SAP Tables

An entry in a SAP table contains the following fields:

Server Name    The name of the server hosting the service.

Server Type    The type of service (for example, file server, print server, or application server).

Server Address    The full Network:Node:Socket IPX address of the service. For example, the file and print sharing process on a NetWare server might have the Server Address of 000000AA:0000000000001:0451.

Hop Count    The number of routers to cross to reach the server hosting the service. The maximum hop count for services is 15. Services 16 hops away or greater are considered unreachable.

Interface (or Port)    The interface (network interface card) on which the SAP entry was learned.

Figure 5.13 illustrates the structure of the SAP table.

Figure 5.13 SAP Table

If there are multiple entries for the same Server Name and Server Type, IPX routers select the SAP table entry with the lowest number of hops. If multiple SAP table entries have equally low hop counts, the router chooses randomly from those.