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				NETWARE.TXT
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This file describes the features and use of the NCR SDMS device 
drivers for the Novell NetWare v3.1x and v4.x operating system 
environments. It is divided into the following sections:

Introduction
NetWare v3.1x, and v4.x
	Features
	Description
	Installation
	Command Line Options
	Troubleshooting
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*************************** Introduction **************************

The NCR SDMS 3.0 drivers allow the user to utilize an NCR SCSI 
controller or processor, controlled by an NCR SCSI BIOS, with 
NetWare. The SDMS 3.0 software, coupled with an NCR SCSI controller 
or processor, provides an NCR SCSI solution within the NetWare 
environment.

Separate drivers are provided for Novell NetWare v3.1x, and Novell 
NetWare v4.x. The following information will assist in a successful 
installation of the NCR SDMS SCSI drivers.


*********************** NetWare v3.1x, and v4.x *******************

* Features *

Supports the ASPI interface
Provides synchronous negotiation (including fast SCSI)
Supports multiple host adapters
Allows multiple logical unit number (LUN)
Supports Disconnect/Reselect
Supports scatter-gather
Supports tagged command queuing
Allows shared interrupts
Supports Wide SCSI (single-ended and differential)
Supports device exclusion
Supports NWOS2 


* Description *

There is a separate NCR SDMS 3.0 device driver and ASPI manager for 
each of two major releases of NetWare. For NetWare v3.1x, the main 
SDMS device driver is NCRSDMS3.DSK, and the file ASPICAM3.NLM is 
loaded if support for the ASPI interface is desired (this is 
required for devices such as tape drives). For NetWare v4.x, the 
main SDMS device driver is NCRSDMS4.DSK, and the file ASPICAM4.NLM 
is loaded if support for the ASPI interface is desired.


* Installation *

Install NetWare as described in the Novell NetWare Installation 
Manual. The following information is provided to assist in the 
installation.

For An Existing Installation Of NetWare With NCR SDMS Drivers:

Replace the NCRSDMSx.DSK and ASPICAMx.NLM drivers with the ones 
supplied on the NCR device drivers diskette.  No other actions 
should be repuired to use these new drivers. You may may want 
toreview the command line options to insure you are using the 
best options for your configuration.


For NetWare v3.1x New Installations:

1. Create a directory to which the NetWare file server is to be 
installed. Change to that directory and copy all the files from 
the NetWare system disks into that directory.

2. Copy the file NCRSDMS3.DSK from the NCR device drivers diskette 
into this directory. If ASPI support is desired, also copy 
ASPICAM3.NLM. 

3. To start NetWare and continue the installation, type:  
	
	SERVER

4. When prompted, enter the name of the file server and network 
(IPX) number.  See the chapter on file server installation in the 
NetWare Installation Manual for restrictions and further 
information.

5. At the NetWare prompt, type:
	
	LOAD NCRSDMS3 <options>

This command will cause the main driver to be loaded. Without this 
command, NetWare will be unable to access the hard disk drive. If 
ASPI support is desired, also type:
	
	LOAD ASPICAM3

6. To bring up the Installation menu, at the NetWare prompt type:
	
	LOAD INSTALL

Continue with the installation according to the file server 
installation chapter in the Novell NetWare Installation Manual.

7. At the Available System Options menu, select the EDIT STARTUP.NCF 
option and check to see that the line LOAD NCRSDMS3 is in the file. 
If not, add this line to the file. This eliminates the need to load 
drivers by hand every time the system is powered up. If the line 
appears more than once, the duplicate statements should be removed 
and all references to "port=xxxx", "slot=xxxx" and/or "mem=xxxx" 
should be removed.


For NetWare v4.x New Installations:

1. Begin the file server installation as per the instuctions in the 
file server installation chapter in the Novell NetWare Installation 
Manual.  

