Hi Max, I find Sheepshaver to be too flaky to use reliably without it crashing at the drop of a hat, let alone using it's networking (in)capabilities.

If the IIci connects to your network OK, and there are files on your Sheep drive that you want for it, copy them into the shared (Unix/My Computer) drive and access them from the host Mac/PC instead.

If you want an emulator that has brain-dead to set up and reliable to use AppleTalk over TCP/IP networking, then Basilisk II build 142 is the best solution. Caveat; only networking on a host 32bit Windows PC works.

Maybe a long shot, but what about sneaker net and one of those SQ555?
Your IIci will like the SQ400 drives but I dont know your other hardware and SCSI HBAs.
I still have my ancient PIII with SCSI HBA and the is a spare (PC) PCI HBA around too.

Hi, I'm the author of the "Wireless AppleTalk Networking" article and the related OpenVPN article at Emaculation, and I've done a lot of networking with SheepShaver.

One thing that the AppleTalk guide that you linked doesn't emphasize is that your SheepShaver host machine must be wired to your router by ethernet if want to follow that guide alone. If the machine is connected by wireless, and you want to do a lot of AppleTalking over time that way, then it would be worth it to follow the wireless guide and set up the OpenVPN server. But if you're connecting your host machine by ethernet to your router, it should be pretty easy to get AppleTalk working.

Also, I've found that Mac OS 9.0.4 is less reliable than earlier versions for networking. I've found 8.5.1 to be much more reliable, as well as 7.5.3. Chances are the versions in between are fine too. If you need HFS+, then I'd recommend trying 8.5.1. Just install it into a small SS volume, then add the drives with all your files below it in the Volumes list.

Please ask if you need more help. Obviously, using an emulator is much more convenient than having to use more old Macs with special network cards and whatnot.

(P.S. Off topic: I've been planning for some time to write a post here about those articles I wrote since I've seen over time people here asking about how to do networking and play AppleTalk games using SheepShaver and Basilisk II. But I haven't finished trying out all the things I eventually want to add to my AppleTalk guide. AppleTalk in these emulators seems to have always been a gray area, so I want people to know that it's a feature that really can be used on modern computers and networks.)