AppleTalk Routing on MITnet Retirement

Summary

March 8th: Retirement of AppleTalk routing on MITnet was completed successfully on Sunday February 16th with two remaining areas requiring further follow-up at a later date. Further information is available.

December 15th: Retirement of AppleTalk routing on MITnet has experienced a month's delay. The updated target date for retirement is January 31, 2003.

AppleTalk is an internet protocol designed by Apple Computer, providing peer-to-peer communication between devices. AppleTalk routing allows computers on one subnet (or distinct AppleTalk zone) to access services provided by printers, servers and computers located on different subnets (or AppleTalk zones) throughout MITnet. Please note that this also includes accessing AppleTalk services via our remote access service, Tether.

In order to plan and implement the future of MITnet it is necessary to replace aging network equipment and software. Today's network technology and new emerging network equipment no longer support AppleTalk routing. Therefore these efforts necessitate the discontinuation of all cross-subnet AppleTalk routing. All current AppleTalk applications that have cross-campus audiences will need to migrate to TCP/IP based implementations to continue operation.

As of December 31, 2002, AppleTalk zones will no longer appear in the chooser. File sharing and printing to devices in remote zones will no longer be possible, but AppleTalk file sharing and printing to local AppleTalk zone devices (devices located within the same physical subnet) will continue to work, but no longer be supported.

Information Systems has reached the December 31, 2002 date based on the following:

• There has been a dramatic decline in the use of AppleTalk routing as older Macintosh systems are replaced by newer systems, and older applications requiring AppleTalk are upgraded to new versions, which rely upon TCP/IP.


• Apple Computer has supported the use of the TCP/IP transport mechanism since the initial release of MacOS 8.0, which was released in 1997.


• Apple stopped routing AppleTalk on its corporate network in October of 1999.


• The commitment to AppleTalk support from network vendors is decreasing, and their latest technology is often times being developed without support for AppleTalk. The elimination of a dependence on AppleTalk allows MIT the maximum flexibility with the design and implementation of the future campus network.

Starting this September, we will begin the gradual phase out of AppleTalk routing. This will be accomplished in three phases:

• Phase 1: No creation of additional AppleTalk zones as new networks are installed.


• Phase 2: Removal of AppleTalk zones where their routing is no longer necessary.


• Phase 3: Disabling AppleTalk routing on the campus backbone on December 31, 2002.

Information Systems encourages the MIT community to assess their use of applications requiring routed AppleTalk and to migrate to TCP/IP based applications and services wherever possible.

How will this affect me?

AppleTalk zones will no longer appear in the Chooser. It will no longer be possible to browse AppleTalk file sharing and printing services located on different subnets. Access to printing and file sharing services on remote subnets will now require TCP/IP. Directions on the configuration of TCP/IP based alternatives for file sharing and printing are available in the assesment guidelines and migration paths/options section.

AppleTalk applications and services located within the same subnet will not be effected by this change.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact us.