
***************************************************************************** 
                                 NETWARE.TXT
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This file describes the features and use of the Symbios Logic SDMS device 
drivers for the Novell NetWare v3.12 and 4.xx operating system environments. 
It is divided into the following sections:

Introduction
     Features
     Description
     ASPI Support

Installing Your SDMS NetWare Drivers
     For An Existing Installation Of NetWare With SDMS Drivers Installed
     For NetWare v3.12 New Installations
     For NetWare v4.XX New Installations
     For NetWare v4.1x SFT-III Installations
     For NetWare v4.1x NWOS2 Installations
     Command Line Options
          Using the Verbose Mode Option
          Using the Help Mode Option
          Using the Tagged Queuing Option
          Using the Depth of Queue Tags Option
          Using the Queue Tag Type Option
          Using the Base Time-Out Option
          Using the Sorting of Read Requests Opton
          Using the Shared Interrupts Option
          Using the Wide SCSI Option
          Using the Number of Error Recovery Retries Option
          Using the Logging of SCSI Errors Option
          Using the Exclusion of Devices Option
          Using the Maxumum Block Size for Concatenation Option
          Using the Maxumum Host Adapters Option
          Using the Maxumum SCSI IDs Option
          Using the Maximum LUNs Option

Important Additional Information
     For Information Pertaining to a Specific Driver
     About Memory Allocation
     Optimal Use of Command Line Options
     DOS Access Dependencies
     Supported DOS Configurations
     When Using An SDMS 3.XX BIOS
     When Using An SDMS 4.XX BIOS
     When Using No SDMS BIOS


******************************* Introduction ******************************** 

The Symbios Logic SDMS drivers for the Novell Netware operating system allow 
you to utilize a Symbios Logic SCSI controller or processor, controlled by a 
Symbios Logic SCSI BIOS, with NetWare. The SDMS software, coupled with a 
Symbios Logic SCSI controller or processor, provides a SCSI solution within 
the NetWare environment.

Separate drivers are provided for Novell NetWare v3.12 and Novell NetWare 
version 4.xx. The following information explains how to install and use the 
SDMS SCSI drivers for NetWare.


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * Features *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

o  Supports the ASPI interface 
o  Provides Synchronous Negotiation including Fast and Ultra (Fast-20) SCSI 
o  Supports Multiple Host Adapters 
o  Supports Multiple Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs) 
o  Large LUN support (larger than 7.844 gigabytes) for devices with dedicated 
   NetWare partitions and volumes 
o  Supports Disconnect/Reselect 
o  Supports Scatter-Gather 
o  Supports Tagged Command Queuing 
o  Supports Ordered Queue Tags 
o  Allows shared interrupts 
o  Supports Wide SCSI (single-ended and differential) 
o  Supports Device Exclusion 
o  Supports NW4.10 SFT-III 
o  Supports Target Initiated Negotiation (wide and synchronous) 
o  Displays SCSI Additional Sense Code & Qualifier bytes 
o  Support for removable media devices including CD-ROM, Magneto Optical, and 
   Bernoulli devices 
o  Supports retries on non-sequential access devices 
o  Extensive error reporting and handling for multi-LUN RAID support 
o  Supports 3.XX BIOS 
o  Supports 4.XX BIOS and ASPI drivers 


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * Description *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

There is a separate SDMS device driver and ASPI manager for each of two major 
releases of NetWare. For NetWare v3.12, the SDMS device driver is 
SDMSNET3.DSK, and the file NETASPI3.NLM is loaded if support for the ASPI 
interface is desired (this is required for devices such as tape drives). For 
NetWare v4.xx, the SDMS device driver is SDMSNET4.DSK, and the file 
NETASPI4.NLM is loaded if support for the ASPI interface is desired.


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  ASPI Support *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The Symbios Logic ASPI interface is provided by the NETASPIx.NLM drivers. 
NetWare, or third party applications, may use this interface to communicate 
with any SCSI-2 device attached to a Symbios Logic controller, including 
SCSI-2 tape devices.


******************** Installing Your SDMS NetWare Drivers ******************* 

Install NetWare as described in the Novell NetWare Installation Manual. The 
following information is provided to assist in the installation.

