Lantronix MPS100 EPS Reference Manual - Page 19
TCP/IP
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Concepts TCP/IP LAT multicast messages contain a rating for each service offered. Ratings range from 0 to 255; 0 means the service is unavailable, while 255 means the service is available and has no current users. Ratings for a given service may change over time. For example, the rating for a computer accepting logins will generally change as its workload changes. Conversely, ratings for a modem are typically either 0 (in use) or 255 (not in use). In the example above, the server with eight modems attached will continue to advertise that the service "modem" is available (a 255 rating) until all eight modems are in use (a 0 rating). Service ratings may concern even casual users, since they are used to determine which service a user will be connected to whenever there is a choice. For example, if a user types Connect Hub and five nodes offer service hub, the user will be connected to the least busy node automatically. In the case mentioned above, where both the local Server and a remote node offered the same service, the ratings determine which node will service the connection attempt. Another major network management feature of LAT is the concept of service groups. Each port on the Server and each service on the network can be thought of as belonging to one or more groups. When a user or device requests a service connection, the LAT host will check to see if the groups to which the requester belongs match those of the requested service. If any group number is common to both the requester and the service, the connection attempt continues. If there are no common group numbers, the connection attempt fails. Note: There may be additional access restrictions on the service, such as password protection. Suppose Bob is logged into port 4 on his Server and the server manager has given port 4 access to groups 1, 7, 13, and 105. Bob, or anyone else using port 4, can only access services that have one of those group numbers. Suppose Bob wishes to access a modem on a different server. If the server to which the modem is attached allows access to groups 8, 12, 16, 42, and 105; Bob will be allowed to use the modem because he and the modem service have group 105 in common. Note: See Set/Define Port Authorized Groups on page 12-HIDDEN and Set/Define Server Service Groups on page 12-49 for more information. Group numbers also are useful to nodes because each node only needs to pay attention to multicasts that involve its users' groups. As a result, groups can hide services that would otherwise be visible. The server manager can also hide services from a set of ports. Setting up and managing services and groups is discussed in more detail in the Server Configuration chapter, next. 2.6 TCP/IP 2.6.1 IP Addresses Every TCP/IP node on a network has an IP address, which is unique to that network and an Ethernet Address, which is unique across all hardware in the world. The IP address provides information needed to forward packets across multiple networks, if necessary. The address is of the form n.n.n.n, where each n is a number from zero to 254, as in 192.0.0.1. The exception is that there cannot be a zero in the last segment of the address. Note: The number 255 is strictly reserved for broadcast packets. 2-5