Home, Java Utilities, Internet Utilities, Dos file mgmt, Add a utility, New files, Free Newsletter

Site Info, Support, Techtips,  Advertise

-

This Weeks Techtip

To submit a techtip, please e-mail staff@netwarefiles.com .  We will post the techtip if it is helpful.  We do reserve the right to determine which tips to post and which tips not to post.

Previous Techtips

1. My 4.x monitor screen is locked, and I don't know the password. And I don't know the supervisor password.

In this case, there are a few options. First login as admin /b then use "setpass supervisor " to change the supervisor password. This should unlock the console. Or use fconsole ( available on this site) to down the server. This will unlock the console, or break into debug (shift-shift-alt-esc) and do a "q" to quit and go back to dos. Don't use the last option if you don't have to. One last thing you can do is get the syscon utility (available here) and change the password for supervisor there. One of these will unlock the console for sure.

2. I don't know the supervisor password on my 3.x server.

Use setpass.nlm (available here) to change the password so you can get on with business.

3. How do you remove the x (execute) only flag from a file?

Use x-away (available here) to remove the flag. Or delete the files and recopy them.

4.How do You bring the server up without executing any ncf files or loading anything?

Use "server -ns" to bring the server up with no startup.ncf. "server -na" for no autoexec.ncf. You can even use "server -ndb" to not load the nds database. You can use them all together if you like.

5- How do I find out my 312 server serial number so I can go through the upgrade process?

Use syscon to get the serial number. Command Center also should show this.

6- How do I find out what files were compressed last night?

Download compmon.nlm. This will give you a nice compression screen and let you know what files are compressed, or decompressed and when..

7- How do I preserve my DS when doing a hardware upgrade?

Use dsmaint.nlm. This is the best way to do it.

8- Is there a way to copy files from my c:drive to the Netware Volume?

Yes, a few ways that I know of. Use Jcmd.nlm, Nwcc.nlm, filer.nlm and toolbox.nlm. All work great and can allow you to do many things.

9- How much memory do I need to get my server up and running?

As a Guestimate use Novemem.exe. This is only a guestimate. Then use the statistics provided in Monitor to judge whether you have enough for what your asking the server to do or not.

10- How do I know If my server is patched and OK.

Use the config7.exe and configreader. They are they easiest way to do a "status check" on your server. I like these two..

11-Once I have taken a Core dump, how do I get it up to my sys volume so I can copy it to a Workstation?

Use the Imgcopy.nlm or Jcmd.nlm to trasfer the coredump from the c: drive to the sys volume.

12-On the Dstrace screen, I have a -625 Error. What does this mean?

Use the dsdoc2.exe to find out what the ds error codes mean.

13- My server abended. What do I do.

The First thing to do is download Tabnd2.exe and go through it. Then you can take the necessary steps to fix it.

14-No one can login, my bindery appears to be corrupted.  What can I do?

If you have a good backup of the bindery on tape or somewhere, then you can use lasthope.nlm to give you a fresh bindery.  You can then login and restore the old bindery.

15-My volume keeps filling up with deleted files. How can I automatically purge them?

You can use a number of utilites to run an autopurge. Cleanvol.zip and Ap101d.zip are a couple them.

16-I want to automatically run some ncf files at a certian time. Is there away to do this?

Yes, you can use novcro.nlm to schedule ncf files for execution.

17-Is there a way to find out what files are compressed?

Yes, you can use the ndir command to do a million things, this is one of them.  You have to know all the switches to use though.   Or you can use the windows version and just point and click. wndir.zip.

18-How can I copy files between servers, without involving clients?

Use copynlm1.exe. It is an nlm that will allow this.

19-How can I tell what spec my lan card is? 4.11 needs spec 3.3.

Use drvspc.exe to determine what spec your lan card is.

20-Is there windows version of the salvage utility?

Yes, nwsd6110.exe and Salv97.zip are a couple windows utilities.

21-How can I find out what files are open?

There are a few ways to do this, openfile.exe and whohasit.zip are a couple one of them.

22-My bindery was corrupted and I had no backup.    I had to recreate all my users.  Is there anyway to avoid this?