You can load these drivers only once. If changes are required (to reconfigure 
the driver options), you must remove the drivers and reload them with the new 
option settings. If these changes are permanent, and the drivers load 
automatically at server boot time, you must specify these options in the 
startup.ncf or autoexec.ncf file.


*  * For An Existing Installation Of NetWare With SDMS Drivers Installed *  *

If your current SDMS NetWare drivers are version 3.05.00 or older, they are 
named NCRSDMSx.DSK and ASPICAMx.NLM. Replace the NCRSDMSx.DSK and 
ASPICAMx.NLM drivers with the ones supplied on the new Symbios Logic device 
drivers diskette.

If you intend the driver to auto load on NetWare boot, it is necessary to 
edit the startup.ncf or autoexec.ncf file and replace the line:

     load NCRSDMSx.DSK <options>

with 

     load SDMSNETx.DSK <options>

where 
     x is the version of NetWare you are using, and <options> are the command 
     line options (if any) you intend to use.

If your current SDMS NetWare drivers are version 3.06.00 or newer, they are 
named SDMSNETx.DSK and NETASPIx.NLM. Replace the SDMSNETx.DSK and 
NETASPIx.NLM drivers with the ones supplied on the new Symbios Logic device 
drivers diskette.

No other actions are required to use these new drivers. You may want to 
review the command line options to ensure you are using the best options for 
your configuration.


*  *  *  *  *  *  * For NetWare v3.12 New Installations *  *  *  *  *  *  *  

Note: The SDMSNET3.DSK driver should work on a NetWare 3.11 server. However, 
      this compatibility is neither tested nor supported.

1. Create a directory to install the NetWare file server. Change to that
   directory and copy all the files from the NetWare system disks into 
   that directory.

2. Copy the file SDMSNET3.DSK from the Symbios Logic device drivers diskette 
   into this directory. If ASPI support is desired, also copy NETASPI3.NLM. 

3. To start NetWare and continue the installation, type:

     SERVER 

4. When prompted, enter the name of the file server and network (IPX) number. 
   See the chapter on file server installation in the NetWare Installation 
   Manual for restrictions and further information.

5. At the NetWare prompt, type: 

     load SDMSNET3 <options> 

   This command loads the main driver. Without this command, NetWare is 
   unable to access the hard disk drive. If ASPI support is desired, also 
   type: 

     load NETASPI3 

6. To bring up the Installation menu, at the NetWare prompt type: 

     load INSTALL

   Continue with the installation according to the file server installation 
   chapter in the Novell NetWare Installation Manual.

7. At the Available System Options menu, select the EDIT STARTUP.NCF option 
   and check to see that the line LOAD SDMSNET3 is in the file. If not, add 
   this line to the file. This eliminates the need to load drivers by hand 
   every time the system is powered up. If the line appears more than once, 
   remove the duplicate statements and all references to "port=xxxx", 
   "slot=xxxx" and/or "mem=xxxx".

8. In addition, if ASPI support is required, add the line: 

     load NETASPI3.NLM 

   to the file after the line: 

     load SDMSNET3.DSK 


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  * For NetWare v4.xx New Installations *  *  *  *  *  *

1. Begin the file server installation as per the instructions in the file 
   server installation chapter in the Novell NetWare Installation Manual. 

2. When the NetWare installation procedure prompts you for a disk driver, 
   insert the Symbios Logic device drivers diskette into drive a: or b:.
   Then use the INS key to select an unlisted driver. A dialog box appears.
   If you are installing the driver from the a: drive, press Enter to 
   continue. If you are installing the driver from the b: drive, press F3 
   (to specify the path to search for the driver), and enter the drive 
   letter: 

     B: 

   The SDMSNET4.DSK driver should appear as a selection. Select the driver.

3. Next you are prompted with the available command line options to load the 
   driver. A description of each option appears in the box at the bottom of 
   the installation screen. A more detailed description is also given later 
   in this document, in the section titled Command Line Options. Select any 
   options needed for your particular installation.

4. When asked to edit the STARTUP.NCF file, make sure SDMSNET4 is loaded 
   only once. If present, remove the "port=xxxx slot=xxxx mem=xxxx" options 
   from the command line. 

5. After the installation is complete, if ASPI support is also desired, down 
   the server and copy the NETASPI4.NLM file to the appropriate server 
   directory. For NetWare 4.0x systems, this directory is SERVER.40 by 
   default. For NetWare 4.1x systems, this directory is NWSERVER by default.

