Running NetWare 4.xx and 3.12
=============================
August 1995
-----------
To install the MADGEODI.LAN driver for a NetWare server, follow the
instructions in the NetWare documentation, and use the additional
information in this document, if you require.
For best performance, use Madge Smart Ringnodes in your NetWare 4.x
and 3.12 workstations (as well as in the server). In addition, we
recommend you use a maximum packet size of 4202 for your server
drivers.
The additional information in the present document is contained in the
following sections:
1) The Ringnodes supported by the Madge server drivers.
2) Loading the driver.
3) Using multiple protocols (standard and SNAP frames).
4) Binding the driver to a protocol.
5) Using multiple Ringnodes.
6) Mirroring.
7) Using source routing.
8) Booting diskless workstations that are fitted with IBM adapters.
9) Using your Ringnode in a server that has more than 16Mbytes of RAM.
10) Turning off messages about lost interrupts.
11) Generic and custom statistics for NetWare server drivers.
12) Command line parameters for MADGEODI.LAN.
13) What to do if your "NO ECB AVAILABLE" counter starts to increase.
1) The Ringnodes supported by MADGEODI.LAN
------------------------------------------
the MADGEODI.LAN server driver supplied with this release supports the
all the Madge Smart Ringnodes.
It also supports the following Bridgenodes:
Smart 16/4 EISA Bridgenode
Smart 16/4 MC32 Bridgenode
Smart 16/4 AT Bridgenode
Smart 16/4 AT Plus Bridgenode
The driver is intended for use in either a Novell NetWare Server or a
Novell Multi-Protocol Router. If you require source-route bridging in
a Multi-Protocol Router, you need to install a bridgenode. All other
functions are available with a Ringnode.
Refer to your Ringnode's hardware Installation Guide, and your NetWare
documentation, for details of Ringnode installation.
2) Loading the driver
---------------------
Note: Load Novell's MSM.NLM and TOKENTSM.NLM files with MADGEODI.LAN.
For more information, refer to your NetWare documentation. It is
important to use MSM.NLM and TOKENTSM.NLM version 2.20 or 2.32 or
later. Do not use versions between 2.20 an 2.32.
i) In the STARTUP.NCF file, insert the following lines:
SET MAXMIMUM PHYSICAL RECEIVE PACKET SIZE=4202
SET MINIMUM PACKET RECEIVE BUFFERS=100
ii) At the server console (or in your AUTOEXEC.NCF file) enter the
command line for MADGEODI:
LOAD MADGEODI [PORT=<i/o address>|SLOT=<slot number>]
If you have a single Ringnode installed in your computer, you do
not need to specify the I/O port or slot number on the command
line. The driver loads automatically onto the Ringnode you have
installed. It uses standard TOKEN-RING frames.
If you have more than one Ringnode installed in your computer, you
must specify an I/O port or slot number for each one. If you do
not enter this information on the command line, you are presented
with a list of valid IO Port addresses (EISA and AT computers) or
a list of valid Slot numbers (MC computers). Choose from these,
the Ringnode you want to load MADGEODI onto.
For a full list of the command line parameters that you can use with
the driver, see Section 12 below.
3) Standard and SNAP frames
---------------------------
You can use MADGEODI with protocols other than IPX. Most of the
protocols you are likley to use (for example TCP/IP and Appletalk)
require you to use TOKEN-RING_SNAP frames.
If you need to support both standard token-ring frames, and SNAP
frames, you can load MADGEODI twice onto the same Ringnode: once to
support protocols that require standard frames (for example, IPX); and
once to support protocols that require TOKEN-RING_SNAP frames (for
example, TCP/IP or Appletalk.)
