SET Command Parameters for NetWare 6
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Senior Research Engineer
Novell AppNotes
01 Oct 2001
Since we are focusing on NetWare 6 for this issue, let's take a look at what's new in the server SET parameter updates for NetWare 6. The SET parameters covered will be ones that are either new or significantly enhanced for NetWare 6.
While this article gives you an idea as to what is new in the SET parameters, Ed Liebing's Beyond the Basics column is spending quite a bit of time on the actual parameters themselves as they appear through the Novell Remote Management utility (formally known as the Novell Management Portal utility).
Category Changes
NetWare 5.1 offers the following categories of SET parameters. You can access the SET parameter menu by typing SET <Enter> at the server console prompt. You will see a screen similar to the following:
Settable configuration parameter categories
Communications
Memory
File caching
Directory caching
File System
Locks
Transition tracking
Disk
Time
NCP
Miscellaneous
Error Handling
Directory Services
Multiprocessor
Service Location Protocol
Licensing Services
Changes In the Communications Category
NetWare 6 adds functionality to the Communications category, leaving existing console commands intact. New SET parameters include:
BSD Socket default Buffer Size in Bytes.
This parameter is used to set the BSD Socket default send and receive buffer size. The constraint is given in bytes. The limits are 4096 to 1073741824. This command can be used in the STARTUP.NCF file.
Largest Ping Packet Size.
This option sets the largest ping packet size that can be received by the server. This parameter may be executed in the STARTUP.NCF file. The range is 0 to 65535.
TOS for IP Packets.
This SET option is used to set the Type of Service (TOS) in the IP header for all outgoing packets for all available interfaces. The limits are 0 to 127, with 0 being the default. This parameter can be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
Arp Entry Update Time.
This parameter is used to change the update time of Address Resolution Protocol (Arp) entries in seconds. The default is 300 seconds or five minutes. It is recommended that the Arp entry update time be greater than or equal to the Arp entry expiry time. Limits are 240 to 14400. This parameter can be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
Arp ENTRY EXPIRY TIME.
This options is used to change the expiry time of Arp entries in seconds. The default is 300 seconds or five minutes. Its is recommended that the Apr entry expiry time should be less than or equal to the Arp entry update time.
TCP Path MTU Black Hole Detection and Recovery.
This option is used to enable or disable Path Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) Black Hole Detection and Recovery feature. This feature aids in resolving the problems of datagrams being sent out, but no replies come back.
TCP Sack Option.
This SET option is used to enable or disable Selective Acknowledgement (Sack) support. Default value is ON. This set option will not change the behavior of existing connections.
TCP Large Window Option.
Use this parameter to enable or disable Large Window support. Default value is ON. This set option will not change the behavior of existing connections.
Maximum RIP SAP Events.
The limits to this SET parameter are from 1 to 100000. The default is 100 and it is used to limit the SAP and RIP traffic on network.
Additions To the Memory Category
NetWare 6 adds functionality to the Memory category, leaving existing console command intact. New SET parameters include:
VM Garbage Collector Period.
This parameter determines how often the Virtual Memory (VM) Garbage Collector will run. The limits are 10 seconds to 23 hours 59 minutes 29.2 seconds. This parameter can be set in the startup.ncf file. The VM Garbage collector analyzes VM memory, identifying memory contents that are no longer in use, cleaning them up.
VM Garbage Collector Looks.
For each interaction of the VM Garbage collector this variable determines how many memory pages the garbage collector will examine. The limits are 1 to 1048576. This parameter can be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
Interactive Screen Timeout.
This is the time that the current interactive screen will be considered interactive without receiving some type of user input. The limits are 0 seconds to 2730 days 8 hours 39 minutes 57 seconds. This parameter can be set in the startup.ncf file.
New Category: Traditional File System
A new category with NetWare 6, Traditional File System, is made up of parts of six NetWare 5.1 categories, including File Caching, Directory Caching, File System, Locks, Transaction Tracking, and Error Handling. However, no new set parameters have been added.
Another new category introduced with NetWare 6 is Common File System. This category is made up of parts of three NetWare 5.1 categories, including Directory Caching, File System, and Transaction Tracking. Again, there are no new parameters in this category for NetWare 6.
The Disk category for NetWare 6 includes all of the parameters available in NetWare 5.1 plus the following two new parameters:
Auto Scan For Devices.
This parameter automatically scans for new devices when the storage adapter loads. If turned off, the scan for devices must be done manually by using the Scan For New Devices command line parameter, or by the system or application call. This parameter can be set from the STARTUP.NCF file.
Auto Load of CDM Modules.
This parameter automatically scans and loads defined generic Custom Device Module (CDM)s. If turned off, the desired CDMs must be loaded manually, or added to the STARTUP.NCF file. This parameter can be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
The Time category remains unchanged from NetWare 5.1. All of your favorite time console commands are still available in NetWare 6, under the same category name, Time.
The NCP category retains all of the commands from NetWare 5.1, adding one new command for NetWare 6:
Enable Task Zero Checking=ON or OFF.
This parameter can be set in the startup.ncf file.
The NetWare 6 Miscellaneous category remains mirrored to NetWare 5.1 with no new parameters added, and all of the traditional parameters still available.
The Error Handling category is still available in NetWare 6, keeping all existing functionality, while adding one new parameter:
Auto Restart Down Timeout.
When the server tries to go down after an abend, it sets a timeout just in case there is a problem going down. This timeout is the time in seconds that the server will then wait before automatically restarting. The limits are 0 to 600. This parameter can be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
NetWare 6 offers one new parameter in the Directory Services category, while maintaining existing parameters in NetWare 5.1:
Force Auto Grow Stacks.