2. The NetWare installation procedure will prompt you for a Disk 
Driver.  Insert the NCR device drivers diskette into drive a: or b:.
Then select the INS key to select an unlisted driver, and F3 to 
specify the path to search for the driver, and finally enter the 
appropriate driver letter, 

	A: 
or
	B:

The NCRSDMS4.DSK driver should appear as a selection.  Select the 
driver.

3. Next you will be prompted with the available command line options 
toload the driver.  A description of each option will appear in the 
box at the bottom of the installation screen.  A more detailed 
description is alsogiven later in this document, in the section 
titled Command Line Options. Select any options needed for your 
particular installation.

4. When asked to edit the STARTUP.NCF file, make sure NCRSDMS4 is 
loaded only once. If present, remove the "port=xxxx slot=xxxx 
mem=xxxx" options from the command line.

5. After the installation is complete, if ASPI support is also 
desired, down the server and copy the ASPICAM4.NLM file to the 
appropriate server directory, which is SERVER.40 by default.
 


* Command Line Options *

The NCRSDMS3.DSK and NCRSDMS4.DSK drivers have many tuning 
parameters. (At this time there are no command line options for 
the ASPICAM3.NLM or ASPICAM4. NLM drivers.) Following is a list 
of tuning parameters available, including the default option and 
a list of valid options.  Following each parameter is a description 
of when a parameter should be used and any impact its use/disuse 
might incur.

Please note applicable versions listed for each option.

If an option is specified but the assignment is not valid, then the 
default value will be used. The NCRSDMS3.DSK and NCRSDMS4.DSK drivers 
will be referred to in the remainder of this section as 
NCRSDMSX.DSK, where X refers to the appropriate NetWare operating 
system version.

The options described below are used by placing the specified
characters on the load command line for the NCRSDMS driver. For 
example, if the Verbose Mode command line option is desired in 
NetWare 3.1X, the load command line should look like this:

	load NCRSDMS3 -v


Using the Verbose Mode Option 

Command line option:	-v
Function:  		Display the current settings of all driver 
			options.

This option will indicate the option settings for this load of the 
driver.


Using the Help Mode Option 

Command line option:	-? or -h
Function:		Display the options available in the driver.
Possible Impact:	The driver will not load with -? or -h 
			specified.

This option may be specified on the command line for a brief 
description of each of the options available in the driver, as well 
as valid values for each option.  If the -? and other options are 
specified, the help screen will be invoked, the other options will 
be ignored and the driver will not be loaded.


Using the Tag Command Queuing Option 

Command line option:	qtags=<option>
Default value:		enable
Valid options:		enable, disable
Function:		Enable/disable tag command queuing for the 
			devices 
Possible Impact:	Tagged commands may result in improved I/O
			throughput in devices that support such an
			option.

Enabling the option results in the driver issuing tagged command 
requests to the devices that support tagged queuing.  Devices that do 
not support tagged queuing are not issued tagged requests.  Depending 
on the drive controller, throughput of the device may be increased by 
the use of queue tags, although an optimal number of queue tags is 
based on the specific device type.


Using the Depth of Queue Tags Option 

Command line option:  qdepth=<option>
Default value:		10
Valid options:		0-128
Function:		Set the depth of the queue for tag command 
			queuing.This value designates the depth of 
			the queue per LUN (I_T_L nexus), e.g. this 
			value designates the depth of the queue per 
			device, or per LUN, if a device has multiple 
			LUNs.
Possible Impact:	Must be set to optimize the performance of 
			tagged command queuing.

This option is valid only when tag command queuing (qtags) is 
enabled, which it is by default. 0 is equivalent to 
qtags=disable, and takes precedence over the setting of the 
qtags option.  While the actual depth of the queue depends on 
the specific drive controller, for single drives values of 
about 10-30 are typically most optimal.  A greater number may 
be optimal for peripherals such as disk arrays.  Users should 
experiment with various qdepth values to determine the most 
optimal performance of their particular setup.  The optimal 
qdepth value is based on different aspects of the system, 
including but not limited to: the processor, the available 
memory, the disk drives, and other peripherals.