The default frame type is FRAME=TOKEN-RING. This is suitable for the
IPX protocol. The following sample command lines load the driver once
for each frame type:
LOAD MADGEODI PORT=1000 FRAME=TOKEN-RING
LOAD MADGEODI PORT=1000 FRAME=TOKEN-RING_SNAP
4) Binding the driver to a Protocol
-----------------------------------
You can use the BIND command to bind an instance of the driver to a
server protocol stack. To specify which instance of the driver you
wish to bind, use the NAME parameter as follows:
LOAD MADGEODI SLOT=s1 NAME=<name1>
LOAD MADGEODI SLOT=s2 NAME=<name2>
BIND IPX TO <name1> NET=x1
BIND IPX TO <name2> NET=x2
The following example shows a set up for a NetWare version 3.11
server. It illustrates how to load and bind IPX and Appletalk.
STARTUP.NCF: LOAD MAC
AUTOEXEC.NCF: LOAD MADGEODI FRAME=TOKEN-RING NAME=MADGE
LOAD MADGEODI FRAME=TOKEN-RING_SNAP NAME=SNAP
BIND IPX TO MADGE NET=2
LOAD ATTOKLLC
BIND ATTOKLLC TO MADGE
LOAD APPLETLK NET=50000 ZONE={"ADMIN"}
BIND APPLETLK TO SNAP NET=1-5 ZONE={"ADMIN"}
LOAD AFP
5) Using multiple Smart Ringnodes
---------------------------------
You can put more than one Smart Ringnode into a NetWare server using
MADGEODI.LAN. To do so you must load the driver for each Ringnode.
You can use the optional NAME parameter to distinguish the Ringnodes.
This makes it easier to bind protocols (See Section 4 for information
about binding):
LOAD MADGEODI SLOT=s1 NAME=<name1>
LOAD MADGEODI SLOT=s2 NAME=<name2>
The following is an example for a NetWare server with 2 Ringnodes
installed. One is set to IO address 0A20 (and connected to network
32). The other is set to I/O address 1A20 (and connected to Network
106):
LOAD MADGEODI PORT=0A20 NAME=node1
BIND IPX to node1 NET=32 (PORT 0a20)
LOAD MADGEODI PORT=1A20 NAME=node2
BIND IPX to node2 NET=106 (PORT 1a20)
To check the I/O addresses that your Ringnodes are using, run the
Madge Ringnode diagnostics program.
**********************************************************************
Note: If you are using ISA-compatible Ringnodes, the Novell MSM.NLM
module currently requires you to use the following parameter,
regardless of the amoumt of RAM you have in your server.
SET RESERVED BUFFERS BELOW 16 MEG = 300
**********************************************************************
6) Mirroring
------------
Ringnode mirroring is a way of protecting network users against
hardware failures such as cable faults. To achieve it you need to
install a second Ringnode which can take over from the first.
The Ringnode that you use as the standby, is connected to the same
network as the primary Ringnode. If the primary Ringnode fails, the
standby Ringnode takes over from it without affecting the higher level
protocols of either the Server or any workstations.
To install a standby Ringnode, follow the instructions in the
MMIRROR.INF file which tells you how to load the Madge Mirror Support
NLM (MMIRROR.NLM)
7) Using source Routing
-----------------------
You can use Novell's ROUTE.NLM with MADGEODI to provide source-routing
support. This allows NetWare workstations on the other side of
source-routing bridges to access the server.
Note that you can load ROUTE more than once to provide source-routing
support for multiple Ringnodes or additional frame types. In the
example below, source-routing support is required for two Ringnodes
(Ringnode1 and Ringnode2), each of which is set up to support multiple
protocols (for example, IPX and TCP/IP):
LOAD MADGEODI PORT=0A20 FRAME=TOKEN-RING NAME=Ringnode1
LOAD ROUTE BOARD=1
LOAD MADGEODI PORT=0A20 FRAME=TOKEN-RING_SNAP NAME=Ringnode1_SNAP
LOAD ROUTE BOARD=2
LOAD MADGEODI PORT=1A20 FRAME=TOKEN-RING NAME=Ringnode2
LOAD ROUTE BOARD=3
LOAD MADGEODI PORT=1A20 FRAME=TOKEN-RING_SNAP NAME=Ringnode2_SNAP
LOAD ROUTE BOARD=4
8) Booting workstations remotely that are fitted with Madge Straight
Blue or IBM adapters
----------------------------------------------------------------------
To allow workstations, fitted with Madge Straight Blue or IBM
Token-Ring adapters and RPL ROMs, to boot from a NetWare 4.x server,
use Novell's TOKENRPL.NLM with MADGEODI. A sample AUTOEXEC.NCF file
is shown below :
LOAD MADGEODI
LOAD TOKENRPL
BIND TOKENRPL to MADGEODI
BIND IPX to MADGEODI NET=<network number>
Note that the TOKENRPL.NLM is not required for booting Madge Smart
Ringnodes.
