[WinMac] Re: Looking for independent [NT4SP4/SFM] confirmation.
Dan Schwartz(expresso[at]snip.net)
Wed, 20 Jan 1999 12:31:13 -0500
Dear Michael,
I was all set to (almost) dismiss the problem you experienced... Until
about 10 minutes later, when the following message arrived in my mailbox:
>
>Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 10:40:09 +0100
>From: Anders Trier Rasmussen <trier@dfs.dk>
>Organization: Danish Council for Adult Education
>To: AlphaNT@alphant.com
>Subject: NT Server 4.0 SP4 and NIC
>Reply-To: AlphaNT Mail List <AlphaNT@AlphaNT.com>
>
>Hej Everybody
>
>I just want to share my experince with NT Server 4.0 SP4 and DEC NIC.
>When I was upgrading from sp3 to sp4 running on a DEC Alpha 1000A 5/300
>with a DEC Fast Ether Works PCI 10/100 NIC the sp4 upgrading change my
>nic to another nic, so I have to reaply all my IP numbers, that was
>connected to my DEC Fast Ether Works.
>
>Anders Trier Rasmussen
>
First off, let me say that the particular problem above arose on the
AlphaNT platform, not the NT/x86 platform most all of you use.
Michael's problem may have do more with AppleTalk bugs than anything else,
since the key phrase is "and now all their Mac Volumes had disappeared and
the server doesn’t even show in the zone." The key word here is *zone* --
An AppleTalk zone. This means there is an AppleTalk router somewhere on the
network; and all hell can break loose whenever a seeding router (at least
one "seed" needs to be in each zone) is rebooted. AppleTalk network numbers
can (and usually do) get fouled up at the clients, necessitating AT EACH
CLIENT the deletion of the "AppleShare Prep" preference file, switching
(temporarily) to LocalTalk, rebooting, and switching back to Ethernet.
Problem is, ALL the Macs need to be shut down simultaneously, as do
AppleTalk printers. Then, while the entire AppleTalk LAN is down, the
router needs to be rebooted. OUCH!
This is where the critical difference between a router and a bridge comes
into play... And how AppleTalk can run afoul of the difference. An
AppleTalk *zone* is something created by a "seeding" node (almost always a
router); whereas a segment is a physically isolated bus (or ring). Multiple
AppleTalk zones can -- And do -- exist on a single segment.
HERE IS WHAT I RECOMMEND -- AND ACTUALLY DO ON A REGULAR BASIS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Get rid of the AppleTalk router completely, and go to dedicated hardware
bridging with an ethernet switch. You'll run faster, smoother, and
better... And if your primary NT server is also functioning as the router
with multiple NIC's, you'll gain even more speed because now NT only needs
to "keep track" of one NIC and one set of bindings. [Just watch out, if you
have any devices on the LAN with multiple NIC's, to turn ON Spanning Tree
Protocol to prevent accidental loops from bringing down the whole LAN!]
My motto: Hardware is cheaper than software! :)
Yours truly,
Daniel L. Schwartz,
Electrical Engineer.
Dan's Macintosh Consulting
Suite 1306
1840 Frontage Road
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034-2205
609-795-8965
P.S.: Although NetBEUI has its faults, the logical zoning problem that can
occur with AppleTalk can't occur with it, because NetBEUI is non-routeable!
At 05:55 AM 1/20/99 -0500, Michael Martel wrote:
>Hello!
>
>Yesterday I received a call from the local computer gurus at one of my
>colleges. He wanted to warn me not to upgrade to Service Pack 4 (NT4). He
>said that they had just done it and now all their Mac Volumes had
>disappeared and the server dosen't even show in the zone.
>
>I've been testing SP4 on both Intel and Alpha machines since it came out
>and seen no inherent problems. He also said that he called Microsoft and
>they are aware of the problem but don't have any ideas as to what is
>wrong, and that they don't reccomend upgrading to SP4 if you need Mac
>Volumes. He also said that they have had six calls about this problem.
>
>I searched TechNet yesterday and then MS's online KB to no avail. Finally
>searching the web I found one (just one) report of something similair.
>
>Now I'm not really beating on SP4, I've got 15 clients that download about
>150MB's of data when they boot, and they boot once a day. That's more
>activity than my production server sees.
>
>Is there anyone who can provide me with confirmation that this is some
>sort of problem with SFM in SP4 ? A KB article number wold be great!
>
>Thanks in advance, and I'm not totally convinced he didn't do something
>wrong. :-)
>
>Michael
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Michael H. Martel | Vermont State Colleges
> martelm@quark.vsc.edu | Technical Support Specialist
> http://probe.vsc.edu/~michael | PH:802-241-2535 FX:802-241-3363
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