OS/2 Shareware BBS: 8 Other/08-Other.zip/smbtrace.zip/SMBTOOL.HLP

OS/2 Help File | 1996-02-20 | 21KB | 456 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. SMB Tool - Application Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This file contains the help for the SMB Tool Application.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.1. SMB Formatter - Application Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This tool can be used for advanced problem determination, tuning and
application analysis in networks containing IBM OS/2 LAN servers and
requesters. Select from among the items in the following list to get more
information:

o SMB Formatting and Tracing with this tool

o Restrictions

o Introduction to Server Message Blocks

o Taxonomy of Server Message Blocks

o Examples of uses for this tool


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.2. SMB Tool - List Box Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The SMB commands found in the trace file are listed.  If a command was returned
with an error, its error class and code follow. Double click on an entry to
display detail information.  If no items are listed, a trace file can be opened
by choosing File then Open.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.3. SMB Tool - Edit Menu Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use this option to Copy selected text from the SMB details window to the
clipboard.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.4. SMB Tool - Options Menu Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use these options to filter which SMBs are displayed in the Listbox. There is
also an option to change which font is used by this application and to change
the size of captured and displayed SMBs.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.4.1. SMB Tool - Set Size... Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

 Use this option to determine the size of the SMB that is displayed by the
Display Unformatted data push button.  It also affects the size of the
unformatted data displayed in the trace file.  It also affects the size of the
SMB data that the server or redirector trace utilities will capture. It does
not affect the size of data captured by an already running server or redirector
server message block trace.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.4.2. SMB Tool - Filter SMBs... Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use these options to choose which SMBs to display.  Before loading a large
trace it can save memory to restrict which SMB commands are displayed.
Displaying only SMBs that returned with errors is often a good way to start
analyzing a large trace file. After opening a trace file, once you have found
the process or the file handle or the userid of interest, selecting this
process, file or user identifier to filter on will often make analysis easier
by reducing the size of the displayed data.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.4.3. SMB Tool - Filter SMB commands... Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use this option to choose one or more SMB commands to display.  By default all
SMB commands are displayed, but focusing on a few key commands may make
analysis easier.  For example, if you are looking for errors reading data
across the network, you might select SMBOpen, SMBOpenX, SMBRead and SMBReadX.
This would cause the displayed trace data to be much smaller since it only
would display those four types of SMBs.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.4.4. SMB Tool - Display SMBs... Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

By default this tool displays all SMBs in the trace whether or not the SMB
returned an error.  If you are only interested in seeing the SMBs that have
errors select Only SMBs with Errors otherwise select All SMBs to trace all SMBs
even those that returned no error. Choosing to display only SMBs with Errors
makes the displayed trace file much smaller which may make analysis easier.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.4.5. SMB Tool - Display SMBs for One User... Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use this option to select one user (one machine) to trace.  Each requester to
server conversation, also called a session, is identified by a unique UID (user
identifier) which is established when a user first connects to that server.
Usually this UID is created during the first NET USE command (or equivalent
menu option) from the requester to that server.  This UID can be found in the
detail information of the SMB Session Setup response and all SMBs that follow.
The User Name that it corresponds to is found in the SMB Session Setup Request.
If you wish to view SMBs from one user, find the UID (a value from 0 to 64K-1)
and enter it using this menu option, then select Ok. To reset the trace to
display data from all users select All from this menu option.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.4.6. SMB Tool - Display SMBs for One Process... Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use this option to select a single process to display.  Each OS/2 session (full
screen, windowed, or presentation manager) has a process identifier, or PID,
that distinguishes it.  Requests from a single process can be filtered by
selecting this menu option.  This option is especially useful if many programs
on the requester of interest are running simultaneously using network
resources.  If SMBs from more than one requester are in the trace file, you may
first want to select a single User Identifier to trace before using the Trace
by Process Identifier menu option.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.4.7. SMB Tool - Display SMBs for One File Handle... Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use this option to display SMBs operations on a single file handle. Every time
a file is opened a file identifier or handle is assigned to this open file
instance. Subsequent SMB operations on this file, such as read. write and close
use this file handle.  The file identifier is invalidated when an SMB close on
it is issued.  Requests for a single file handle can be filtered by selecting
this menu option and entering the appropriate identifier.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.4.8. SMB Tool - Font... Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use this option to change the font used by the application.  Small monospaced
fonts, rather than proportional fonts, usually display best.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.5. SMB Tool - Trace Menu Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use these options to start or stop various types of SMB, server or transport
protocol traces.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.5.1. SMB Tool - Trace Advanced Server SMBs... Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

