Netware 4.1 SMP
Greg Hanlan
I have been getting the run around from my local Novell
dealer, So I thought I would run this by the group.
I am trying to buy a new file server and have been looking
at a multi prossecor unit, (the HP LS2 5/166). However, No
one that I have talk to this far can give me any info on
the SMP NLM for netware 4.1. I know that it is to be
OEM'ed by some hardware companies, and the is will take
advantages of SMP. Other than that, I can't get any info.
Novell says I have to talk to HP, HP says they are waiting
on Novell. round round we go.
My Question to you is.
Is anyone currently using netware 4.1 SMP? and how did you
get it?
If not, does anyone know when it will be avalible? (Hoping
that someone with an inside track read this.)
Greg Hanlan
Nebraska Wesleyan University
e-mail - r...@nebrwesleyan.edu
www - http://rgh_pc.nebrwesleyan.edu/
Fast Water and Steep Rock
Kayak and Climb
Joe Doupnik
>>dealer, So I thought I would run this by the group.
>>I am trying to buy a new file server and have been looking
>>at a multi prossecor unit, (the HP LS2 5/166). However, No
>>one that I have talk to this far can give me any info on
>>the SMP NLM for netware 4.1. I know that it is to be
>>OEM'ed by some hardware companies, and the is will take
>
> looks good. Have _only_ seen it running on Compaq Proliant boxes,
> however.
>
> 2. Yes, you can _only_ be setup with SMP by the OEM - not Novell. They
> (Novell) have done this because of the different <ahem> standards used
> for multiple processor boxes. I guess I can see their point.
<rest omitted>
> Richard
--------------
While I don't have NW 4/MP, nor do I need it, I do run UnixWare
SVR4.203/MP on a dual Pentium board and it runs just fine. It obeys the
Intel SMP spec and that's pretty much that. Yes, the thing is embarassingly
fast and I'm trying find ways of soaking all the spare cycles to justify
going this route. Taiwanese board, ASUS PCI/E P54NP4 (EISA/PCI Neptune II
chipset). Maybe Novell has overtuned their NW product if they need extremely
fine detail in hardware support, or equally likely the name brand vendors
are having difficulty not inventing their own embellishments.
Joe D.
Philip Reznek
>
> I have been getting the run around from my local Novell
> dealer, So I thought I would run this by the group.
> I am trying to buy a new file server and have been looking
> at a multi prossecor unit, (the HP LS2 5/166). However, No
> one that I have talk to this far can give me any info on
> the SMP NLM for netware 4.1. I know that it is to be
> OEM'ed by some hardware companies, and the is will take
> Novell says I have to talk to HP, HP says they are waiting
> on Novell. round round we go.
>
> My Question to you is.
> Is anyone currently using netware 4.1 SMP? and how did you
> get it?
> If not, does anyone know when it will be avalible? (Hoping
> that someone with an inside track read this.)
>
>
> Greg Hanlan
> Nebraska Wesleyan University
> e-mail - r...@nebrwesleyan.edu
> www - http://rgh_pc.nebrwesleyan.edu/
>
> Fast Water and Steep Rock
> Kayak and Climb
We're all waiting for Brainshare and Green River (you should like
that name <g>). Stay tuned to this channel.
Phil
John Navarro
With Netware 4.1, SMP is an OEM product. This is mainly due to the .LAN and
.DSK drivers being written in assembler and not C. Also, those drivers
weren't written to scale on multiple processors. Also, the layer that
describes the hardware (PSM.NLM) is compiled by the vendors to their specific
hardware.
GreenRiver, however, changes all this by including a general Intel PSL.NLM
that works with MPC compliant hardware. The .LAN and .DSK drivers are
rewritten in C and work the the SMP version of CLIB. I've seen and "touched"
GreenRiver running an a 4 processor HP here and all I can say is that it is
pretty slick. The most impressive feature of GreenRiver next to SMP is the
automatic abend recovery. Yep, you read it right. No more dead servers due
to page faults! GreenRiver will trap and put to "sleep" the offending NLM and
resume processing. No one will know there was an abend except for the trap
messages displayed on the console. The server also copies the trap info. to a
log file on the C: drive and then migrate it to a log file on sys:. For you
skeptics, this was demoed LIVE. But, if the offending NLM is part of the
system, well, then you out of luck.
Insider info, look for the beta of the DOS and Windows 32bit client to be
released at the end of the month.
The weather is great in Utah, and the forcast is calling for rain Saturday,
but who cares, we will all be gone by then.
John
Richard Phillips
>Subject: Netware 4.1 SMP
>
>Hey all.
>
>I have been getting the run around from my local Novell
>dealer, So I thought I would run this by the group.
>I am trying to buy a new file server and have been looking
>at a multi prossecor unit, (the HP LS2 5/166). However, No
>one that I have talk to this far can give me any info on
>the SMP NLM for netware 4.1. I know that it is to be
>OEM'ed by some hardware companies, and the is will take
1. Don't have it, but have seen it running a number of times and it
looks good. Have _only_ seen it running on Compaq Proliant boxes,
however.
2. Yes, you can _only_ be setup with SMP by the OEM - not Novell. They
(Novell) have done this because of the different <ahem> standards used
for multiple processor boxes. I guess I can see their point.
3. HP are on the list, as are Compaq, Tricord, Netframe, Intel and a
number of others that I can't recall at the moment. Perhaps HP haven't
released their version of SMP yet?
4. I hadn't considered using SMP until last fortnight when I played
with a Proliant 4000 with 4 processors and it really hooted along.
When I heard that it load balances interrupt driven drivers such as
network cards, I was hooked. Before then I thought - well it would
only be of use with servers running Oracle and the like, but with a
busy server with 100meg+ network cards in it well it could help quite
a bit. It also provides a bit of redundancy should one of the other
processors fail - although you are still stuck should the main
processor die.
5. Rumour hath it that the next release of Netware will include SMP
free! Probably only the Intel standard one, but nice to know. Of
course it's only a rumour so I didn't tell you this. ;-)
Richard
Scott Peterson
>>Subject: Netware 4.1 SMP
>>
>>Hey all.
>>
>>I have been getting the run around from my local Novell
>>dealer, So I thought I would run this by the group.
>>I am trying to buy a new file server and have been looking
>>at a multi prossecor unit, (the HP LS2 5/166). However, No
>>one that I have talk to this far can give me any info on
>>the SMP NLM for netware 4.1. I know that it is to be
>>OEM'ed by some hardware companies, and the is will take
We just got a new Compaq Proliant 4500/2. It came with the CD for
Smartstart 2.50a. We were able to install NW4.1 from it but no access key
was provided to install the SMP support.
According to Compaq, Novell found serious problems with the release and have
pulled it back indefinitely. We may not see it until the Green River
release. It was only on the CD because it had already been mastered before
the product was pulled.
Scott Peterson
So. Calif. Edison
Customer Service Automated Systems
818-967-8167 (voice)
818-967-8278 (FAX)
Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact,or fact are transmission errors.