NetRunner WAN User’s Manual
Network Planning
2-15
Communicating Between Clusters
Clusters increase network efficiency by separating LAN traffic from voice/fax
and data traffic.
As an example, refer to the figure below. Though the two clusters shown are
connected through a 56 Kbps WAN network link (point A), the link only
carries voice/fax and data traffic. LAN traffic between the clusters passes
through the common LAN at point B. Once inside a particular cluster, LAN
traffic is then forwarded over the WAN links of the particular cluster.
Connecting clusters in this manner increases overall network performance
and adds additional network security, as nodes in a particular cluster may be
set to forward or accept only certain packet types (filtering).
Cluster B
Cluster A
Point B
(bridge traffic)
Point A
(voice/fax, data traffic)
56 Kbps
Cluster-to-Cluster Communication
Planning the NetRunner Node Numbers and Node
IDs
Each NetRunner is referred to as a node. All nodes connected locally are
considered local.
All nodes on the other side of a WAN network link are considered remote.
Each node must have its own node number and node ID, and there can be no
duplicates in the network. (Sometimes node IDs are referred to as node
names.)
The node assigned the lowest node number and which contains a Real Time
Clock (RTC) device is the network time master. It broadcasts time, day and
date to the other nodes in the network.
The LAN node ID is automatically assigned by the LAN interfaces while they
are communicating to each other.
