home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Network Support Library
/
RoseWare - Network Support Library.iso
/
nwlite
/
faxdoc.exe
/
2608.TXT
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-05-12
|
27KB
|
537 lines
FYI
(Note: The origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell.
Novell makes every effort within its means to verify this information.
However, the information provided in this document is FOR YOUR INFORMATION
only. Novell makes no explicit or implied claims to the validity of this
information.)
TITLE: How to Configure a NetWare Lite Server v1.1
DOCUMENT ID#: FYI.P.6103
DATE: 04DEC92
PRODUCT: NetWare Lite
PRODUCT VERSION: All versions
SUPERSEDES: FYI.P.6060
LITE FAX DOC #: 2608
SYMPTOM
NA
ISSUE/PROBLEM
How to Configure a NetWare Lite Server v1.1
The purpose of this document is to explain the server statistics that are
configurable within NetWare Lite. These server statistics can be viewed
and changed in the Net utility. To access the configuration menus,
perform the following steps after logging in to the network:
1. From the c:> prompt, type NET.
2. Select "Supervise the network."
3. Select "Server configuration."
4. Select the server to view.
SERVER CONFIGURATION SCREEN
The following is an example of the server configuration screen with
default settings:
Configuration Information for Server NetWare Lite
CFG FUTURE
Connections (2-25) 4 4
Client tasks (4-200) 10 10
Network directories (2-20) 4 4
Network printers (0-3) 1 1
Print buffer size (512-4096) 512 512
Number of receive buffers (3-20) 6 6
Receive buffer size (512-8192) 1024 1024
Number of IO buffers (0-25) 1 1
IO buffer size multiplier (2-64) 4 4
Future server memory size (approx.) 44,397
Allow remote management (Y/N) Y Y
Future server name: NWLITE
CFG and FUTURE Columns
There are two columns of statistics on the right of this table labeled
CFG and FUTURE. The CFG column indicates the settings that are currently
being used. The FUTURE column is used to determine the network settings
to be implemented the next time the network is started. If you want to
make a change, make it in the FUTURE column and then reboot that server.
After the server is rebooted, the new settings will be in effect and will
appear in the CFG column.
Configuration Settings
Each item in the menu will be discussed in some detail. After each
item is described, configuration information will be given to help
correctly configure each item.
CONNECTIONS
Every computer on the network (client or server or both) has a connection
table. This table keeps track of the number of connections that the
computer has with other computers. Users are not able to view this
table; however, the number of connections can be limited on a server. A
connection is established when one computer accesses another computer
across the network. For example, a connection is established if a client
accesses a network resource, such as a network directory or network
printer, located on a server.
Server Connection Table
A server's connection table contains a list of the node addresses of
every client computer accessing printers or network directories on
that server. Because the connection is actually the node address of
the network board, only one connection is established per machine,
regardless of how many drives a computer has mapped or how many
printers a client machine is captured to. It is not possible for
the number of connections in the server-connection table to be
greater than the total number of clients on the network. When a
server receives a request to map a drive, for example, it will look
down the list of existing connections and will create a new
connection only if the address of the requesting computer is not
already on the list.
Temporary Connections
Temporary connections are occasionally established by the NET
utility to do functions such as modify a user account, change a
server's configuration. After the net utility has finished using
the temporary connection, the connection is cancelled.
Setting Connections
Set the number of connections for each server by considering how
many clients might be mapped or captured to the server at one time
and add one to that number to provide for any temporary connections.
Each connection in the Server's configuration menu uses
approximately 80 bytes of memory.
CLIENT TASKS
Client tasks are the number of programs permitted to open files on a
server. Each time a program on a client uses a resource on a server
(such as starting a program), one client task is registered in a table on
the server. This is the case whether the client loads the program from
the server or whether it loads it from its own hard drive. If the same
program opens more than one file, only one client task is still
registered because client tasks refer to the number of programs that are
opening files and not the number of files that are open on the server.
On the other hand, if two different programs on a client open files on a
server, then two client tasks are recorded in the table. Some programs
call other programs that use server resources. When this happens, client
tasks will increase by more than one when the program is initially
started.
A variety of problems are associated with not having enough client tasks.
Usually errors will be displayed by the application that is currently
running. Occasionally, the whole network will hang.