These options start and stop the HPFS386 Advanced Server SMB tracing. The
HPFS386 Advanced Server will trace SMB requests as they come in, as well as the
SMB responses that it sends back.  When you select On from the HPFS386 Server
SMB Trace dialog you are prompted to enter the name of the file in which to
store the trace information. This file should be on an HPFS386 partition.  When
you have finished tracing, select Off from the HPFS386 Server SMB Trace menu
option, then if you wish to display the trace information you may select File
... Open to open the trace file.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.5.2. SMB Tool - Trace Requester SMBs... Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

These options start and stop the NETWKSTA.200 SMB Tracing capabilities.
NETWKSTA.200, also called the IBM OS/2 Redirector, can trace SMB requests and
responses on requester as well as on server machines.  On server machines it
will trace some, but not all, of the SMBs requests for data on non-HPFS386
partitions.  This option should only be tried on version 3.00.01 of the IBM LAN
Redirector (or later).  Using this option on previous versions of the
redirector may cause the tool to abnormally terminate.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.5.3. SMB Tool - Trace NETBIOS and 802.2 Protocols... Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

These options start and stop the IBM Network Transport Services traces. These
traces log information to the OS/2 system trace log.  The type of data captured
can be changed by altering the OS2TRACEMASK parameter in the
\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL.INI file.  A good value for OS2TRACEMASK is 0x07FF since that
will capture NETBIOS and 802.2 frames.  After you have finished tracing the
events of interest, the trace can be stopped.  While it is stopping, the OS/2
Trace Formatter menu will be displayed allowing you to select the name of the
trace file in which to store your formatted trace.

This type of tracing should be initiated under the direction of IBM support
personnel.  No formatting capability is included for NETBIOS or 802.2 commands
in this tool.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.5.4. SMB Tool - Trace HPFS386 Advanced Server Filesystem Events... Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

These options start and stop the IBM Advanced Server file system tracing
facility.  This tool does not include a formatter for this data. These options
should only be selected under the direction of IBM support personnel.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.6. SMB Tool - File Menu Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Options are available to open saved binary network trace files, such as those
produced by this tool or by most network analyzers.  This tool will then
attempt to analyze the trace file to decode Server Message Block (SMB) protocol
data units.  Other options are available to save formatted trace data in
summary form (SMB command and return code only) or to save all of the decoded
SMB header information.  If desired the actual (unformatted) SMB detail can
also be saved.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.6.1. SMB Tool - Open Saved Trace File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use the Open option to select an SMB trace file to decode. To load a trace
file:

 1. Click on the down arrow to the right of the Drive  option to display all of
    the drives in your system.

 2. Select a drive from the Drive list.

 3. Select a directory from the Directory list.

 4. Type the name of the trace file that you want to load in the Open Filename
    entry field or select one file from the File list.  The default extension
    for (unformatted) trace files is .TRC.

 5. Click on the OK push button to begin loading  the trace file.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.6.2. SMB Tool - Save SMB Summary Information ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This option prompts the user for a file name and then saves a short summary of
each SMB protocol data unit to that file.  The summary data includes the
direction of the SMB. For example, "->" is a request from consumer (requester)
to server and "<-" is a response from server to consumer. In addition the
common name for the SMB command is listed, and the error code returned from the
server if any. The default file extension for SMB data formatted by this tool
is .SMB.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.6.3. SMB Tool - Save SMB Detailed Information ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This option prompts the user for a file name and then saves a detailed analysis
of each SMB protocol data unit to that file.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.6.4. SMB Tool - Save Raw SMB Data and Detail ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This option is identical except that the raw (unformatted) SMB trace data is
appended at the end of each trace entry.  The SMB protocol data unit data is
printed in hexadecimal on the left side and the ASCII equivalent is included on
the right hand side.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.7. SMB Tool - Help Menu Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Options are available to display general application help, including an
explanation of the purpose for Server Message Blocks (SMBs).  A listing of the
purposes of various function keys is also available.  Finally, a help index is
provided for each of the main menu bar items.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.8. SMB Tool - Keys Help Panel ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This is the keys help panel.