There is no reason you should not have a good copy of your bindery files. With bind.zip, you should NEVER be caught without a good backup of your bindery.

23-How can I Check all my servers out at once? How can I distribute a driver update to all my servers at once?

Command Center is the answer. With this utility you can take control of all your servers at once. This is a MUST have, or at least try.

24- How can I replace the snake screen saver?

Download scrsav.exe . There are a few good ones. FYI, the have fun screen saver included has abended servers.

25-Is there a windows version of Syscon?

Yes, Wnsyscon and Netasst.zip are a couple of great utilities.

26-Is there a way to load the config.nlm from a Workstation?

Yes, Command Center is one way.

27-"My companies 411 server recently started  experiencing high utilization" Just wanted to let everyone know about the High Utilization document on the web (Novells support site).  This helped us troubleshoot and find the problem, someone turned compression on during the middle of the day"  oops!

Thanks for the great site! We have found alot of useful utilities.

28-We have been contacted by customers who are in a bad situation and need a way out. The Scenario is their server will come up but one of the volumes will not mount. The volume with all the data. Vrepair does not repair the volume and they have No backup. They are looking for some utility to get their data off the server.

We know of only one set of utilities that will allow you to copy, or access the data on a NetWare volume that will not mount. Odr for NetWare. Ontrack makes a Utility specifically for NetWare just for this purpose. We contacted Ontrack asking for a demo to post on our site, or something to help these customers. Ontrack responded and gave us the following link: http://www.ontrack.com

We hope this information is useful to those who need it the most.

29- So you want to store long file names on your NetWare volume. You must then add long name support for that volume. This is accomplished by the following method:

First load os2.nam (for 3.x) or long.nam (4.11).

Then type the following command at the server console.

"add name space long to vol1" Don't include the quotes on the command line, but do separate the words with a space.

30-

Thinking about upgrading to Netware 5. If you are, make sure your server meets the minimum requirements so you don't run into an problems.

Requirements:

1- A server-class PC with a Pentium* or higher processor.

2- A VGA or higher resolution display adapter (SVGA recommended).

3- 550 MB of available disk space (50 MB for a boot partition, 500 MB for a NetWare partition).

4- 64 MB of RAM (128 MB recommended to run Java*-based applications).

5- One or more network boards.

6- A CD-ROM drive that can read ISO 9660-formatted CD-ROM disks. Computers with bootable
CD-ROM drives must fully support the El Torito specification.

A PS/2* or serial mouse is recommended, but not required.

31-Tired of having to type "load" on every command? For example load monitor. In Netware 5 you do not have to type the load command. Just type "monitor"

32-In Nw5 all the set parameters are written to the registry. So how do you find out what set parmeters have been modified?

Type "display modified Environment" at the server console and you will see what set parameters have been modified from default.

33-Setting up your NW5 server for ip only? The question might arise, "how do I rconsole to the server?"

There is a new nlm to load, and a new utility to use. The nlm to load is RCONAG6.NLM and the utility is rconj. Try it out it works well..

You can launch RConsoleJ using one of the following methods:

1. ConsoleOne -> select server object -> Tools -> Remote Console
2. NWADMN32 -> Tools -> Pure IP Remote Console
3. SYS:PUBLIC\MGMT\RCONJ.BAT
4. RCONJ.NCF from the server console

34-Need access to your dos partition from your workstation?

In NW5, you can mount your dos partition as a Netware volume. By default only admin has rights to access it. NetWare mounts it as an NSS volume..

Issue "nss dosfat" at the console prompt.

35-If your planning to add a NetWare 5 server into your existing 4.11 tree, make sure all your 4.11 servers are up to the latest ds before attempting this install. The latest ds can be found on http://support.novell.com go to the minimum patch list.

36-Looking for a way to increase or decrease your NetWare partition without having to reconfigure your drives and blow everything away?

You might want to take a look at PowerQuests ServerMagic utility. http://www.powerquest.com

37-Did you know that in NW5 you can create up to 4 partitions per device? In NetWare 4.x and 3.x you could only have One partition per Logical device.

38-If you have NetWare 312 and your bindery has been corrupted, then you can use lasthope.nlm to reinitialize your bindery and thus avoid a reinstallation of the OS.

