TCP/IP Configuration on NetWare SFT III

(Last modified: 09Oct2002)

This document (10014741) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

goal

fact

Novell NetWare 4.11

Novell NetWare 4.2

Novell NetWare 4.11 SFT III

Novell NetWare 4.2 SFT III

Formerly TID 2912274

symptom

Server Mirroring on NetWare 4.11 or 4.2

Can't configure tcpip on SFT III

Can't ping from SFT III

cause

TCPIP needs to be configured on an SFT III server pair.

fix

Create the tcpip configuration on an SFT III pair of NetWare servers.
Make sure that all the General Basic Requirements for SFT III are met.
When configuring SFT III with TCP/IP, the LAN consists of a physical LAN and a virtual LAN.
A physical LAN is defined as the actual LAN on which the Clients communicate with the server
A virtual LAN is defined as the virtual connection that allows routing between the IO_Engines and the MS_Engine.

In each SFT III configuration, you will deal with:
1) Two IO_Engines:
Each IO_Engine (IO_Engine_1 and IO_Engine_2) will have its own connection to the physical LAN which allows clients to access the server, and a shared address on the virtual LAN allowing communication with the MS_Engine during failure,

and

2) One MS_Engine:
The MS_Engine runs on resources allocated from the same machines as the IO_Engines and relies on the virtual LAN to receive information from the physical LAN which is routed through the IO_Engines. It has it's own connection on the virtual LAN, although has no direct content.

It is important to note that although the IO_Engines are involved with both the physical LAN and the virtual LAN, no direct communication actually happens between the two networks. Routing only occurs from the physical LAN to the virtual LAN through the Primary IO_Engine.

In order for the physical and virtual LAN's to work together, four addresses are required. On the physical LAN, each IO_Engine is connected with its own unique IP Addresses. On the virtual LAN, the MS_Engine needs it's own IP Address and the IO_Engines share an IP Address.

To ease the addressing between the physical and virtual LAN's, it is necessary to create a stub-subnet (or variable length subnet) within the IP address range for the virtual LAN. From this stub-subnet, an address can be designated for use on the IO_Engines, and another for use on the MS_Engine. The addresses within the stub-subnet mask need to be used for entities found on the virtual LAN and not used for nodes that would be found on the physical LAN. Because the MS_Engine and the IO_Engines are the only entities on the virtual LAN, any addresses that might be left over from the allocated stub-subnet mask range cannot be used by any other node on the physical LAN. Be aware that any addresses allocated in this stub-subnet mask that are not used on the virtual LAN are wasted.

<$$tcpipsft.gif,TCP/IP Configuration Example$$>

To better understand setting this up, consider the following example:

The SFT III system is set up on a class B subnetwork; with the subnet IP address of 154.88.219.0. The subnet Mask accompanying the IP addresses for connection to the physical LAN from the IO_Engines is 255.255.255.0 (FF.FF.FF.00) - the same subnet mask used on any node in a Class B Subnet. The range of IP addresses from 154.88.219.32 to 154.88.219.63 is available.

Based on the number of addresses needed for the Virtual LAN, a stub-subnet needs to be assigned. The table below shows possible stub-subnet mask ranges possible for use in this system:

Stub-Subnet Mask Number of IP addresses to be set aside
exclusively for the Stub-Subnet

1. 255.255.255.252 (FF.FF.FF.FC) 4
2. 255.255.255.248 (FF.FF.FF.F8) 8
3. 255.255.255.240 (FF.FF.FF.F0) 16
4. 255.255.255.224 (FF.FF.FF.E0) 32

Because only 2 actual addresses are needed for the nodes on the virtual LAN (i.e. one for the MS_Engine, and the other for the IO_Engines), the best stub-subnet mask to use will be 255.255.255.252, because with this mask only 4 addresses will be removed from the total number of addresses available to the network (and actually, the other two addresses will act as the network ID and the broadcast ID). Using this stub-subnet mask, the following IP addresses can be allocated for the Nodes on the Virtual LAN (from the Stub-Subnet):

        Node IP Address Stub-subnet Mask
        MS_Engine (Virtual LAN) 154.88.219.33 255.255.255.252
        IO_Engines (Virtual LAN) 154.88.219.34 255.255.255.252

Having allocated the above addresses, the range of addresses from 154.88.219.32 to 154.88.219.35 is now reserved exclusively for the SFT III Virtual LAN and cannot be used by any other node on the Class B subnet. Among the addresses listed notice that the first address is used as the Network ID, and that the last address is the broadcast address for the virtual LAN.

Based on the information above, any IP address not being used that exists outside the stub-subnet can be used for the two IO Engine connections to the physical LAN. The following addresses will be used:

        Node IP Address Subnet Mask
        IO_Engine_1 (Physical LAN) 154.88.219.48 255.255.255.0
        IO_Engine_2 (Physical LAN) 154.88.219.49 255.255.255.0

To setup TCP/IP configuration on SFT III system, follow these steps:

1. Load INETCFG.NLM from the IO_Engine_1 console
2- Main Menu: <Select> Protocols
    a) <Select> TCP/IP
        1) TCP/IP Status: <Select> Enabled
        2) <Escape> back to Main Menu. Save/update changes anytime you are prompt.
3- Main Menu: <Select> Bindings
    a) <Insert> to create a new binding
    b) <Select> TCP/IP
    c) <Select> "A Network Interface"
    d) <Select> The board you want
    e) <Select> Local IP Address: Enter the correct ip address for the physical LAN on IO_Engine_1
    f) <Select> Subnetwork Mask of Connected: Enter the Subnetwork Mask appropriate for the physical LAN.
    g) <Select> Expert TCP/IP Bindings to verify that the proper frame type is selected.
    h) <Select> Enable Force Proxy ARP.

