NOVELL TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOCUMENT

TITLE:  LWPPING.EXE; Ping Fix for LWP 5.0 & 5.1
README FOR:  LWPPING.EXE

NOVELL PRODUCTS and VERSIONS:
LAN WorkPlace 5 for MS Windows and DOS
LAN WorkPlace Pro for Windows 95/NT 5.1

ABSTRACT:

LWPPING.EXE corrects the following problem in LAN WorkPlace 5.0 & 5.1 ("Pro").
 The ping utility in LWP could return a positive result when it did not
actually receive a response from the IP address the ping was sent to.
 This occured only when the address being tested was on a different network
segment than the work station sending the "ping".
 The problem can be seen in LWP Pro, & LWP 5.0, but the latter only when
CLIENT32 is in use.  LWP 5.0 with VLM's does not have this problem. The DOS
ping utility does not exhibit this problem.


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 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.
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SYMPTOM:

The "ping" utility in Lan WorkPlace may return a positive result when it did
not actually receive a response from the IP address the ping was sent to.

 This occurs only when the address being tested is on a different network
segment than the work station sending the "ping". The problem is seen in Lan
WorkPlace Pro, and Lan WorkPlace 5.0, but the latter only when CLIENT32 is in
use.  Lan WorkPlace 5.0 with VLM's does not have this problem. The DOS ping
utility does not exhibit this problem.



CAUSE

The Novell TCP/IP stack released with Lan WorkPlace 5.0 interpreted ICMP error
messages, and in the case of a ping packet which could not be forwarded by a
router, the router message to this effect was handled by the stack so that the
"ping" application knew there was no response from the target address. In the
Microsoft TCP/IP stack used with Windows95 and NT, such ICMP error messages are
passed through to the application. The Novell CLIENT32 follows the Microsoft
procedure.

 In both Lan WorkPlace 5.0 and Lan Workplace Pro, the "ping" application
assumed that any response to the "ping" was a positive response, because in the
original Novell stack only positive responses were forwarded to the
application. In the fixed versions of RESIP32.EXE and RESOLVIP.EXE the nature
of each response is tested by the application.

SOLUTION: 

Install LWPPING.EXE as instructed.

Self-Extracting File Name: LWPPING.EXE

Files Included     Size     Date      Time

..\
     LWPPING.TXT     (This file)
     RESIP32.EXE           40960         6-16-97     10:38:00 pm
    RESOLVIP.EXE           19360          8-7-97     10:42:10 pm


Installation Instructions:

A. If you have LWP 5.0 copy the new files into the BIN directory.

 B. If you have LWP 5.1 (Pro) copy the new files into the BIN32 directory.



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