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Configure Proxy Explorers
Configuring Source-Route Bridging BC-143
Configure Proxy Explorers
You can use the proxy explorers feature to limit the amount of explorer traffic propagating through
the source-bridge network.
To configure proxy explorers, use the following command in interface configuration mode:
The Cisco IOS software does not propagate proxy responses for a station. Instead, the software
obtains the RIF path from the RIF cache, changes the explorer to a specific frame, and forwards this
frame to the destination. If a response is not received before the validation timer expires, the RIF
entry is marked as invalid. The invalid RIF entry is flushed from the cache table when another
explorer for this station is received, and an explorer is forwarded to discover a path to this station.
Establish SRB Interoperability with Specific Token Ring
Implementations
This section describes how you can establish interoperability between routers and specific Token
Ring implementations. It includes the following sections:
• Establish SRB Interoperability with TI MAC Firmware
• Report Spurious Frame-Copied Errors
Establish SRB Interoperability with TI MAC Firmware
You can use a workaround to establish interoperability with Texas Instruments MAC firmware.
There is a known defect in earlier versions of the Texas Instruments Token Ring MAC firmware.
This implementation is used by Proteon, Apollo, and IBM RTs. A host using a MAC address whose
first two bytes are zeros (such as a Cisco router) will not properly communicate with hosts using that
version of Texas Instruments firmware.
There are two solutions. The first involves installing a static RIF entry for every faulty node with
which the router communicates. If there are many such nodes on the ring, this may not be practical.
You also can set the MAC address of our Token Ring to a value that works around the problem.
Resetting the MAC address forces the use of a different MAC address on the specified interface,
thereby avoiding the TI MAC firmware problem. However, you must ensure that no other host on
the network is using that MAC address.
To reset the MAC address, use the following command in interface configuration mode:
Command Purpose
source-bridge proxy-explorer Enable the interface to respond to any
explorer packets that meet certain
conditions necessary for a proxy
response to occur.
Command Purpose
mac-address ieee-address Reset the MAC address of the Token
Ring interface to a value that
provides a workaround to a problem
in Texas Instruments Token Ring
MAC firmware.