2 NICS in 1 server
Rudy Garbalosa
3c905 in it working fine. I added an Intel Pro100+, but when I bind it
to ipx I get an error message stating the following:
IPXRTR network number 00000001 should be 000000002.
The 3com card has a network number of 1 and the intel card has a network
number of 2.
Am I missing a step? Thanks
Felton Green
NOTE: If you use multiple frame types with your LAN drivers, assign a
network address for each frame type
Here is a review on loading drivers:
Load LAN Drivers
Once the SYSTEM and PUBLIC files are copied, continue the installation
process by loading LAN drivers.
Select LAN drivers for the cabling system and the network boards you use.
Frame Types for Ethernet Networks
The default Ethernet frame type for NetWare v3.12 is 802.2.
If you have a mixed environment where you have NetWare v3.11 or earlier that
use the 802.3 frame type, you may need to specify both 802.2 and 802.3 frame
types.
To do this, you load the LAN driver twice and specify a different frame type
each time the LAN driver is loaded.
A workstation running the 802.3 frame type can't communicate with the
NetWare v3.12 server (which defaults to 802.2) until both frame types are
loaded.
IMPORTANT: Some routers may not support the Ethernet 802.2 frame type. Check
your router's documentation and load the frame type the router supports.
IMPORTANT: Loading both 802.2 and 802.3 frame types can affect network speed
and performance. Standardize your network on 802.2 if possible.
Procedure
1.Load the drivers with the default frame type.
LOAD LAN_driver <Enter>
Third-party drivers are also included with NetWare v3.12, including drivers
from 3COM®, Cabletron, Datacom, Hewlett Packard®, IBM, Intel®, Madge,
Proteon®, Racal, Standard Microsystems, Thomas-Conrad, and Ungermann-Bass®.
The LAN drivers are copied to SYS:SYTEM and can be loaded from there.
1a.(Conditional) If you are loading a Novell-supplied LAN driver, replace
LAN_driver with the driver listed in Table 2-4 for your cabling system and
network board.
1b.(Conditional) If you are loading a third-party LAN driver, load the
driver from SYS:SYSTEM or from the diskette that came with the network
board.
For example, if you have an Ethernet cabling system and an NE2000 network
board, type
LOAD NE2000 <Enter>
2.Answer the prompts for addresses and interrupts according to the
information you entered on the File Server Worksheet.
3.(Conditional) Load the drivers with another frame type. Type
LOAD LAN_driver FRAME=frame_type <Enter>
Replace frame_type with the frame type for your cabling system and network
board.
For example, if you have an Ethernet cabling system and an NE2000 network
board, type
LOAD NE2000 FRAME=ETHERNET_802.3 <Enter>
If the LAN driver has been loaded previously, a message similar to the
following appears:
Do you want to add another frame type for a previously loaded board? n
4.Type "Y" to continue.
5.Select the correct frame type from the confirmation list.
The following message appears:
Previously loaded module was used re-entrantly
For more information, see " Load LAN Driver" in System Administration.
Bind the Protocol to the LAN Driver
The final installation step is to bind the protocol to the LAN driver.
NetWare v3.12 allows protocols other than IPX to function on the network.
The steps below use IPX as an example protocol to bind each LAN driver in
the file server.
Procedure
1.Bind IPX to the LAN driver.
1a.To bind IPX to each LAN driver, type
BIND IPX TO LAN_driver
If you use multiple frame types on the same network board, NetWare v3.12
lists the frame types that are loaded and asks you to select the board you
want to bind IPX to.
You can bind IPX to all those frame types, as long as you give a different
network address to each frame type.
For more on network numbers, see "Network numbering" in Concepts.
1b.If you have loaded the same LAN driver several times (for several network
boards of the same type), select the board to be bound to the protocol.
1c.To bind a protocol to a driver that is loaded with two or more frame
types for the same network board, see " BIND" in System Administration.
2.Assign the network address.
Each LAN driver must be assigned the network address that identifies the
cabling system it uses to communicate with similar LAN drivers on the
network.
NOTE: This network address is not the same as the internal IPX network
number you assigned to the file server in Step 2.
At the prompt, type the number that enables the LAN driver and network board
in the file server to communicate with the network. The address must be
A hexadecimal number (base 16: using numbers 0 through 9 and letters A
through F).
One to eight digits.
NOTE: If you use multiple frame types with your LAN drivers, assign a
network address for each frame type
--
Felton Green (SysOp)
Novell Support Connection
Brainshare is coming
Brainshare is COMING!
18 - 23 March 2001
http://www.novellbrainshare.com
"Rudy Garbalosa" <ga...@toast.net> wrote in message
news:3A22A32B...@toast.net...
Rudy Garbalosa
seperately and by themself. Once I add the second card I get the message of
the problem with the network number. I am only using 802.2 as the frame
type. I can also use each card seperatley using network number 1, however
when I add network number 2 on the second card I get the error message.
