After you set up primary and secondary DSS servers, DSS requires very little administration. The following sections provide procedures for performing DSS management tasks:
Before you can start DSS, you must configure a master DNS server as described in Setting Up DNS Support Before you can start a secondary DSS server, the primary DSS server must be running.
From UNICON's Main Menu, choose the following:
From the Running Services list, press <Insert> .
If Domain SAP/RIP Server appears on the Running Services list, the service is already running.
From the Available Services list, choose the Domain SAP/RIP Server option and press <Enter> .
When you start the DSS server, the DNS server starts automatically if it is not already running. The DSS server uses the DNS server to provide DNS client access.
To return to UNICON's Main Menu, press <Esc> .
From UNICON's Main Menu, choose the following:
From the Running Services list, choose the Domain SAP/RIP Server option and press <Delete> .
If Domain SAP/RIP Server is not listed, the DSS server is not running on this server.
When prompted, choose Yes to stop the DSS server.
To return to UNICON's Main Menu, press <Esc> .
The following sections provide procedures for removing each type of DSS server from the network.
NetWare/IP cannot function without a primary DSS server. Therefore, if you choose to remove the primary DSS server, you must first configure another server as the primary DSS server.
WARNING: Do not move the primary DSS server unless absolutely necessary. If you move the primary DSS server, you should use the same IP address to prevent severe service disruption. Designating a new primary DSS server with a different IP address will force you to unload and reload all network nodes.
To remove the primary DSS server, you must
To remove a secondary DSS server, you must
From UNICON's Main Menu, choose the following:
Press <Enter> to continue past the warning.
When prompted, choose Yes to delete the DSS server configuration.
Press <Enter> to continue.
To return to UNICON's Main Menu, press <Esc> as needed.
When you set up a different server as the primary DSS server, you must reconfigure all secondary DSS servers in the NetWare/IP domain to use the new primary DSS server. To reconfigure each secondary DSS server, you must
NetWare/IP provides several configuration options to help you optimize network performance in wide area network (WAN) environments, as described in the following sections.
NetWare/IP maintains information about the length of time in ticks (1/18 second) it takes a packet to travel one way between two hosts. NetWare/IP and IPX-based NetWare clients use tick values to determine how often to retransmit an unacknowledged packet.
If you are running NetWare/IP in a WAN environment, you may find that your IPX client systems time out when trying to communicate with remote hosts. This indicates that the current tick values are inadequate for your slower-speed links. To optimize network performance in these conditions, you can adjust the tick values NetWare/IP assigns. You can customize tick values network-wide or at specific links. For more information on calculating appropriate tick values, see Calculating Appropriate Tick Values
WANs:adjusting ticks between nodesYou can set network-wide tick values at the primary DSS server. The tick values you assign here apply to all hosts in the NetWare/IP domain. You can assign tick values between nodes in the
For information on configuring the Ticks Between Nodes parameters, see Configuring the Primary DSS Server
WANs:customizing slow links;WANs Slow Links Customizations parameterYou can customize tick values for specific links at a NetWare/IP server. The tick values you assign here specify the ticks between this server and up to five specific hosts. This parameter overrides the Ticks Between Nodes value specified in the primary DSS server configuration.
You may want to adjust this parameter if you find that modifying the Ticks Between Nodes parameters at the primary DSS server does not completely solve your timeout problems. Specifically, you may need to assign slow link customizations on those NetWare/IP servers that act as IP-IPX gateways and/or send and receive packets over slow WAN links.
If you modify the Slow Links Customizations parameter value, you must unload and reload the NetWare/IP server module for the change to take effect. For information on configuring the Slow Links Customizations parameter, see Configuring the NetWare/IP Server
Use the following procedure to calculate the appropriate tick value to use when configuring the Ticks Between Nodes or the Slow Links Customizations parameters:
Load the NetWare PING utility by typing the following command at the server console prompt:
load ping <Enter>
Type the name or IP address of a host on the network you are calculating tick values for and press <Enter> .
Press <Esc> to begin pinging the specified host.