   Edit the startup.ncf file and add the line: 

     load NETASPI4.NLM 

   to the file after the line: 

     load SDMSNET4.DSK 


*  *  *  *  *  *  * For NetWare v4.1x SFT-III Installations *  *  *  *  *  * 

1. Install your primary server following procedures for native 4.1x 
   installations.

2. Begin the SFT-III installation as instructed by the NetWare installation 
   procedures.

3. While installing the secondary server, you have the option of copying the 
   SDMSNET4.DSK driver from the primary server. Press F10 to accept this
   option.

4. If ASPI support is required for the secondary server, down the system 
   after completing the SFT-III installation.

   Copy the NETASPI4.NLM file from the device drivers diskette to the 
   NWSERVER directory on the secondary server.

   Edit the IOSTART.NCF file on both servers by adding the line:

     load NETASPI4.NLM 

   to the files after the line: 

     load SDMSNET4.DSK 


*  *  *  *  *  *  * For NetWare v4.1x NWOS2 Installations *  *  *  *  *  *  

This is not a supported configuration.


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * Command Line Options *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The SDMSNET3.DSK and SDMSNET4.DSK drivers have many tuning parameters. 
Following is a list of tuning parameters available, including the default 
option and a list of valid options. Following each parameter is a description 
of when to use a parameter, and any impact its use/disuse might incur.

If an option is specified but the assignment is not valid, then the default 
value is used. The SDMSNET3.DSK and SDMSNET4.DSK drivers are referred to in 
the remainder of this section as SDMSNETx.DSK,

where 
     x refers to the appropriate NetWare operating system version.

The options described below are used by placing the specified characters on 
the load command line for the SDMS driver. For example, if the Verbose Mode 
command line option is desired in NetWare 3.1X, the load command line should 
look like this:

     load SDMSNET3 -v 

Note: No spaces are allowed in specifying these command line options. Spaces 
      are required between different command line options.


*   *   * Using the Verbose Mode Option *   *   * 

     Command line option:  -v 

     Function: Display the current settings of all driver options.

     This option shows all the command line option settings for this load of 
     the driver. 


*   *   * Using the Help Mode Option *   *   *

     Command line option:  -? or -h 

     Function: Display the options available in the driver. 

     Possible Impact: The driver will not load with -? or -h specified. 

     This option is specified on the command line for a brief description of 
     each of the options available in the driver, as well as valid values for 
     each option. If the -? or -h option is specified along with other 
     options, the help screen is invoked, the other options are ignored, and 
     the driver is not loaded.


*   *   * Using the Tagged Queuing Option *   *   * 

     Command line option: qtags=<option> 

     Default value: enable 

     Valid options: enable, disable 

     Function: Enable/disable tagged queuing for the devices. 

     Possible Impact: Tagged queuing may result in improved I/O throughput in 
     devices that support such an option.

     Enabling this option results in the driver issuing tagged IO requests
     to the devices that support tagged queuing. Devices that do not support 
     tagged queuing are not issued tagged requests. Depending on the drive 
     controller, throughput of the device is increased by the use of queue 
     tags. However, the optimal number of queue tags is based on the specific 
     device type.


*   *   * Using the Depth of Queue Tags Option *   *   *

     Command line option: qdepth=<option> 

     Default value: 10 

     Valid options: 0-128 

     Function: Set the depth of the queue for tagged queuing. This value 
     designates the depth of the queue per LUN (I_T_L nexus). That is, this 
     value designates the depth of the queue per device, or per LUN, if a 
     device has multiple LUNs. 

     Possible Impact:  Used to optimize the performance of tagged queuing. 

     This option is valid only when tagged queuing (qtags) is enabled, which 
     it is by default. Values possible for this parameter range from 0 to 
     128. Zero is equivalent to qtags=disable. While the actual depth of the 
     queue depends on the specific drive controller. For single drives, 
     values of about 10-30 are typically optimal. Sometimes a greater number 
     is optimal for peripherals such as disk arrays. You should experiment 
     with various qdepth values to determine the optimal performance for 
     their particular setup. The optimal qdepth value is based on different 
     aspects of the system, including but not limited to: the processor, the 
     available memory, the disk drives, and other peripherals.