Thanks
"Felton Green" <felto...@home.com> wrote in message
news:8vuane$7c...@nexus.provo.novell.com...
Felton Green
Are you trying to put the same frame type on the same network with two NICs?
Can't do that. You'll get errors.
--
Felton Green (SysOp)
Novell Support Connection
Brainshare is coming!
The worlds best convention on networking
Brainshare is coming!
March 18 - 23, 2001
http://www.novellbrainshare.com/
"Rudy Garbalosa" <ga...@toast.net> wrote in message
news:8vub4f$7c...@nexus.provo.novell.com...
Rudy Garbalosa
the same frame. Hopefully to do some load balancing.
"Felton Green" <felton...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:8vud3d$i2...@nexus.provo.novell.com...
Felton Green
>> 2 different network numbers on the same frame
Can't do that. If you're segmenting.
Dave Lunn
Dave
Felton Green
4 suites: diamonds, hearts, spades and clubs with a two through ace
inclusive. <gd&rvvf>
--
Felton Green (SysOp)
Novell Support Connection
Brainshare is coming!
The worlds best convention on networking
Brainshare is coming!
March 18 - 23, 2001
http://www.novellbrainshare.com/
"Dave Lunn" <dl...@usgo.net> wrote in message
news:8vuoue$i2...@nexus.provo.novell.com...
Rudy Garbalosa
I'm trying to increase the bandwith of the information going in and out of
this server. Is there a way to do this? Thnaks again for your help.news:8vuerm$i2...@nexus.provo.novell.com...
> Hi Rudy,
>
> >> 2 different network numbers on the same frame
>
> Can't do that. If you're segmenting.
>
Felton Green
You would have to describe your network and the loading more for us to give
you hints.
Here is a blurb on tuning:
Performance, Tuning and Optimization - Part 1 & 2
Fact
Formerly TIDs 2943356 and 2943472
UNIX Connectivity
Novell GroupWise
Novell NetWare for Small Business 4.11
Novell NetWare for Small Business 4.2
Novell NetWare 3.2
Novell NetWare 3.12
Novell NetWare 4.1
Novell NetWare 4.11
Novell IntraNetWare 4.11
Novell IntraNetWare for Small Business 4.11
Novell BorderManager FastCache 2.1
Novell BorderManager FastCache 3.0
Novell BorderManager 2.1
Novell Clients
BETA-NetWare
NDS for NT 1.0
Z.E.N.works (April 98)
Novell ManageWise
Novell NetWare 5.0
IP & TCPIP
Novell NetWare 3.11
Connectivity Products-EOL
Novell NetWare 4.2
Novell BorderManager Enterprise Edition 3
Fix
This solution covers the various areas to optimize your server's
performance. It also looks into areas of pro-active preventive maintenance
on your server and how to achieve the best results. These actions taken also
prevent the possibility of server abends and crashes.
The following areas are covered:
1. MONITOR.NLM and Utilization
2. Operating System Patches and Other NLM updates
3. NDS and DS.NLM
4. Service Processes
5. Upgrade Low Priority Threads
6. LRU Sitting Time
7. Physical Packet Receive Buffers
8. Packet Burst
9. Cache Buffers
10. Dirty Cache Buffers and Current Disk Requests
11. Host Bus Adapters, Mirroring and Duplexing
12. Directory Caching
13. Block Suballocation
14. Disk Block Size
15. Hotfix and Redirected Blocks
16. Suballocation and the Number of Free Blocks and Disk Space for Each
Volume
17. File Compression
18. File Decompression
19. Read After Write Verification
20. Garbage Collection
21. Read/Write Fault Emulation and Invalid Pointers
22. Interrupt Allocation and Configuration
23. Set Reserved Buffers Below 16 Meg
24. AppleTalk
25. Printing
1. MONITOR.NLM and Utilization
The Monitor utilization is not an entirely accurate number. Some server
processes call a NetWare function called CyieldWithDelay or CyieldUntilIdle.
If there is a thread spinning on one of these functions, the server will
appear to have high utilization. Utilization will then be inaccurate. Don't
panic when utilization goes to 100 percent for a few seconds and bounces
down. This is normal for all 4.10 servers.
2. Operating System Patches and Other NLM updates
Apply the patches from BOTH 410PTx.EXE and 410ITx.EXE. These patches fix
problems that resulted in high utilization and other issues. These patches
also fix a variety of additional problems. Loading all of the patches will
reduce your chances of having future problems.
For IntranetWare or NetWare 4.11, use the support packs by the file name
IWSPx.EXE. For NetWare 5, use the NW% support packs by the file name
NW5SPx.EXE. Support packs contains not only OS patches but all the necessary
updates and enhancements to the server NLMs. (Current version, at the last
update of this TID, of NW410 patches is 410PT8B.EXE and Service Pack is
IWSP6.EXE.