To calculate an appropriate tick value to use to communicate with hosts on this network, divide the value displayed in the average column by 110.
The resulting value represents the amount of time in ticks it takes a packet to travel one way between your server and the specified host. Use this value to configure the Ticks Between Nodes or Slow Links Customizations parameters.
Press <Esc> to exit the PING utility.
When prompted, choose Yes to return to the server console prompt.
Database synchronization is the process by which the primary DSS server obtains updates from secondary DSS servers and NetWare/IP servers. During a primary DSS-secondary DSS database synchronization, the secondary DSS servers upload any SAP or RIP information they have updated since the last database synchronization to the primary DSS server and download all changed SAP and RIP records and updated configuration information from the primary DSS server. During a DSS-NetWare/IP database synchronization, the NetWare/IP server downloads all new or changed SAP and RIP records from its current DSS server.
By default, the database synchronization intervals are set to five minutes. However, in WAN environments you may want to increase the interval to reduce traffic over WAN links. You can adjust either of the database synchronization interval parameters at the primary DSS server.
For additional information on adjusting the database synchronization intervals, see Configuring the Primary DSS Server
An unregistered DSS server is a DSS server that is not registered with DNS. Thus, a NetWare/IP node cannot locate an unregistered DSS server by issuing a DNS query. Instead, the NetWare/IP node must be specifically configured with the name or address of the unregistered DSS server as part of its preferred DSS server list.
Configuring an unregistered DSS server on network segments separated from the rest of your network by WAN links reduces DNS query traffic. In addition, because the unregistered DSS server is not registered with DNS, other NetWare/IP hosts cannot inadvertently be directed to this DSS server when other, closer DSS servers are busy or down.
For additional information on configuring an unregistered DSS server, see Setting Up a Secondary DSS Server
DSS SAP filters, when applied, allow only SAP traffic that meets specified criteria to be replicated to other DSS servers. DSS SAP filters are applied globally. Every DSS server uses the same set of filters to determine whether or not SAP information should be shared.
If DSS SAP filtering is enabled, each SAP packet received by a DSS server is checked against the defined filters. If the packet matches a filter, the information is flagged as global and is replicated when the DSS servers synchronize. If the packet does not match a filter, the information is flagged as local and is not replicated.
For instructions on enabling and configuring DSS SAP filtering, see Enabling and Configuring DSS SAP Filtering
You can optimize DSS server performance by using UNICON to adjust the primary DSS server tunable parameters. These parameters affect the performance of all hosts in the NetWare/IP domain.
From UNICON's Main Menu, choose the following:
Choose <see form> in the Tunable Parameters field to display the list of parameters.
Use the Up- and Down-arrow keys to choose the parameter that you want to change, and enter the new value.
Press <Esc> to return to the Primary DSS Configuration form.
Press <Esc> to exit the form.
When prompted, choose Yes to save your changes.
To return to UNICON's Main Menu, press <Esc> as needed.
IMPORTANT: If you change the NetWare/IP Domain, IPX Network Number, or UDP Port Number parameter values after your initial configuration, you must stop and restart the primary DSS server, each secondary DSS server, each NetWare/IP server, and each NetWare/IP client. Changes to any of the other global parameters are dynamically propagated throughout the NetWare/IP network.
In addition to modifying DSS tunable parameters at the primary DSS server with UNICON, you can modify the following parameters manually by using any text editor to edit the SYS:ETC\NWPARAMS file:
By default, the DSS server runs in dedicated mode. If you want to free some system resources for other NLMs, you can edit the DEDICATED_DSS line in the DSS section of the server's SYS:ETC\NWPARAMS file as follows:
DEDICATED_DSS 0 disables dedicated mode.
DEDICATED_DSS 1 enables dedicated mode.
After changing the dedicated mode parameter, you must unload and reload the DSS NLM for the change to take effect.
You can manually increase the maximum size of the UDP packet queues and the maximum number of simultaneous TCP connections maintained by DSS for storing SAP and RIP information by editing the following lines in the DSS section of the server's SYS:ETC\NWPARAMS file:
MAX_UDP_PKTS X (default=64)
MAX_TCP_CONNS Y (default=16)
X and Y must be decimal integers greater than the default values.