When the NetWare server creates a thread, it can have an auto-grow stack or a fixed stack. When this SET parameter is enabled, all thread stacks subsequently created will be of the auto-grow variety. If an attempt is made to start a thread with a fixed size stack, the stack will be replaced with an auto-grow stack. Auto-grow stacks provide greater system reliability and more efficient memory usage than fixed size stacks. This parameter can be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
The Multiprocessor category had not changed with NetWare 6. The three parameters offered in NetWare 5.1, System Threshold, Auto Clear Interrupt Statistics, and Auto Start Processors, remain.
Service Location Parameter, still available on NetWare 6, includes four new parameters, along with the original 17 on NetWare 5.1:
SLP Exclude IP Addresses.
This parameter allows you to specify IP addresses over which Service Location Protocol ( SLP) is disabled. All other IP addresses on this server will accept SLP traffic. If you specifiy NONE, it indicates that SLP is disabled on all IP addresses. Specifying ALL enables SLP over all bound IP addresses on this server. The maximum number of addresses is 190. This parameter can be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
SLP Include IP Addresses.
This parameter allows you to specify IP addresses over which SLP is disabled. All other IP addresses on this server will ignore SLP traffic. If you specify NONE, it indicates that SLP is disabled on all IP addresses. Specifying ALL enables SLP over all bound IP addresses on this server. The maximum number of addresses is 190. This parameter can be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
SLP DA IP Address.
This SET parameter specifies the IP address of the SLP Directory Agent (DA) on this server. You specify FIRST to use the first bound NON-Excluded IP address. FOLLOW may be specified to use the IP address of the received DA service request. The maximum length is 30. This parameter may be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
SLP Nwserver NLM Names.
This parameter enables or disables nwser.novell service to include NLM names as an attribute. This parameter can be set in the startup.ncf file.
Licensing Services has added one new parameter, for NetWare 6, while keeping the two available on NetWare 5.1:
NLSDIAG.
This parameter provides a snapshot of the licensing service set up on a single server. Maximum length = 18. Can be set in the startup.ncf file.
New Category: NSS
A new category, added for NetWare 6, is Novell Storage Services (NSS) . This category introduces 23 new parameters to allow customization of NSS. These 23 new commands include:
NSS Auto Locks HFS CD-ROM Disc in device= ON/OFF
NSS Auto Update CDHFS Volume Objects To NDS =ON/OFF
NSS Auto Locks CD-ROM Disc in device=ON/OFF
NSS Auto Update CD9660 Volume Objects To NDS =ON/OFF
Emulate Classic NetWare Directory Quotas=On/OFF.
Turn emulation of classic NetWare quotas ON or OFF.
NSS Work To Do Count.
This parameter determines the number of WorkToDo entries which may be concurrently executing. Limits are 5 to 100. This parameter can ONLY be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
NSS Maximum Cache Balance Buffers Per Session.
This parameter limits the number of cache buffers used during a cache balance. The limits are 16 to 1048576.
NSS Cache Balance Timer.
This parameter sets the Cache Balance timer in seconds. Limits are 1 to 3600.
NSS Cache Balance Percent.
This parameter sets what percentage of free memory NSS will use for its buffer cache. The limits are 1 to 99 percent.
NSS Cache Balance Enable.
This parameter sets the dynamic balancing of free memory for the NSS buffer cache. This can be either ON or OFF.
NSS Buffer Flush Timer.
This parameter will set the Flush Time for modified cache buffers in seconds. The limits are 1 to 3600.
NSS Minimum OS Cache Buffers.
This parameter will set the minimum number of NetWare Buffer Cache entries. The limits are 256 to 1048576.
NSS Minimum Cache Buffers.
This parameter sets the minimum number of NSS Buffer Cache entries. Limits are 256 to 1048576.
NSS File Flush Timer.
This parameter sets the Flush Time for modified open files in seconds. This limits are 1 to 3600.
NSS Closed File Cache Size.
This parameter sets the number of closed files that can be cached in memory. The limits are 0 to 1000000. This can be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
NSS Open File Hash Shift.
This parameter sets the size of the Open File hash table in powers of 2. Limits are 8 to 25. This parameter can only be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
NSS Auth Cache Size.
This parameter sets the number of Authorization Cache entries. The limits are 16 to 50000. This parameter can only be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
NSS ASCII Name Cache Enable.
This parameter sets the ASCII name caching ON or OFF. This parameter can only be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
NSS Name Cache Enable.
This parameter sets the name caching either ON of OFF. This parameter can only be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
NSS Name Cache Size.
This parameter sets the number of Name Cache entries. The limits are 3 to 65521. This parameter can only be set in the STARTUP.NCF file.
NSS Low Volume Space Alerts.
This parameter allows the turning ON or OFF the sending of low storage messages to all users.
NSS Low Volume Space Warning Reset Threshold.
This parameter allows the setting of a threshold, in megabytes, to reset a low storage space warning. The limits are 0 to 1000000.
NSS Low Volume Space Warning Theshold.
This parameter lets you set the threshold, in megabytes, for a low storage space warning. The limits are 0 to 1000000.
Conclusion
In summary, NetWare 6 adds new console commands in several categories. A few new categories have been added, while a few NetWare 5.1 categories have been removes, their parameters available in other categories. With NetWare 6, the following categories are available:
Communications
Memory
Traditional File System
Common File System
Novell Storage Services
Disk
Time
NCP
Miscellaneous
Error Handling
Directory Services
Multiprocessor
Service Location Protocol
Licensing Services
* 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.