Our network group is taking down our Appletalk Seed Router and we need to come up with an alternative. Does Mac OS X Server supply Appletalk Seed Router services?? We are in a Mac OS 8.6 environment with W2k and XP in the mix.
there's quite a good man page that describes it: "man appletalk.cfg" for details.
"man appletalk" will give you the commands to start and stop seeding. I used to find under 10.2 that I had to start the box in appletalk routing mode using "appletalk -r" and then use "appletalk -h" to set the default zone, as it wouldn't 'stick' the first time.
No; however, it's probably not a big problem as long as your pre-9.1 clients are using AppleShare 3.8.8.
In Mac OS X Server 10.2 and later, AFP cannot establish connections using the AppleTalk protocol for transport. It uses IPv4 and IPv6 exclusively to transmit data; however, AppleTalk can be used to browse for AFP services or to locate an AFP server on the network, performing the duty of a service location protocol. For this to work, the client needs to have AppleTalk checked in its Directory Access application, and the server needs to have "Enable browsing with AppleTalk" checked in the AFP section of Server Admin.
Mac OS X 10.2 and later still supports sending print jobs that use AppleTalk as a transport protocol. This is sometimes referred to as AppleTalk Printer Access Protocol, or PAP. For this to work, AppleTalk needs to be enabled for one and only one network interface in System Preferences on the client (and on the server if you need to share PAP queues).
The AppleTalk service in Mac OS X only works correctly if it is turned on for one network interface at a time. For example, if your server has two Ethernet ports, only one needs to have AppleTalk enabled. AppleTalk exists now as a single-subnet protocol with no support for routing or bridging connections between network interfaces in software. (AppleTalk zones and routed AppleTalk only work if you have additional hardware performing that function.)
Of course, this isn't a problem since the two remaining functions of AppleTalk (service discovery and PAP) are easily accomplished with current IP-based protocols. For example, multicast DNS (mDNS, Bonjour, Rendezvous) replaces local subnet service discovery, and IP Printing (LPR, IPP, Sockets), including mDNS printer discovery effectively takes care of PAP.
The only legitimate concern is that some older printers employ an inefficient IP Printing server, forcing users to continue to use AppleTalk to print to that printer. But, if you enable AppleTalk on one network interface, you'll be fine.
We are running W2K and W2003 print services, we just need Appletalk Seed Router services. We will not be putting print queues on any Mac. The workgroup just needs to be able to print Appletalk to the printers because of their application restriction. The Cisco router is provided the address for Appletalk currently, if we take that away, will OS X server be able to provide Appletalk Seed Router services?
We will not be putting print queues on any Mac. The workgroup just needs to be able to print Appletalk to the printers because of their application restriction.
I'm not sure what you mean here. Could you please explain what you're trying to accomplish?
Mac OS X Server does not support routed AppleTalk, but it does (as does Mac OS X) support AppleTalk on the local subnet. If you're concerned about being able to locate and use AppleTalk printers after you remove your switch, you'll be fine. The only difference is that, if your printers were in an AppleTalk zone, they'll now be in the local zone. This will probably require restarting the printers after the switch is in place. Additionally, Mac OS X (client and Server) will need to reselect the printers as their AppleTalk node numbers will be different in the local zone.
My question is, who is providing the Node numbers for the Appletalk protocol? Our Cisco router currently does the seed services. Once that is taken out, what is happening with the Seed Router services?
I found this doc on your site... do I need to do this, will this work with 10.4?
On the local AppleTalk zone, network node numbers are configured automatically via inter-device communication. So, yes, you can continue to use AppleTalk as an SLPDA or a printer access protocol (PAP). Some devices may need to be restarted to get new node numbers.
I think the KBase article is for creating your own AppleTalk zones, but you'll probably just want to set up DNS zones instead.
"I never had any luck with the .plist method for seeding, only the /etc/appletalk.cfg method."
I have OS X Tiger server and the .plist method is not working, after making changes, the network pane in the system preferences does not to come up... it just sits there.
I found the appletalk executable file, but the appletalk.cfg file does not exist. Did a search and no where to be found. Was this file in 10.3 and not in 10.4? Where can I get a copy of the appletalk.cfg file?