After changing the maximum number of UDP datagrams and TCP connections parameters, you must unload and reload the DSS NLM for the change to take effect. Changes to these parameters on a DSS server are not propagated to other DSS servers.
From UNICON's Main Menu, choose the following:
Choose <see form> in the DSS SAP Filters field to display the list of parameters.
Press <Enter> and choose Yes to enable SAP filtering.
To add, modify, or delete an exception to an existing filter, skip to Step 13 .
Choose <list of permitted services> and press <Enter> to configure SAP filtering.
To add a filter to the list, press <Insert> .
Enter the IP network address or subnetwork address of the host(s) that is advertising a service you want distributed globally.
Enter the SAP type (in hexidecimal format) that you want distributed globally.
Enter the name of the server that is advertising a service you want distributed globally.
Press <Esc> and choose Yes to save the defined SAP filter.
To edit a filter in the list, choose the filter and press <Enter> .
To delete a filter in the list, choose the filter and press <Delete> .
When you are finished, press <Esc> to return to the DSS SAP Filtering Configuration form.
Choose <list of always denied services> and press <Enter> to configure filter exceptions.
Configure exceptions the same as filters. Complete Steps 5 through 8.
Press <Esc> and choose Yes to save your changes.
IMPORTANT: If you save changes to the DSS SAP filters, you must stop and restart the primary DSS server to implement the changes. Secondary DSS servers will receive the new filter criteria after the next synchronization interval.
In addition to DSS SAP filtering, IPX-based filtering is supported via the INETCFG and FILTCFG NLMs. To enable IPX-based filtering, complete the following procedure at the IP-IPX forwarding gateways:
At the server's system console prompt, type the following command:
LOAD INETCFG
<Enter>
If INETCFG detects changes in the AUTOEXEC.NCF file when it loads, you are prompted to transfer LAN driver, protocol, and remote access commands from the AUTOEXEC.NCF file to configuration files maintained by INETCFG. In almost all cases, you should enter Yes to this prompt.
(Conditional) If you installed NetWare/IP and NetWare 4 at the same time using the integrated install option, configure the NetWare/IP board.
From the Internetworking Configuration menu, choose Boards.
Press <Insert> and choose NWIP from the list of Available Drivers.
On the Board Configuration form, enter any unique name in the Board Name field.
Press <Esc> , and confirm that you want to save the changes when prompted.
Press <Esc> to return to the Internetworking Configuration menu.
From the Internetworking Configuration menu, choose Protocols.
Choose the IPX protocol and press <Enter> .
On the IPX Protocol Configuration form, enable Packet Forwarding, choose RIP/SAP Only in the Routing Protocol field, and enable Filtering Support.
Press <Esc> as needed to exit INETCFG.
At the server's system console prompt, type the following command:
REINITIALIZE SYSTEM
<Enter>Use FILTCFG.NLM to define SAP/RIP filters.
Secondary DSS servers and NetWare/IP servers detect changes in the global parameters during database synchronization. The new global parameters are then downloaded along with the updated SAP/RIP records.
Changes to any of the following global parameters take place as soon as they are downloaded:
NOTE: You may notice degraded network connectivity while the new parameter values are being propagated throughout the network. This condition is temporary and stops after all DSS servers and NetWare/IP servers have been updated.
Changes to the following parameters cannot be propagated dynamically:
If you modify any of these parameters, you must immediately unload and reload all NetWare/IP components in the following sequence:
Every DSS server, NetWare/IP server, and NetWare/IP client is configured with the hostname or IP address of the DNS name server to which it should direct its DNS queries. If you move the DNS service to a new server, you must modify the configuration of each NetWare/IP node with the hostname or IP address of the new DNS name server.
From UNICON's Main Menu, choose the following:
On the Server Profile Configuration form, enter the DNS domain name in the (DNS) Domain field.
Enter the IP address of the new DNS name server.
Press <Esc> to exit the screen, save your changes, and return to UNICON's Main Menu.