9) Using your Ringnode in a server that has more than 16MBytes of RAM
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The following Smart Ringnodes support 32-bit addressing. Therefore
they provide constant high performance in NetWare servers that are
equipped with more than 16 MBytes of RAM.
Smart 16/4 EISA Ringnode
Smart 16/4 MC Ringnode
Smart 16/4 MC32 Ringnode
Other Ringnodes support 24-bit addressing. You can still use them in
servers that have more than 16Mbytes of RAM. However, when they
exchange data with buffers that are above the 16MByte threshold, they
copy it through buffers at lower addresses. This means data transfer
can be slowed down, and you might notice some reduction in
performance.
10) Turning off messages about lost interrupts
----------------------------------------------
If you are using a 486 server, you may receive alerts about lost
interrupts. You can disable these harmlessly by adding the following
to your STARTUP.NCF file:
SET DISPLAY LOST INTERRUPT ALERTS = OFF
11) Generic and custom statistics for NetWare server drivers
------------------------------------------------------------
To access statistics about your Madge driver, use the Monitor NLM. The
screen displays generic and custom statistics.
Generic statistics specified by Novell
--------------------------------------
Statistics displayed as 'not supported' are not relevant to Madge
Smart LAN Support Software. For information on generic statistics,
refer to your Novell documentation.
Custom statistics specified by Madge
------------------------------------
The following statistics are specified by Madge:
MAC Frames Received The number of MAC frames received at
the server. In normal operation this
counter rises steadily.
Self Broadcast frames received The number of frames broadcast (and
received back) by the server. These
frames are filtered by the server
driver. This is not a network error
counter.
Unregistered frame-type received The number of Token-Ring or
Token-Ring_SNAP frames received when
the server driver has not been loaded
for that frame type.
Frames received with Invalid SR info
The number of frames received with
non-null source-routing information,
while the server driver is not bound
to ROUTE.NLM.
Transmit Restart Count The number of frames aborted by the
server during transmission.
MAC-level statistics
--------------------
The MAC code keeps an error log. The following custom statistics are
MAC-level statistics. When your Ringnode enters or leaves the ring, it
is normal for some errors to be generated. If you find that any
MAC-level errors are increasing very rapidly, this may indicate a
cable or other hardware fault.
Line errors The number of signal errors detected
by the Ringnode in the server
Burst errors The number of burst errors detected
by the Ringnode in the server.
ARI/FCI errors The number of ARI/FCI errors detected
by the Ringnode in the server.
Lost frames The number of times the Ringnode in
the server fails to receive back the
end of a frame it has transmitted.
Receive Congestion Count The number of times the Ringnode in
the server fails to receive a frame
because it has no buffer space
available to copy it.
Frame copied errors The number of times the Ringnode in
the server receives a frame addressed
to it which has the address
recognised bit already set.
Token errors The number of token errors detected
by the Ringnode in the server.
Internal errors Not supported.
Abort delimiters Not supported.
Frequency errors Not supported.
Resetting Statistics
--------------------
You can reset the statistics to zero by running the MRESETS.NLM
utility. For the location of this file, see the README file.
12) Command line parameters for MADGEODI
----------------------------------------
PORT [=/:] <I/O address> You must use this parameter if your server
is an AT or an EISA computer, and you are
installing more than one adapter. It
specifies the I/O address of your
Ringnode. If you do not supply the
parameter, you are prompted to enter a
value from a list of valid options.
