Applications
IOLINK-520 & IOLINK-PRO Installation & Applications Guide — 2.3
2.1.1 - Bridging
An Ethernet bridge intelligently forwards Ethernet data packet traffic between connected
networks. The traffic may be across the Wide Area Network (illustrated below) or, in the
case of the IOLINK-520, may be between two LANs connected to the same IOLINK-520.
Figure 2 -1 Networks Bridged across a WAN link
Ethernet bridges simply forward information based on Ethernet MAC addresses. If a
packet is destined for a device located on a different network than the device that sent the
packet, the bridge will forward that packet to the connected network. If a packet is destined
for a device located on the same local network as the originating device, the bridge will
ignore the packet.
Ethernet bridges also communicate to each other using what is called the Spanning Tree
Protocol (STP). STP is used to prevent loops in a network which cause traffic to be re-
broadcast again and again causing network congestion.
The IOLINK-520 & IOLINK-PRO are pre-configured to operate as an Ethernet bridge
compatible with the IEEE 802.1d Spanning Tree Protocol definitions. This means that
without configuration modifications, the IOLINK-520 & IOLINK-PRO will bridge
Ethernet traffic to its partner bridges when the Wide Area Network (WAN) connection has
been established.
The IOLINK-520 & IOLINK-PRO are also pre-configured as an IPX router. This
means that if you wish to bridge IPX traffic instead of routing it, you must disable the
IPX routing function of the IOLINK router. Once IPX routing has been disabled, all
IPX traffic will be bridged between networks.
To set-up a bridge between two LANs using a dual LAN IOLINK-520, all that is required is
that the LANs be connected to the IOLINK router.
To set-up a bridge between two networks connected by a WAN link:
− Connect each IOLINK router to the LAN(s) it will be serving
− Connect the WAN interface of each IOLINK router to the equipment supplied by the service
provider
− Configure the remote site profile of the partner router if necessary
− Establish the WAN connection
WAN connection
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Network #1 Network #2