TotalNET Advanced Server 5.2 Administration Guide

General Troubleshooting

You can resolve many problems that occur in the TAS system if you start from the simplest possible causes for an error and work towards the more complex. Such a systematic approach helps you develop a theory, test it, and isolate and correct the problem.

The list of questions below provides a starting point for resolving problems this way. They address the following categories:

General Connections

Does the user have a valid UNIX account?

To make sure that the server recognizes the user name, attempt to open a telnet session from the client, with that user name.

If you cannot complete a process from a PC, can you complete it from UNIX?

If you can perform the process from UNIX, you may have incorrect attach point configuration or client connection--but keep in mind that you cannot replicate all actions performed from a PC, on UNIX. Open a telnet session and try the process from UNIX. For example, if you have printing problems, telnet to the server and use the lpr command to send a file to the printer. If the action works under UNIX, check the client and server configurations from the TotalAdmin sphere.

Did you correctly configure the transport protocol?

Check this using another program. For example, to check the TCP/IP configuration, use ping from UNIX.

LM-NT-OS/2 Connections

Do the client and server reside on different subnets but connect via NetBIOS-over-NetBEUI?

If they do, the client cannot connect to the server because this protocol setup only works within the subnet. You must have NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP to connect a client and server on different subnets. NetBIOS-over-NetBEUI does not route.

Does the client attempt to access a service using NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP on the other side of the router?

In order for a client to find a NetBIOS name on the other side of a router, it must have the ability to map an IP address to that NetBIOS name. You can accomplish this by using static tables, Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS), or Enterprise Name Server (ENS) to configure the client to resolve the service name to its associated IP address.

Does the client use the same SMB dialect as the server?

Some older client software does not use the extended SMB protocol in the same way as the server. Follow these links:

LM-NT-OS/2 Realm->Manage File Services->[select the service]->Administer->Configuration

For SMB dialect, select core.

To force the client to revert to the core protocol from the UNIX command line, use this command:

tnservice -M -r NB -s servicename -a smb-protocol-level=on

NetWare Connections

Do IPX network numbers correspond to interface frame types?

For the server network interface, make sure that you have configured the correct frame type and associated it with the correct hexadecimal NetWare network number. To find out the correct rame type/network number combination, look at Novell server configurations or run ipxprobe after shutting down IPXd. If your network does not contain a Novell server, you can use any hexadecimal number unique for the frame type.

TotalNET IPX supports full routing, which means that you can configure it to use more than one network interface, and it supports multiple frame types on each interface. TAS treats a single physical network as a collection of distinct logical networks using distinct interface frame types and performs routing among the logical networks just as it does their physical networks, so each frame type on the system must associate with a different net number.

You can configure each interface for a number of frame types with corresponding network numbers. For instance, interface_1 might have frametype_x with netnumber_x and frametype_y with netnumber_y, and interface_2 might have frametype_x with netnumber_x and and frametype_z with netnumber_z. You must use a unique net number for the internal frame type in the NetWare realm. Never delete the internal frame type.

Follow these links:

Transports->IPX/SPX Interfaces->[select the IPX/SPX interface]->Modify

To check frame types and network numbers from the UNIX command line, use the command

tniface -R -n tnipx

Can you see the server with "slist"?

To view all of the NetWare servers currently active on the network, access Network Neighborhood or, in DOS, use the slist command. If the NetWare server you need does not appear on the slist list, advertisements from the server do not reach your client. You may have a disabled server or a problem with Service Advertisement Protocol (SAP) advertisements. To see if you enabled your server, click Status at a Glance.

If you suspect a problem with SAP advertisements, contact a Technical Support engineer for further assistance. Before contacting Syntax, see "Contacting Technical Support".

Does the server process the client utilities?

Different versions of login programs used by NetWare vary greatly. For example, if you wish to use Novell 3.12 utilities to connect to a NetWare realm service, you must turn on secure authentication for that service, since the 3.12 utilities only send encrypted passwords. You do not need to turn on secure authentication for clients of versions later than 3.12, however, because they can send clear-text passwords.

Syntax provides login utilities for the NetWare realm in $TNHOME/NW/sys/login. They provide similar functionality to programs used by NetWare. To turn on secure authentication, follow these links:

NetWare Realm->Manage File Services->[select the service] ->Administer->Authentication and Service Mode Options ->Local authentication->Submit

Select the Password encryption option.

To configure secure authentication from the UNIX command line, use the tnservice command.

AppleTalk Connections

Does each file have three parts?

UNIX stores Macintosh files in three forks: the data fork, the resource fork, and the finder information fork. The data fork contains the actual data contained in the file, the resource fork indicates the application to launch when you open the file, and the finder information fork maintains data about the file's creator, type, location on the desktop, and icon.

TAS stores these parts in separate directories. When you create a file from a Macintosh client, TAS writes the data fork writes to the current directory, the resource fork to the subdirectory .tnatr:reso-fork, and the finder information to the file .tnatr:intf. If TAS cannot locate all of these pieces, the file may not launch correctly. In versions of TAS previous to 5.x, TAS writes the data fork to the current directory, the resource fork to the .resource directory and the finder information to the .finderinfo directory.

Does the finder information map file exist and contain the correct information?

The finder maintains information about files, such as the file's creator, type, location on the desktop, and icon. When the server cannot locate finder information, it attempts to generate reasonable default values for this information based on data in the map file. These values may not contain the correct information.

An AppleTalk map associates file suffixes with Macintosh applications. The client operating system uses these associations to determine which application it should invoke when it accesses a file.

Follow these links to check mapping configuration:

AppleTalk Realm->Suffixes for AppleTalk Map->[select a suffix]->Modify

The Modify button does not appear if no maps exist.

To check mapping configuration from the UNIX command line, use the tnsuffix command.

Do the Macintosh and PC versions of the program share the same data format?

Occasionally, these platforms cannot share files of the same program.