   4 Server: NetWare teaming


NetWare* 4.1x Adapter Teaming Installation Notes
================================================

Location of driver: \NWSERVER\AFT.NLM
     
     NOTES: AFT is supported on NetWare 4.10 and 4.11 only.


Overview
--------
The PRO/100+ adapter provides several options for increasing throughput 
and fault tolerance when running NetWare 4.1x or newer:

Adapter Fault Tolerance (AFT) - creates a team of 2 - 4 adapters to 
provide automatic redundancy for your adapter. If the primary adapter 
fails, a secondary takes over.

Adaptive Load Balancing (ALB) - creates a team of 2 - 4 adapters to
increase transmission throughput. Also includes AFT option. Works with
any 100BASE-TX switch.

Fast EtherChannel* (FEC) - creates a team of 2 - 4 adapters to
increase transmission and reception throughput. Also includes AFT
option. Requires a Cisco switch with FEC capability.

A minimum of two (2) adapter cards must be configured in a team for 
the AFT.NLM to bind. The AFT.NLM must be loaded prior to loading any
LAN driver. For more information on AFT, ALB or FEC see the Adapter
Teaming readme file (TEAMING.TXT).


Common load and bind statements for AFT, ALB and FEC modes
----------------------------------------------------------
The following statements will be referenced for all modes.
The slot numbers on your server may differ from the example given.

;- Load AFT.NLM (Must be loaded before the lan driver is loaded.) 
load aft


;- Load LAN Driver on 1st Adapter 
load e100b slot=4 frame=ethernet_802.2 name=pri_802.2
load e100b slot=4 frame=ethernet_802.3 name=pri_802.3
load e100b slot=4 frame=ethernet_snap  name=pri_snap
load e100b slot=4 frame=ethernet_ii    name=pri_ii



;- Load LAN Driver on 2nd Adapter
load e100b slot=5 frame=ethernet_802.2 name=sec_802.2
load e100b slot=5 frame=ethernet_802.3 name=sec_802.3
load e100b slot=5 frame=ethernet_snap  name=sec_snap
load e100b slot=5 frame=ethernet_ii    name=sec_ii



;- Bind ipx to 1st adapter
bind ipx pri_802.2 net=2
bind ipx pri_802.3 net=3
bind ipx pri_snap net=5
bind ip pri_ii addr=127.0.0.1 mask=255.255.255.0

;- Use only one of the following commands depending on the 
;- mode desired. Details of each command follow.
;- For AFT mode
aft bind 4 5
;- For ALB mode
aft balance 4 5
;- For FEC mode
aft fec 4 5

Upon successful invocation, the following message is displayed:
AFT Group has been created with primary adapter in slot X. It will 
be activated upon completion of network topology test.


Adapter Fault Tolerance Mode
============================
Adapter Fault Tolerance (AFT) provides Adapter redundancy for two
PRO/100+ adapters.  When configured, these are set 
up as a primary and secondary PRO/100+ adapter. If the primary 
loses communication with the hub/switch, the secondary 
automatically takes over. The secondary adapter will take over
for such reasons as cable connection problems, switch or hub port
failure or adapter failure.

Format:  AFT BIND PrimarySlotNumber  SecondarySlotNumber     

Example: aft bind 4 5

AFT NLM can also be bound by specifying logical names.  For example:
AFT NAMEBIND pri_802.2 sec_802.2

Note: Only one name from each adapter need to be bound.


Adaptive Load Balancing Mode
============================
Adaptive Load Balancing (ALB) increases transmission throughput and 
provides adapter redundancy. When configured, there is a team of 2 - 4 
adapters. One adapter is used for receiving and transmitting, all
other team members transmit only. Includes AFT option in that if the
primary (RxTx) adapter fails, one of the secondary adapters will take
over that function. ALB works with any 100BASE-TX switch. 

Format:   AFT BALANCE PrimarySlotNumber SecondarySlotNumber

Example:  AFT BALANCE 4 5              


Adapters can also be bound to Adaptive Load Balance mode by 
specifying logical names in the bind command

Format:  AFT BALANCE NAMEBIND PrimaryName SecondaryName

Example: AFT BALANCE NAMEBIND pri_802.2 sec_802.2 

Note: Only one name from each adapter need to be bound.


AFT will report the number of adapters in the team.
For additional adapters, load the lan drivers similarly to the second 
adapter then bind aft to all adapters.