OS patches fixes issues with the SERVER.NLM or LOADER.EXE. There are also
other fixes in new updates to NLMs released (e.g. CLIB.NLM) which resolves
other issues, that can pertain to high utilization. The new updates also
adds enhancements to the current versions. It is advised to always apply the
latest updates to your server as well.
Please refer to support.novell.com web page for the latest patches and
updates. It is recommended to apply all the latest patches and updates
specified in the minimum patch list found in
http://support.novell.com/misc/PATLST.HTM,
http://support.novell.com/misc/patlst.htm.
Also, apply the latest LAN and Disk drivers from your hardware vendor.
3. NDS and DS.NLM
Update DS to version 4.89a or later for NW4.10. Novell Support has seen
issues with DS causing high utilization and 4.89a has solved all these
issues. (Current version, at the last update of this TID, of DS.NLM for
NW410 is 5.15 and for NW411 is 6.02)
Efficient tree design, partitioning and replication is essential to avoid
utilization problems. The size, type and number of partition replicas can
cause utilization problems if not managed properly. Check also the total
number of NDS objects residing in the partitions of that server. DS needs to
keep synchronization among all servers in the replica ring. The more
replicas there are of any partition, the more traffic will be on the wire.
Novell recommends having at least three replicas of each partition in the
tree. This provides fault tolerance and allows for DS recovery if a database
were to become corrupt.
4. Service Processes
Service processes are threads of execution that act as hosts to incoming
service requests. NetWare 4.X is capable of allocating up to 1000 service
processes. Set maximum service processes to 2-3 per connection. It is
recommended to set the Maximum Service Processes to 1000 (the maximum number
allowed). If the server does not require an additional service process, it
will not allocate. You can also set new service process wait time to 0.3
(default is 2.2).
Refer to http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/PATLSTFIND.CGI?2941108,
HIGHUTL1.EXE for more info on Service Processes and also on how to
immediately increase the number of service processes to your desired value.
5. Upgrade Low Priority Threads
Verify that SET UPGRADE LOW PRIORITY THREADS is set to OFF. If it is ON it
will contribute to any utilization problems the server may be having. This
parameter does not apply in NW5 servers.
6. LRU Sitting Time
NetWare's file caching subsystem is a pool or collection of 4 KB memory
pages. After loading the OS, system NLMs, and application NLMs, NetWare
initializes all remaining memory as the file cache pool. At the beginning of
the list is the "list head," where new cache buffers are inserted into the
list. The end of the list is the "list tail," where old cache buffers are
removed from the list. Each cache buffer in the list is linked to the next
cache buffer, and each one includes a time stamp indicating the time the
cache buffer was inserted into the list head. When the server receives a
disk I/O request for data that is not currently in cache (a cache "miss"),
the data is read from the disk and written into one or more cache buffers
that are removed from the list tail. Each newly filled cache buffer is
time-stamped with the current time and linked into the list head. A newly
filled cache buffer is designated as the most-recently-used (MRU) cache
buffer because it has resided in cache for the least amount of time.
A cache "hit" a frequent event in NetWare environments occurs when a disk
request received by the server can be serviced directly out of cache, rather
than from disk. In this case, after the request is serviced the cache buffer
containing the requested data is removed from the list, time-stamped with
the current time, and relinked into the list head. In this manner, MRU cache
buffers congregate at the head of the list. This characteristic of the list
is important to understand, because you want your MRU cache buffers to
remain cached in anticipation of repeated use and repeated cache hits.
At some point in this process, the file cache pool becomes full of recently
used data. This is where the least-recently-used (LRU) cache buffer comes
into play. LRU cache buffers are buffers that were originally filled from
the disk, but haven't been reused as frequently as the MRU cache buffers at
the list head. Due to the relinking of MRU cache buffers into the list head,
LRU cache buffers congregate at the list tail. When new cache buffers are
needed for data requested from disk, NetWare removes the necessary number of
LRU cache buffers from the list tail, fills them with newly requested data,
time-stamps them with the current time, and relinks them into the list head.
The resulting NetWare file cache subsystem gives preference to repeatedly
used data and holds onto less frequently used data only as long as the
memory isn't needed for repeatedly used data.
When tuning file cache, then, the ideal scenario is one in which every
repeated use of recently accessed data can be serviced out of cache. This is
accomplished by sizing server memory so that the resulting file cache pool
is large enough to retain all repeatedly used data.
The LRU Sitting Time statistic is calculated by taking the difference
between the current time and the time stamp of the LRU cache block at the
tail of the cache list. LRU Sitting Time measures the length of time it is
taking for an MRU cache buffer at the list head to make its way down to the
list tail, where it becomes the LRU cache buffer. One might refer to this
measurement as the cache "churn rate" because, whether from cache hits or
misses, every cache buffer in the list is being reused within that period of
time. Check that the LRU Sitting Time does not go below 15 minutes. If it
drops below 15 min, you may need to add more memory.
