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TITLE: Netware Lite 1.1--Summary of New Features and Enhancements
DOCUMENT ID#: FYI.P.6066
DATE: 03Dec92
PRODUCT: NetWare Lite
PRODUCT VERSION: All versions
SUPERSEDES: NA
SYMPTOM: NA
ISSUE/PROBLEM
Netware Lite 1.1--Summary of New Features and Enhancements
Netware Lite 1.1 has been developed primarily as a maintenance release. Version 1.1 increases the stability, compatibility, and performance of Netware Lite, as well as adding some enhancements and new features. The following is a summary of the new features and enhancements. Note: For complete information concerning any of the features or enhancements summarized in this document, please see the readme files on the Netware Lite 1.1 diskette.
NLCache
The primary new feature of version 1.1 is a Netware Lite disk cache called NLCACHE. This cache can be configured to use conventional, extended, or expanded memory and can be enabled and disabled from the DOS command line. NLCACHE dramatically increases the performance of Netware Lite.
Due to the length of the information, please download fax document 155, "NLCache -- Explanation of Parameters and Operation," for more information on how to set up NLCache.
WARNING: If you choose to use another cache program in place of NLCache, you MUST turn off the deferred rights feature of the cache to avoid possible fragmentation or corruption of data! Note: Do not run two cacheing programs simultaneously.
IPXSYNC
Netware Lite 1.1 ships with a utility called IPXSYNC. Until now, if two workstations--A and B for example--mapped drives to each other in their startnet.bat files, machine A would fail to map drives to machine B because machine B had not yet loaded the network software (Turning on two or more machines at precisely the same time is next to impossible.) This problem is solved by the IPXSYNC utility. This synchronization utility can be placed in the startnet.bat file to make a Lite workstation pause until all necessary servers have booted and loaded the network software.
The IPXSYNC utility works from within the startnet.bat file. It should be run from the startnet.bat file after the server and client but before the drives are mapped and the printers are captured. The syntax is: IPXSYNC <string> <number>. Where <string> is any string that is to be broadcast over the network and <number> is the number of computers that have to broadcast that message before the batch file can continue.
For example. There is a network with 3 computers (all setup as servers and clients) and they all have drives mapped to each other. The network supervisor can put the IPXSYNC utility in the startnet.bat file to ensure all the computers are up and the network is loaded before the drive mappings are attempted. The supervisor should put the line "IPXSYNC Ralph 3" into each startnet.bat file after server.exe and client.exe are loaded. Each computer, when turned on, will wait for the string "Ralph" to be returned from the other two machines before continuing on to map the drives. The user can press any key to terminate the process before the operation is complete, but this will cause the drives to not be mapped because the network was not completely operational at the time.
Net Save
Netware Lite 1.1 ships with a new utility called "Net Save" which will save all active drive mappings and port captures on a workstation. The Net Save utility is not required, but is provided as a convenient way to set up the network environment.
At the DOS prompt, type "NET SAVE". The mapped drives, captured ports, and DOS environment variables are saved in a file called NLLogin.bat which the user can add to the startnet.bat file. The next time the startnet.bat is executed, the saved drive mappings and port captures will be in effect. The Net Save utility is not required, but is provided as a convenient way for a network administrator to set up the network environment.
Notify
Netware Lite 1.1 ships with a feature called "Notify" which gives the user the option to be notified when a print job is completed. This feature is useful when the network printer is in a different room than the user who is submitting the print job.
The notify feature is activated by placing a "n=y" parameter in the net capture statement. The default setting of the notify feature is no. After receiving the message a user can delete the message by pressing Cntl and Enter at the same time.
Auto Re-Attach
Netware Lite 1.1 has an "auto re-attach feature." Occasionally, a network interface card (NIC) momentarily looses its connection with other NICs in the network--a workstation on the network is re-booted, for example. Under Netware Lite 1.0, when a connection was interrupted, the DOS error message, "General failure reading device NWLite--Abort, Retry, Fail" would be displayed and the user would be required to press "Retry" in order to re-establish the network connection.
Netware Lite 1.1 automatically attempts to re-connect to the network when a connection is lost. This re-attach attempt is transparent to the user provided that the workstation has come back online when the re-attach attempt is made. Otherwise, the above-mentioned DOS error message is displayed to alert the user that the connection is no longer available.
Net SList
Netware Lite 1.1 ships with an enhanced "Net Slist" command which will show all available Lite servers without requiring the user to be logged into the network. This feature is helpful to users who wish to know if a particular server is available before proceeding with a login attempt.
Dynamic Update of Print Screen
The print job screen in the Net utility of Netware Lite 1.1 is dynamically updated. This is useful to network supervisors who wish to monitor printing activity in real time on the network.
Net Send and Net Receive
In contrast to Lite 1.0, Netware Lite 1.1 messages that appear on the screen as a result of the "Net Send" command or as a result of a completed print job notification do not suspend the operation of Lite 1.1 servers. Furthermore, the "Net Receive" feature allows a user to configure the workstation to cause messages resulting from a "Net Send" command to "time out" after a set amount of time. These enhancements are useful to users who wish to run batch processes while away from their workstations without Netware Lite messages permanently halting those batch processes.
To use the "Net Receive" command, from the command line type "Net Receive <number>" where the <number> (0 to 1500) indicates the number of seconds that the messages will remain on the screen. If you enter 0 (i.e. Net Receive 0), the message will remain on the screen until Ctrl and Enter are pressed simultaneously. Note: If you do not use the Net Receive command, the default setting will require a user to press Cntl and Enter Simultaneously to clear the message from the screen.
Note: These enhancements do not apply to Native Netware broadcasts (Netware 3.11 for example). If the Netware Lite network is part of a Native Netware network, broadcasts from Native Netware will still suspend both foreground and background processes on the workstation until the message is cleared from the sceen.
Memory Enhancements
The Netware Lite 1.1 version of Server.exe can be loaded into high memory in contrast to version 1.0. Client.exe, lsl, ipxodi a, and the card driver, can also be loaded into high memory.
Server.exe's default size is approximately 10KB smaller in NetWare Lite 1.1 than the default size of server.exe in the 1.0 version. Both of these enhancements allow additional conventional memory to be available for other applications.
The Netware Lite 1.1 version of server.exe and client.exe can be unloaded from conventional memory (they cannot be unloaded from high memory), by typing the commands "server u" or "client u." Note: Client.exe must be unloaded before server.exe.
Larger Print Job Packet Size
Netware Lite 1.1 uses a larger print job packet size which results in significantly faster printing than version 1.0.
Net Commands Use the Dos Error Level
In Netware Lite version 1.1, all Net commands issued from the command line (ex. net map) set a DOS Errorlevel of zero upon successful completion and non-zero for an unsuccessful completion. This is helpful for verifying that the command completed successfully in a batch file before moving on.
Commands are more like native NetWare
There is a "Net Whoami" alias for the "Net Info" command, as well as a "Net Userlist" alias for the "Net Ulist" command. Also you can type "net map f:=" instead of "net map f: " if you are used to using native NetWare mapping commands.
