidth and router processing time and can degrade the IP network as a results.
   
• IP now has automatic configuration capabilities.   As previously mentioned, DHCP now automatically configures network devices from workstations to file servers to web servers to almost anything else desired.  Simply plug in a device or connect to a wireless network and it just works.  It does so in an efficient way because the client sends our a local broadcast looking for addressing information.  The network picks this up and transforms it into a specific question for our configuration servers who answer only to the requesting station with a leased address.  Once this lease is established, it is good for a week and when it nears expiration, it queries the granting server directly without the use of any broadcasting.
   
• New services don't support AppleTalk or IPX.  With vendors no longer supporting these obsolete protocols, Computer Services Networking Services unit can not implement the latest technologies while still supporting AppleTalk and IPX.  For example, when we implemented seamless wireless roaming across physical subnets, we lost the ability to support AppleTalk and IPX because they are not supported by this hardware.  (This roaming allows a user to migrate between differently addressed networks while still retaining their addressing information intact and therefore connections, including downloads in progress, are not lost.)
   
• IPX and AppleTalk require additional staff time to support.  Since AppleTalk and IPX are is such a state of decline as previously mentioned, we cannot justify spending additional time support them.  Everyone is dropping these protocols and yet we continue to offer them and trick the networks into delivering an obsolete service.  The time has come, however, to quit spending time and money supporting obsolete technologies and to concentrate on delivering better services in current areas.

Support will be Dropped

Therefore, Computer Services Networking Services unit, with the complete support of the Missouri State University administration will be dropping support for all AppleTalk and IPX traffic on or about January 1, 2007.  Most other Universities and organizations dropped this support long ago.

Apple Corporation has stopped using of the older AppleTalk protocol and Novell has stopped using IPX in favor of more widely used and more efficient protocols such as TCP/IP.  Network vendors, including Cisco Systems, have stopped producing products that support these outdated protocols as well.  Missouri State University has, however, continued to support AppleTalk and IPX for a number of years, but this is becoming increasingly difficult and we are now announcing the discontinuation of this service.  AppleTalk and IPX will still function on local subnets, but it will no longer be routed between subnets.

Apple Macintosh's AppleTalk:

How does this affect Apple users?

Users with OS 9 or below will loose the ability to connect to file shares and printers across campus.  Access to local resources on the same local subnet will remain unchanged but users could still loose access to desired services.  These users are encouraged to upgrade to a version of OS X prior to January 1, 2007.

All users of Mac OS X (all versions) could be configured to use AppleTalk for its network connections.  If so, they will loose connectivity just as Mac OS 9 or older versions would.  Users in this situation are encouraged to switch their OS X configurations to TCP/IP prior to January 1, 2007.

Mac OS X users with machines already configured to use Apple's newer IP strategy should be unaffected by this change.  Most Macs on campus are already running OS X and users here are encouraged to verify their configurations are using TCP/IP prior to January 1, 2007.

What are AppleTalk and AppleShare anyway?

AppleTalk is a network protocol which has been obsolete for Macintosh for about a decade.  The disappearance of AppleTalk should have absolutely no impact on users who utilize the AppleShare (Finder) interface.  AppleTalk was the method that Macintosh computers and other resources such as printers and file servers used to communicate.  While Mac OS 9 and below require AppleTalk, newer Macs have other, newer and better ways of accomplishing the same tasks and AppleTalk support on these machines is only for legacy reasons.

Don't confuse AppleTalk with AppleShare.  Only AppleTalk is going away and AppleShare will not be affected.  AppleTalk is a transport protocol used with Mac System 9, older printer models, and uses a "zoned" network architecture. AppleShare is a file sharing system that can use TCP/IP or AppleTalk as the underlying transport.

How can I tell if my Mac is using AppleTalk?

By default, OS X 10.3 and higher do not use AppleTalk although it is partially enabled during a clean install.  Users would need to turn on AppleTalk's full services only to connect to legacy applications that had not or could not be upgraded.

In OS X 10.3 and higher, there are two places where you control the use of AppleTalk.  Check Finder > System Preferences > Network and, if you had been browsing Apple Zones, AppleTalk might have been enabled in /Applications/Utilities/Directory Access.  Note that AppleTalk can only be active on a single port at a time.  If it is in use on the Ethernet port, it cannot be on in the AirPort (wireless) and vise versa.  Also note that AppleTalk is not supported over the University's wireless networks.

What about AppleTalk printers?

Old AppleTalk personal printers will still be accessible through AppleTalk via a direct cable connection to your computer.  It might also be available to a small range of other Macs nearby, but it will not be available outside of your building or, in large buildings, outside your sector.  Sectors are defined by physical subnets.  Please contact Computer Services Networking Services unit for information on building sectors.

Novel Netware's IPX:

How will this affect Novell Users?

Novell servers communicate to network clients either using IPX or IP depending upon the version number of Netware.  Pre version 4.11 servers must be converted to version 4.11 or greater.  Version 4.11 servers must be inspected to insure they are configured to use IP instead of IPX.  Version 5 or greater servers automatically use IP and don't even support IPX itself.  IPX will still function on a local network segment, but it will not be routed between physical segments.  However, since physical segments are subject to change as needed without notification, Novell Netware users are encouraged to upgrade any old Netware servers to at least version 4.11 using IP prior to January 1, 2007.

How can I tell and what about printers?

Information on Novell Netware implementations this old is limited and not currently available to Computer Services Networking.  Please contact your Novell Netware administrator for additional information.

Questions?

• For assistance with client or server configurations, please contact Computer Services User Support at 417-836-5891
• For questions regarding the network change itself, please contact Mark Harsen, the Coordinator of Networking Services.