Date: January 9, 1987 Number: 170 Title: NONDEDICATED ADVANCED NETWARE 286 V2.0A INFORMATION NONDEDICATED ADVANCED NETWARE 286 CONFIGURATION REQUIREMENTS Software DOS 2.1 or greater Hardware IBM AT, IBM XT 286, or IBM compatible AT clone. IMPORTANT FOR CLONE MANUFACTURERS Nondedicated Advanced NetWare 286 (ND286) requires an extremely high degree of IBM AT firmware and hardware compatibility. For information concerning specific compatibility requirements, write to: Third Party Product Administrator, NetWare Services Division, 122 East 1700 South, Provo, Utah 84601 (no phone calls please). Memory Requirements Memory Requirements for Minimal Configuration: The following are the memory requirements for a minimal configuration consisting of an AT running ND286 software with the default installation parameters, one internal 20 megabyte AT hard drive, and one IBM PC workstation connected to the file server by the appropriate cabling and network boards: 1. Minimum of 384K of base or conventional memory. (This memory is available for DOS, the nondedicated workstation shell, and application software. Approximately 8K of this memory is required for the nondedicated server capability.) 2. Minimum of 512K of extended memory (memory starting at the one megabyte address) for the file server software. Memory Requirements for Enlarging Configurations: Memory may be increased in the following ways: 1. A total of 640K of base or conventional memory may be used by the nondedicated workstation's DOS applications. Also, the Lotus/Intel EMS (Expanded Memory Specification) may be used in conjunction with base memory for RAM disks and applications using EMS. (Expanded memory is memory below the 1 megabyte address that is bank switched. Expanded memory is controlled by the 80286 processor's real mode. Expanded memory is not the same thing as extended memory. Consult the Lotus/Intel EMS board manuals for more information about EMS and expanded memory.) 2. ND286 will support the full 15 megabytes of extended memory that the IBM AT is capable of addressing. (Extended memory requirements for the ND286 operating system increase when NetWare configuration values such as buffer sizes, volumes, open files, directory sizes, etc. are increased to accommodate more workstations, users, and disk storage. (Refer to technical bulletins #50, #117, #136, and #136A for more information about enlarging NetWare configurations.)) ND286 CAPABILITIES AND ATTRIBUTES General Internal Hard Disk Sharing: Because the hard disk is transparently semaphored between DOS and the file server software, internal AT hard disks running off the AT controller can be shared between the file server software and the DOS applications. In order to configure ND286 to do this, a NetWare partition and a DOS partition must be set up on the internal disk using the INSTALL utility. The NetWare partition must be set up as the first partition and the total size of the NetWare partition and the DOS partition together may not be larger than 32 megabytes; the reason for the 32 megabyte limit is DOS does not support disk storage beyond 32 megabytes. IBM PC Cluster and 5Ch NETBIOS Interface Network Drivers: ND286 has special IBM PC Cluster network drivers and 5Ch NetBIOS compatible network drivers which function in real mode; these ND286 drivers are different than previously released Advanced NetWare 86 drivers and are NOT interchangeable. (IBM PC Cluster drivers and 5Ch NETBIOS drivers require approximately 18K of the real mode memory.) With 5Ch NetBIOS networks NetBIOS must be resident on the board or loaded from diskette prior to executing the ND286 operating system. Polled LAN Drivers: Several of the ND286 operating system network LAN drivers are polled rather than interrupt driven. If an application running under DOS is CPU processing intensive, the LAN drivers will only be polled 18 times a second. The slower polling could cause communications problems for other workstations accessing the server. In particular, the non-interrupt Omninet driver may experience this problem. Hard Drives Supported: Hard drives supported by ND286 include only those drives which are supported with Advanced NetWare 286 (NetWare disk subsystems and AT supported internal drives). IPX and NetBIOS Capabilities: All IPX and NetBIOS capabilities previously available with Advanced NetWare 286 are supported. However, NetBIOS application software will not function in the nondedicated workstation. This limitation is explained under heading "Issues Associated with Application Software:"Operating System File: The ND286 operating system is a DOS executable file and must be run by executing it at the DOS prompt. It cannot be booted from a NetWare drive. Nondedicated File Server Only: ND286 File Server Performance: The ND286 file server functions like a dedicated file server when running in console mode and performs within 5 percent of a dedicated file server. The performance of the ND286 file server decreases when the nondedicated workstation is active; because, additional time (about one millisecond per switch) is required to switch between real mode and protected mode. Failure Resilience: In comparison to a real mode only nondedicated file server, the ND286 file server is less vulnerable to a failure by a workstation hang, because the file server software is running in protected mode and is isolated from DOS applications running in real mode. Nondedicated Workstation Only: Nondedicated Workstation Hanging and File Server Not Effected: Because the file server is running in protected mode and the nondedicated workstation is running in real mode, it is most probable that if the nondedicated workstation hangs, the file server will continue to run. Nondedicated Workstation Hanging and Causing the File Server to Hang: It is, however, possible for the nondedicated ND286 workstation to hang and also hang the server. Some Pop- up menu "terminate-and-stay-resident type" programs may cause this problem. Memory-to-Memory Moves to Increase Workstation