the ipx/spx protocol suite consists of internetwork packet exchange or IPX, which runs at the network latyer of the OSI mdoel and sequenced packet exchange (SPX) whcih runs at the transport layer. this protocol suite is commonly refered as IPX. IPX/SPX is baed on the Xerox XNS protocol

some facts:
IPX stands for Internetwork Packet Exchange
is owned by novell
avilabel as monolithic or ODI-compliant
provides connectionless and connection-oriented services
is a routeable protocol

this is the default netware protocol it is also still supported by netware 5 and 6 but these network operating systems sue tcp/ip sas the default protocol is most common use is in an evnironement that includes older netware servers

IPX/SPX uses 2 different frame types: 802.2 and 802.3. if a workstation and a server are both running IPX/SPX but with differnt frame types, thwy will be unable to communicate with each other

windows 95, 98, NT/200 will automatically configure the IPX/SPX-comptible protocol to use the frame type first received byt the network adapter when the machine is booted.

an incorrect frame type selection is manifested in the following ways:

* the user is able to see some netware servers but not the netware server he needs to access
* the user is unable to see any netware servers, but he can browse tother network resources
* occasionally, users are able to see the netware resources if they reboot their computers, but this might take serveral reboots

to fix this problem, use the network properties sheet for the IPX/SPX protocol and manually select the correct frame type for the resources the users need to access

using IPX/SPX to route NetBIOS
NWLink provides windows connetivity with IPX/SPX-based novell netware networks by susing the IPX/SPX transport protocol