7. Physical Packet Receive Buffers
Receive buffers are used to store incoming packets from each of the networks
attached to a NetWare server. The Maximum Physical Receive Packet Size
should be set according to the kind of network it is on. In most cases, this
is 1524 bytes for Ethernet segments, 4540 bytes for Token-Rings and FDDI and
618 bytes for Arcnet and LocalTalk. These values are taken from the "Novell
BorderManager Installation and Setup" manual, the chapter on "Installing
Novell BorderManager", page 9. Certain products installed have specific
requirements in which you will need to refer to your manuals for
instructions.
A good rule of thumb for the minimum packet receive buffers setting is
approximately 2-3 receive buffer for each connection and maximum packet
receive buffers to 4000 (or any higher value).
Also, check the No ECB (Event control block) Available Count information in
the LAN/WAN Information option in MONITOR.NLM. These messages indicate that
the server was unable to acquire sufficient packet receive buffers, usually
called event control blocks (ECBs). Running out of ECBs is not a fatal
condition. Servers that run for several days where high loads occur in peaks
might exceed the set maximum number of ECBs, causing the system to generate
ECB system messages. If these situations are caused by occasional peaks in
the memory demand, you should probably maintain your current maximum ECB
allocation and allow the message to be generated at those times. On the
other hand, if your server memory load is very high and you receive frequent
ECB allocation errors, you should probably set your maximum ECB allocation
higher. Use the following SET command in the AUTOEXEC.NCF file: SET MAXIMUM
PACKET RECEIVE BUFFERS = number
Note that the memory allocated for ECBs cannot be used for other purposes.
The minimum number of buffers available for the server can also be set in
the STARTUP.NCF file with the following command: SET MINIMUM PACKET RECEIVE
BUFFERS = number.
If the current Packet Receive Buffers rises above the minimum set level
after the server has been up for a period of time, set the minimum Packet
Receive Buffers to the current level.
8. Packet Burst
Novell support has seen high utilization problems caused by packet burst
from both NetWare and Microsoft requester clients. Most of these problems
have been solved with an OS patch or a new requester. Load the 410 OS
patches and get the new FIO.VLM which fixes the problem with the Novell
requester. The file is VLMFX3.EXE on the Internet. (Current version of VLM
is 1.21)
Troubleshooting:
Novell technical support has a module called PBRSTOFF.NLM that will disable
Packet Burst from the server. The module needs to be loaded when the server
comes up. Only connections that are established after the module is loaded
will have packet burst disabled. This will isolate utilization problems
related to packet burst.
9. Cache Buffers
When the server boots, all free memory is assigned to file caching. As
demand increases for other resources (e.g. directory cache buffers), the
number of available file cache buffers decreases. The operating system does
not immediately allocate new resources when a request is received. It waits
a specified amount of time to see if existing resources become available to
service the demand. If resources become available, no new resources are
allocated. If they do not become available within the time limit, new
resources are allocated. The time limit ensures that sudden, infrequent
peaks of server activity do not permanently allocate unneeded resources. The
following parameters are dynamically configured by the operating system.
Directory cache buffers
Disk elevator size
File locks
Kernel processes
Kernel semaphores
Maximum number of open files
Memory for NLMs
Router/server advertising
Routing buffers
Service processes
TTS transactions
Turbo FAT index tables.
As a rough guideline, if the amount of cache buffers (checked from
MONITOR.NLM, Resource utilization) drops below 40%, more memory should be
added to the file server. This percentage rule has been commonly used for
many years when the average system had 16MB to 32MB, and most systems
nowadays have more cache buffers (in terms of percentage) available. An
example is that 40% of 32MB is 12 MB, while 40% of 1024MB is 409 MB.
In most cases, impact to performance can be seen when the amount of cache
buffers drops below 40%. The percentage value is calculated from having
total cache buffers divided by the original cache buffers. The total cache
buffers and original cache buffers can be found at the General Information
screen of the MONITOR.NLM. Please refer to the March 1997 AppNotes on
Optimizing IntranetWare Server Memory.
A brief note on fine tuning:
As resource (e.g. memory) on every server is limited (until more memory is
added), the whole task of fine tuning a server is to find a balance between
the limited resource with the server response to the workstation. Take an
example of a server with only 64MB of memory. If I allocate more cache for
directory cache buffers and packet receive buffers, this will reduce the
amount of total cache buffers used for file caching. By over allocating the
amount of other resources that consume memory would reduce the amount of
memory for file caching, and hence slowing down the server rather than
speeding it up. For this example, a balance of an adequate amount of
directory cache buffers and packet receive buffers, giving enough total
cache buffers for file caching, would give a better server performance than
if there is insufficient directory cache buffers or too many directory cache
buffers (taking into consideration the current limited resource on the
server).
