Every few hours TCP/IP just stops responding.
Articles and Tips: qna
01 Sep 1999
Q.
Dear Ab-end: I installed BorderManager 3.5 on a machine, and every few hours TCP/IP just stops responding—I can't even ping the loopback address. I have not been able to find anything out on Novell's Support Web site. Do you know if anyone has seen this or something similar?
—No Ping No Pong
A.
Dear No Ping: Frank Berzau, a Novell Systems Engineer, states the following: "There are multiple reasons for this symptom:
"A problem in the NAT.NLM file. This problem has been addressed and fixed in the new NAT.NLM file that is in the latest build of NetWare 5 Service Pack 3.
"There may also be a problem in the proxy service when the DNS server that is configured through the RESOLV.CFG file was down and was allocating resources that were never released. This problem has first been fixed in BorderManager 3 PC7, which has been superceded by BM3PC8.EXE. This same fix should also be in the shipping with BorderManager 3.5. Anyway, there's also a fix out for BorderManager 3.5, which is found in BM35P1.
"There may be a problem in the IPFLT31.NLM file where packets are being dropped when using stateful filters. This resulted in the similar problem that is described in State #2, when the DNS server seems to be down. This packet drop was happening only under certain conditions, a fix is available in the NetWare 5 Service Pack 3 (post 722).
"There may also be a problem in the NetWare Operating System, where the TCP/IP stack is running out of small Event Control Blocks (ECBs). To address this problem, there's a new set parameter in the latest TCP/IP patch, found in the BMTCPE3A.EXE file. This patch allows you to increase the parameter "SET TCP IP MAXIMUM SMALL ECBS = 65534" instead of its present setting. By using this higher number, the stack will allocate so many small ECBs that the "peak" usage which is caused by running out of work-to-do's will never reach the new limit and therefore the condition will not occur.
"Customers will be able to download all of these fixes from http://support.novell.com when they specify the complete filename including extension. However, both the IPFLT31.NLM and the NAT.NLM files are included in the NW5SP3.EXE file."
* Originally published in Novell AppNotes
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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.