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Text File | 1990-11-05 | 16.0 KB | 319 lines

APPENDIX N -- RBBS-PC in an Alloy PC-SLAVE/16 Environment N-1 APPENDIX N -- RBBS-PC in an Alloy PC-SLAVE/16 Environment --------------------------------------------------------- The PC-Slave is an IBM compatible computer on an expansion card manufactured by Alloy Computer Products, Inc. of Framingham, MA 01701. Their telephone number is (617) 875-6100. Adding PC-Slaves converts the PC from a single CPU to a multiple CPU, all under the control of the main or host PC. Each slave can run RBBS-PC (or other programs). A. THE ADVANTAGES: Compared to other means for running multiple RBBS-PC's, the advantages of slaves are: 1. SPEED -- Each copy of RBBS-PC has a dedicated computer and therefore runs very fast compared to multi-tasking products like Multi-Link, DesqView, or DoubleDOS. 2. SHARED FILES -- Each bulletin board can share files, including the users and messages. The PC Slave system can act like Orchid's PC-Net network, or a NetBIOS LAN for record locking. 3.EXPANDABILITY -- You can have up to 31 slaves. Adding an extra Slave is simple, and does not degrade system performance. The power supply and cooling capacity of a PC-2 or XT limit you to adding only 2 slaves. An AT can have up to four. You can buy PC compatibles that have more expansion slots. You can also get an expansion chassis designed for up to 12 Slaves. 4. COSTS -- It is far cheaper to expand using PC-Slave/16's than a network. The PC-Slave lists for $900 and can be purchased for significantly less. Other networks require not only a separate PC but also a "network" card of some sort which puts the costs of each port well above $2,000. 5. DEDICATED PC IS NOT REQUIRED -- Your PC can remain free for you to use while slaves run the bulletin boards (or run another copy of the bulletin board). You do not degrade performance on the slaves, except for contention for the hard disk and that can be mitigated by using disk caching. 6. EASY SNOOP. Using Alloy utilities GIMME and VIEW, you can view the session on any slave and attach your keyboard to it. You can also install a dumb monitor to any slave. B. THE DISADVANTAGES: The disadvantages of a slave system are: 1. COMPATIBILITY --Not all hard disks are compatible with the slaves. Hard disks known to be compatible include the Seagates, Priam 60 meg, Bernoulli, and Maxtor hard disks, as well as the Alloy line of hard disks. Hard disks definitely not compatible include all models of US Design. C. OVERVIEW OF SETTING UP A PC-SLAVE/16 RBBS-PC: Five easy steps on how to install RBBS-PC in a PC-Slave/16 environment (Note that the PC Slave system requires a special configuration for RBBS-PC): STEP 1 -- If you want to allow simultaneous callers, you will have to purchase multiple telephone lines. They can be made to roll so that only one number is called, and if busy, the call will roll over to the other lines. STEP 2 -- Install the slaves. Remember to set switches on the slave boards that number them consecutively. See the PC-Slave documentation for details. RBBS-PC 17.3A TECHNICAL REFERENCE MANUAL N-2 STEP 3 -- Install the software. The Alloy PC-Slave has to have special Alloy software called NTNX to coordinate the slaves and process requests for shared resources. See the NTNX documentation for details. STEP 4 -- Install a modem with no pin 22. Pin 22 used to be required with RBBS-PC in order to answer the phone. On the slaves, pin 22 CANNOT be connected, or else the slave will continuously reboot. However, newer slaves support pin 22. STEP 5 -- Configure RBBS-PC using CONFIG.EXE with the following parameters: (a) use COM2 (parameter 221) (b) Via parameter 29 tell RBBS-PC it is running on an IBM compatible rather than a PC, XT, or AT. (Lie and tell RBBS-PC you have a Compaq Plus.) (c) Use CONFIG parameter 161 to set the maximum number of bulletin boards to as many boards as you intend to install (rather than the number you are currently running. This makes expansion easier.). (d) PC-Net is the multi-user environment you will be running under and should indicate so via CONFIG parameter 162. (e) Set up the RBBS-PC files. Read Appendix G for general considerations on running a multi-node RBBS-PC system. Since all PC-Slaves have access to all hard drives, configuration of files is quite simple. Please note that the NTNX software is very vulnerable to any RAM resident software. You should install the Slaves with no additional software present and carefully test any resident software you want to run with it. D. A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SETTING UP A PC-SLAVE 16 RBBS-PC: Hardware Limitations: 1. Two PC/Slave 16 cards per XT box or four in an AT maximum otherwise you'll be buying power supplies frequently. An expansion chassis for four cards (Alloy Plus4) or expansion chassis for up to twelve cards will be needed for bigger systems. Expansions boxes can be daisy-chained to up to thirty one Nodes or workstations, if needed. 