Documents on Novell Server Freeze...

[mcship]

I have weird issue that I'm having trouble pin-pointing. I have 3 users, all running Win 98SE, and using Office 2000. When they open an office document that is stored on the Novell file sever the document opens fine but
then will freeze for about 45 to 60 secs and then work normally again. This happens to all types of Office documents and when I copy the same documents to the local hard drive or to a Windows NT server then the issue doesn't
happen. All of them have the same Anti Virus program and I've re-installed it, I've removed it and the problem still happens. They also have the latest Novell client. There were no changes to the network that I can remember and it's only effecting 3 users, which by the way started at
different times. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciative.

I'm running Novell 5.0

Thanks....

 

[Jontmke]

In the autoexec.ncf put this line:
SET CLIENT FILE CACHING ENABLED = OFF
You can type that at the console to change this before rebooting the server if you want to wait before restarting it.

Jon

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. (Bertrand Russell)

 

[mcship]

When I type in the command:
SET CLIENT FILE CACHING ENABLED = OFF

I get an error saying unknow set parameter name client (Type set for a list of valid parameter names)
Correct set command usage is:
SET
SET <parameter name>
Set <parameter name> = <value>
CSet <category name>

I typed Set and found a bunch of configuation parameter categories which did include File caching. When I put in that number (3) it shows a bunch of configuration. Such as Read Ahead Enabled: On
Read Ahead LRU Sititng Time Threshold: 10
Minimum File Cache Buffers: 20
Maximum Concurrent Disk Cache Writes: 750
Dirty Disk Cache Delay Time: 3.3 seconds
Minimum File Cache Report Threashold: 20

I appears this is just telling me this and not giving me the option to change the setttings, I'm guessing it's a different command. I did try just SET FILE, AND SET FILE CACHING, but got the same Unknown set parameter name error....Thoughts???

Thanks...

 

[Jontmke]

Hmm...
You are doing this at the server console? Works for me, what is the service pack level? Type version at the console.
That is directly out of my autoexec.ncf.

This is an older quote from Novell, but it did not work for me. &quot;From the server console (or through the Monitor utility), type SET <Enter>, then select Server Parameters | NCP, and change the parameter Client File Caching Enabled from On to Off. If your server is already experiencing the issues described above, you may need to reboot the server after changing this setting.&quot; like you I could only view these using the set command, and in Monitor under server parameters and file caching there is not anything there either.

If you type just SET CLIENT FILE CACHING ENABLED it should show you the status of that parameter.


Jon

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. (Bertrand Russell)

 

[TheLad]

Damn, you beat me .....

Probably cannot type the command due to Service Pack level. To find out what SP you are running, type VERSION at the console.

-----------------------------------------------------
&quot;It's true, its damn true!&quot;
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[Jontmke]

I was wondering where you were!

Jon

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. (Bertrand Russell)

 

[mcship]

I don't think there is a SP installed on this server. When I type version it just shows 5.0. By the way I inherited this network not to long ago. And to be honest I haven't dealt with Novell for sometime so I'm a bit leary about making changes. Also the chances of me installing a SP any SP is going to be pretty slim. This is the only Novell server we are using and even though I have a backup of the data I don't have a backup of the structure and if I had to rebuild it from scratch I'd be in a lot of trouble.

 

[marvhuffaker]

On NetWare 5.0, the service pack version doesn't show up when you do a &quot;VERSION&quot; command. You have to go into NWCONFIG and then look on the list of Installed products. If a service pack is installed, you should be able to see it on the list.


The fact that those SET commands aren't working for you -- that tells me that you don't have the right service pack installed. Those commands weren't built into Netware 5.0, only added later into the service packs. If I'm not mistaken, they didn't make it in there until Service Pack 6 (Don't hold me to that).

Mcship, Just as a side note.... I run into a lot of companies with people in the same situation as you are in.. Inherited the Novell system(s), not a lot of experience with Novell, System has been severly neglected... Sometimes you need to know when to call in a professional. It may cost you some $$$ up front, but nothing compared to the cost of downtime if you hose things up.

Marv

Marvin Huffaker MCNE, CNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[terry712]

personaly i would agree with above post
to get to the bottom of this you are going to have to dabble

first item would surely be verify server and get it up to service pack levels

it would also be nice to see what it's doing for the 45 seconds but your going to have to know abit about packets etc do to this

this is a new packet scanner that can be loaded as nlm but if your not sure then you dont want to satrt loading these kinda things on (and not sure if it works on 5 - it's been a while since i seen a 5)

what to do is at server type
load config
this will generate a report and copy it to config.txt in sys:system

this will give you version of server.exe , ds.nlm etc and a host of other relevany info
i would be totally surprised if its netware 5 vanilla
a neglected server will most likely still be at least sp2

what backup are you using

 

[mcship]

marvhuffaker...I agree with you totally about bring in some help, however convincing management is a different story. Since the problem is only effecting 3 people then it's hard for me to justify the cost. More then likely I'll ending replacing the machines which should solve the immediate problem but not the long run one that is sure going to come back and bite me in the a$$. But I'll do what I can to convince management of the need. Also I launched NWCONFIG and found installed products, this is all that I found. Catalog 1.0.0, NDPS 2.0.0, NICI 1.0.0, NRS 1.21, and SMS 1.0.0. I didn't see anything to do with any type of SP.

terry712...To answer your question, I'm being forced to use the backup program that comes with Windows to backup this server. I'm only getting the data off this server, none of the NDS structure or anything that would be helpful in rebuilding it within a couple of hours. I do see where the previous admin installed Backup Exec but it won't load cause it's looking for a CLIMB.NLS file, which from my understanding comes on the latest service pack.

Any more suggestions??

 

[terry712]

turn the server off
go to the manager and say unless you get someone in then this may well happen and i will not be able to fix it

the reason i was asking about backup is most backups ie arcserver etc and quite fussy about sp - so if you had said arcserver i would know its at least sp2

backrev pc's is a bit osterich

if your only backing up up through me then as well as not having the ds - you dont have file rights either

you really need to sp this little sucker

 

[marvhuffaker]

Mcship, it appears that the server has never been patched. You definitely need to consider patching it.

Patching a server isn't very hard. you do it through NWCONFIG and just follow instructions.



Marvin Huffaker MCNE, CNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting

http://www.redjuju.com