The following is a list of system-provided keys:

F1        Context sensitive help
Esc       Close window.
Alt-F4    Close window.
Alt-F7    Move window.
Alt-F8    Size window.
Alt-F9    Minimize window.
Alt-F10   Maximize window.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.9. SMB Tool - Restrictions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This tool requires OS/2 2.1 or later.  Its behavior may be unpredictable on
OS/2 2.0.  This tool will work early versions of the OS/2 LAN requesters and
servers but using the Requester SMB Tracing option is not recommended unless
you are using LAN Server 3.00.01 (or LS 3.00 with CSD 7045) or later. This tool
can display no more than 1200 SMBs in the listbox.  This is due to an OS/2
Presentation Manager of OS/2 2.1 limitation.  If your trace file contains more
than 1200 SMBs, a warning will be generated.  You can then use one of this
tool's Filter options to reduce the number of displayed SMBs.  This will allow
you to find SMBs of interest, even at the end of a large trace file.  This tool
can not format trace files that contain SMBs that are compressed.  Most network
analyzers have options to save decompressed binary network trace data to disk.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.10. SMB Formatting and Tracing with this tool ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This tool allows you to format existing binary trace files that contain SMBs.
Many popular network analyzers allow saving of trace files as raw data (in
binary form rather than formatted into human readable form). This utility can
open and analyze SMBs stored by many network analyzers.

In addition to formatting SMB protocol data units, this tool can initiate four
kinds of traces.

 1. HPFS386 SMB Tracing.  This type of trace is captured by the IBM HPFS386
    Advanced Server.  The trace can not be viewed while it is being captured.

 2. HPFS386 File System Traces.  This type of trace captures HPFS386 file
    system events.  No formatter has been included for this type of trace. It
    should be used only at the suggestion of IBM support personnel.

 3. Requester SMB Tracing.  This type of trace is captured by the IBM OS/2
    redirector and includes most SMBs sent to and from the requester, as well
    as some SMBs sent to the ring 3 portion of a server.  This type of tracing
    should be initiated with caution as it can cause your machine to freeze.
    Normally this trace is best run on an OS/2 Requester, since it is invasive
    and can slow a server down significantly.

 4. Netbios and 802.2 Tracing.  This type of trace is captured by the IBM
    Network Transport Protocol stack, e.g. NETBIOS and 802.2, and should be
    used at the discretion of IBM Support personnel only.  It logs data to the
    OS/2 System Trace log.  Upon completion of the event of interest, the user
    should turn off the trace, and format the file as prompted.  No additional
    formatting for netbios or 802.2 traces has been included with this tool.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.11. Introduction to Server Message Blocks ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The following describes the industry standard Server Message Block (SMB)
Protocol and the SMB extensions for IBM LAN Server versions 3.0 and 4.0
(Trademarks of IBM). SMB commands have been defined for most common file
oriented network requests such as open, close, read and write, as well as for
notifying a network server of various presentation and application layer events
occurring on the network client.  SMBs are used for many diverse operations
including opening and reading files as well as named pipess.  SMBs are also
used for writing data to remote printers and even serial devices (e.g. modems).
Interprocess communication (named pipes and mailslots), simple network
messaging, as well as network server administration are done via the SMB
protocol.  Even remote program execution can be done via this protocol.  The
SMB protocol is used by portions of the network protocol stack that approximate
layers six and seven of the OSI/ISO network reference model.  The IBM OS/2 LAN
Server Versions 3.0 and 4.0 (Trademarks of IBM Corporation) products use these
extensions.

Various levels (dialects) of the SMB protocol are used in network products from
IBM, Microsoft, DEC and others.  X/Open has published a reference, Protocols
for X/Open PC Interworking: SMB Version 2, that describes the 'base' protocol
used by many SMB based network products.  This will be referred to as the
"LM1.2" SMB dialect in this document.  Our enhancements are additions to the
LM1.2 dialect designed to solve design problems associated with that dialect as
well as to add features required to fully support new state of the art
operating systems.  The earlier document IBM Personal Computer Seminar
Proceedings (Volume 2, Number 8-1, May 1985) on the "IBM PC Network SMB
Protocol" is superseded by the X/Open SMB reference.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.12. Taxonomy of Server Message Blocks ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The SMB protocol has developed over time from a dialect that allowed only
primitive communication between DOS machines to a much more advanced protocol
that supports the full range of functions necessary for advanced operating
systems such as OS/2.  The SMB protocol was first developed in the early 1980's
by Microsoft, Intel, IBM and others. Groups of new commands have been added to
the SMB protocol to support new operating system functions and performance
enhancements that were included in the original SMB core protocol.  Each new
group of commands (and any new interpretations of existing commands) is
referred to as an SMB dialect. The dialects are usually incremental, that is
they include all of the SMB commands defined by earlier, more primitive
dialects. Most modern SMB servers and requesters support multiple dialects to
improve interoperability.  The following are the major SMB dialects:

 1. "Core" Protocols -  Used by PC LAN Program (TM IBM) and many early DOS SMB
    requesters.

