DOS Client Problems 1

[DarrenH]

Can someone assist with some DOS Client problems ?

facts:
W2K SP2(SP3 until yesterday!!!)
Metaframe XPS SP2
16 bit & 32 bit DOS clients downloaded from citrix this afternoon.
MS LanMan 2.2c (was 2.1 when I started doing this)

The transport field in the 16 bit client is set to TCP/IP Microsoft. The ip address of the TS is specified in the server field.

When I try to connect, I get 'Cannot find hostname (Browser 32)'. It almost sounds like missing entries in a hosts file on the workstation. I checked this and added entries for the workstation and the server. I can ping both by IP address and name, so AFAIK TCP/IP is ok, but I still can't connect to the TS

When I use the 32bit client, the only TCP entries under transport are VSL and FTP. The ICA DOS Client Administrator's guide talks about a VSL being automatically loaded for LanMan 2.1, but I don't think that it is. I ran VSL.com before starting the ICA client for fun, but got a 'Could not find TCP/IP support' message. The LanMan stuff is in c:\lanman.dos and this directory is in the path.

 

[clouds]

I struggled with Dos client issues for months. The final solution came down to network cards and drivers. It is the most important factor. Check that the correct driver is being used for whichever card, and don't make any assumptions about NE2000 compatability. Mostly the NE2000 option wasn't an option. Also some of the error messages can be misleading because of restrictions within Dos to correctly analyze all of the issues. It seems that most of the messages are only reporting the fact that there is no network connection.

 

[DarrenH]

My main problem is working out what the error message actually means.

The network card is a 3c509 and the DOS driver was installed from the 3com driver disk. Since my original posting, I wiped the machine and reinstalled the DOS TCP/IP stack. This time I put in all the DNS stuff. I can now ping anywhere I like, DNS resolution works fine. If I had a DOS text web browser I could probably surf the web with it.

I'm looking at alternatives. Historically, my company used a IPX/SPX stack to do this, but all my new thin clients are TCP/IP and I don't particularly want to add an ICA/IPX listener on my new W2K server just for one terminal. Buying a new thin client is not an option at the moment.

 

[clouds]

We are using TCP/IP on our dos clients. We did have problems with drivers even when they were the supplied ones. I'll dig out the project notes and let you have the information which relates to the drivers and the cards.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Have you tried adding the IP address of the Citrix Server to the Server Location field of the ICA client?

As has been mentioned, the somewhat vague messages that the ICA client throws up generally mean that some part of the TCP/IP stack is not communicating properly across the network. This means that an ICMP message might get a reply, but ICA might not - could be a routing issue.

Can you ping -a your Citrix server and get the name?. CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk

 

[DarrenH]

Aha

ping -a <server-ip> gives me &quot;remote name cannot be resolved.&quot;

A search on google gave me two links, but neither really gave me any clues except that it might be a problem with my DNS server which is on the Domain Controller.

I haven't come across ping -a before. What exactly does it do? Any idea where I need to start looking?

 

[DarrenH]

Ok, this time I used altavista and found MS KB articles Q130538,Q123279

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q130538

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q123279

This is nearer the mark, but I statically assign the IP address as I have a NetWare DHCP server that refuses to talk to DOS clients, JetDirect cards and a few other things.

I've put the entries for the Host, Citrix Server and Domain Controller into the hosts file. I put them lmhosts as well for good measure - still no luck.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

ping -a simply returns the hostname of the machine in question; usually the FQDN. If you can't get the name, then it's obvious that name resolution is not happening for one reason or another. This should be resolved as a matter of urgency - it may also help resolve other issues on your companies' network. ICA depends on TCP/IP name resolution in order for the clients to &quot;find&quot; the servers.

I normally assume DNS, but it can be WINS, router configuration or just an incorrect client gateway address - or even something I haven't considered yet ;-)

Try running ipconfig /all to double-check your client's IP configuration. Any errors should show up immediately. Double-check against Windows Citrix client machines - if they work, then it's most likely a client rather than a network issue.

Tracking DNS or WINS issues is a little more complex and involves checking through the forward and reverse lookup tables on the DNS and WINS servers. This should only be done if there is a generic problem connecting to the Citrix server(s).

Using the IP address of the MetaFrame server in the Citrix client's Server Location field may get you started, if you can ping the server (without -a).

In a properly configured client/network environment, you shouldn't need anything at all in the hosts or lmhosts files of clients.

Hope this helps CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk

 

[DarrenH]

Turns out I needed to enable windows sockets in the DOS client. It works fine now.

 

[Alane6]

This message is to DarrenH.
How do I load windows sockets into a ICA Dos client.
I am having similar problems as you are with excisting clients accessing fine but some that will not even with a new install.

Can you help me?

 

[DarrenH]

Alane6

This is how I added the Windows Sockets. I'm assuming that you've got MS Lanman installed with the DOS driver for your network card. I also assume that you've also found the setup program in c:\lanman.dos or wherever you installed it.

run setup

under CONFIGURATION menu, select network drivers

I get two entries : 3COM Etherlink 10 ISA and MS TCP/IP

Select OK at the bottom of the screen

You should now have TCP/IP settings. Make a note of the number of NetBios sessions, I'll get to that later

Select ADVANCED at the bottom of the screen

You should now be in DNR and Sockets Settings

Make sure that Use DNR for hostname resolution is selected and put the IP address of your DNS server in Primary Nameserver IP address

You can resolve the name of your Citrix Server, can't you? I think this is a requirement for the DOS ICA client or it won't work.

At the bottom of this screen select Enable Windows Sockets and enter the number of sockets. I've got 4 which I think is the default.

Save your configuration and reboot.

I found that the number of NetBios sessions got mysteriously changed to an illegal value of 67 causing all sorts of error messages when I rebooted. I changed it back to 6, resaved, rebooted and it seemed to be ok.

The ICA Client is set to use TCP/IP - VSL as a transport (It seemed to work) and I enter the IP address in the Server Name field

FWIW this whole thing is a nightmare and I spent a lot of time sorting it out. I had no choice as I have to support some ageing DOS apps as well.

Best of luck

Darren

 

[msgsyscoord]

I'm trying to construct a &quot;thin&quot; pc by installing MS-DOS 6.22 on a large enough partition to also install the 32-bit Client ICA client. First, I installed DOS. Then, I installed 3com NIC drivers for my 3c90X NIC. Then, I installed the TCP/IP stack MS LANMAN 2.2 provided at ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/BusSys/Clients/LANMAN/ Also, because I'm lazy, I installed mouse drivers. I selected TCP-VSL as the protocol to use for the ICA client.

I keep getting the following message when trying to connect to our Citrix server: Transport not available.

Does anybody have suggestions for me? Should I try the 16-bit client, or what? Do I need to enable windows sockets?

Thanks for your help,
Jared Olson
Messaging Systems Coordinator
jolson@execinc.com

 

[DarrenH]

It sounds like you're running into the same problems I had. I found that when I enabled windows sockets - see my previous post - things started to work. The main requisite seems to be working DNS and I think the client needs sockets for this to work.

I'm using the 32-bit client on MSDOS 6.22 with the MS LANMAN 2.2c from the same location and TCP/IP - VSL as the transport. Since my first install, I have managed to repeat the installation on another machine. So it wasn't a fluke right? ;-)

Do you really need to build a DOS client? I guess you have your reasons, but the cost of the book sized thin terminals with embedded WinCE or Linux are getting cheaper, they take minutes to set up and are totally silent. With some of the Linux based ones like the Neoware 508, you can even telnet in to them and change the configuration remotely without bothering to install the remote management software.