10. Dirty Cache Buffers and Current Disk Requests
If the Dirty Cache Buffers and Current Disk Requests (as seen from the
MONITOR screen) is high, it means that the number or dirty cache waiting to
be written to disk, and the number of pending disk requests (reading from
disk) is high.
You can set the Maximum Concurrent Directory Cache Writes (default of 10),
the Maximum Concurrent Disk Cache Writes above the default value (default of
50). You can also set the Dirty Disk Cache Delay Time to a value below the
default (default of 3.3 Sec).
You can adjust the settings till the values of dirty cache buffers and
current disk requests goes to 0 periodically. The values should go in bursts
and return to 0. If after making adjustments and the dirty cache buffers and
current disk requests are still high, it would mean that your disks cannot
handle the load. It would then be advisable to either change to faster disks
or to split the server load up. Often times, the disk is one of the common
bottlenecks.
You may like to start with the following settings and fine tune
subsequently:
SET Maximum Concurrent Disk Cache Writes = 500
SET Dirty Disk Cache Delay Time = 0.5
SET Maximum Concurrent Directory Cache Writes = 100
11. Host Bus Adapters, Mirroring and Duplexing
While configuring multiple devices, it is advisable to put slow devices on a
different channel or host bus adapter from the fast devices. Slow devices
are like tape drives and CD-ROMs. Fast devices are like disk drives.
Also, always use hardware mirroring, duplexing or and form of RAID as
compared to software mirroring, duplexing or RAID. Software mirroring,
duplexing and RAID are slower than hardware mirroring, duplexing and RAID.
The speed of a server depends of various factors like the CPU, amount of
memory and the access speed of a harddisk. A sluggish access of a server
could be attributed to the harddisk. Check the "Dirty Cache Buffers" and
"Current Disk Requests" on the Monitor console to see if the harddisk can
handle the load of the access.
12. Directory Caching
Cache memory allocates memory for the hash table, the FAT, the Turbo FAT,
suballocation tables, the directory cache, a temporary data storage area for
files and NLM files, and available memory for other functions. The FAT and
DET are written into the servers memory. The area holding directory entries
is called the directory cache. The server can find a files address from the
directory cache much faster than retrieving the information from disk.
Set minimum directory cache buffers to 2-3 per connection and maximum
directory cache buffers to 4000. You can also set directory cache allocation
wait time to 0.5 (default is 2.2). If the current Directory Cache Buffers
rises above the minimum set level after the server has been up for a period
of time, set the minimum Directory Cache Buffers to the current level.
13. Block Suballocation
Suballocation is implemented in NetWare 4.X to overcome the problem of
wasted disk space due to under-allocated disk blocks (as described above).
Suballocation allows multiple file endings to share a disk block. The unit
of allocation within a suballocated block is a single sector (512 bytes).
That means that as many as 128 file ends can occupy one 64KB block. Using
suballocation, the maximum loss of data space per file is 511 bytes. This
would occur when a file had one more byte than could be allocated to a full
512-byte sector. Hence, suballocation nearly eliminates the penalty of using
larger disk allocation units and allows much larger disk channel
transactions.
From a performance standpoint, suballocation enhances the performance of
write operations within the OS by allowing the ends of multiple files to be
consolidated within a single write operation. Of course, this minor
improvement will often be counterbalanced by the increased overhead of
managing the suballocation process. The major win is the optimization of the
disk channel and cache around the 64KB disk allocation unit.
As imaging, multimedia, and other workloads involving streaming data become
more prevalent, the 64KB block size will become invaluable. We recommend
that everyone use the 64KB disk block size for greater efficiency,
elimination of wasted space, and to take advantage of read-ahead.
It is very important to load the patches when suballocation is enabled.
Suballocation does not have any SET parameters to adjust. Everything is done
automatically. It is very important to monitor the disk space to avoid
suballocation problems. Novell Engineering recommends keeping 10-20 percent
of the volume space free to avoid suballocation problems.
Suballocation uses free blocks to perform its function. When free blocks are
low suballocation could go into "aggressive" mode, lock the volume and cause
high utilization. Maintaining more than 1000 free blocks will avoid this
problem in most cases. If there are not at least 1000 free blocks on the
volume, run a PURGE /ALL from the root of the volume. This will free the
"freeable limbo blocks" and move them back to "free blocks."
14. Disk Block Size
Based on our performance testing, we recommend a 64KB block size for all
volumes. The larger 64KB allocation unit allows NetWare to use the disk
channel more efficiently by reading and writing more data at once. This
results in faster access to mass storage devices and improved response times
for network users. If you are using RAID5 disks, set the block size equal to
the stripe depth of the RAID5 disks.