 2. LANMAN 1.0 Protocol - Used by LAN Server Version 1.0 (TM IBM) and with some
    variations by Windows for Workgroups 3.1 (TM Microsoft).

 3. LANMAN 1.2 Protocol - Used by IBM LAN Server Versions 1.2, 1.3 and 2.0 (TMs
    IBM). The X/Open book Protocols for X/Open PC Interworking: SMB Version 2
    documents the SMB commands for this (and previous) dialect levels.

 4. LANMAN 2.1 Protocol - Used by Microsoft LAN Manager 2.1 (TM Microsoft) and
    with some (optional) enhancements by IBM LAN Server Versions 3.0 and 4.0
    (TMs IBM). This dialect includes very few enhancements above the features
    available in the LANMAN 1.2 dialect.

 5. Other product specific dialects have been created by DEC, Microsoft and
    others for compatability with specific operating systems.

The SMB protocol has become a defacto standard for PC Networking. Many
operating systems now include SMB requesters and servers at no additional
charge, and many major PC network software manufacturers produce SMB based
products.  SMB Servers (and Requesters) are available for all major operating
systems including: OS/2, DOS, NT, Unix, AIX, OS/400 and even operating systems
on large mainframes.  It is likely that the SMB protocol will evolve even more
as additional operating systems are developed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.13. Examples of uses for this tool ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This tool can be used in many ways.  The following are some typical uses -

 1. Analyzing application behavior by tracing on the OS/2 requester -  To debug
    an application problem such as failure to find a necessary file, you would
    do the following on the OS/2 requester machine:

    a. Select Trace->Redirector->On from the menu.

    b. Hit enter and specify a file name on a local disk so the data can be
       saved.

    c. Reproduce the application problem.

    d. Select Trace->Redirector->Off from the menu.

    e. Select File->Open from the menu and specify your saved file name.

    f. Look in the list box for an error.  If you do not see one, you can
       select Options->Filter->By Error->Only SMBs with Error to see a list of
       only those commands that produced an error.  After you have found the
       SMB with an error response choose Options->Filter->By Error->All SMBs to
       list all SMBs, and find the SMB again.

    g. Double click on the SMB request that precedes the SMB response that
       contains the error.  This will cause the translated data for that
       request, including file name if appropriate, to be displayed.  Double
       clicking on the SMB response that contains the error, will display more
       information about the error.

 2. Analyzing application behavior by tracing on the server If you have an
    application that fails when going to a server (to an HPFS386 partition
    only), the following steps may help you analyze the cause of the problem.
    This option is especially useful if you can not trace the requester since
    it is a DOS (rather than an OS/2) requester.

    a. Choose Trace->HPFS386 Server SMB->On and specify a file name on a local
       HPFS386 partition.

    b. Reproduce the application problem.

    c. Choose Trace->HPFS386 Server SMB->Off

    d. Select File->Open from the menu and specify your saved file name.

    e. If your trace data is large, select one of the choices available from
       Options->Filter to reduce the displayed trace data size. This may be
       necessary since SMBTOOL has a display limit of approximately 1200 SMBs
       at one time. Alternatively, specifying the trace input and output files
       when you start the SMBTOOL from the command line can allow analysis of
       large trace files.

 3. Analyzing network trace data If you have a binary network trace such as can
    be produced by many popular network analyzers, this can be analyzed for SMB
    data by the following steps.  An example of this type of trace tool is
    IBM's TAP and DataGlance network analyzers.  These trace tools are
    especially useful because they are non-invasive and do not affect the
    performance of applications running on the requester or server machines.

    a. First check your Network Trace documentation to see if the file is saved
       in compressed format.  SMBTOOL can only analyze uncompressed binary
       trace data, but almost all network analyzers offer at least one save
       file option of this type.

    b. Select File->Open from the menu and specify your saved file name.

    c. Browse through the list box on the right hand side of the screen for SMB
       responses that returned an error.  For more information, double click on
       the SMB in error as well as the SMB request that preceded it for more
       information.  The Filtering menu options can be used to reduce the
       displayed trace size to manageable sizes. Alternatively, specifying the
       trace input and output files when you start the SMBTOOL from the command
       line can allow analysis of large trace files.

    d. If your network trace tool was set to capture small frame sizes (e.g.
       200 bytes or smaller), you may wish to choose Options->Set SMB Size and
       adjust the default SMB size so that the SMBTOOL does not attempt to
       decode random data beyond the end of captured frames.