Services for Macintosh

Assigning Network Numbers and Network Ranges

Setting the network range is part of seeding a network. Each AppleTalk network within a mixed network is assigned a range of numbers. Each node is identified to the network by one of those numbers, which is combined with a dynamically assigned AppleTalk node identification number. As a result, no two networks on a mixed network should have overlapping ranges of identification numbers.

Use the following guidelines to decide how to assign network numbers and network ranges:

Use network numbers that leave room for expansion.
Base network ranges on the number of nodes you expect to have in the future for each network.
For a LocalTalk network, you can only assign a single network number. For each Ethernet or token ring network, you can assign a network range. The range can be either m–m (a single number) or m–n (a range of numbers). It cannot be zero.
The network number or range of network numbers must be unique for a given physical network.
The network numbers in a range must not overlap with numbers contained in other ranges.
Base the extent of a network range on the number of AppleTalk nodes you expect to have on the physical network. The total number of possible AppleTalk nodes is 253 times the number of network numbers in the range.