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Unable to Ping Servers Across Routers

Articles and Tips: qna

15 Nov 2000


Q.

Dear Ab-end: My workstations can ping the server, and they can log in to the server if they enter the server's IP address in the server name field. However, I get the error "The Tree or Server cannot be found" if I try to access servers across a router. How do I configure the NetWare client to login IP across a router?

-- Desperately Pinging in Pinkerton

A.

Dear Pinging: By default the client discovers IP services via multicast. Unless you configure some other method, IP clients will attempt to discover servers by multicasting SLP packets. The problem is that most routers filter out multicast packets by default.

There are four possible solutions:

  1. If the workstation is running Windows 95 or Windows 98, you can add the server name and IP address entries in the workstation's NWHost file. You can find this file in the Novell\Client32 folder.

  2. If the workstation is running Windows NT, the client uses the standard Microsoft TCPIP host file, instead of NWHost. Edit the host file to add the server name and address. You can find this file in the Winnt/System32/Drivers/Etc/Hosts directory.

  3. Load SLPDA.NLM on the NetWare 5 Server. This defines the server as a Directory Agent (DA). Add the IP Address of the server running the SLPDA.NLM under the client's properties. Click the Service Location Tab, and select the Directory Agent list. Click on the box next to the Directory Agent box labeled "Static." With a static directory agent defined, the client will not multicast for a Directory Agent, but will send a unicast communications to the specified DA.

  4. Allow multicast packets to pass through the routers. Along with Multicast, all devices that are routing IP between the workstation and the NetWare 5 server must be PIM-enabled (Protocol Independent Multicast). To enable NetWare 4 or NetWare 5 servers that are acting as routers, load PIM.NLM. For third party hardware routers, see their equipment documentation. If you have NetWare 4 servers configured as routers, you can find PIM.NLM in SP6. NetWare 5 ships with PIM.NLM. (Answer provided by Richard Bowns of Novell)

* Originally published in Novell AppNotes

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