Note: The driver supports a maximum of 128 qtags per controller at a given 
      time. The driver may allocate fewer qtags per device if this limit is 
      being reached.


*   *   * Using the Queue Tag Type Option *   *   *

     Command line option: qtag_type=<option> 

     Default value: simple 

     Valid options: simple, ordered 

     Function: Specify the type of tagged commands the device is issued. 

     Possible Impact:  Ordered type is required for certain devices to avoid 
     IO starvation.

     This option is valid only when tagged queuing (qtags) is enabled, which 
     it is by default. Simple qtags are typically the preferred tag type. It 
     is sometimes necessary to use ordered tags on certain devices to avoid 
     IO starvation under extremely heavy IO loads such as a NetWare remirror 
     process.


*   *   * Using the Base Time-Out Option *   *   *

     Command line option: timeout=<option> 

     Default value: 30 

     Valid options: Any integer value 30 to 999999999 

     Function: Specify the minimum value (in seconds) for command time-out. 

     Possible Impact: Insure system integrity when using a slow device. 

     If a device is slow, you should increase this value to ensure the device 
     has adequate time to respond to a command issued to it before the 
     command times out.


*   *   * Using the Sorting of Read Requests Option *   *   *

     Command line option: sort=<option> 

     Default value: enable 

     Valid options: enable, disable 

     Function: Enable/disable sorting of read commands to be issued to 
     devices. 

     Possible Impact: Enabling normally yields increased performance based
     on the target device controller.

     If the devices connected to a host adapter are of a non-buffered 
     architecture, such as the Symbios Logic 6298 disk array, then sorting of 
     reads may result in a performance degradation, since the absence of 
     cache provides no benefit for sorted requests. In this instance, you 
     should disable the sort option. On most disk drives, an on-board cache 
     allows for reading ahead of data, and by sorting read requests, the 
     probabilities of achieving a cache hit are greatly increased, thus 
     increasing the overall performance of the driver.


*   *   * Using the Shared Interrupts Option *   *   *

     Command line option: shared_int=<option> 

     Default value: disable 

     Valid options: enable, disable 

     Function: Support shared interrupts. 

     Possible Impact: Enabling may cause a performance degradation. 

     You should enable the shared interrupt option any time a PCI card other 
     than a Symbios Logic controller is added to a system which assigns all 
     PCI cards the same interrupt value. The added card must support shared 
     interrupts. The driver automatically handles the case of more than one 
     Symbios Logic host adapter sharing an interrupt.


*   *   * Using the Wide SCSI Option *   *   *

     Command line option: wide=<option> 

     Default value: enable 

     Valid options: enable, disable 

     Function: Enable/Disable support of wide SCSI. 

     Possible Impact: No wide SCSI support available. 

     This option allows the user to disable support of wide SCSI when using a 
     wide SCSI controller. Set this option to "disable" if a wide SCSI device 
     is present on the system, but a narrow SCSI cable is connected somewhere 
     on the bus between the wide SCSI host adapter and the wide device,
     thus prohibiting the transfer of wide data. If this option is set to 
     "disable", the wide device still works, but all data transferred 
     to/from the device is narrow (8 bit). The driver does not initiate a 
     wide SCSI transfer request negotiation.


*   *   * Using the Number of Error Recovery Retries Option *   *   *

     Command line option: max_retry=<option> 

     Default value: 5 

     Valid options: 0-50 

     Function: Set the maximum limit on the number of times to retry an IO on 
     a non-sequential access device in the event of a SCSI error condition. 

     Possible Impact: Setting this to 0 prevents the driver from retrying an 
     IO in the event of an error.

     If SCSI error conditions occur on a non-sequential access device, the 
     driver retries an I/O operation the set number of times before giving up 
     and returning the I/O to the caller with a failed status. Possible 
     callers are NetWare or an application via the CAM or ASPI interface. If 
     this option is set to 0, I/Os are not retried in the event of an error 
     condition.

Note: Some SCSI error conditions (such as DATA PROTECT or ILLEGAL REQUEST)
      do not warrant a retry. Such conditions are reported but not retried, 
      even for positive values of max_retry.


*   *   * Using the Logging of SCSI Errors Option *   *   *

     Command line option: Log_ScsiErrors=<option> 

     Default value: Both 

     Valid options: Off/Console/Syslog/Both 

     Function: Specify where to log serious SCSI errors. 