15. Hotfix Blocks
Load SERVMAN, choose Storage Information, and highlight the NetWare
Partitions in the server. Make sure that there are no "Used Hotfix blocks"
shown. Also, you can "Load MONITOR", choose "Disk Information", choose the
device, hit <ENTER> and press the <TAB> key. You will see information on
Redirected Blocks. "Used Hotfix blocks" and "Redirected Blocks" show that
there are bad sectors on the server harddisk. You should prepare to change
the harddisks of the server.
16. Suballocation and the Number of Free Blocks and Disk Space for Each
Volume
It is also important to keep more than 1000 "free blocks" and at least 10%
to 20% free disk space on each volume with suballocation enabled.
Suballocation uses these free blocks to free up additional disk space. To be
warned on the number of free blocks available, you can set the Volume Low
Warning Threshold and the Volume Low Warning Reset Threshold to 1024.
High utilization issues can be caused by the lack of disk space.
Suballocation is a low-priority thread. This means that under normal
conditions, it only runs when the processor has nothing else to do and is
idle. This condition of suballocation is a "non-aggressive" mode. When disk
space is low, less than 10% available, suballocation can go into
"aggressive" mode. Suballocation is bumped up to a regular priority thread
and can take control of the volume semaphore until is has cleaned up and
freed up as much space as possible. This locking of the volume semaphore
causes other processes, who are trying to use the volume, to wait until the
semaphore is released. In large installations, the results in an increase of
Packet Receive Buffers and File Service Processes. When the Packet Receive
Buffers max out, the server will start dropping connections and users are
not able to login. When suballocation completes its cleanup, the semaphore
will be released and the processes on the queue will be serviced. This will
result in a utilization drop and the server will return to normal operation.
The lack of free blocks is different from a lack of disk space. When files
are deleted, they are kept in a "deleted" state. This means the file
actually exists but is not viewable to the user and does not show up in
volume statistics as used space. The number of free blocks is determined by
Free Blocks = [Total Blocks - (Blocks In Use by Files + Blocks In Use by
Deleted Files)]
Hence, you can have 50% of the disk available, but there are no free blocks.
These blocks are use by deleted files. If free blocks are low, run a PURGE
/ALL from the root of the volume to free the "freeable limbo blocks" and
move them to the "free blocks" pool. To avoid doing this often, set the P
(PURGE) attribute on directories that create a large amount of temporary
files. The P attribute does not flow down the file system. This needs to be
taken into consideration when setting the P attribute. Also, setting
IMMEDIATE PURGE OF DELETED FILES = ON at the server console will avoid the
Purgeable files taking all the "free blocks".
17. File Compression
It is essential to have the OS patches loaded when using compression.
Compression takes CPU cycles to compress and decompress files. The default
set parameters for compression take this into consideration. Compression is
designed to take place after midnight when most servers have little or no
traffic. Also, the DAYS UNTOUCHED BEFORE COMPRESSION set parameter is
designed to make sure frequently used files are not compressed. Any
adjustments to the default compression SET parameters may severely impact
the server's performance.
Users with disk restrictions may try to flag their home directory to IC
(immediate compress) to save disk space. Flagging directories to IC will
affect server performance. Normally, compression is a low priority thread,
which means it only compresses files when the server is idle. When the IC
flag is set, compression is bumped up to a regular priority and will not
wait for idle time.
Setting DELETED FILES COMPRESSION OPTION = 2 will cause the immediate
compression of files that have been deleted. This will cause high
utilization because the processor is immediately compressing files upon
their deletion.
Troubleshooting:
Eliminate compression as a possible problem by setting ENABLE FILE
COMPRESSION=OFF. This will cause files to be queued for compression but the
files will not be compressed. However, accessing compressed files causes
them to be decompressed. This will eliminate compression as the cause of
high utilization.
To view the amount of compression/decompression that is going on in the
server, do the following:
set compress screen = on
Hence, it is advisable to SET Days Untouched Before Compression to 30 days,
and SET Minimum Compression Percentage Gain to 20.
18. File Decompression
Decompression takes up CPU cycles as well. If you are running a volume near
full and compression enabled, files will be compressed and never committed
decompresses due to failure of allocating enough space on the disk to hold
the decompressed version.
This can be caused by "Minimum File Delete Wait Time" being set to a large
value, and thus not allowing any deleted files to be reclaimed for space to
commit a compressed file. The full volume situation is usually indicated by
the "Compressed files are not being committed" alert on the server console.
This message can be fixed by setting "Decompress Percent Disk Space Free To
Allow Commit" to a number less than the current one. However, you must still
remember that there must be enough space on the volume to allow for
decompressed version of the file to be committed in order for that file to
be committed decompressed.
As a file is decompressed, it does consume CPU cycles but it will relinquish
control to allow other threads and NCPs to be serviced. A Pentium processor
(60Hz) can decompress on average 1 MB a second.