39- If you enabled compression when you created your volume, and now have chosen not to use it, there is a way to disable it.

Go into "servman", monitor in NW5, and turn "enable file compression" off. This will disable compression for the whole server.

40-Novell released its First service pack for Netware 5 this week. Feb 12th 99. Make sure you download and apply it.

41- Ever wanted to step through your autoexec.ncf just like you can with [f 8] in dos? Well, you can. We just ran across this utility and it is called single. It is supposed to work on 3.x and 4.x . We tested it on 4.11 and it worked great. Download it and let us know if it works well for you. Single.zip

42-Looking for a pause feature to use in your 3.x environment? Try pause.zip in your autoexec.ncf.

43-Looking for a nice easy menu system?  So are we.  For now you have to memorize all the Netware commands.

44-Do you need to create an NSS volume but dont know where to start? Try "NSS Menu" It will create a volume the easy way. You can also use nwconfig. Remember to leave some unpartitioned space on your drive to create the nss partition and volume.

45-Want to mount your cdrom as a Netware volume? You can cheat and do it the quick and dirty way by typing "cdrom" in Netware5. It will mount your cdrom as an Nss volume. Then type volumes after it mounts it.

46-Upgrading your hardware? You might have to use Dsmaint. Review this document before proceding. Document number is (2934033). This can be found on support.novell.com

47-Looking for a utility that enables your helpdesk to change passwords without giving them all the tree rights? N4pass might be your answer. Download it and give it a try.

48-Only have one test machine, but you want to load 4.11 and Nw5 on it? Try using Nwpart to accomplish this. Download it and give it a try.

49-Looking for a Utility that can record your servers long-running CPU utilization percentage? Try stat.nlm. You can use this on 3.x and 4.x, we have not tried this on 5.x. Stat.nlm

50-Looking for a "config reader" for DS? You might want to take a look at dsdesigner. With this gui windows tool you can import all the info from dsdiag.nlm and have a Gui picture of your tree that you can do many things with. For those not familiar with configreader, this is a tool used to import the info generated from the config.nlm. Both are a must for a NetWare environment.

51-Looking for a ds utility that will pull info from the ds database? Take a look at dsreport. You can find it on our Netware 5 utilities page.

52-Did you know there is a way to remove ds from your server, even if ds will not remove normally? "Load install -dsremove" will do the trick. Just enter pass all the errors and it will remove ds. For Netware 5 servers replace install with nwconfig.

53-Lost your admin password? Someone delete your admin user? There is something you can do. Novell can recreate your admin user or change your admin password with a special nlm only they have.  You will have to call Novells support staff for further details.

54-Looking for a server "GUI" console that will allow you to manipulate files? Try filer.nlm.. 

55- Want to push your set parameters out to the Novell registry without downing your server? You can type "flush cdbe" at the server console and this will do the trick.  Type "display modified env" to see what parameters have changed from default.

56-Want to learn a little bit more about the Novell Debugger?  Then order our cdrom.  We have included some information on how you can use the Debugger to help troubleshoot your issues.  For more information click on the 3rd quarter cd-rom link.

57-NetWare 3.12 and 4.x had a limit of 2 million directory entries. When they came out this was an incredible amount of flexibility.   With today's servers, this becomes a crucial problem.  NetWare 5 eliminates this issue with NSS, but if you want to learn more about the directory limitations of 3.x and 4.x refer to a tid called NetWare 3.x and 4.x Directory Entry Limits (Last modified: 21JAN1999)  TID document (1202046)

58- Have you noticed that some Nw5 servers have the Timesync debug screen active, while other NW5 servers do not.?

There is a reason. The timesync debug screen comes on when time synchronization has been lost. And can always be turned off with "set timesync debug=0".

59-Hung server?  There is another way other than powering the server off, or breaking into the debugger to bring that server down gracefully.  Press the following three keys all at the same time.  Ctrl, Alt, Esc.   This will ask you if you want to down the server.  Say Yes and it will dismount your volumes and bring your server down gracefully. This does not always work, but it is always worth a try.

60-Previously we posted a techtip that instructed you to call Novells tech support if you have lost your admin password.  We have been told that burglar.nlm will allow you to accomplish the same thing.  Might want to take a look.  Click Here..