Client Task Configuration Information
The number of client tasks defaults to 10. A good rule of thumb is
to set the number of client tasks to 10 per machine connected to the
server (For example, If five machines have drives mapped to a
server, set the client tasks on the server to 50). This should
provide enough client tasks to operate the network. Approximately
100 bytes of memory are reserved on a server per each client task.
Check the server status screen frequently to verify that you have
enough client tasks. If you see the PEAK number of tasks in the
server status screen approaching the CFG number (within 6), you
should increase the number of client tasks to avoid problems. The
CFG number should always be at least six higher than the PEAK
number.
Proper configuration of the number of client tasks on a server is
especially important under the following conditions:
■ When running Microsoft Windows
■ When using a disk intensive program (a database program)
■ When supporting many clients
Network Directories
A network directory is a directory on a server that can be accessed
by clients on the network. Increasing the number of network
directories on a server allows more of its directories to be
accessed by users across the network.
Network Directory Configuration Information
Set the number of network directories to as many as needed (up to
20).
Network Printers
This figure designates the maximum number of network printers
allowed on a server. NetWare Lite will support up to three printers
per server. A printer on a server does not necessarily have to be
designated as a network resource. It can be run locally if
SERVER.EXE is not loaded into memory. Each network printer defined
takes up approximately 884 bytes of memory on the server.
Network Printer Configuration
This number should correspond to the number of printers physically
connected to the server and defined as network resources. The
maximum number of network printers per server is three.
PRINT BUFFER
Print Buffer Size
NetWare Lite uses a print buffer to temporarily store information
before it is printed. A print job follows the following path to the
printer:
Application -- DOS -- Client -- || network || -- Server --
Printer
When someone prints a job from a client machine to a network
printer, the information first goes to DOS. After interpreting that
the printer port (LPT1 for example) has been captured to a network
printer, DOS sends the print job to the network software on the
client machine. The print job is sent across the network cabling to
the computer with the printer attached and then taken by the server
software and spooled to a directory on the hard drive. The path to
where the data is being spooled is C:\NWLITE\NLCNTL \SLPT1. The
NLCNTL subdirectory is a hidden directory and the SLPT1 directory
corresponds to the printer port captured on LPT1. (If LPT2 was
captured, the last subdirectory would be \SLPT2.) The job is
spooled as a file then is loaded to an area in memory called the
print buffer. From the print buffer, the print job is sent to the
printer.
The print buffer speeds up the printing, because accessing memory is
much faster than accessing a hard disk drive. A large print buffer
accesses information from the relatively slow hard drive fewer times
and causes faster printing.
Print Buffer Configuration
Set the print buffer size to the maximum allowed value, unless
limited memory is available.
RECEIVE BUFFERS
Number of Receive Buffers
Each NetWare Lite server has two types of buffers related to overall
network communication, which can be configured by a supervisor.
They are the receive and IO buffers. Understanding receive and IO
buffers and how to configure them requires an understanding of some
basic NetWare Lite network communication concepts.
When an application makes a request of DOS, such as reading data
from a file or writing data to a file, DOS determines whether it can
handle the request itself. If the requested operation involves a
network resource, such as listing a network directory, DOS passes
the request to the network that fills the request and gives the
response back to DOS. Then, DOS passes the response back to the
application.
Each network request passes through four different stages before
being sent out on the network cabling. The network provides
information to DOS (such as which drives are actually network
drives) so that DOS interprets when to pass requests to the network
and when to return errors to the requesting application.
Three programs provide the interface to the network hardware. They
are the Internetwork Packet Exchange Protocol (IPX) driver
(IPXODI.COM), the Link Support Layer (LSL) driver (LSL.COM), and the
network-board driver (such as NE2000.COM). These three programs
take requests from the network level and transform them into packets
that are then sent out on the cable.
When a packet is received at the server, SERVER.EXE is notified and
the packet is placed in a free receive buffer. The server processes
the request and then does one of two following action: If the
requested operation is a disk read, the server reads the requested
amount of data and places the response in a free IO buffer. If the
request is for anything else, the server places the response back in
the receive buffer where it got the request. The data is then
transferred back across the network to the application that
originally made the request.
Number of Receive Buffers Configuration Information
Set the number of receive buffers to three more than the number of
clients that will be simultaneously accessing the server.