     Possible Impact: Changing this option may result in loss of this 
     information. 

     If SCSI error conditions occur, the driver normally attempts to log a 
     SCSI Error Report describing the event to both the console and the 
     system log file SYS:SYSTEM\SYS$LOG.ERR. This information is valuable in 
     determining when a device is having problems. It can indicate when a 
     device is beginning to fail, providing an opportunity to replace the 
     device before complete failure. With this option you can choose to 
     specify where these messages are logged: Console - the server console 
     only; Syslog - the system error log; Both - both the server console and 
     the system error log; or Off - the error messages are not logged 
     anywhere.

Note: This option affects the logging of serious SCSI errors only. Non-SCSI 
      errors are still logged to both the console and system error log.


*   *   * Using the Exclusion of Devices Option *   *   *

     Command line option: xcl=<device>[:device ...] 

     Default value: All devices recognized by the driver, that is, no devices 
     are excluded. 

     The valid options are: p,i,l (You may specify multiple devices with a
     colon separator)

     where

     p is the Path designator and is in the range 0 -7,
     i is the SCSI ID designator and is in the range 0 -31,
     l is the LUN designator, and in the range 0 -7. 

     The LUN parameter is optional. You may exclude multiple devices so long
     as the string does not exceed 35 characters in length and devices are
     separated by colons. 

     Examples: 

     xcl=1,2,3 to exclude LUN 3 of the device at SCSI ID 2 on  Path 1. 

     xcl=1,2,3:2,5 to exclude LUN 3 of the device at SCSI ID 2 on Path 1, and 
     all LUNs on the device at SCSI ID 5 on Path 2. 

     Function: Allows for specifying that the driver not recognize certain 
     devices. 

     Possible Impact: Cannot directly access devices via the SDMSNETx.DSK 
     driver.

     This option is available to exclude recognition and direct access of 
     specific devices by the SDMSNETx.DSK drivers. These excluded devices are 
     not registered with the operating system for use by the driver. Other 
     applications/drivers can then take over the control of such devices. 
     This option is available for support of third party vendors who write 
     their own SCSI control applications. You may exclude a maximum of five 
     devices.


*   *   * Using the Maximum Block Size for Concatenation Option *   *   *

     Command line option: max_kb=<option> 

     Default value: 32767 

     Valid options: 0-32767 

     Function: Set the maximum number of KB written to disk at one time. 

     Possible Impact: A high number may result in more data transferred in a 
     single data phase.

     Specify the maximum size block in kilobytes that is written to disk in 
     one data transfer phase. This ensures that when requests are 
     concatenated, the maximum size of the concatenated request does not 
     exceed the specified value. If individual requests are greater than this 
     specified value, no action is taken.


Note: The following three options affect the amount of memory used by the 
      driver. For information on how memory is allocated by the driver, and 
      to get an approximate feel for the amount of memory that is saved by 
      invoking these parameters, refer to Memory Allocation under Important 
      Additional Information at the end of this section. If the product of 
      max_hbas * max_id * max_lun is small (less than 100), system 
      performance may suffer. These values determine the number of I/O buffers 
      allocated by the driver. Allocation of too few may degrade performance.


*   *   * Using the Maximum Host Adapters Option *   *   *

     Command line option: max_hbas=<option> 

     Default value: 8 

     Valid options: 1-8

     Function: Specify the maximum number of host adapters to support. 

     Possible Impact: If the number is reduced, it may allow for reduction in 
     the memory used by the driver. Reduction may also result in performance 
     degradation.

     This parameter is used to optimize the use of dynamically allocated 
     memory by the driver. If your system has less than 8 Symbios Logic based 
     PCI host adapters, including any Symbios PCI-SCSI controllers designed 
     into the main board, this parameter allows you to reduce the total 
     memory used for the driver.


*   *   * Using the Maximum SCSI IDs Option *   *   *    

     Command line option: max_id=<option> 

     Default value: 32 

     Valid options: 8-32 

     Function: Specify the maximum number of SCSI IDs each host adapter board 
     should support. 

     Possible Impact: If the number is reduced, it may allow for reduction in
     memory used by the driver. Reduction may also result in performance 
     degradation.