19. Read After Write Verification
Read-after-write verification is an important means of protecting the data
on your system. Normally, you should not disable it. However, if your disks
are mirrored and reliable, you may choose to disable read-after-write
verification because disabling almost doubles the speed of disk writes.
Warning:
Turning off read-after-write verification may increase the risk of data
corruption on the servers hard disk. You should use the following procedure
only if your disks are mirrored and reliable, and you understand the risk.
20. Garbage Collection
The GARBAGE COLLECTION process is like a disk defragmenter for the operating
systems memory pool that is always running.
The purpose of the GARBAGE COLLECTION process of the operating system is to
reclaim used memory nodes for a new memory scheme. Garbage collection is
critical for situations where NLMs allocate small memory areas for
initialization purposes then allocate larger nodes to perform the rest of
its operation. Unless this smaller node memory is reallocated after the
program initialization frees itself from this area, the memory will become
fragmented and unusable. Therefore, the memory pool can become depleted over
time.
The operating systems internal routine that handles garbage collection sorts
all the nodes from the linked lists of an NLM and collapses them into larger
pieces. The larger pieces are linked to the appropriate list head. If the
garbage collection routine frees an entire 4 KB page, that memory is
returned to cache. This internal routine can be set or interrupted and runs
in the background.
Garbage Collection can be forced by a user through MONITOR. In NW4.11 under
Memory Utilization, any of the system modules loaded can be selected. After
it is selected, a user may press <F3> to collect garbage on that specific
module or press <F5> to collect garbage on the entire system. For NW5, under
Virtual Memory, Address Spaces, you can free address space memory with <F4>.
Users whose systems are running low on memory or developers who are
optimizing their NLMs may need to adjust these parameters. If a NLM
allocates and deallocates large blocks of memory throughout the life of the
NLM, set the number of frees lower than the default. If a NLM does a lot of
memory allocations and frees, set the number of frees higher than the
default. If a NLM allocates and deallocates the same chunk of memory more
than once, set the minimum free memory to a value higher than the size of
the chunk.
Be aware that the Garbage Collection SET parameters are global; that is,
they will affect all NLM garbage collection. For this reason, great care
should be given in changing the default parameters. An adjustment for one
NLM to improve its performance may adversely affect another NLM. Novell
recommends leaving these parameters at their default unless a NLM requires a
specific change.
21. Read/Write Fault Emulation and Invalid Pointers
If NetWare detects a condition that threatens the integrity of its internal
data (such as an invalid parameter being passed in a function call, or
certain hardware errors), it abruptly halts the active process and displays
an "abend" message on the screen. ("Abend" is a computer science term
signifying an ABnormal END of program.)
The primary reason for abends in NetWare is to ensure the stability and
integrity of the internal operating system data. For example, if the
operating system detected invalid pointers to cache buffers and yet
continued to run, data would soon become unusable or corrupted. Thus an
ABEND is NetWares way of protecting itself and users against the
unpredictable effects of data corruption.
NetWare 4 takes advantage of Intels segmentation and paging architecture.
Each page of memory can be flagged present or not present, read-protected,
write-protected, readable, or writable.
Exceptions caused by segmentation and paging problems are handled
differently than interrupts. Normally, the contents of the program counter
(EIP register) are saved when an exception or interrupt is generated.
However, exceptions resulting from segmentation and paging give the
operating system the opportunity to fix the page fault by restoring the
contents of some of the processor registers to their state before
interpretation of the instruction began. NetWare 4 provides SET parameters
to enable and disable page fault emulation, giving you the choice between
continuing program execution or abending.
On NW 4.x servers, the memory parameters "Allow Invalid Pointers", "Read
Fault Emulation" and "Write Fault Emulation" needs to be set to OFF before
analyzing a coredump or troubleshooting utilization or abending issues.
22. Interrupt Allocation and Configuration
Interrupts have priorities. The following is the order of interrupts from
the highest priority to the lowest priority - 0, 1, 8, (2/9), 10, 11, 12,
13, 14, 15, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Interrupt 0 is used for the system timer and 1
for the Keyboard Data Ready.
For SFTIII server, you have to configure the MSL card on the highest
interrupt, followed by the disk and the LAN card in that order.
"Edge triggered" interrupts may not be shared with another device but level
triggered interrupts may be shared with another device. When using "level
triggered" interrupts, only share the interrupt with exact types of devices,
e.g. 2 NE3200.LAN or 2 AHA2940 HBA devices. Do not share interrupts with
non-identical devices.
23. Set Reserved Buffers Below 16 Meg
This parameter specifies the number of file cache buffers reserved for
device drivers that can't access memory above the 16 MB. Memory address
conflicts can occur when you have more than 16MB of memory in a server and
the disk adapter uses 16- or 24-bit DMA or busmaster DMA. Hence, SET
Reserved Buffers Below 16 Meg = 200 in STARTUP.NCF.