Note:	The driver supports a maximum of 128 qtags per 
	controller at any given time.  The driver may allocate 
	fewer qtags per device if this limit is being reached. 
                  

Using the Base Timeout Option 

Command line option:	timeout=<option>
Default value:		30 
Valid options:		Any integer value 30 to 999999999 
Function:		Specify the minimum value (in seconds) for 
			command timeout.
Possible Impact:	Insure system integrity when using a slow 
			device.  Performance may be reduced.

The amount of time, in seconds, allowed for a command is 
dynamically determined by the number of pending commands and 
a base offset, or base timeout.  If a device is slow, this 
value may be increased to insure the device has adequate time 
to respond to a command issued to it before the command times 
out.  This timeout is determined based on the number of 
outstanding IOs per device.


Using the Sorting of Read requests Option 

Command line option:	sort=<option>
Default value:		enable
Valid options:		enable, disable
Function:		Enable/disable sorting of read commands to 
			be issued to devices.
Possible Impact:	Enabling will normally yield increased 
			performance based on the target device 
			controller.

If the devices connected to the host adapter(s) are of a 
non-buffered architecture, such as AT&T's (formerly NCR) 
6298 disk array, then sorting of reads may result in a 
performance degradation, since the absence of cache 
provides no benefit for sorted requests. In this instance 
the sort option should be disabled.  On most disk drives, an 
on-board cache allows for reading ahead of data, and by 
sorting read requests,  the probabilities of achieving a 
cache hit are greatly increased, thus increasing the overall 
performance of the driver.


Using the Shared Interrupts Option 

Command line option:	shared_int=<option>
Default value:		disable
Valid options:		enable, disable
Function:		Support shared interrupts.
Possible Impact:	Enabling may cause a performance degradation.

The shared interrupt option should be enabled any time a PCI 
card other than NCR Host Adapters are added to a system which
assigns all PCI cards the same interrupt value.  The added 
card must be able to support shared interrupts. The driver 
automatically handles the case of more than one NCR host 
adapter sharing an interrupt.

Using the Exclusion of Devices Option 

Command line option:	xcl=<device>[:device ...]
Default value:		All devices recognized by the driver, i.e. 
			no devices are excluded.
Valid options:		p,i,l  
			(Multiple devices may be specified with a 
			colon separator) where p is the Path 
			designator, and is in the range 0-7, i is the 
			SCSI ID designator, and is in the range 0-31, 
			and l is the LUN designator, and in the range 
			0-7.  
			The LUN parameter is optional.
			Multiple devices may be excluded so long as 
			the string does not exceed 35 characters in 
			length and devices are separated by colons.  
Examples:		xcl=1,2,3 to exclude LUN 3 of the device at 
			SCSI ID 2 on Path 1.
			xcl=1,2,3:2,5 to exclude LUN 3 of the device 
			at SCSI ID 2 on Path 1, and all LUNs on the 
			device at SCSI ID 5 on Path 2 
Function:		Allows for specifying certain devices not be 
			recognized by the driver.
Possible Impact:	Device(s) may not be directly accessed via 
			NCRSDMSX driver.

This option is available so that specific devices may be 
excluded from being recognized and directly accessed by the 
NCRSDMSX.DSK drivers.  These devices are not registered with 
the operating system for use by the driver. Other 
applications/drivers can then take over the control of such 
devices. This option is available for support of third party 
vendors who write their own SCSI control applications.


Using the Wide SCSI Option 

Command line option:	wide=<option>
Default value:		enable
Valid options:		enable, disable
Function:		Enable/Disable support of Wide SCSI.
        
This option specifically allows the user to disable support of
wide SCSI when using  a wide SCSI controller.  This option 
should be set to "disable" if a wide SCSI device is present on
the system, but a narrow SCSI cable is connected somewhere on 
the bus between the wide SCSI host adapter  and the wide 
device, thus prohibiting the transfer of wide data.  If this 
option is set to "disable", the wide device may still be used,
but all data transferred to/from the device will be narrow 
(8 bit).  The driver will not initiate a wide SCSI transfer 
request negotiation.


