Common Problems

This section discusses various symptoms of common problems and their potential solutions. The symptoms are listed in the following categories:

• MACIPXGW.NLM
• Zones and Zone Names
• Console Messages
• Connection Problems
• Binding Problems
• Routing Update Problems
• Printing and Service Problems

MACIPXGW.NLM

• MACIPXGW fails to load and the following error message appears:Failed to find zone for gateway.
  • Try to load MACIPXGW manually from the console. If it loads, MACIPXGW was loaded before the AppleTalk stack could resolve the default zone. Delay loading MACIPXGW in your AUTOEXEC.NCF file as long as possible. You should load and bind AppleTalk first, followed by other protocols, and finally MACIPXGW.
  • If MACIPXGW still fails to load when you load it manually, the AppleTalk stack might be homing on an external non-seed interface and there is no router on the network to which the interface is attached. Reconfigure AppleTalk to be a seed router on that interface, or enable the AppleTalk internal network.

• MACIPXGW fails to load because of an incorrect AppleTalk Application Program Interface (API) version.

  You have incompatible APPLETLK.NLM and MACIPXGW.LAN files on your system. Update both to the latest version.

• The following message appears:Gateway name truncated to 32 characters.

  The gateway name that you configured is more than 32 bytes long. This is not a fatal error, but to avoid the warning message in the future, you should change the gateway name to less than 32 bytes.

• There are too many IPX broadcast packets encapsulated in unicast AppleTalk packets on the wire and you want to reduce the traffic.

  Change the Unicast Threshold parameter for MACIPXGW to a smaller number. This forces the broadcast IPX packets to be encapsulated in AppleTalk broadcast packets.

Zones and Zone Names

• Reconfigured zones are still visible in the client's Chooser or in the router's zone tables.

  This problem results from the way in which AppleTalk maintains routing tables and zone information on the internetwork. Routers are not informed automatically about changes in zone configuration.

  • If this problem is occurring at your site and the reconfigured router is the only router directly connected to the network supporting new zones, bring down the router and keep it off the network for at least 10 minutes (or until the changed routes are aged out from the internetwork). When you bring up the router again, the new zones will be in effect.
  • If more than one router is connected to the network supporting new zones, all routers must be reconfigured to support the same zones. Bring down all the routers, reconfigure the zones, and leave the routers down for at least 10 minutes (or until the changed routes are aged out from the internetwork).
  • If the zones are supporting more than one network and you want to change the zones for all or some of those networks, you must bring down the routers connected to each of the networks on which you want to change the zones. Reconfigure the zones and leave the routers down for at least 10 minutes (or until the changed routes are aged out from the internetwork).

• Zone names do not match configured zone names.
  • Although zone names are not case-sensitive, it is always better to use the same case when the same zone name is entered in different configuration files. Maintaining the same lowercase and uppercase conventions for zone names helps to avoid confusion on the internetwork, because zone names can be easily identified when viewed in the Chooser or ATCON on a router attached to an AppleTalk network.
  • It is recommended that you do not use blanks at the end of zone names.

• A network number or network range has a different zones list on different routers after the zones list of the network was changed on the seed router.

  The seed router was brought up before the network was aged out from all the routers. Bring down the seed router and the directly connected routers, and wait for the network to age out all the routers. At least 10 minutes is recommended.

Console Messages

• The following message is displayed when the Lookup Network Entities option is executed for the first time over on-demand zones:No entities were found.

  The on-demand link is not connected yet. Wait at least 30 seconds before retrying so that the on-demand link can complete the connection.

• The console displays messages about mismatched network numbers or mismatched zones.

  General Solutions

  • Verify that the network number or range is unique on the internetwork.
  • Verify that all routers on the cable agree about the network number or range.
  • Verify that the network's zones list has the same names and that all routers agree about that name.

  Solutions for Extended Networks

  • Verify that the extended network range of the router in Transition Mode has a network range of one (such as 21-21).
  • Verify that the extended network range is unique on the internetwork.
  • Verify that all routers on the cable agree about the network range.
  • Verify that all routers on the cable agree about the zone names.

Connection Problems

• An AppleTalk numbered WAN link (PPP numbered, frame relay multiaccess, and X.25 multiaccess) does not connect to a third-party router. Make sure the correct name of the manufacturer of the third-party router is configured in NIASCFG (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > Protocols > AppleTalk > Expert Configuration).

  AppleTalk for NetWare supports both extended and nonextended networks over numbered WAN links. Verify that the third-party router is configured for the appropriate AppleTalk extended or nonextended network. Make sure the network number (or range of numbers) and zone name are the same on the routing software and the third-party router.

• An AppleTalk frame relay or X.25 link does not connect to a third-party router.

  Verify that the correct name of the manufacturer of the third-party router is configured in NIASCFG (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > Protocols > AppleTalk > Expert Configuration).

• An on-demand link never times out.
  • Do not use an on-demand TCP connection for an AppleTalk Update-based Routing Protocol (AURP) connection. Because AURP sends Tickle (keep-alive) packets routinely, the on-demand link never times out. If you want the link to time out, filter AURP packets for that interface.
  • If the AppleTalk on-demand link is up all the time, make sure that no Macintosh on the network is leaving the Chooser on with the AppleShare* or printer icons selected for an on-demand zone. Make sure that no Macintosh is accessing an application (such as AFP Server) on an on-demand zone and is sitting idle.

