As long as it is a layer two bridge with no layer 3 (router) capabilities for decnet then the should be no issue. Area routers exist to connect machines in different decnet areas (level 2 inter area) but you also have Level 1 intra area routers for connecting nodes in the same area together across wide area links or multiple local area networks. Bridging would be easiest and would allow LAT traffic to pass as well. Mark On 10 Oct 2013, at 09:19, Mark Wickens <mark at wickensonline.co.uk> wrote: Even though I think I know the answer to this question, I'll ask it any way... Is it OK to run machines that are in the same area on different subnets? For example, passing traffic between SLAVE:: and RIPLEY:: both on DECnet area 4 but on different subnets connected via a bridge? I think it is and that the bridge is transparent, but for some reason in the back of my mind I have the concept of 'area router' and that doesn't fit with this model. Thanks, Mark. -- http://www.wickensonline.co.uk http://hecnet.eu http://declegacy.org.uk http://retrochallenge.net https://twitter.com/#!/%40urbancamo