FastPath Documentation Background: Jump down to setup procedure The FastPath is a somewhat complicated box which: routes AppleTalk packets between LocalTalk and EtherTalk Most Macs today (1995) have ethernet built in. So, they may only need this feature for accessing devices on Localtalk or to be accessed by other Macs on Localtalk. routes both AppleTalk and TCP/IP packets between LocalTalk and EtherTalk Macs of old, used Localtalk and to use IP, must go through a Fastpath. Macs on Localtalk with hard drives would use Static IP Addressing. Macs on Localtalk that did not would use Dynamic IP Addressing (like BootP). The Fastpath would have to watch for IP packets destined for these Static or Dynamic Addresses. and also tunnels AppleTalk packets over the campus TCP/IP backbone (encapsulating Appletalk within TCP/IP packets). Most Macs today (1995) have ethernet built in. So, they may only need a Fastpath for this sole feature. So, that they can talk with other Mac services in zones across a TCP/IP backbone. LocalTalk is a low cost ~ 230Kbit/sec network which uses unshielded twisted pair cabling (telephone cable) and is built-in on all Macintoshes. EtherTalk refers to Apple's proprietary implementation of sending AppleTalk packets over an ethernet network. Ethernet is a 10Mbit/sec network which uses coaxial cabling (RG58/u or Thinnet - 10Base2) or unshielded twisted pair (10BaseT). [Localtalk can run on low grade UTP]. AppleTalk, unlike TCP/IP, does not have assigned addresses, but dynamically assigns addresses when a machine boots up on the network. The basic function of the FastPath is to connect Macintoshes and LaserWriters on LocalTalk to other Macintoshes and LaserWriters on EtherTalk. This is accomplished by creating two "zones" (one on the ethernet side and one on the LocalTalk side) which are the AppleTalk equivalent of subnets. This allows the FastPath to function as a router which only passes appletalk packets which need to go out of the current zone and into the zone on the opposite side of the FastPath. The FastPath also routes TCP/IP packets between LocalTalk and EtherTalk and encapsulates AppleTalk packets in to TCP/IP packets to send to other Fastpaths for de-encapsulation on other subnets. The FastPath downloads (tftps) a file off of a machine in OAC (hydra.acs.uci.edu) which contains some of the setup information and the names and IP addresses of the other FastPaths on the campus backbone. All known Fastpaths on campus do this. This allows any Macintosh which with a FastPath is connected to a FastPath to talk to any other Macintosh or LaserWriter listed in the config file on hydra.acs.uci.edu on the campus network. The majority of the Fastpaths on campus are Fastpath 4s. The Fastpath 5s are backward compatable, but only if they do not use the newer encapsulation algorithm (Dr. Pepper). Neither of the Fastpath encapsulation algorithms are compatable with those of Cayman, Apple, Cisco, or Netware. The latter 3 use AURP (Apple Update Routing Protocol). TFTP Configuration: If someone is setting up a Fastpath, ask the following questions: A) What is the IP address of the Fastpath? B) What are the IP addresses of the static addresses that you will need? C) What are the IP addresses of the dynamic addresses that you will need? Strongly encourage people to setup the addresses so that the addresses are contiguous. And they will increase in the order specified from A to C above. D) What is the zone name? Make it short. OAC-ET and OAC-LT. (The standard used to be ...-Ethertalk or ...-Localtalk, but there is a problem with length, so we are now using shorter names). Setting up the configuration file on Hydra Note: Quite often you will be replacing an existing fastpath. If this is the case, you only need to refer to the file entry. You won't have to create a new one. The simple ASCII text file that needs to be altered on hydra's side is hydra.acs.uci.edu: /tftpboot/fastpath/atalkatab (Appletalk Admin Table) For those fastpaths not on the common tunnel, there are other filenames (e.g. ccm.fp for College of Medicine). The configuration of one box can be copied to another and only a few changes need to be made: An example configuration file entry in the atalkatab file Omit the line numbers - they are for reference in this document only! 1. # MacLab FastPath on 128.200.69.50 Under Floor CS308B (KBCS308.msg.uci.edu) 2. 69.0 E 128.200.69.50 OAC-EtherTalk #OAC - EtherTalk 3. 