Performance: The nondedicated workstation is able to utilize memory to memory moves to transfer data packets to and from the file server, thus eliminating network interaction. This may increase performance. Nondedicated DOS Environment: The DOS environment (LAN E) is assigned a user definable unique network address number during the GENOS installation process. (The physical node address is set to two and the logical address is set to one automatically.) IPX Support: IPX is fully supported. Issues Associated with Application Software: Interpretive BASIC and Interrupt 3 Interpretive BASIC can conflict with drivers selected to run network boards using interrupt 3. (The nondedicated workstation should not be used to run an interpretive BASIC program, if the ND286 selected configuration options include interrupt 3.) INDOS Support: Terminate-and-stay-resident programs which support the INDOS Int 21h call are supported. Time Slicing Applications: Any application that does time slicing of its own (such as an IBM PC Network Program file server) will not work. NetBIOS Application Software Support: Like Advanced NetWare 286, ND286 supports NetBIOS application software in workstations attached to the file server with network interface boards and the appropriate cabling. However, NetBIOS application software is not supported in the ND286 nondedicated workstation; this is because the DOS environment is handled like a bridge by the operating system and NetBIOS will not function across a bridge. Add-on boards and Hardware Interrupts: DOS applications that access add-on boards or use hardware interrupts should work correctly. If a hardware interrupt occurs while the file server AT is running the DOS application in real mode and the interrupt handler is in protected mode, a switch is made so that the protected mode handler gets the interrupt. If a hardware interrupt occurs while the file server AT is running in protected mode, and the interrupt handler is a real mode handler, the correct switch is also made and the real mode interrupt handler is given the interrupt to service. Note that because of the slow switch time from protected to real mode and visa versa, hardware interrupts should not be very time critical. DOS Prevented from Accessing Extended Memory: To prevent access to the extended memory by DOS's INT 15h AH = 88h function, "Get Extended Memory Size", the function is altered so that it will return zero bytes when called by DOS. DOS applications are then effectively prevented from accessing the file server memory space. DOS applications which use extended memory (such as virtual disks or disk caches) will not function. (This does not apply to applications running in expanded memory, for more information see "Memory Requirements for Enlarging Configurations:".) IMPLEMENTATION RECOMMENDATIONS We have described four situations which might provide a better perspective of possible uses for the ND286 software. Each situation also has a suggested implementation. SITUATION 1: IBM PC CLUSTER OR NETBIOS 5Ch COMPATIBLE NETWORK 1. You have an IBM PC Cluster network or a NetBIOS 5Ch compatible network, which requires the execution of firmware or a NetBIOS emulator that works only in real mode. IMPLEMENTATION 1 1. Generate the operating system with the special nondedicated CLUSTER or GENBIOS (Generic NetBIOS 5Ch) network driver(s). 2. Configure the AT so that you have at least 384K of base or conventional memory, and as much memory as you need for your configuration in the extended memory. (See "Memory Requirements for Enlarging Configurations.") 3. Boot the AT with DOS. 4. Make sure that the firmware or NetBIOS emulation is loaded. 5. Execute the operating system from DOS. (The operating system is an executable file and must be run by loading it at the DOS prompt.) 6. If you decide to use ND286 as a dedicated server only, simply execute the CONSOLE program. SITUATION 2: SMALL NETWORK 1. You have a very small network (two or three workstations) 2. You want to use your file server both as a file server and as a workstation to save the expense of buying another PC and another network interface card. IMPLEMENTATION 2 1. Establish the ND286 workstation as the least-used workstation, to minimize the performance impact and to increase the error resilience of the server for other workstations. 2. Configure the AT with enough base memory to support the applications you intend to run with the nondedicated workstation. 3. Install at least 512K of extended memory. (See "Memory Requirements.") 4. Avoid using any software in the ND286 workstation that may cause the nondedicated workstation to hang. SITUATION 3: CENTRAL DATABASE SERVER 1. You have purchased a database management system that uses a PC as a central database server. The database application may run faster and more efficiently using an ND286 file server; however, improved performance will depend on how the database application software works and on the speed of the network. 2. The database server software is very file I/O intensive and does minimal CPU intensive tasks. Because the database server and the file server are sharing the same CPU, there is the added overhead of switching between real mode and protected mode. Because of this sharing, using an ND286 file server may not lead to an overall performance increase. IMPLEMENTATION 3 1. Establish the ND286 file server as the central server for the database management system so that memory to memory file I/O transfers can be made. SITUATION 4: UPGRADING FROM NETWARE 86 1. You are running a nondedicated NetWare 86 file server. 2. You have an AT available to use as the file server. 3. You want to add more disk storage; however, you are reaching the limits of how much disk storage can be supported in NetWare 86 real mode. 4. You want more memory for DOS applications. IMPLEMENTATION 4 1. Install the added disk drives. 2. Increase base memory to 640K if necessary. 3. Install Nondedicated Advanced Netware 286 in an AT and configure the new drives and volumes.