[NOTE: Proxy ARP should only be enabled on one interface per IO_Engine. If more than one IP interface exists on an IO_Engine, enable Proxy ARP on the interface bound to the network from which the stub-subnet was taken.]

    h) <Escape> back to Main Menu. Save/update changes anytime you are prompted.
4- Main Menu: <Select> Protocols
    a) <Select> TCP/IP
        1) IP Packet Forwarding: <Select> Enabled Router
        2) RIP: <Select> Enabled
        3) (LAN) Static Routing: <Select> Enabled
        4) (LAN) Static Routing Table: <Enter>
            (a) <Insert> to insert a route
            (b) <Enter><Select> Default Route for Type
            (c) Next Hop Router on Route: Enter the IP address of the default router.
            (d) <Escape> Save/update changes anytime you are prompt.
        5) <Select> IP address for the SFT III Network (i.e. IP address for the virtual LAN address for IO_Engine_1) and "Subnet Mask of SFT III Network" (i.e. the Stub-subnet Mask for the virtual LAN).
5- <Escape> back to Main Menu. Save/update changes anytime you are prompt.
6- Now that IO_Engine_1 is configured (INETCFG.NLM can be unloaded from IO_Engine_1 at this point), load INETCFG in IO_Engine_2 and repeat steps 2-5 to configure IO_Engine_2.
7- With both of the IO_Engines configured, only the MS_Engine remains. Load INETCFG.NLM from the MS_Engine console
    a) <Select> Protocols
    b) <Select> TCP/IP
    c) Configure "IP address for the SFT III Network" (i.e. enter the IP address for the MS_Engine on the virtual LAN)
    d) Configure "Subnet Mask of SFT III Network" (i.e. the Stub-subnet Mask for the virtual LAN).
8- Reboot the servers

Once the TCP/IP configuration for the SFT III system is complete (and TCP/IP has been loaded in both the IO_Engines and the MS_Engine), verify the same by doing a PING operation to the MS Engine IP address from another node on the network (this could be a client, or any node that can run PING).

There are a couple of things to note:
1. The IP address bound to the virtual LAN on both IO_Engines must exist on the same network as the IP address bound to the MS_Engine, as seen below in MS_Engine's NETINFO.CFG and the IO_Engine versions of NETINFO.CFG

2. The RIP = YES parameter is required for proper function, to allow RIP broadcasts to go to the network.

3. INETCFG.NLM creates a NETINFO.CFG file for each engine on which it is run. These files are placed in different directories within the ETC directory on the SYS volume. IO_Engine_1's file is found at SYS:\ETC\IO1\NETINFO.CFG. The IO_Engine_2 file is found at SYS:\ETC\IO2\NETINFO.CFG. The MS_Engine file is found at SYS:\ETC\NETINFO.CFG. Do not manually modify these files because they will not be readable when trying to reconfigure your system, or loading and binding your cards if you do.

4. PROXYARP should only be set to YES on one interface per IO_Engine. If there is more than one IP interface on an IO_Engine, use PROXYARP=YES on the interface bound to the network from which the stub-subnet was taken.

5. Occasionally INETCFG.NLM doesn't work as expected on an SFT III system, in this case, it is necessary to put the commands from NETINFO.CFG in the IOSTART.NCF file for the IO_Engines, or the MSAUTO.NCF file for the MS_Engine.

After successful configuration, the .NCF script files used by NetWare SFT III during boot will contain the network configuration. Continuing with the example, the script files will contain the following commands.

I/O Engine 1 SYS:ETC/IO1/NETINFO.CFG (IO engine 1) contains (among other things):

    LOAD SNMP CONFIG=SYS:ETC\IO1
    LOAD NE2000 INT=5 PORT=340 FRAME=ETHERNET_II NAME=NE2000_EII
    LOAD TCPIP RIP=YES FORWARD=YES STATIC=YES
    BIND IP NE2000_EII PROXYARP=YES ADDR=154.88.219.48 MASK=255.255.255.0
    BIND IP MSENGINE ADDR=154.88.219.34 MASK=255.255.255.252

I/O Engine 2 SYS:ETC/IO2/NETINFO.CFG (IO engine 2) contains:

    LOAD SNMP CONFIG=SYS:ETC\IO2
    LOAD NE2000 INT=5 PORT=340 FRAME=ETHERNET_II NAME=NE2000_EII
    LOAD TCPIP RIP=YES FORWARD=YES STATIC=YES
    BIND IP NE2000_EII PROXYARP=YES ADDR=154.88.219.49 MASK=255.255.255.0
    BIND IP MSENGINE ADDR=154.88.219.34 MASK=255.255.255.252

SYS:ETC/NETINFO.CFG (the MS engine) contains:

    LOAD SNMP CONFIG=SYS:ETC
       LOAD TCPIP RIP=YES FORWARD=NO
       BIND IP MSENGINE ADDR=154.88.219.33 MASK=255.255.255.252.

document

Document Title:	TCP/IP Configuration on NetWare SFT III
Document ID:	10014741
Solution ID:	4.0.29790799.2284238
Creation Date:	20Aug1999
Modified Date:	09Oct2002
Novell Product Class:	Connectivity Products Management Products NetWare

disclaimer

The Origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. Novell makes all reasonable efforts to verify this information. However, the information provided in this document is for your information only. Novell makes no explicit or implied claims to the validity of this information.
Any trademarks referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners. Consult your product manuals for complete trademark information.