• The console displays the following message: Misconfiguration - routing update is received from the remote system for an on-demand link.

  The link will stay up until deleted explicitly.

  • For X.25 connections, either a static route on-demand call is not configured on the called router or there is a misconfiguration of the Remote System ID (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > WAN Call Directory > a specific WAN call destination).
  • For PPP connections, either a static route on-demand call is not configured on the called router or there is a misconfiguration of the Remote System ID or the Local System ID (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > WAN Call Directory > a specific WAN call destination) or the Remote System ID (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > Network Interfaces > a specific PPP interface > Authentication Options > Inbound Authentication).

• A second call to the same router using the same WAN protocol does not connect or does not pass data.

  AppleTalk does not use a second call between the same two routers and often cannot establish the second connection.

• A permanent or on-demand call does not connect to the same destination.

  If a permanent call is established, an on-demand call cannot be connected to the same destination. Likewise, if an on-demand call is established, a permanent call cannot be connected to the same destination.

• Data is not reaching an on-demand static route even though ATCON displays the connection as GOOD.

  Static routes for on-demand links are always displayed as GOOD in ATCON, even when the on-demand link is not connected. Use CALLMGR to verify the status of the on-demand connection.

• There is more than one AppleTalk WAN connection between two NetWare routers.
  • There are two X.25 connections.

    The two routers are configured to call each other. The duplicate calls might be caused by the incorrect configuration of the Remote System ID (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > WAN Call Directory > a specific WAN call destination).

  • There are two PPP connections.

    This can happen only if both routers have two PPP interfaces that are configured to call each other and there is a misconfiguration of the Remote System ID or the Local System ID (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > WAN Call Directory > a specific WAN call destination) or the Remote System ID (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > Network Interfaces > a specific PPP interface > Authentication Options > Inbound Authentication).

  • There is one X.25 call and one PPP call.

    There is a misconfiguration of the Remote System ID or the Local System ID (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > WAN Call Directory > a specific WAN call destination), the PPP Remote System ID (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > Network Interfaces > a specific PPP interface > Inbound Authentication), or the X.25 Remote System ID (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > Network Interfaces > a specific X.25 interface > Authentication Options > Inbound Authentication).

Binding Problems

• AppleTalk does not successfully bind to a seed interface.

  Because the routing software does soft seeding, AppleTalk verifies the configured seeding information with the current network configuration from the other routers on that network. If the seeding information is inconsistent with the current configuration of the network, there is a misconfiguration and AppleTalk does not allow the interface to come up. Check the interface's configuration to verify that the network number (or range) and zone names are configured in exactly the same way as all other seed routers connected to the same network.

• AppleTalk fails to bind to an interface and the following message is displayed:Error binding APPLETALK to board  board_name .

  This occurs because the driver was not initialized fully when AppleTalk was bound to it the first time. This can happen when the LOAD driver command immediately precedes the command for binding AppleTalk to the driver in a batch file such as AUTOEXEC.NCF. To correct this problem, use NIASCFG to configure the board and AppleTalk, or manually move the LOAD driver line to above the LOAD APPLETLK line to allow more time for the board to complete initialization.

Routing Update Problems

• Routing update packets are exchanged on X.25 on-demand links.

  A static route on-demand call is not configured on the called router, or there is a misconfiguration of the Remote System ID (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > WAN Call Directory > a specific WAN call destination).

• Routing update is exchanged on PPP on-demand links.

  A static route on-demand call is not configured on the called router or there is a misconfiguration of the Remote System ID or the Local System ID (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > WAN Call Directory > a specific WAN call destination) or the Remote System ID (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > Network Interfaces > a specific PPP interface > Authentication Options > Inbound Authentication).

Printing and Service Problems

• AppleTalk clients cannot access the services provided on the NetWare server from the Chooser, and the server does not respond to AURP requests.

  The LAN driver does not support multicast correctly. Use a different LAN driver.

• AppleTalk clients cannot see the services provided on the NetWare server from the Chooser.

  Load ATCON from the NetWare server console, then select Protocol Configuration. If the status of the stack is Disabled and the AppleTalk router has no internal network configured, you might have forgotten to select a LAN interface to provide application support when you bound AppleTalk to the LAN interface.

• Macintosh print jobs over on-demand links are suspended.

  If a Macintosh was linked to the printer over an on-demand link some time ago and did not print anything, the on-demand link might time out and disconnect. If the Macintosh starts to print, its print job is suspended and the Macintosh system displays a message to check the Print Monitor. At the same time, the on-demand link starts to make the connection. As you select Try Again and close the Print Monitor, the on-demand link finishes establishing the connection. The print job would then be printed. Subsequent print jobs are printed without any interruption from the Print Monitor, as long as the on-demand link is connected.

• There are differences in the routing tables between routers.

  Routing tables between AppleTalk routers can vary from each other. Check that routing filters among the routers are not preventing the propagation of required routes. If AURP is being used, verify that all AURP routers have been configured with the correct peer list. Verify that the required static routes for the on-demand calls have been configured in NIASCFG (parameter path: Select Configure NIAS > Protocols and Routing > Bindings > a specific binding > WAN Call Destination > Static Routes).