Document 1402 Novell Netware Description: The Novell NetWare Program The DR DOS 6.0 operating system has been thoroughly tested on the Novell NetWare program from version 2.15 and above. The vast majority of questions about the NetWare program deal with: *Installation/Compatibility considerations of the DR DOS 6.0 operating system on a Novell network. *Using TaskMAX with NetWare. *Using MemoryMAX with NetWare, or maximizing the amount of conventional memory for applications. *Installation/Compatibility Considerations The DR DOS 6.0 operating system is internally compatible with DOS 3.31 data structures. As a result, when programs like the Novell NetWare shell programs ask the DR DOS 6.0 operating system for a version number, the DR DOS 6.0 operating system reports 3.31. It is important to understand this when installing the DR DOS 6.0 operating system onto NetWare workstations and onto NetWare servers. If you have a mix of different DOS versions, follow the manufacturer's suggestions in regard to configuring the network for COMPAQ DOS 3.31 workstations. Server Installation If you choose to install the DR DOS 6.0 operating system onto a non-dedicated server, consult the Novell NetWare reference manuals or your network administrator for information on installing and configuring a non-dedicated server. The DR DOS 6.0 operating system requires no unique consideration in this case. When configuring a network so that all the system utilities are loaded on the server, the NetWare server should contain copies of all the required DOS files used at each workstation. If certain workstations are running DOS 4.x, then a particular directory on the server will hold a copy of the set of all DOS 4.x system files used by the workstation when it is running independent of the network. When a DR DOS 6.0 workstation is logged onto the network, at least one of the workstation's network drives will be mapped to the directory on the server holding the DR DOS 6.0 system files. Refer to the DR DOS 6.0 User Guide, Appendix F, for information on configuring a NetWare server to properly load the DR DOS 6.0 operating system on remote diskless workstations. Workstation Installation When installing the DR DOS 6.0 operating system on a network workstation that is part of an existing network, you will usually not have to make any changes to the workstation; simply install the DR DOS 6.0 operating system once the NetWare server has been updated with the DR DOS 6.0 operating system. If you are upgrading from DOS 3.x to the DR DOS 6.0 operating system, it should not be necessary to upgrade your existing NetWare shells. However, if you are upgrading from DOS 4.x or MS-DOS 5, you will have to use NetWare shells intended for use with DOS 3.x. You can use the proper set of NetWare shell programs obtained from your network administrator or Novell, or you can use the set provided in the NETWARE directory on the DR DOS 6.0 ViewMAX installation diskette. If you have to change shell programs, you might need to generate a new IPX.COM program to accompany the new shell version. Consult the Novell NetWare reference manuals or your network administrator for information on how to accomplish this. Using TaskMAX with NetWare Before using TaskMAX on a NetWare workstation, you must update your NetWare shell programs. The necessary files are provided in the NETWARE directory on the last DR DOS 6.0 operating system diskette (typically labelled ViewMAX). This update should be done by you Network System Administrator. Under most circumstances, no further adjustments will be necessary to run TaskMAX on a NetWare workstation. Load the NetWare shell programs and all drives and printers mapped before loading TaskMAX. If NetWare utilities like MAP, LOGIN, and SESSION are run from more than one DR DOS command prompt via TaskMAX, the resulting drive and printer mappings might not work as expected. If within one or more tasks under TaskMAX, you choose to run an application that makes direct calls to the Novell IPX or SPX TSR program (sometimes called a peer-to-peer application), you might need to load the IPX data buffering program called TBMI2.COM before loading TaskMAX. This program will handle the buffering of information from IPX or SPX so that data is not lost after switching away from one of these peer-to-peer applications. Further information on TBMI2.COM can be found in a file called TBMI2.DOC on the DR DOS 6.0 ViewMAX diskette. Using MemoryMAX with NetWare When using the DR DOS 6.0 operating system on a NetWare workstation that supports upper memory, you can move both of the required NetWare programs outside conventional memory and into upper memory to maximize the amount of memory available to applications running after the NetWare programs have been loaded. (See Appendix C in the DR DOS 6.0 User Guide for a description of the various regions of memory within a computer, and Chapter 12 for information on what regions will be available on your particular computer.) When upper memory is available, the NetWare programs IPX.COM and NETX.COM or NET3.COM (NETX is hereafter used to describe either program), can be loaded into upper memory using the HILOAD command from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file or from the DR DOS command line. Memory Usage To determine if IPX and NETX programs will fit into upper memory, do the following: 1.Determine the memory size requirements of these programs by examining the output of the MEM /A /P command after the programs have been loaded into conventional memory or loaded without MemoryMAX. (See the DR DOS 6.0 User Guide, Chapter 10, for more information on the MEM command.) 