The following three options affect the amount of memory used by 
the driver.  Please see the section on memory allocation for 
information on how memory is allocated by the driver, and to get 
an approximate feel for the amount of memory which may be saved by
invoking these parameters.


Using the Maximum Host Adapters Option 

Command line option:	max_hbas=<option>
Default value:		8
Valid options:		1-8
Function:		Specify the maximum number of Host Bus 
			Adapters to support.
Possible Impact:	If number is reduced, may allow for 
			reduction in memory used by the driver.

This parameter may be used to optimize the use of dynamically 
allocated memory by the driver. If less than 8 NCR based PCI 
host adapters, including any on board (built in to) the 
motherboard, are being used, this parameter will allow for a 
reduction in the total memory being used for the driver.


Using the Maximum SCSI IDs Option 

Command line option:	max_id=<option>
Default value:		32
Valid options:		8-32
Function:		Specify the maximum number of SCSI IDs each 
			host adapter board should support.
Possible Impact:	If number is reduced, may allow for 
			reduction in memory used by the driver.

This parameter may be used to optimize the use of dynamically 
allocated memory by the driver.  If all the host adapters, 
including any SCSI controllers on the motherboard are 
connected to less than 31 devices, a user can reduce the size 
of the dynamically allocated memory by setting this value to 
the maximum number of devices on any of the SCSI controllers. 


Using the Maximum LUNs Option

Command line option:	max_lun=<option>
Default value:		4
Valid options:		1-8
Function:		Specify the maximum number of LUNs each host 
			adapter board should support per SCSI id.
Possible Impact:	If number is reduced, may allow for 
			reduction in memory used by the driver.

This parameter may be used to optimize the use of dynamically 
allocated memory by the driver. If less than 8 LUNs are being
used per NCR based PCI host adapter SCSI id, this parameter
will allow for a reduction in the total memory being used for 
the driver. 


Using the Maximum Block Size for Concatenation Option
 
Command line option:	max_kb=<option>
Default value:		32767
Valid options:		0-32767
Function:		Set the maximum number of KB that may be 
			written to disk at one time.
Possible Impact:	A high number may result in more data being 
			transferred in a single data phase.

Specify the maximum size block in Kilobytes which may be 
written to disk in one data transfer phase. This ensures 
that when requests are being concatenated, the maximum size 
of the concatenated request would not exceed the specified 
value. If individual requests themselves are greater than this
specified value, no action would be taken.



Information Pertaining to a Specific Driver

	This document addresses options available on the NCR SDMS 
	NetWare drivers, version 3.05.00.  For information pertaining 
	to a specific driver, please do one of the following:

	For NetWare version 4.XX, consult the NCRSDMS4.DDI file for 
	options available for NCRSDMS4.DSK.  This may be accessed via 
	the NetWare install utility.

	For versions of the driver 3.05.00 and later, use the -? 
	option on the command line of the NCRSDMSX.DSK driver



*************** Important Additional Information ******************


* Memory Allocation *


The driver allocates memory for certain structures based upon the 
maximum number of SCSI IDs (max_id), LUNs (max_lun), and paths 
(max_hbas) that may be used in the system. The amount of memory 
allocated is based on the following formula:

437 bytes of memory are allocated for the structure, so

Memory Allocated = 437 * max_hbas * max_lun * max_id.

So for default allocations, the amount of memory allocated is:

Memory Allocated = 437 * 8 * 4 * 32 = 447,448 bytes (437 KB).

If, for example,
	
	1. only one host adapter is installed (or when using an 
	NCR based PCI SCSI embedded controller and no add in HBAs),

	2. only one LUN per device will be used, and
	
	3. the bus is narrow (up to 8 SCSI IDs),

then by setting the appropriate command line options, the amount of memory 
allocated will be:

Memory Allocated = 437 * 1 * 1 * 8 = 3,496 bytes (3.4 KB).