The extra receive buffers are important. The server may be
servicing requests from every client on the network and still needs
extra buffers to listen for additional incoming requests. Even
though all client machines may have requests pending at the server,
a client may resend a request and the server needs extra buffers to
handle any extra packets from the clients.
Receive Buffer Size Description and Configuration Information
The network is limited to the type of network hardware that is being
used. A receive buffer cannot be set to anything larger than the
packet size of a particular type of board. Typically Ethernet is
limited to a packet size of 1450 bytes and ARCnet and Token-Ring are
capable of sending and receiving 4096 byte packets, the limit of
NetWare Lite.
DOS reads information best in 512 byte increments, so receive
buffers should be set to a multiple of 512 bytes even if the packet
size is larger than the 512 byte multiple. For example, when using
Ethernet boards, set the buffer size to 1024 bytes rather than the
maximum allowed 1450 bytes because 1024 is an increment of 512, and
the 1024 setting will be faster than 1450 bytes.
IO BUFFERS
Number of IO Buffers
When a client makes a request, in responding to that request, the
server fills the IO buffers with blocks of data to be sent across
the cable for the next portion of that request.
Number of IO Buffers Configuration Information
The preferable setting for the number of IO buffers is one per
client. Otherwise, set the number of IO buffers to one per every
four receive buffers to save memory. Do not set the IO buffers
greater than the number of clients that will be accessing the
server.
IO Buffer Size Multiplier and Configuration Information
The IO buffer size multiplier indicates the size, in kilobytes, of
each IO buffer. The guideline for setting the IO buffer size
multiplier varies depending on the size that you would like your IO
buffers to be. If memory is not a consideration, then set the
buffer size multiplier high. That will allow more blocks of data to
be stored in the IO buffer so that less disk reads are necessary.
However, if memory is a consideration a smaller buffer size would be
recommended. For every IO buffer, the server size will increase the
amount of kilobytes that was specified for the multiplier. For
example, if there are three IO buffers and the multiplier is 4, the
server will increase in size by 12 KB.
REMOTE MANAGEMENT
Allow Remote Management
If remote management is enabled, a network supervisor will be able
to change a server's configuration settings from any machine on the
network. If remote management is disabled, a server's configuration
settings will only be able to be modified at the keyboard of the
server itself.
Note: Remote Management does not refer to modem use.
Remote Management Configuration
Enable or disable remote management depending upon the conditions in
which the network is running. If security is a concern, remote
management may need to be disabled.
FUTURE SERVER NAME
Future Server Name
The future server name is the name that the server will be called
the next time the network is started.
SERVER STATUS SCREEN
Status Information for Server NetWare Lite
Server up-time Days Hours Minutes Seconds
Server version CFG PEAK CURR
Server address Connections
Network Auditing Client tasks
SHARE running Open files
Server memory size Num net directories
CUM Num net printers
Server-busy packets Print buffer size
server cache hits Receive buffers
Packets Received IO buffers
Watchdog terminations IO buffer size
The Server status screen is a diagnostic tool that can be used to
troubleshoot problems within the network and to optimize the speed
at that the network runs. All the items listed on this screen are
configured in other places; this screen only indicates what the
current settings are.
The Server status screen has some distinguishing features. The
right side of the screen contains the statistics set in the Server
configuration menu. These statistics are listed in three columns.
The CFG column shows how the items are currently configured, the
PEAK column shows how close to the configured setting each item has
gotten since the network was started. The CURR setting shows the
current status of each item. The PEAK and CURR numbers are dynamic,
meaning any changes will immediately show on the screen. The left
hand column contains information that is set when the machine is
started and has cumulative information that keeps track of the total
performance of the network since the network was started.
Server Up-time
This indicates how long the server has been running continuously
since the network was loaded. Every time the network is restarted,
the Server up-time figure is reset to zero.
Server Version
This displays the version of NetWare Lite that is currently running.
The current version of NetWare Lite available is version 1.1.
Server Address
The server address is the node address of the network board that is
installed in the server. The node address is a unique number
assigned to the network board that distinguishes it from other
boards on the network. This number may be set with software
settings or switches on the board, or it may be built into the
board.