2.Disable any and all upper memory used by device drivers, TSRs, and/or applications by inserting a REM statement or a "?" command at the beginning of each line containing HIDEVICE, HIINSTALL, and HILOAD commands in your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. Use the DR DOS Editor program. 3.Make upper memory available on your machine by inserting the appropriate MemoryMAX device driver line into your CONFIG.SYS file or by running SETUP, and then reboot your computer by typing Ctrl-Alt-Del. 4.Without having loaded any of the NetWare programs, examine the size of areas in upper memory that are marked as FREE in the TYPE column of the MEM /U /P command output. As a general rule, when the size of one or more of these upper memory areas marked as FREE exceeds the size of a program that is loaded into conventional memory, it will be possible to relocate that program into upper memory. It is important to note that the size of total FREE upper memory is not as important as the size of the individual FREE areas of upper memory, because applications require contiguous free memory to load. Using HILOAD When upper memory is available and when FREE areas exist large enough to contain the NetWare programs, the HILOAD command can be used to move the NetWare programs into upper memory. Upper memory is made available by loading the appropriate MemoryMAX driver at boot time and executing the MEMMAX +U command to "open" upper memory so that it will accept programs loaded by HILOAD. The following four lines describe one way you can load the NetWare programs using HILOAD: MEMMAX +U HILOAD IPX.COM HILOAD NETX.COM MEMMAX -U These lines can be appended to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file or they can be executed from the DR DOS command line. Note that the DR DOS INSTALL program will automatically insert the command, MEMMAX -U >NUL, into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, so you must insert MEMMAX +U to override it. (The >NUL portion of the command instructs the DR DOS 6.0 operating system not to display the output of the MEMMAX command on the screen.) In addition, please note the following about the HILOAD command: *HILOAD will work only with the DR DOS MemoryMAX drivers, and not with third party memory managers such as QEMM386.SYS and 386MAX.SYS. *HILOAD will not run after NET3.COM has been loaded. This is because Novell replaces the DOS routines (INT 21 functions) that handle HILOADs under the DR DOS 6.0 operating system with their own routines, which cannot place programs into upper memory. Troubleshooting *NetWare shell programs won't load into upper memory.* Make sure that upper memory is available and that the size of one or more upper memory areas marked as FREE exceeds the size of the NetWare shell program that is loaded into conventional memory instead of upper memory. (See the DR DOS 6.0 User Guide, Chapter 10, for more information on the MEMMAX and MEM commands and how they can be used to determine if the above conditions are met.) Also, consider the following. For EMM386.SYS users: *You can append the /LOWEMM switch to the EMM386.SYS device driver line in your CONFIG.SYS file. The EMM386.SYS device driver leaves its program code in conventional memory, which should give you an additional 28K of upper memory. *If LIM (Expanded memory) is not really necessary, you might consider disabling it: change the /FRAME switch on the EMM386.SYS device driver line so that it reads /F=NONE. *If LIM is necessary, you might consider using another NetWare shell instead of NETX.COM. (Refer to your Novell reference manuals for information on how EMSNETX.COM and XMSNETX.COM work.) *With both EMSNETX.COM and XMSNETX.COM, do not use the HILOAD command. *With XMSNETX.COM, the /BDOS switch on the EMM386.SYS device driver line should be changed so that it reads /B=AUTO or /B=NONE. *Try changing the line that reads HIDOS=ON in your CONFIG.SYS file so that it reads HIDOS=OFF. This prevents the DR DOS 6.0 operating system from automatically relocating certain portions of the operating system into upper memory. *If only text-based applications will be run at this workstation, use the /VIDEO switch on the EMM386.SYS device driver line along with the MEMMAX +V command to enable the use of video RAM for extending conventional memory. This relieves the need to relocate the NetWare shell programs into upper memory. For HIDOS.SYS users: *Make sure that your machine will support upper memory. (See the DR DOS 6.0 User Guide, Chapter 12, for information on what regions are available on your particular computer.) *Consider using XMSNETX.COM instead of NETX.COM. With XMSNETX.COM, change the /BDOS switch on the HIDOS.SYS device driver line so that it reads /B=AUTO or /B=NONE. *If you are using HIDOS.SYS with the /CHIPSET option set to EMSUMB, consider disabling the LIM (Expanded memory) support provided by your LIM 4.0 driver by using the /CHIPSET=EMSALL option instead. EMSALL will disable the LIM 4.0 page frame and make available a larger region of upper memory for mappable RAM. *If your machine is equipped with at least 64K of extended memory above one megabyte, make sure that the /BDOS switch on the HIDOS.SYS device driver line reads /B=FFFF. *Try changing the line that reads HIDOS=ON in your CONFIG.SYS file so that it reads HIDOS=OFF. This prevents the DR DOS 6.0 operating system from automatically relocating certain portions of the operating system into upper memory. *Use the /VIDEO switch on the HIDOS.SYS device driver line along with the MEMMAX +V command to enable the use of video RAM for extending conventional memory. This relieves the need to relocate the NetWare shell programs into upper memory. *Machine locks up when trying to load NetWare shell programs.