24. AppleTalk
There was also a problem with the ATXPR.NLM causing high utilization. The
file 41MAC1.EXE contains the new version of ATXPR.NLM. The file 41MAC1.EXE
is found in the NOVLIB area LIB6. Use any newer update file when found.
(Current version for NW410 is MACPT3D.EXE)
25. Printing
Having a large amount of printers on a server can affect network
performance. This number depends on the type of printing that is being done.
Printing CAD/CAM designs take much more processor time than text documents.
It is recommended, if you are concerned about utilization problems, that you
set your print devices to do the processing instead of the server. This will
slow down printer output but will relieve the utilization on the file
server.
Reference Literature:
Novell Research:
May 1993 - NetWare 4.0 Performance Tuning and Optimization: Part 1
June 1993 - NetWare 4.0 Performance Tuning and Optimization: Part 2
October 1993 - NetWare 4.x Performance Tuning and Optimization: Part 3
February 1995 - Resolving Critical Server Issues
March 1995 - Server Memory
April 1995 - MONITOR.NLM
June 1995 - Abend Recovery Techniques for NetWare 3 and 4 Server
November 1995 - Server Memory
March 1997 - IntranetWare Server Automated Abend Recovery
March 1997 - Optimizing IntranetWare Server Memory
TIDs:
TID14270 - NetWare 4.0 Memory Allocation - Part 1 of 2
TID14271 - NetWare 4.0 Memory Allocation - Part 2 of 2
TID1005436 - High Utilization and Suballocation
TID1005736 - Compression and High Utilization
TID1007561 - NetWare OS Patches
TID1005963 - Troubleshooting NetWare 4.1 High Utilization
TID1202046 - NetWare 3.x and 4.x Directory Entry Limits
TID2905856 - Additional Notes for High Utilization
TID2906943 - PC INTERRUPTS
TID2917538 - Suggestions for Troubleshooting Abends
TID2923372 - SFTIII configuration
TID2950154 - 8259 Interrupts and NetWare
Novell Press:
Novell's Guide to Resolving Critical Server Issues by Rich Jensen and Brad
Dayley
Others:
High Utilization by Rich Jardine, Product Support Engineer, NetWare OS
Support, Novell Inc. (28 Sep 95)
Suballocation by Rich Jardine, Product Support Engineer, NetWare OS Support,
Novell Inc. (1 Feb 96)
Compression by Kyle Unice, Novell Software Engineer (1 Feb 96)
FYI.P.12444 - What Does the Garbage Collection SET Parameter Do?
November 1993 - NetNotes
Note: Kindly access the Novell Support Connection web site
(http://support.novell.com or http://support.novell.com.au) for all the
latest patches, fixes and file updates. You will also find a knowledge base
which accesses the latest Novell Technical Information Database (TID) to
help you be in-touch with the latest issues so that you can pro-actively
manage your servers and the network.
--
Felton Green (SysOp)
Novell Support Connection
Brainshare is coming!
The worlds best convention on networking
Brainshare is coming!
March 18 - 23, 2001
http://www.novellbrainshare.com/
"Rudy Garbalosa" <ga...@toast.net> wrote in message
news:900gmk$k8...@nexus.provo.novell.com...
> Thanks for your help.
> I'm trying to increase the bandwith of the information going in and out of
> this server. Is there a way to do this? Thnaks again for your help.
> "Felton Green" <felton...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
> news:8vuerm$i2...@nexus.provo.novell.com...
> > Hi Rudy,
> >
> > >> 2 different network numbers on the same frame
> >
> > Can't do that. If you're segmenting.
> >
Rudy Garbalosa
to break up the traffic into 2 groups to help efficiency. The server and
the users are on the same network there are no routers to go through. I
hope this helps. Thanks
"Felton Green" <felton...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:900ial$k8...@nexus.provo.novell.com...
Dave Lunn
What we need to know is the following:
How many of your users are on the net total, how many servers total, how
many hubs/switches total and positioning. What kind of NICs are in the WS,
what kind of NICs in the server, What kind of hubs/switches
Dave
Rudy Garbalosa <ga...@toast.net> wrote in message
news:900u5o$k8...@nexus.provo.novell.com...
Felton Green
Ok... If you can split the hub that you're using into different segments it
won't be a problem. It might take some planning but you can reduce the load.
The heavy users of the server will need to be on their own NIC. The others
who do not use the server that much will be on a separate NIC.
What kind of use do you have?
--
Felton Green (SysOp)
Novell Support Connection
Brainshare is coming!
The worlds best convention on networking
Brainshare is coming!
March 18 - 23, 2001
http://www.novellbrainshare.com/
"Rudy Garbalosa" <ga...@toast.net> wrote in message
news:900u5o$k8...@nexus.provo.novell.com...