Ref: 06430025 Title: Steps to Take to Alleviate "Sleeping Server" Symptoms Date: 5/30/91 Copyright 3Com Corporation, 1991. All rights reserved. There have been several reports of "sleeping server" symptoms with 3+Open version 1.1, 1.1e, and 1.1f. The symptoms indicate a server which had been previously functioning has ceased to respond to existing sessions or requests for new sessions, although the LCD indicates the server is still active. These symptoms may appear suddenly, or gradually with a noticable slowdown preceding the failure. There are many possible causes for these symptoms, including any one or a combination of tuning problems, memory constraints, disk space constraints, and non-current software. What follows is a step-by-step guide for preliminary troubleshooting of sleeping server issues. Most sleeping server problems reported to Technical Support are solved at this level. 1. Verify the version of software. The server and workstations must be running 3+Open version 1.1f. This maintenance update is available free of charge by calling 1-800-NET-3COM. It comes with a Release Guide and a Network Tuning Guide. The software and Release Guide includes all fixes and information from the previous 1.1e release as well as new fixes and information. 2. Tune the server. Since the release of 3+Open there have been several iterations of tuning instructions in the manuals, release notes, technical reference guide, and technical articles. As of 5/30/91, our most current tuning information is contained in the 3+Open 1.1f Network Tuning Guide (available with the 1.1f Maintenance Update) to be used in conjunction with the 3+Open 1.1f Network Tuning Guide Errata (available on Ask3Com in the DOCS library, filename ERRATA.ZIP). The information in this guide along with the errata supercedes all prior tuning guidelines published by 3Com. It is critical to use these values when tuning the server. 3. If using NBP, upgrade the NBP.OS2 and NBP.EXE files to 1.1Y, which is a newer release than that provided in 1.1f. This is available on Ask3Com in the DRIVERS library, filename NBP11Y.ZIP. Both workstations and servers must be upgraded. The version of NBP provided in 1.1f has known problems that may cause "sleeping" symptoms. 4. Check for available disk space on the c: partition. Dynamic files such as print jobs in the spooler and the OS/2 swap file can consume a large amount of disk space. If 3+Open runs out of space on the C partition it will crash. Also, by default the OS/2 SWAP file, LanManager spool files, USERDIRS sharname, DOSAPPS, FAMAPPS, and OS2APPS sharenames are all pathed to the C partition. If the C partition is 32 MB or less they should be moved to other locations on the server as follows: * Move the SWAP file by changing the SWAPPATH parameter in CONFIG.SYS to a partition other than C. * Move the LanManager spool files by XCOPYING the \3OPEN\SERVER\LANMAN\SPOOL directory to a partition other than C and updating the SPOOLDIR parameter in LANMAN.INI to reflect the change. Verify the file permissions for the new directory structure through the NetAdmin interface. * XCOPY the contents of the C:\3OPEN\USERS directory to another partition, delete the USERDIRS sharname, and recreate the sharename to reflect the new path. Verify the file permissions for the new directory structure through the NetAdmin interface. Remove the contents of the C:\3OPEN\USERS directory. Update the USERPATH parameter of the LANMAN.INI file to reflect the path change. * XCOPY the C:\APPS directory to another partition, delete the DOSAPPS, OS2APPS, and FAMAPPS sharenames, and recreate the sharenames to reflect the new path. Verify the file permissions for the new directory structure through the NetAdmin interface. Remove the contents of the C:\APPS directory. Note: It is best to upgrade to 1.1f before taking this step, as the 1.1f installation program will look for these directories on the C partition. 5. Make sure there is plenty of RAM on the server, and that the server is using SWAP, MOVE for the MEMMAN parameter in CONFIG.SYS. Below are several recommendations needed to calculate the amount of RAM required on a 3+Open server: * Allocate 5 MB for OS/2 and the "core" file/print service. * If Presentation Manager is used, add 1 MB. * If the server will be used as a concurrent workstation, add 2 MB. * Add 1 MB for each 3+Open Name, Mail, Start, and Internet service that will be active. * Add .5 MB for each 3+Open Locator, Netlogon, Netrun, and LAN Vision service that will be active. * If 3+Open Backup will be used, check whether memory swapping and moving are enabled, and the expected times that backups/restores will be performed. If swapping and moving are enabled and backups/restores are not expected to occur during normal use of the server, add no additional memory for it. Otherwise, add another 1 MB for 3+Open Backup service. * Add the size of the disk cache. (This is probably the single most important parameter that affects server performance.) In 3Com's testing, 4 MB seems to be the optimal size; larger caches do not tend to improve server performance. * Set the server's LANMAN.INI parameter NUMBIGBUF= to twice the number of OS/2 clients expected to be simultaneously doing large file transfers to and from the server. In most situations, eight should be a good upper limit for this parameter. For every bigbuf allocated, add 64 KB to the total memory required in the server, above. * Set the server's LANMAN.INI parameter NUMREQBUF= to at least the number of physical clients (both DOS and OS/2) that the server will simultaneously support. * Monitor the server's error log for instances of "Out of Resource" messages. It is not unusual or terribly bad for one or two of these to appear infrequently. The server will dynamically allocate more buffers as it needs them. If these errors appear frequently, begin increasing the LANMAN.INI parameters in very small increments (1 or 2 at a time for NUMBIGBUF, 2 to 5 at a time for NUMREQBUF). The steps outlined above alleviate the vast majority of sleeping server cases reported to Technical Support. Taking these steps before placing a call to Technical Support could save you valuable time.