     This parameter is used to optimize the use of dynamically allocated 
     memory by the driver. If all the host adapters, including any SCSI 
     controllers on the main board are connected to less than 31 devices, you 
     can reduce the size of the dynamically allocated memory by setting this 
     value to the maximum number of devices on any of the SCSI controllers. 


*   *    * Using the Maximum LUNs Option *   *   *

     Command line option: max_lun=<option> 

     Default value: 4 

     Valid options: 1-8 

     Function: Specify the maximum number of LUNs each host adapter board 
     should support per SCSI id. 

     Possible Impact: If the number is reduced, it may allow for reduction in
     memory used by the driver. Reduction may also result in performance 
     degradation.

     Use this parameter to optimize the use of dynamically allocated memory 
     by the driver. If less than 8 LUNs are used per Symbios Logic based PCI 
     host adapter SCSI ID, this parameter allows a reduction in the total 
     memory used for the driver. 

********************* Important Additional Information ********************** 


*  *  *  *  * For Information Pertaining to a Specific Driver *  *  *  *  *

This document addresses options available on the Symbios Logic SDMS NetWare 
drivers, version 3.06.00. For information pertaining to a specific driver, 
please do one of the following:

- For NetWare version 4.XX, consult the SDMSNET4.DDI file for options 
  available for SDMSNET4.DSK. This is accessed via the NetWare install 
  utility.

- For versions of the driver 3.05.00 and later, use the -? option on the 
  command line of the SDMSNETx.DSK driver


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * About Memory Allocation *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The driver allocates memory for certain structures based upon the maximum 
number of SCSI IDs (max_id), LUNs (max_lun), and paths (max_hbas) that are 
used in the system. The amount of memory allocated is based on the following 
formula: 414 bytes of memory are allocated for the structure, so: 

     Memory Allocated = 414 * max_hbas * max_lun * max_id. 

     So for default allocations, the amount of memory allocated is: 

     Memory Allocated = 414 * 8 * 4 * 32 = 423,936 bytes (414 KB). 

If, for example, 

- only one host adapter is installed (or when using a Symbios Logic based PCI 
  SCSI embedded controller and no add-in host adapters), 

- only one LUN per device is used, and 

- the bus is narrow (up to 8 SCSI IDs), 

then by setting the appropriate command line options, the amount of memory 
allocated is: 

     Memory Allocated = 414 * 1 * 1 * 8 = 3,312 bytes (3.4 KB). 


*  *  *  *  *  *  * Optimal Use of Command Line Options *  *  *  *  *  *  *


*   *   * Peripheral Device Dependent Optimizations *   *   *

Some devices support SCSI tagged queue commands very efficiently, while 
others show a significant loss of performance when the number of queued 
requests exceed a certain value. (qtags, qdepth, qtag_type)

Most disk drives have an on-board read cache that is used by the drive 
controller to read ahead data. The driver may take advantage of this cache by 
maximizing the cache hits and ensuring a higher data transfer rate. However, 
there are devices that do not have an on-board cache, and implementation of 
the sorting algorithm results in greater processing overhead and loss of 
overall performance. (sort)

Devices differ in their response times to requests. To ensure that the driver 
can handle devices with various response times, an option to tune the 
time-out value is available. (timeout)


*   *   * Flexibility *   *   *

In order to allow flexibility in controlling devices in a system, an option 
is provided to determine which devices the driver needs to exclude from 
taking over control. This allows independent software vendors to provide 
value added applications to directly control certain devices through the ASPI 
or CAM interface. (xcl)

Serious SCSI errors are logged to both the console and system error log by 
default. If a device is going bad, these errors may provide forewarning to 
replace the device before complete failure. However, you may turn off the 
logging of these errors to either or both of these locations 
(Log_ScsiErrors).

For embedded systems or other systems with fixed configurations, you can 
limit the amount of dynamically allocated memory by choosing to set maximum 
limits on the number of host adapters, devices, and logical units to support. 
The number of allocated buffers for processing I/Os is reduced, which could 
adversely affect performance (max_hbas, max_id, max_lun).


*   *   * Overall System Timing *   *   *

A driver designed for a networked file server environment has to optimize 
performance in tandem with the other components of the system. To avoid 
monopoly on the I/O bus, you can configure the size of the blocks for 
transfer across the SCSI bus. This ensures that other components get fair 
access to the I/O bus (max_kb).