69.50 KC 128.200.69.50 OAC-LocalTalk #OAC - LocalTalk 4. I128.200.69.255 I128.200.9.5 #ipbroad ipname 5. I128.200.16.3 L0 #ipdebug ipfile 6. L0 L0 L0 L0 #split splitmsk enetmsk snmphst 7. S0 S200 #phase1 UDPport 8. LX8 S5 S0 #flags ipstatic ipdynamic 9. S69.50 S69.1 #atneta atnete 10. S69.0 S69.0 #et2start et2end "#" represent comments. Line 1-3: Change 1st 3 lines. "KC" in line 3 is only for the Core Fastpath (Fastpath that all others will defer to). Usually, the abbreviation is just "K". In the above example, ".50" represents the IP address on subnet 69. Line 4: Broadcast w.x.y.255 and the name server 128.200.192.202 Line 5: Hydra's IP address 128.200.16.3 Line 6: All L0 if there is no splitting of IP addresses as requested. Line 8: The "S5" "S0" represent the number of static and dynamic addresses. Line 9: subdomain and node of Fastpath's IP address and subdomain and node of Gateway's IP. Line 10: subdomain and ".0" of Fastpath's IP address. Configuration: Note: Use Fastpath Manager 5.3 connected to the LocalTalk port (from Mac to Fastpath): 1. Run Fastpath Manager on the machine connected to the FastPath LocalTalk port. Isolate the FastPath from the rest of the campus network by changing form EtherTalk to LocalTalk via Control Panel. 2. The FastPath should come up in the Gateways window. Open the FastPath. 3. Click on the Reset icon to reset the FastPath -- only do this if the FastPath has forgotten all of its configuration or as a last resort. 4. Do a Find All command under the Gateways menu. 5. Open the FastPath again. 6. Click on the Pause icon within 25 seconds of the Reset command, or the FastPath will become operational under its default built in configuration and it cannot be configured. After the FastPath is paused, you can take your time to configure it. see the Fastpath Manager screen (~64k) 7. Under the Configuration pulldown menu, select ATalk Phase 2 and K-STAR IP. 8. Make sure that the switches Auto Config and Remote Boot are turned off (there should not be an X in the box). 9. Enter the information from the printed configuration into the LocalTalk and EtherTalk windows. (This is the information from Hydra's tftp file). AppleTalkZone Name If you change a Zone Name, you will have to reconnect Macs searching for printers and servers in the newly renamed zone. AppleTalk Net number is 256*(subnet number)+(node number of FastPath). AppleTalk Node number is assigned dynamically at bootup. EtherTalk Phase 2 Range Start and End are both set to 256*(subnet number). 10. Double-click on the Options icon, and turn option flag 11 on by clicking in the associated box. Then click on OK. 11. Highlight K-STAR IP under the Configuration window, and click on Edit. Enter the 4 IP addresses in the IP Information window. (~8Kb) 12. Under IPTalk Interface, put an asterisk in the AppleTalk Zone Name field, and put "0" in the AppleTalk Network Number field. 13. Under Atalkatab, select TFTP. Click on the TFTP icon, and enter the IP Address of Server (under Servers, IP Address of Name Server on the printed configuration sheet), currently 128.200.16.3, and enter /fastpath/atalkatab into the Unix Path/File Name field. (atalkatab is used, if on the common tunnel. Use other filenames as necessary for other department tunnels -- e.g. bio=bio.fp) See the tftp configuration window. (~5Kb) 14. The If an error is detected in the table field, should be set to retry every 3 minutes. Then click OK to return to the IP information window, and click OK again to return to the main configuration window. 15. Download K-STAR 9.1.2 or higher to the FastPath through the Download a file... command under the File menu. (This will download the file from the Mac to the Fastpath after the next step.) 16. Click on the Go icon to start up the FastPath. It should take a little while for it to download the configuration file. Of course, if you've isolated the Fastpath, it won't be able to find hydra. Just put the Fastpath in its operating location to see if it works. Written by Cory Compton (Humanities Computing Facilities) 03/11/93. Editted by Jim Surlow (Office of Academic Computing) 04/13/95. Slightly edited again by Jim Surlow (OAC-DSS) 06/14/95. Comments specifically referring to Humanities was removed. Some notes were updated as technology has changed. HTML markup & revisions by Bob Hudack (OAC-DSS) 7/17/95 Return to the top of the document Back to the IIP