2. PC/Slave 16 cards do not support PIN 22 for Ring Detect. If PIN 22 is connected, your slave will re-boot every time the phone rings! 3. No clock on the PC/Slave 16 card. The Slave gets the Time and date from the main system clock. Each time you update the host clock, all the slaves will update as well. 4. A terminal such as a Kimtron KT-7/PC or Alloy PCST is needed if you want to work on a slave the same as you would on the host computer (but not if you just want to view activity on slaves occasionally). Other terminals will work but may not support all of the IBM extended graphics codes. For a multi-node RBBS-PC, one terminal can be used with an A-B-C-D switching box to 'dial in' to the node you wish to work with. 5. The Slaves' CPU [NEC V20 @ 8 MHz] shuts down when writing to the hard disk. This creates problems with timeout errors on uploads. Upload problems can be eliminated by using the write buffer option in NTNX 1.64 or higher (/B). The problem can also be alleviated by using a fast hard drive supported by Alloy. Also, the hard drive must be formatted with the most efficient interleave setting and driver. Hard drives that work without APPENDIX N -- RBBS-PC in an Alloy PC-SLAVE/16 Environment N-3 significant upload timeout errors have been formatted with either Golden Bow's Vfeature Deluxe or Priam's formatting software; this problem is especially noticeable on AT systems and not too much of a problem on small XT systems. Seagate, Bernoulli Box, Maxtor, and Priam Inner Space drives seem to work fine with the Alloy PC/Slave-16 cards. Software Limitations: 1. ATNX runs Orchid PC Net applications but NTNX is more versatile and will run applications for Novell's Advanced Netware, MS-Net, AND Orchid PC Net with proper file locking. NTNX has had less problems with file corruption and cross-linking than ATNX, according to SysOps using Alloy Slaves. 2. The slaves get the date/time from the host computer. Constant processing can cause the host clock to drift. A utility to periodically update your host computer clock is recommended. Also, WXMODEM does not work in upload mode on Slaves due to a timing problem in the initial handshake. Alloy's solution to this problem is a file called UPTIME.COM, which is run on the HOST, but I have had very poor results with it. The problem seems to be most identifiable on AT class machines. For the optimum system flexibility you may want to buy Alloy PC/Slave-16N cards which have the special PAL chip for NTNX/Novell compatibility and NTNX software. RBBS-PC, however, will run fine without the PAL chip even under NTNX. Some nice additional utilities for the Slaves, including special diagnostics, are found in the separate PC-Plus Advanced User's Kit and are worth having. A single Kimtron KT-7/PC terminal or other smart terminal may be obtained right away but is not necessary for the bulletin-board-only system as one can always sign on from remote for answering mail; pay special attention to the terminal-to-Slave cable as it is non-standard and you'll probably wind up making it yourself for less than $5 in parts -- one end is a male 9-pin D-shell and the other is 25-pin RS-232 male connector. For a two to four node system, obtain a switch box to hook the terminal as COMMON and Slave consoles. The computer to house the Slaves, called the HOST, should be the quickest CPU speed that you can obtain. All PC Slaves/16 should be purchased with 1 megabyte of onboard RAM. Installation: 1. Format your hard drive with the DOS supported by the version of NTNX you purchase (currently DOS 3.3). 2. Divide the hard drive into multiple volumes of standard DOS size (less than 32 megabytes). 3. Install NTNX and the Slaves according to the Alloy manuals. Choose the default settings for everything. Use 512K on the 1 megabyte PC/Slave for caching and the other 512 to run RBBS. Depending on how the board is configured, you may need to set switches so that 512 is used to run applications. Use 4K for the Host PC caching. Allocate 25 files per each Slave + 64 for the maximum number of open files. 4. Set up the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files for the HOST as follows especially if you do not plan to use the HOST as a Node for RBBS-PC: CONFIG.SYS device=NX.SYS - NTNX driver (must be first!!) device=hard_drv.sys - Your hard Disk driver RBBS-PC 17.3A TECHNICAL REFERENCE MANUAL N-4 FCBS = 32,32 - File Control Blocks increased buffers = 20 - DOS buffers files = 32 - Number of OPEN files on HOST device = ANSI.sys - Extended graphics driver AUTOEXEC.BAT NTNX - NTNX driver fm 3 - Level of File protection prompt $p$g - customized dos prompt path = ........ - set path to the NTNX files 5. Set up the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files for the Slaves as follows: CONFIG.U0x under DOS 3.3 FCBS = 32,32 buffers = 10 files = 30 device = ansi.sys shell = C:\COMMAND.SLV C:\ /P /E:800 Of special note, the SHELL statement has been used to expand the environment space on the Slaves. This corrects a problem seen with random RBBS-PC lockups or getting Out of Memory errors; external protocols and DOOR programs, given time, stop running due to memory problems if one doesn't use this SHELL statement. Under DOS 3.1, set /E:50 [= 50 paragraphs] and under DOS 3.2 or 3.3, set /E:800 [= 800 bytes]. AUTOEXEC.U0x fm 3 prompt $p$g path = .......Set the path to the NTNX files and to the 'home' directory for this node on the SHARED drives SET NODE=x Tell this slave what node to run. cd\RBBS0%NODE% Change to the RBBS-PC directory for this node RBBS.BAT Invoke RBBS-PC for this node The statement "SET NODE=x" allows you to write batch files that know what node you are dealing with. All slaves can access the same RBBS.BAT file, as long as you invoke RBBS-PC from within that file as: RBBS-PC %NODE% RBBS%NODE%PC.DEF Other node-specific commands should be done this way. 6. CONFIG parameters for the slaves, must be the following parameters: Parameter 29 (Type of computer): Compaq Plus. Parameter 224 (Number of rings to wait before answering): 0. Parameter 162 (Environment): Orchid PC Net. Parameter 221 (Communications port): 2. Maximum number of users: at least as many slaves as you have, plus one if you plan to run a node on the host. You can specify more (up to 36) if you want to plan for expansion. 7. Set up RBBS-PC as follows: Create subdirectories \RBBS01, \RBBS02, \RBBS0x... on a shared drive. Create other subdirectories according to RBBS-PC documentation. On a cached drive, place all static RBBS-PC files such as MENUs, HELPs, PASSWRDS, TRASHCAN, external file transfer protocols. RBBS-PC.EXE and CONFIG.EXE go here as well. On the second SHARED drive, make a subdirectory \COMMON for MESSAGES, USERS, CONFENCE, and conference message/user files. APPENDIX N -- RBBS-PC in an Alloy PC-SLAVE/16 Environment N-5 If you plan to use DOORS, especially Bob Westcott's DOORWARE, create a subdirectory called \DOORS on the SHARED drive. Run CONFIG and create RBBSxPC.DEF files for all your nodes. Remember that you will run multi-user under PC Net. The modem serial port on the Slaves is COM2 and not COM1. Double-check file locations! Put your static text files in the same subdir as MESSAGES and USERS and make it the default subdirectory Copy RBBS1PC.DEF to RBBSxPC.DEF for each node that you hope to have then re-edit each .DEF file to customize Node numbers such as RCTTY1.BAT, etc. Copy the RBBSxPC.DEF file to the matching subdirectory. If you don't wish to edit the .DEF files, place RBBSxPC.DEF on one shared drive and place the dynamic RBBS-PC files on the other shared drive; be sure that you have at least logged into that other SHARED drive's subdirectory, using the AUTOEXEC.U0x before starting RBBS-PC or else RBBS-PC will not find those files. Temporary files used for transfer or Verbose ARC listing are created on the default subdirectory automatically. You must assign a different CALLERS file for each node located in the default directory. To use SysOp Function 7 (Remote Drop to DOS), RBBS-PC must find COMMAND.COM. PC-Slave/16's, however, use COMMAND.SLV as the command processor; copy COMMAND.SLV to COMMAND.COM, place it on a cached drive, and tell CONFIG where to find it. Be careful using this SysOp function with the Slaves as you will lock up the Node if you lose carrier; WATCHDOG is incompatible with the Slaves. Additional tips/hints: 1. Avoid using any memory resident utilities. They may interfere with Slave operation. 2. A program on the Advanced Utilities disk called SEE.COM allows callers on any Node to be viewed from the HOST. 3. Norton's Editor or WordPerfect Corporation's Programmers Editor from the WordPerfect Library is used for editing operations on the system, especially for maintaining the fixed-length directory of the file management system. Not many other editors, except EDLIN, can be used reliably. 4. Easy to forget but don't as it will be a source of frustration -- plan out your file locations on paper before actually setting up the system. 5. Backup your system frequently! If you have any questions or problems, feel free to leave a message on Ken Goosens system (703) 978-6360.