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * DOS Access Dependencies *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

NetWare sometimes requires access to the DOS partition (perhaps to load a 
file or to down the system). The SDMSNETx.DSK driver supports several SDMS 
DOS configurations.

SDMSNETx.DSK detects whether an SDMS 3.XX or 4.XX BIOS is present on the 
system in addition to the Symbios Logic ASPI8XX.SYS driver.

If there are DOS partitions present on any device connected to a Symbios 
Logic controller, an SDMS 3.XX BIOS or 4.XX BIOS is required for DOS support. 
The BIOS is either integrated into the system BIOS or resides with the 
controller itself.


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * Supported DOS Configurations *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The following are the DOS configurations supported by the SDMSNETx.DSK 
driver: 

     3.XX BIOS, ASPI8XX.SYS    
     4.XX BIOS, ASPI8XX.SYS    
     3.XX BIOS, ASPI8XX.SYS, SYMCD.SYS, MSCDEX.EXE    
     4.XX BIOS, ASPI8XX.SYS, SYMCD.SYS, MSCDEX.EXE    
     3.XX BIOS, No DOS Drivers    
     4.XX BIOS, No DOS Drivers    

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * When Using An SDMS 3.XX BIOS *  *  *  *  *  *  *

If an SDMS 3.XX BIOS is present, you may load an optional Symbios Logic ASPI 
driver (ASPI8XX.SYS) in the CONFIG.SYS file. An optional driver for CD-ROM 
support (SYMCD.SYS) works with these drivers in conjunction with MSCDEX.EXE.


*   *   * Supported DOS Drivers *   *   *

The SDMS NetWare drivers in a 3.XX BIOS environment only support ASPI8XX 
configurations. The following is a list of DOS drivers currently supported by 
the SDMSNETx.DSK driver:

*    * ASPI8XX.SYS *    *
The DOS ASPI Manager interface, ASPI8XX.SYS DOS driver in conjunction with the 
SDMSNETx.DSK driver, is currently the only supported DOS ASPI configuration in 
a Netware environment.

*    * SYMCD.SYS *    *
The SYMCD.SYS driver is an ASPI based CD-ROM driver.  It requires the 
ASPI8xx.SYS driver to be loaded.

*    * MSCDEX.EXE *    *
This driver (provided with DOS) is required in conjunction with SYMCD.SYS to 
install NetWare from a CD-ROM. Due to a bug in MSCDEX.EXE, the name assigned 
to the CD-ROM device does not match the base name of any file installed from the 
CD-ROM. A recommended name to assign to the CD-ROM device is MSCD001.

Note: The NetWare drivers can function independently of any DOS drivers, with 
      the exception of installation of NetWare from CD-ROM. Performance is 
      impacted on DOS accesses, but if memory is premium, this option is 
      available.


*   *   * DOS Drivers Not Supported *   *   *

The following SDMS DOS drivers are not supported in the NetWare Environment.

     ASPICAM.SYS     
     SCSIDISK.SYS     
     SYMDISK.SYS     
     DOSCAM.SYS     
     MINICAM.SYS     
     CDROM.SYS     


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  * When Using An SDMS 4.XX BIOS *  *  *  *  *  *  *  

The SDMS 4.XX BIOS supports two different configurations: Default Boot 
configuration and NVRAM configuration.  Both configurations are supported.


*   *   * Default Configuration *   *   *

In Default Boot configuration, the 4.XX BIOS supports up to two Symbios Logic 
8XX controllers.  Disk devices are supported by the BIOS.  Other SCSI devices 
are not supported without additional DOS drivers.

*   *   * NVRAM *   *   *

If NVRAM is present on a controller with a 4.XX BIOS, the SDMSNETx.DSK 
NetWare drivers use the on-board parameters to configure the Symbios Logic 
8XX controllers.

Supported NVRAM values:
 - queue enable
 - sync & wide
 - DEVICE LUN ENABLE flag

*   *   * Supported DOS Drivers *   *   *

Currently only the ASPI8XX.SYS driver is supported in a NetWare configuration 
utilizing a 4.XX BIOS.


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * When Using No SDMS BIOS *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The SDMSNETx.DSK driver operates properly on a system when no SDMS BIOS is 
present. In this case, DOS must reside on a device that is not connected to 
a Symbios Logic controller based host adapter. As an example, DOS could 
reside on an IDE drive.