* Some network cards maintain ROM addresses in the upper memory region. It is possible that the MemoryMAX driver (EMM386.SYS or HIDOS.SYS) is not able to recognize such areas as being already in use by the network card. If the DR DOS 6.0 operating system has written some portion of the operating system to a region of upper memory, which later gets used by the network card's ROM, the system might hang unpredictably. To correct this problem, you can append an /EXCLUDE switch to the MemoryMAX device driver line in your CONFIG.SYS file to prevent the MemoryMAX driver from attempting to use an area known to be used by the network card. Refer to your documentation on the network card for information on areas used in upper memory and follow the instructions for using the /EXCLUDE switch on those areas as shown in the HIDOS.SYS and EMM386.SYS sections of Chapter 11 in the DR DOS 6.0 User Guide. If you installed Novell NetWare, or you installed additional hardware in your computer after you installed the DR DOS 6.0 operating system, it is possible that the IRQ or DMA settings on the new hardware might be conflicting with existing hardware. In this case, it is best to resolve hardware conflicts by changing the configuration of one or more installed boards before changing the configuration of the DR DOS 6.0 operating system. *Machine locks or generates "Packed file corrupt" error message when executing Novell NetWare utility programs.* This situation might occur in older versions of the NetWare utilities. The error message does not reflect the true cause of the problem. Use the MEMMAX -L command before executing the problematic NetWare utility, and then use the MEMMAX +L command after. The following is an example of how this might look in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or login file: MEMMAX -L LOGIN MEMMAX +L COMPAQ DOS 3.31/DR DOS clients mapping same directories When setting up a Novell NetWare Network Server machine, it is normal for a Network Administrator to actually create a directory structure on the server's hard drive which contains all the various DOS operating system files for all the various DOS operating systems being used by the network's DOS clients. This is often done to accommodate clients who do not have their own hard drive. That is, such clients can use the server to access their DOS files and programs instead of their local floppy drive. For instance, a network server serving five clients using two different operating systems, say MS DOS 3.30 and COMPAQ DOS 3.31, will have two directories which contain all the operating system files contained in the clients' DOS directories. These directories might have paths on the server like SYS:PUBLIC/MSDOS/V3.30 and SYS:PUBLIC/COMPAQ/V3.31. When a client running MS DOS 3.30 attaches to the server and logs in to this environment, it is important that the client's DOS PATH and COMSPEC variables be adjusted to "point" (or MAP) to the server's copy of the client's DOS files. This is normally accomplished by the Network Administrator who makes some changes and adjustments to one of the server's files called the System Login Script. This Login Script is the NetWare Operating System's DOS operating system batch file equivalent. Using a few basic commands in this System Login Script, the Network Administrator can determine which DOS operating system the server client is currently using and then map that client in the right direction. If a user is using DR DOS as the client operating system on a Novell Network, it may not be immediately apparent as to how a DR DOS client can be properly identified and mapped from within the System Login Script. Normally, a line like MAP INS S2:=SYS:PUBLIC/%OS/%OS_VERSION in the System Login Script will handle the mapping properly. When DR DOS is the DOS client's operating system, however, the %OS and %OS_VERSION variables actually return MS DOS and v3.31 respectively. It is obvious how this can cause confusion. The DR DOS operating system is most compatible with MS DOS/COMPAQ DOS version 3.3X. It is for this reason that DR DOS appears to the NetWare operating system to be MS DOS 3.31. As a result, both COMPAQ DOS 3.31 and DR DOS versions 5.0 and 6.0 will end up being mapped to the same sub-directory on the NetWare server's hard drive. In order to prevent such conflicts, a little extra work is required when writing the System Login Script. Because the DR DOS client operating system actually maintains two environment variables called OS and VER which equal DRDOS and 5.0 or 6.0 respectively, it is actually possible to test the DOS client operating system in the System Login Script to determine if the DOS client is running COMPAQ DOS 3.31, DR DOS 5.0 or DR DOS 6.0. Once the DR DOS client is detected, the Login Script should map the client to a directory with one of the following paths: SYS:PUBLIC/%MACHINE/DRDOS/5.0 or SYS:PUBLIC/%MACHINE/DRDOS/6.0 This sample System Login Script explains and implements such a technique: REM These lines establish environment variables OS and VER REM if the DOS client is NOT running DR DOS (any version.) REM That is, any DOS client operating system other that REM DR DOS does not already maintain the environment REM variables OS and VER, and as a result, REM they need to be set. IF != "DRDOS" AND != "DRMDOS" THEN BEGIN DOS SET OS="%OS" DOS SET VER="%OS_VERSION" END REM All that's left to be done is to map the DOS client using REM the DOS environment variables and . MAP INS S2:=%FILE_SERVER/SYS:PUBLIC/%MACHINE/%/% COMSPEC=S2:COMMAND.COM The above script would result in the following: Compaq DOS 3.31's map would be: SYS:PUBLIC\PC_DOS\MSDOS\3.31\ DR DOS 6.0's map would be: SYS:PUBLIC\PC_DOS\DRDOS\6.0\ DR Multiuser DOS's map would be: SYS:PUBLIC\PC_DOS\DRMDOS\5.0\