Console Help Commands in NetWare 5.1: Dismount, Display networks, Display Servers, and Display Interrupts

Articles and Tips: article

Mark McKell
DeveloperNet University
mmckell@novell.com

01 Sep 2000

Get Down

When I hear the words "dismount" and "mount," I first think of equestrian activities, but neigh, these commands also apply to networking activities. The DISMOUNT command is used to make a certain volume unavailable to users so repairs or upgrades can be made without bringing down the entire server. While the volume is dismounted, no user can access its files.

So, to get a volume out of its saddle, type the following at the server console:

DISMOUNT volume_name

Before you dismount a volume, it is highly suggested that you warn users that the volume will shortly be unavailable. Warning users beforehand allows them to save files and informs them that they will not be able to do any work on that volume until it is mounted again. The best way to warn users is to use the BROADCAST command.

Just as there is more than one way to dismount a horse, there are several ways to dismount or mount a volume. Using the NWCONFIG utility, select Standard Disk Options | NetWare Volume Options where you can select the volume you want to dismount or mount.

You can also use the NetWare Management Portal utility. Under the Volume Management section, you will see Info, Name, Attributes, and Mounted columns; clicking on the Mounted Yes/No column of the volume you wish to take down, you will see a "Are you sure you want to dismount the volumename volume?" message. Clicking OK dismounts the selected volume.

Show Me IPX Networks

NetWare 5 introduced Pure IP to the NetWare platform. Previous releases supported IP through encapsulation, but NetWare 5 marked the first time NetWare could be run without its proprietary protocol, IPX. If you do operate in a Pure IP environment, the DISPLAY NETWORKS and DISPLAY SERVERS commands will have little use for you, but if you have servers that run IPX, these commands are handy for troubleshooting IPX communication issues and for reviewing the health of your network.

The DISPLAY NETWORKS command lists all IPX network numbers (including their hops/ticks) that the IPX internal router is aware of (see Figure 1). The syntax for this command is DISPLAY NETWORKS. (The DISPLAY IPX NETWORKS command is a system alias and performs the same function.)

Figure 1: Information displayed by the DISPLAY NETWORKS command

In Figure 1, we see that there are a total of 13 IPX networks that the internal router on this particular server recognizes. The first number shown (an eight-digit hexadecimal number, which is why it can contain both numbers and the letters A through E) is the IPX network number or address. Each IPX network address is followed by two numbers separated by a slash. The first number, left of the slash, lists the number of hops needed to reach the network from this server. The number at the right of the slash lists the estimated time in ticks (1/18 of a second) for a packet to reach the listed network. The total number of known networks is shown at the end of the list.

Show Me IPX Servers

The DISPLAY SERVERS command is useful if you have servers that use the IPX protocol. This command displays all IPX servers by name (including the number of hops) that the IPX internal router on this server is aware of.

The syntax is simply DISPLAY SERVERS if you want to display all IPX servers recognized by the internal router (see Figure 2). If you want to display a specific server by name, include the name or a wildcard character, such as DISPLAY SERVERS n* to display all IPX servers that begin with the letter n. (The DISPLAY IPX SERVERS command is a system alias and performs the same function.)

Figure 2: Information displayed by the DISPLAY SERVERS command

In Figure 2, the number listed after the server name indicates the number of routing hops between your server and the other servers recognized by your internal router. Notice the server WILDWILDWEST lists 0 hops. This indicates that it's the server upon which you typed the command. This server is also listed multiple times. This is because it is a NetWare 5.x server that uses Service Advertising Protocol (SAP) for advertising its file services and for Novell Directory Services (NDS).

Note: IPX servers that are more than 16 hops away aren't recognized but are discarded from the list. The DISPLAY SERVERS command can also list server address names for services such as file services, Novell Directory Services, print services, Storage Management Services (SMS), and Services for Structured Query Language (SQL) servers.

Show Me Interrupts

The DISPLAY INTERRUPTS command is used to list currently assigned hardware interrupts, interrupt handlers (also called Interrupt Service Routines or ISRs), and interrupt statistics.

There are several syntax options for this command, which are listed in the following table.

Console Command	Function
DISPLAY INTERRUPTS	Displays interrupts currently in use.
DISPLAY INTERRUPTS 3 10	Displays interrupts 3 and 10.
DISPLAY INTERRUPTS ALL	Displays all interrupts.
DISPLAY INTERRUPTS PROC	Displays per processor interrupt information.
DISPLAY INTERRUPTS ALLOC	Displays allocated interrupts.
DISPLAY INTERRUPTS REAL	Displays interrupts which occurred while the OS was in real mode and were reflected back to protected mode for servicing.

When a processor is taken OFFLINE or when an interrupt handler is removed, the detailed statistics pertaining to that processor or interrupt handler are, by default, removed from memory. To retain per-processor interrupt handler statistics for OFFLINE processors or to retain the total interrupt contribution from a previously loaded handler, change the set parameter "Set Auto Clear Interrupt Statistics" to "OFF".

Console Command	Function	Example
DISMOUNT	Allows you to make volumes unavailable to users so repairs or upgrades can be made without bringing down the entire server.	DISMOUNT sys
DISPLAY NETWORKS	Allows you to view all IPX network numbers (including their hops/ticks) that the IPX internal router is aware of.	DISPLAY NETWORKS
DISPLAY SERVERS	Allows you to view all IPX servers by name (including the number of hops) that the IPX internal router is aware of.	DISPLAY SERVERS
DISPLAY INTERRUPTS	Allows you to view currently assigned hardware interrupts, interrupt handlers or ISRs, and interrupt statistics.	DISPLAY INTERRUPTS

* Originally published in Novell AppNotes

Disclaimer

The origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. While Novell makes all reasonable efforts to verify this information, Novell does not make explicit or implied claims to its validity.