61- This weeks techtip is more of an FYI.  Novell recently released service pack 3 for NetWare 5. Normally we ALWAYS recommend applying these service packs, but according to Novell, this service pack could cause problems with your NSS volumes. It could wipe them out.  You do not want to apply this pack until they fix this problem.   A second update to Service Pack 3 will be released soon. At that time you should be safe applying this pack.  For more info go to http://support.novell.com

62- Novell recently announced that they are giving Onsite Admin Pro away to some of its customers.  Onsite is a Great tool and if you have not tried it you should. We include a few utilities on our cd-rom that have similar functionality, but the compare feature of onsite is priceless.  We encourage you to get a copy and see for yourself.

63- Looking for a good ftp server that is nds authenticated?  Look no further.  We have a beta version, of the one that is going to be shipped with Novells next version of Netware.  This can also be downloaded from support.novell.com.  Ndsftpserver.

64- If it is suspected that the proxy cache on your bordermanager contains corrupt data, there is way to clear or flush the proxy's cache?

Do the following:
Step 1.) do "unload proxy" at the server console prompt
Step 2.) do "load proxy -cc" at the server console prompt

The "cc" is for Clear Cache". This will clear or flush the proxy's cache to zero.

65-Are you looking for a proxy server?  We recommend 2 products.   First Novells Internet Caching Appliance, or second Novell border Manager.   Both are great at providing a proxy solution,  a caching solution for your webserver, or in increase the performance of surfing the web.

66- Here is a command that is new to NetWare 5.  RESET ENVIRONMENT:  This command will display and prompt for every set parameter that has been changed from its default value, querying the console user whether to change the value back to its default value or to skip to the next modified set parameter.

67- If you have NetWare 3.12 you must either upgrade, or patch it extensively if you want to be y2k compliant.  Here is Novells y2k site where you can get the scoop.  http://www.novell.com/year2000/

68- Once again we would like to encourage you to make sure your version of NetWare is Y2k ready.  Here is Novells y2k site where you can get the information on what patches you need.  http://www.novell.com/year2000/ .   Also don't forget your clients.  Make sure you have the latest Novell client and that all you workstations have the appropriate patches. 

69- Now that the New Year is upon us, we would like to first wish everyone a Happy New Year.  Now one to our Techtip.  Netware 5.1 is shipping soon, but a lot of you are still running 3.12 or 3.2.  These are great Operating Systems, but there are alot of reasons to upgrade.  Here are a couple:   NetWare 3.12 can only support  2 million directory entries per volume.  Eventually you will hit these limits and then you will have to redo your volumes. Tid (1202046)   On the other hand, 5.x with NSS volumes can support much much more.  In fact  NSS volumes are capable of holding trillions of files in a single directory. Tid (2953006).   One other point is web related.  With everyone moving towards the web, it is important to embrace this technology and put as much on the web as you can.  Instead of sending company news around on a memo, put it on the web. NetWare 5.1 has a webserver, ftp server and a websearch all built in.  We know it is expensive to upgrade, but it is also very expensive to be on old technology and have your company running less efficient.

70- NetWare 5 Support Pack 4 was recently released (Jan 5th 2000).  We encourage you to apply this service pack.  There were some important fixes made that you want to avoid finding. Also NetWare 4 Support Pack 8 was released on the same day.

71- One of the most common causes of a slow network is insufficient RAM in the NetWare server. This procedure helps you determine if your server has enough RAM.


Procedure

1.At the server console prompt, type

LOAD MONITOR <Enter>

2.Choose "Cache Utilization" from the "Available Options" menu.

3.Write down the percentage of Long Term Cache Hits shown in the lower window
of the screen.

Tracking cache hits helps you predict when you need more RAM before you
experience serious performance loss.

If the percentage of Long Term Cache Hits falls below 90 percent, add more RAM
to the server.

4.(Optional) To temporarily free up RAM, unload any NLM programs that are not
critical.

