NetWare* Command Line Parameters and Keywords

Used with the LOAD <driver> command (in net.cfg or startnet.bat)

NOTE: For servers, use this format: command=parameter 

For clients, use this format: command parameter (no equal sign) 

Examples: 

(SERVER) Load CE100b Speed=100 ForceDuplex=2 Name=eo83
(CLIENT) Load CE100b Speed 100 ForceDuplex 2 Name eo83

SPEED: Syntax:

For Servers: SPEED=n (where n = 10 or 100)
For Clients: SPEED n (where n = 10 or 100)

Default: 10, the adapter automatically senses speed. If unable to autosense (including no network cable), default=10

NOTE: Match the speed/duplex of your switch (if set). If you don't have an auto-negotiating switch and are forcing the duplex mode, you must specify the speed.

NOTE: You must set the SPEED parameter to either 10 or 100 if you're setting the FORCEDUPLEX parameter to either half or full.

FORCEDUPLEX: Syntax:

For Servers: FORCEDUPLEX=n
For Clients: FORCEDUPLEX n

Where n = 0 auto-negotiate (PRO/100+ TX adapter only)
1 half duplex
2 full duplex

Duplex Support and Default listed by Card Type: All PRO/100+ & PRO/100B TX: Full and Half, 10&100 Default:auto PRO/100B T4: 100 half, both at 10 (no autonegotiation, no nway) PRO/10+ PCI: full on the TPE connector only (no autonegotiation) Default: half duplex. 

Auto-negotiate: The adapter negotiates with the switch whether to use full or half duplex. If unsuccessful, the adapter defaults to half duplex. You must have an auto-negotiating switch (an Nway* switch) to get full duplex support using autonegotiation.

Full duplex: The adapter sends and receives packets at the same time. This improves the performance of your adapter. 

Half duplex: The adapter communicates in one direction at a time. It either sends or receives.

Note: If you use the FORCEDUPLEX command, you must also set the SPEED parameter to either 10 or 100. (see SPEED above).

SLOT: Syntax: SLOT=n (required only when multiple adapters are installed) where n = 1,2,3,4,...)

For PCI adapters, SLOT is derived from bus number and device location as defined by the PCI specification and NBI. One way to determine the slot number is to load the driver from the command line. You'll be prompted with valid device number(s) for the adapter(s). Select one of them.

FRAME: Syntax: FRAME=n 

 where n = Ethernet_802.2
Ethernet_802.3
Ethernet_II
Ethernet_SNAP
Default: Ethernet_802.2

Configures the adapter to process the valid NetWare Ethernet frame types.

TXTHRESHOLD: Syntax: TXTHRESHOLD(=)n (n = number of 8 bytes).

Default: dynamically set

Represents the threshold for transmits from extender SRAM FIFO (output buffer). If n=16 then the bytes are set at 128 (16x8). In this case, the LAN controller transmits after copying 128 bytes from the host memory. The maximum number that you can specify is 200 (200x8=1600 bytes) which ensures there will not be any underruns.

EARLYRECV (client ONLY): Syntax: EARLYRECV n

Where n = 0 disables early receives
1 enables early receives
Default: early receives enabled

This determines whether the driver enables early receives. Early receives allows a frame to start being processed before it is completely received into host memory. 

IRQMODE (VLM clients ONLY): Syntax: IRQMODE n

Where n = 0 automatically selects interrupt sharing mode
1 interrupt sharing is disabled
2 interrupt sharing is enabled

Default: 0 automatically selects

This parameter enables or disables interrupt sharing mode of the driver. It has the capability to automatically select the enabled or disabled state depending on system configuration. If the IRQ assigned to the driver is not being shared with another device, then interrupt sharing is disabled. If the IRQ assigned to the driver is being shared, then the interrupt sharing is enabled.

NODE ADDRESS Syntax: NODE=xNxxxxxxxxxx

where N must = 2, 6, A, or E; x = hexadecimal number

Default: The adapter's assigned address (UAA Universal Address)

Specifies a locally administered address (LAA) unique to each adapter. The node address is a 12-digit hexadecimal number; the second digit must be one of the following digits: 2, 6, A, or E.

02AA => LAA, 02 is set by the driver if not specified.
00A0 => Typical Intel address (default)

PROTOCOL (VLM clients ONLY): Syntax: Protocol IPX E0 Ethernet_802.2

Values: E0=Ethernet_802.2
0=Ethernet_802.3
8137=Ethernet_II
8137=Ethernet_SNAP 

Indicates the standard protocol in use.


PRO/100 NetWare* Custom Statistics

TxGoodFrames
Frames actually transmitted.

TxMaxCollisions
Collisions that exceed the 16 retries. May increase on saturated network (need to segment).

TxLateCollisions
Collisions encountered outside the normal collision window. Very rare - indicates problem with cables, distance, or duplex mismatch.

TxUnderrunErrors
Not transmitted or retransmitted due to DMA Underrun. Occurs because a lack of PCI bandwidth resulting in the Tx FIFO running dry during the transmission of a frame. Adaptive Tuning should keep this number under control. To correct, load the driver with TxThreshold=200 on the command line. See CurrentThreshold below.

TxLostCrsErrors
Transmitted despite the fact that it detected loss of link during the transmission.

TxDeferred
Deferred transmission due to activity on the link. This is a normal condition in a busy network, and can grow quite large.

TxSingleCollisions
Successfully sent after one collision. Normal in busy networks.

TxMultipleCollisions
Sent after more than 1 (less than 16) collisions. This only gets incremented once, even though one frame made have had several collisions before being successfully sent. Fix - .Segment network or increase IFS.

TxTotalCollisions
Includes late collisions and Max collisions.

RxGoodFrames
Number actually received and stored in memory.

RxCrcErrors
Frames discarded because of a CRC error. CRC Errors are usually caused by late collisions were another station has sent data in the middle of a frame. This number should be very low.

RxAlignmentErrors
Misaligned and CRC error frames.

RxResourceErrors
Good frames discarded because there were no resources available. Can be reduced by increasing the number of receive buffers or increasing the performance of the host machines processing power.

RxDmaOverrunErrors
Frames lost because receive FIFO overflowed. This can occur if the device is unable to get the necessary bandwidth on the system (PCI) bus. If the overflow condition persists for more than one frame, the frames that follow the first could also be lost. Remedies: a faster bus machine, or fewer devices on the bus.

RxColiisionDetectedErrors
Frames that encountered collisions during frame reception.

RxShortFrameErrors
Received shorter than the minimum frame length.

Flow Control TX Pause
Xon and Xoff frames transmitted.

Flow Control RX Pause
Xon and Xoff frames received.

Flow Control Unsupported
MAC Control frames received that are not Flow Control Pause frames. These frames contain the predefined MAX control type value, but contain an unsupported opcode.

TCO Rx (or Tx) Frames
Incremented at each received/transmitted TCO packet.

TxTimeouts & TxDynamicChaining
Not used

CurrentIFSValue
Current Interframe Spacing value. (wait after collision or to avoid collisions), Higher value indicates higher collisions and can lessen throughput.

CurrentThreshold
To lessen underruns , the software can change the wait time before starting to transfer data onto the hardware buffers. Higher value is longer. Poor bus performance, lots of traffic or lots of devices on the same bus can cause this to rise. If this number is always above 170, consider loading the driver with the TXThreshold parameter set to 200 (eliminates early sends).

RstartCnt
Normal to be non zero. Also known as RSC, it stands for Re-Start Count.