Novell Documentation: NetWare 6 - Using the SPFCON Utility

Using the SPFCON Utility

The SPFCON utility enables you to monitor Sequenced Packet Exchange^TM (SPX^TM ) spoofing statistics. Spoofing is the process of preserving the transport end point connection by imitating keep alive packets and responding to watchdog request packets without passing this traffic across on-demand WAN links. Using SPX spoofing can help you maintain lower costs over on-demand WAN links.

NOTE: SPX spoofing is implemented only on PPP interfaces at this time.

To launch SPFCON, enter the command load spfcon at the NetWare console server.

Four windows make up the SPFCON user interface. The four windows are

Main Window

Interfaces Window

Connections Window

Spoofing Statistics Window

Main Window

The Main Window offers two options:

Interfaces enable users to view the spoofing statistics on a per interface basis

SPX spoofing enables users to view the spoofing statistics of all SPX connections

Interfaces Window

The Interfaces Window displays a list of WAN interfaces. At this time, only PPP interfaces will be included on this list. You can select either one or all listed interfaces. When you select an interface, the Connections Window is displayed.

Connections Window

The Connections Window displays all connections for the selected interface, either SPX or NCP. The Connections Window shows each connection's interface name, source node, destination node, source ID, and destination ID.

Spoofing Statistics Window

The Spoofing Statistics Window displays the SPX and NCP spoofing statistics for a selected connection. Table 6 describes the fields on this window that require explanation.

Table 6. Spoofing Statistics Fields

Field	Meaning
Spoofing State	Initial indicates that spoofing has not yet started; active indicates that spoofing has started and is active; inactive indicates that spoofing has ended because Remaining Spoofing Time expired.
Number of Spoofing Started	Indicates the number of times spoofing has been started for this SPX connection.
Remaining Spoofing Time	Indicates the time remaining in this spoofing session; when this time expires, the spoofing state will change to inactive.
Sequence Numbers	Shows the sent and received sequence number.
Acknowledge Numbers	Shows the sent and received acknowledge number.
Allocation Numbers	Shows the sent and received allocation number.
Spoofing packets	Shows the number of packets spoofed.
Keep Alive Packets Dropped	Shows the number of keep-alive packets dropped during this active spoof session.

NOTE: In the spoofing statistics fields, Sequence Numbers, Acknowledge Numbers, Allocation Numbers, and Keep Alive Packets Dropped don't apply for NCP^TM.