Network Auditing
Network auditing has a "yes" or "no" indicator displaying whether
the auditing feature has been enabled. The audit log lists such
activities as logins, logouts, and backup of network management
files. The date and username associated with each activity appear
in the log. Network auditing can be turned on and off within the
net utility in the Supervise the Network option.
SHARE Running
This screen lets you know whether SHARE.EXE has been loaded. SHARE
is the DOS file used to control file locking and file sharing.
SHARE is a necessary program to load when using a peer-to-peer
network because it enables programs to be run concurrently and
ensures proper file locking so two people do not access the same
data file at the same time.
Server Memory Size
If this percentage is low, an increase of the number of IO buffers
may speed up your system.
Server-busy Packets
This statistic informs the user of the number of times that a client
resends a request to a server when the server was too busy to handle
the request. A large number of server-busy packets (more than 1
percent) usually indicates that the server is not fast enough to
handle the volume of requests that are being made. A third-party
disk caching program will improve the speed of the server and will
reduce the number of server-busy packets.
Another event that will cause the server-busy packets to increase at
an abnormal rate is when the server is formatting a floppy disk.
DOS is not available during a disk format to service requests coming
in from clients. As a result, many retries will be made from client
machines causing the number of server-busy packets to increase.
Server Cache Hits
Percentage of requests serviced by the cache rather than accessing
DOS. The cache will not be used for smaller files. If the server
can service the incoming packet in one request, it will not use the
cache. Usually files under 1024 bytes will not take advantage of
the cache. The cache is directly related to the number and size of
the IO buffers. If the percentage is low, an increase of the number
of IO buffers may speed up the process.
Packets Received
The total number of packets received by the server.
Bad Packets Received
This number represents the number of times the server got a packet
from the IPXODI that was damaged, possibly with a corrupt IPXODI
header. Bad packets should rarely be received. If this number is
non-zero, there could be a hardware problem, possibly the network
board.
Watchdog Terminations
NetWare Lite uses a process called the watchdog to verify whether a
connection exists. In a server's connection table there is a timer
associated with each connection. Whenever a packet is received from
a client, the timer associated with that client is reset to zero.
If no packets are received within five minutes, the server calls
that computer by sending out a packet asking for a response. If the
client computer responds, the server will reset the timer associated
with that connection. If the computer does not answer within five
minutes, the server will call again once a minute for ten more
minutes. If no response is received from the missing computer, the
server will remove the machine from the connection table and the
client will have to reestablish a connection to access the server.
The process of eliminating missing connections using watchdog
terminations is used to keep the connection table in each server as
clean as possible.
Each client machine has a connection table where the computer keeps
track of how many other machines it is connected to. Unlike the
server, the client's connection table is not monitored by a watchdog
and will not be disconnected if the connection is lost. When a
connection is lost with a server, the client machine will return the
message "General failure reading device NWLite" and will prompt the
user to abort, retry, or fail every time an operation that accesses
the server is attempted while the server is down. When the
connection is first reestablished, the user will receive the same
error, but pressing <r> for retry will reestablish the connection
and carry out the requested operation.
Trouble Shooting with the Server Status Screen
The right-hand columns of the Server status screen contain the
current configuration, the peak level, and the current statistics of
the items configured in the Server configuration menu with the
exception of Open files. The CFG (configured) setting of Open files
is the number of files that are defined in the CONFIG.SYS file that
DOS uses to configure the system when booting the computer. The
rest of the items have been covered previously in this document.
A network administrator may use the three columns of information to
fine tune the network. The items in the right hand column affect
the size of the network in memory and the way the network operates.
By monitoring the figures in the PEAK and CURR columns and comparing
those with the number currently configured in the CFG column, a
network administrator may avoid wasting valuable memory and verify
that the network has plenty of room to operate.
If the highest recorded value for any of these attributes approaches
80 percent of the configured setting, a network administrator should
consider increasing the configured setting. Three figures need to
be regularly monitored. These three are the number of connections,
client tasks, and open files. As the highest values for these
statistics approach or equal the corresponding configuration
settings, unpredictable results can occur. These results can be
anything from file locking problems, to data corruption, to the
server crashing and locking the entire network.
By monitoring the statistics on the Server Status Screen, a network
administrator can isolate problems before they become critical,
avoid wasting valuable memory space that can be better used by other
applications, and tune the network so that it will operate at the
most optimal level.
SOLUTION
NA
