NOVELL TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOCUMENT TITLE: Major Features of Novell DOS 7 DOCUMENT ID: TID014941 DOCUMENT REVISION: 1 DATE: 29MAR94 ALERT STATUS: Yellow README FOR: NA NOVELL PRODUCT and VERSION: Novell DOS 7 ABSTRACT: This document discusses the features of Novell DOS 7 that make it well suited as a workstation operating system on Novell networks. ------------------------------------------------------------------ DISCLAIMER THE ORIGIN OF THIS INFORMATION MAY BE INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL TO NOVELL. NOVELL MAKES EVERY EFFORT WITHIN ITS MEANS TO VERIFY THIS INFORMATION. HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION ONLY. NOVELL MAKES NO EXPLICIT OR IMPLIED CLAIMS TO THE VALIDITY OF THIS INFORMATION. ------------------------------------------------------------------ ISSUE Major Features of Novell DOS 7: Why Novell DOS? Novell DOS 7 is a fully compatible alternative to MS-DOS. The following features make it well suited as a workstation operating system for Novell networks: Enhanced memory management that moves the operating system, network drivers, and memory-resident programs (TSRs) out of conventional memory on all levels of PC systems with a 286 or higher processor and extended or expanded memory. Preemptive multitasking to allow multiple applications to be run simultaneously. Peer-to-peer networking using the same DOS Requester and VLMs for a "common client" with native NetWare. A data compression utility that effectively doubles storage capacity of the hard disk. Disk defragmentation for optimizing disk access. A read/write disk cache for better performance of both DOS and MS Windows applications. An undelete utility that recovers erased files, even on network drives. Complete on-line reference guide, command help, and menu-driven install and setup utilities for easy configuration changes. How does Novell DOS Work? Here are some of the key elements in the structure of Novell DOS, as a prelude to discussing how to troubleshoot it. It is beyond the scope of this document to delve deeply into the syntaxes and functions of its many powerful components. For a full list of all commands, along with a description, and syntax for each, refer to the DOSBOOK online help utility. Commands Novell DOS uses a set of internal and external commands similar to MS-DOS commands. The following standard DOS commands have been significantly enhanced in Novell DOS: CHKDSK, DISKCOPY, HELP, MEM, REPLACE, UNDELETE, and XCOPY. Novell DOS also includes many new commands such as XDIR, CURSOR, XDEL, TOUCH, SCRIPT, and RENDIR. Enter any command followed by a /H or /? for a quick list of its available parameters. SETUP SETUP is a full-screen menu utility for changing the Novell DOS configuration for all of its features, including the networking, memory management, disk utilities, security, and task management. There are pop-up help screens available within the setup utility. Memory Utilities Novell DOS 7 comes with a host of utilities for optimizing memory, including full featured memory managers EMM386.EXE and HIMEM.SYS, DPMS.EXE, and MEMMAX.EXE. Novell DOS ships with several memory-resident programs that take advantage of DOS Protected Mode Services (DPMS) to load much of their program code into extended memory, including the disk compression and disk cache drivers, file delete tracking, peer-to-peer network server, and CD-ROM extension driver. Some of the most common memory management commands are described below. 1. EMM386.EXE EMM386.EXE is a flexible device driver for configuring the RAM on 80386 and above systems. It can configure extended memory for both XMS (Extended Memory Specification) and EMS (Expanded Memory Specification). It can also provide upper and high memory, and moves the operating system into high memory. With EMM386.EXE loaded, and upper memory available, NetWare drivers, other device drivers, and TSRs can be loaded into the upper memory blocks (UMBs) between 640 and 1024 KB. EMM386 has many options including Multitasking support, DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI) memory support, and support for allocating video memory to conventional. 2. HIMEM.SYS HIMEM.SYS is a device driver used for configuring the memory of 80286 systems. It can also be used on 80386 systems where the more flexible functionality of EMM386.EXE is not necessary. HIMEM.SYS configures extended memory for XMS, and moves the operating system into high memory. Some 80286 CPU support chips, such as NeAT chips, are used to move NetWare drivers, other device drivers, and TSRs into upper memory blocks. If an 8086, 8088, or 80286 system has a LIM 4.0 expanded memory driver, HIMEM.SYS can use the page frame for moving the operating system. HIMEM.SYS also has the ability to load under a third-party 386 memory manager, such as QEMM386 or 386^Max. When loaded in this manner, it augments the other driver by moving the operating system out of conventional memory. 3. DOS=HIGH, DOS=UMB One of these two commands can be used in CONFIG.SYS file after the memory manager has been loaded (EMM386.EXE) so that the operating system can be loaded into high or upper memory, out of the conventional memory area. 4. LH, HILOAD, DEVICEHIGH LH or HILOAD can be used to load TSRs into the upper memory blocks. DEVICEHIGH is used to load device drivers in the CONFIG.SYS file into the upper memory blocks. The memory manager must be loaded before these commands are used. Disk Utilities Novell DOS includes a collection of various disk-enhancing utilities. These include data compression (Stacker), disk caching (NWCache), file recovery (Diskmap, Delwatch, Undelete), and disk optimization (Diskopt). Multitasking Utilities Novell DOS has the ability to perform Multitasking or task switching. It allows you to load multiple programs into memory and easily switch between them. There is a pull-down menu which lists the current tasks that are loaded into memory, allows you to switch between them, and to create or delete other tasks. Multitasking allows several programs to run simultaneously, by very rapidly switching between all of the programs currently being run. Task switching allows only the program in the foreground (the currently active program) to run, while other tasks are suspended in the background. Multitasking requires a 386 processor, while task switching can be run on a 286 machine. Security Several different types of security are available with Novell DOS. The most commonly used is machine security, which does not allow the machine to be accessed until a password is entered at boot time. Security does not change the operation of the computer or the data in the computer in any way. Password security allows you to protect certain files or directories with passwords. These files or directories cannot be accessed without providing the password. Lock is a utility that can be used to lock the machine temporarily while you step away from the computer. It requires a password to restore access to the machine. NOTE: You cannot use FDISK to delete a partition while machine security is enabled. Security must first be disabled through the setup utility. Then FDISK will be able to delete partitions. Networking Novell DOS includes peer-to-peer networking Personal NetWare. Personal NetWare allows two or more machines to share hard disks, CD-ROM drives, and printers. After using appropriate hardware to connect the machines, Novell DOS PERSONAL NetWare is easily configured to use that hardware to connect the machines in a peer-to-peer type of a network. DOSBook and /H In addition to the printed documentation that comes with Novell DOS, a comprehensive on-line documentation is available through the DOSBook utility. DOSBook includes full documentation for Novell DOS and PERSONAL NetWare, including command references, explanations of concepts, troubleshooting tips, message references, and so forth. Also, any DOS command may be followed by /H to display help context for that command.