Example: AFT BALANCE 4 5 6 7



Fast EtherChannel* Mode
=======================
Fast EtherChannel* (FEC) increases receive and transmit throughput 
and provides adapter redundancy. When configured, there is a team of 2 
to 4 adapters. All adapters are capable of receiving and transmitting. 
FEC includes the AFT option.

Note: This feature requires a Cisco switch with FEC capability.
                                                  
Format:   AFT FEC PrimarySlotNumber  SecondarySlotNumber     

Example:  AFT FEC  4 5


Adapters can also be bound to Fast EtherChannel by specifying 
logical names in the bind command.  

For example: AFT FEC NAMEBIND pri_802.2 sec_802.2


For additional adapters load the lan drivers similarly to the second 
adapter then bind aft to all adapters.

Example: AFT FEC 4 5 6 7


Please refer to the documentation that came with your Cisco switch
for instructions on configuring Fast EtherChannel on the switch.



Additional Information
======================
Following are some commands that can be helpful in configuring or
troubleshooting Adapter Fault Tolerance. Usually the default values
are suitable for most networks.


Command: AFT BIND, AFT Namebind, AFT Balance, AFT Balance Namebind
------------------------------------------------------------------
Error Conditions:
If you receive the error message: "Failed to create AFT group. Make
sure that the drivers for supported adapters are loaded, primary
adapter is bound to protocols and secondary adapter is not bound to
any protocols." Check the following:

1  The slot number is valid for the primary and secondary adapter.
2  The primary adapter has a protocol stack bound to it.
3  The secondary adapter is not bound to a protocol stack.
4  AFT is not being bound to an unsupported adapter.



Command: AFT FEC, AFT FEC Namebind
---------------------------------
Error Conditions:
If you receive the error message: "LAN driver loopback error detected.
Driver for network x received its own packet." Check the following:

1  All adapters are plugged into a Cisco Switch blade that supports FEC
   and the switch is properly configured.


Command: AFT RESET SLOT
-----------------------
Description: Used for issuing a hardware reset to the slot in the
system. This command is particularly useful after a transceiver
failure has happened and the user is trying to correct the problem.

Format: AFT RESET SLOT SlotNumber

Example: AFT RESET SLOT 10001



Command: AFT LINK TIMEOUT
-------------------------
Description: Used for setting the link timeout value. During the
binding process, AFT does a network topology test for a short period of
time before creating an Adapter Fault Tolerance group. This test
ensures that both cards are connected to the same network segment, and
that they can properly transfer data.  The default value for this
parameter is 5 seconds.

When using AFT with certain Fast Ethernet switches, AFT may fail to
create the group within the five second timeout. In this case, the
timeout should be extended to allow the switch to begin passing
traffic. The recommended value is 40 seconds for Catalyst* 5000 and
other Cisco switches.

This command must be issued before the AFT BIND command.

Format: AFT LINK TIMEOUT TimeoutValue

Example: AFT LINK TIMEOUT 40



Command: AFT STATUS
-------------------
Description: Displays the current ACTIVE status for the primary and 
secondary adapters in an AFT/ALB/FEC team.

Format: AFT STATUS

Example: AFT STATUS



Command: AFT SET FEC ALERT ON 
-----------------------------
Description: By default, alert messages in FEC mode are OFF.
This command will turn the logging functionality on for FEC.  
AFT relies on receiving traffic to determine the state of an 
adapter in the team. On fairly quiet networks, this may cause 
the error log to fill with spurious messages. While AFT delays
logging these status changes for two minutes, Fault Tolerance and 
Load Balancing algorithms are still functioning.


Note: event logging for AFT and ALB is always on and cannot be shut off.

Format: AFT SET FEC ALERT ON



Command: AFT SET FEC ALERT OFF
------------------------------
Description: This command is used to disable event logging (for FEC
only) when it had previously been turned on manually.

Format: AFT SET FEC ALERT OFF


Troubleshooting AFT
-------------------
Symptom
AFT reports adapter as inactive.

Cause
When AFT detects the adapter status as inactive, that adapter
is still a member of the team, though an inactive member. When
the situation is resolved and AFT receives an indication that the
adapter is functioning normally again, it will output a message 
stating "Detected a status change for adapter in slot x".  At
this point, that adapter can take over as Primary adapter once 
again, should the need arise.


Symptom
Adapters swap from being active to inactive every few seconds.

Cause
In AFT or ALB mode, the AFT.NLM checks the status of the other team
members by passing probe packets to the other members.
Connecting teamed adapters to different switches may introduce
a delay in probe responses and the AFT.NLM will inactivate an 
adapter.




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