Example: port = 1A20
SLOT [=/:] <Slot 1-8> You must use this parameter if your server
is a Micro-Channel computer, and you are
installing more than one adapter. It
specifies the slot number of your
Ringnode. If you do not supply the
parameter, you are prompted to enter a
value from a list of valid options.
Example: slot = 4
FRAME [=/:] <frame type>
You can use this parameter to specify
standard or SNAP frames, for the protocols
you are using.
Example: frame = token-ring
frame = token-ring_snap
NAME [=/:] <logical driver name>
This parameter allows you to refer to the
driver by a logical name at the console
command prompt.
Example: name = madge1
NODE [=/:] <node address> This parameter allows you to override the
burnt-in node address of your Ringnode.
Give the new node address as 12
hexadecimal digits in the range
400000000000 to 7fffffffffff.
Example: node = 400011223344
ALTERNATE Some computers use different bus-timings
than are normal for ISA computers. This
can cause DIAG to fail. If you are using
the Smart 16 Ringnode and DIAG fails, try
including the word ALTERNATE on the
command line. (Note that the bus-timings
used by Ringnodes other than the Smart 16
can be configured by hardware switches or
configuration software. This parameter
is, therefore, not required for them.)
Example: LOAD MADGEODI PORT=0A20 ALTERNATE
INT [=/:] <interrupt> If you are using the Smart 16 Ringnode and
you want to set an interrupt that is
different from the default (irq 3), use
the INT=2 or INT=7 parameter on the
command line.
Example: INT=2
SETINT [=/:] <interrupt> If you are using the Smart 16/4 AT Plus or
ISA Client Plus Ringnode and you want to
override the interrupt that the card has
been configured to use, then add this
parameter to the command line.
Example: SETINT=15
SETDMA [=/:] <interrupt> If you are using the Smart 16/4 AT Plus or
ISA Client Plus Ringnode and you want to
override the DMA channel that the card has
been configured to use, then add this
parameter to the command line.
Example: SETDMA=6
-NOPOLL This parameter causes the driver to use
receive- and transmit-complete interrupts
(By default, the driver competes for the
attention of the CPU with other devices in
a polling process). The effect of this
option is to allow the driver to perform
effectively in environments like
NetWare-OS/2 servers, where the polling
frequency is low. If you are using
NetWare for OS/2, use this option.
-TXISR This parameter causes the driver to use
transmit-complete interrupts. (By default
it competes for the attention of the CPU
with other devices in a polling process).
The effect of this is to reduce the
driver's CPU use when the server is busy.
This allows more CPU time to other tasks
or to other network drivers. If you wish
to use this parameter, note that it
reduces server throughput slightly.
-LLC Use this parameter to force a Ringnode to
respond to basic LLC frames. These are
TEST and XID frames for destination SAP
zero.
BELOW16 Use this parameter to prevent your
Ringnode performing DMA from addresses
above 16 MebaBytes.
This is set automatically for Smart 16/4
AT, AT Plus, and ISA Client Ringnodes, but
you may also need to set it on some
Micro-Channel computers.
HELP This parameter overrides all of the above
and displays information about the command
line parameters. If you use this
parameter your driver does not load.
13) What to do if your LAN Statistics "NO ECB AVAILABLE" counter
starts to increase.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are using Smart 16/4 EISA or Smart 16/4 MC32 Ringnode in your
file server and are receiving "NO ECB AVAILABLE" counter errors, or
are experiencing sluggish performance, then increase the following
NetWare parameter values:
MINIMUM PACKET RECEIVE BUFFERS (in STARTUP.NCF only)
MAXIMUM PACKET RECEIVE BUFFERS
The "Novell NetWare System Administration Guide" recommends allocating
at least 5 packet receive buffers per board, but in practice it is
best to increase these parameters until your "NO ECB AVAILABLE"
counter stops incrementing.
***** End of NWARE4XX.INF *****
