G'day all,
On Sun, 19 Sep 1999 00:03:26 +1000, Ben Hood wrote:
> Also, if I was to use the BNC, are the T-connectors and Terminators
> *really* nescessary for a peer to peer network? [ie only 2 computers
> on there with a BNC-BNC cable of less than 2 metres]
Terminators at each end of the cable are _essential_ for proper
functioning of a coaxial (10Base2 a.k.a. "thin Ethernet") network. Their
purpose is to prevent the network's electrical signals from being
reflected from the ends of the cable - which would cause massive signal
scrambling. So you will definitely need the terminators, and a
T-connector for each computer. The layout looks like this:
*T---- (extra PCs and Ts here) -----T*
PC PC
where: * is a terminator, T is a T-connector, PC is a computer with a
BNC network card.
It is okay to have one or more T-connectors in the network that aren't
actually plugged into a computer. So there's no problem with using a
T-connector to join two cables together; or to have an extra cable
segment at the end of your network for attaching "temporary" computers.
A 10Base2 network has a maximum allowable totoal cable length of about
180 metres. Beyond this distance the network's packet-collision
detection won't work properly unless special equipment is installed
(eg: repeaters or routers). Furthermore, although the official 10Base2
specification says that an individual cable segment can be as short as
0.5 metres, in practice some network cards can't live that close
together and will have problems. I usually have at least one metre of
cable between each T even if the computers are stacked upon each other.
As for cable positioning; avoid fluorescent lights, electric motors,
powerful radio transmitters, sharp corners, chair wheels, and small
children...
> I'm networking the 386SX and 386DX. I hope(d) to get a better
> computer to be the server but have no money. Know where I can get a
> job? <VBG>
I thought there were tons of computer jobs in Queensland? <G>
For Personal Netware (PN) any computer that's 20MHz or faster and
has a reasonably big HDD will do fine as "the server". If you have 10
or more machines on a PN network I would strongly recommend using one or
two of them as a dedicated server and have the others all act as
workstations.
Although you could have all the machines acting as servers and sharing
their resources, they will spend a lot of time checking for each other's
continued presence. All Netware versions do basic "are all the servers
online?" checks several times per minute, and there's a specific PN
utility (NET SETDOG) which can do more thorough automated checks.
Another aspect to consider is the administration of all those drive
mappings and sharings - it's tedious and you're likely to run out of
mappable drive letters with 10+ servers. File backups are also
difficult to implement.
I've found that dedicating one machine for file storage, and maybe
another as the print server, works well in a typical small business
scenario. However, note that PN's user controls are fairly limited when
compared to Netware 3.x/4.x, and it's possible for any user with "write"
access to fill up the server's HDD and/or trash files. Use the NET
utility to define user's login times, access rights, shared resources,
etc. It's better if you share a subdirectory on the server rather than
its entire C drive!
To make your PN installs easier, setup the file server machine first;
and make sure it's running PN when you set up PN on the workstations.
This ensures that the workstations will have a server and workgroup
ready to locate when they first log in.
When you're setting up PN in DRDOS, choose to "share this computers
resources" on the server, but don't "share" the workstation(s). Also,
in the "select server types to connect to", choose only Personal
Netware. This will reduce the memory requirements of the network. But
if you're planning to link to a Linux box running mars-nwe (Netware
server emulator) then also select Netware 4.x.
Pick any workgroup name that's unique for this network.
The Configure Network Card menu contains options to define your card's
settings. There's also a checklist of four Ethernet types. If you're
planning to run other network protocols over the same cables (eg:
TCP/IP, Windoze, Crynwr), select _only_ "Ethernet II".
This will force Netware to construct its message packets properly.
Novell's definitions of "Ethernet 802.x" are slightly flawed and may
confuse some non-Netware products - especially when they're talking
simultaneously on one network.
As an example; I've got several PCs on my 10Base2 network. Some run
DR-DOS/PN, one runs Win95 and uses NetBEUI to talk to a couple of Win
for Workgroups. Several run as a parallel computer using the Crynwr
packet drivers and my own software, and there's a Linux box which the
others access through TCP/IP. ALL of their network setups are
configured to use Ethernet II packets and I can run all network
protocols over the cable simultaneously.
PN includes a lot of network card drivers. The NE2000 driver works for
about 3 out of 4 cards although it may not run a specific card at its
best possible performance. If you have a fairly new network card there's
a collection of Personal Netware driver updates at http://support.novell.com.
If the card comes with software then the supplied Netware ODI driver
usually works okay with PN. Look for files named "...ODI.COM" and
"...ODI.INS"; copy them to your NWCLIENT directory and configure your
card using the "other card" option.
It's also possible to install DR-DOS's PN on an MS-DOS system. Novell
have (or had) a utility which created a standalone "Personal Netware
install disk set" from your Novell DOS/ DR-DOS disks. I have succeeded
with a PN installation to MS-DOS 3.3.
Have fun, and don't forget to eat in between all those Netwars and Doom
sessions.... ;-)
( Eko - this message could go into the SurvPC FAQ )
cheers,
Fraser Farrell
http://www.dove.net.au/~fraserf/
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