72- Want to bring your server up without the splash screen?  Use this switch when loading server.exe

-nl   (no logo)   others:

-ns  (no startup.ncf)

-na  (no autoexec.ncf)

-ndb (no nds database)

73- Need to change your servers ip address and your not sure how to change the webserver and web managers configuration?  Don't worry, it is easy.  To change the web managers ip address, find the nsadmin.conf file and modify it.  For the webserver, you have to change the obj.conf and magnus.conf files.  You can find these under sys:\novonyx\suitespot\https-webserver\config.   The web managers file are under admin\config.

73- Want to perform an NDS health check?  Then use tid (10012858) to your advantage.  This is a tid written by Novell support.  You can find this tid by searching http://support.novell.com

74-  Apparently alot of customers have had high utilization issues that they are not sure how to troubleshoot.  High utilization can be caused by various things.  Bindery scans, compression turned on during the day, Nds issues, the list goes on.  To ensure you have troubleshot this issue correctly, download and follow TID (2916430).  You can find this on support.novell.com

75- Novell just released support packs for NetWare 5.0 and 5.1.  We strongly recommend that you apply these service packs because they resolve a lot of issues.

76- Did you know that you can manipulate the file system of a Netware Server without the Novell Client loaded on your machine?  Well you can.  Netware 5.1 supports  "webdav".   Install the Netware Enterprise Server and you can now use webfolders to copy, rename, move, etc files on a Novell Server using only your windows workstation.

77-

So what are the requirements for Netware 5.1 anyway? Here they are.

78 - Need to learn more about the Dstrace screen that is available?   Check out tid document (2909026) .  This document goes through some of the Dstrace commands that are available to you.

79- So you are running the Novell Servlet Gateway for your servlets. Great ! How do you test to make sure the servlet gateway is up and running?  Here is one way you can test it.  Hit your server using the following:  http://ipaddess/servlet/SnoopServlet. This servlet comes with the Gateway and is great for testing.

80- Novell re-released support pack 2a for Netware 5.1 and support pack 6.0 for Netware 5.0, so be sure to take a look at them. For addition info refer to http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/tidfinder.cgi?10058976

81- (4-01-01) So your running some java applications on your Netware server. How do you see what your running and how do you shut them down? The following command will help you:

java -  show  (shows what applications are running)

java - killid   (you can kill a specific app by replacing id with the real value)

java -exit  (shuts down all java applications and unloads java)

82- (5-13-01) We were recently asked how to add volume segments to a volume in Netware 3.x. Yes, Netware 3.x.  It has been a long time since we have worked with 3.x, but we found a tid that helps answer this question. Here it is on Novells support site.  http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?/2925177.htm  

83- (8-28-01) Novell has discovered a security issue that affects all Groupwise 5.5 enhancement pack and Groupwise 6 customers.  Read all about it at http://support.novell.com/padlock

84-

This was sent to us to include as a techtip. This is a way to schedule a purge nightly so you don't have to do it manually.

Create a .NCF file with a series of TOOLBOX purge commands, then schedule it with CRON. Below is a sample .NCF file.

# nightly purge process for deleted files

#purge files over 180 days old from SYS volume
purge sys:\*.* -q -d=180

#purge files over 180 days old from DATA volume
purge data:\*.* -q -d=180

#purge temp files from SYS volume
purge sys:\*.tmp -q
purge sys:\~*.* -q

#purge temp files from DATA volume
purge data:\*.tmp -q
purge data:\~*.* -q

Here's a CRONTAB entry to schedule it.
#purge old deleted files from server as 3:30am
every day
30 03 * * * MYPURGE.NCF

85 - Did you know that with NetWare 6 your sys volume is automatically created as an NSS volume? Well it is and you now can reap the rewards of a NSS volume. Also compression is turned off by default also.

86 - So you want to make an image of your Netware 6 box huh? What options do you have? Do you use Ghost, Server Magic? We suggest using Storage Manager from Portlock Software.  You can find them at http://www.portlocksoftware.com/products/stormgr/index.htm . Novell depended on them for the Netware 6 Beta, you can too.  Tell them we sent you.

87- Novell has announced that it will include MySQL in Netware.  It is available right now. We believe you will need sp2 for Netware 6.  It is in beta and will be available to everyone sometime in December 2002.  To learn more visit  http://developer.novell.com/ndk/leadedge.htm .

More to come