NOVELL TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOCUMENT TITLE: Abend Troubleshooting Guide README FOR: TABND2A.EXE NOVELL PRODUCTS and VERSIONS: NetWare 3.11 NetWare 4.1 NetWare 3.12 ABSTRACT: This file contains diagnositic programs / utilities, and documentation to help in troubleshooting NW v3.x and NW v4.x server Abends, hangs, page faults, GPPE's, NMI's, etc. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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: Documents: RCSI.APP Found in the directory "Docs\." This document is a reprint of the February 1995 Application Note, "Resolving Critical Server Issues." RECOVERY.APP Found in the directory "Docs\." This document is a reprint of the June 1995 Application Note, "Abend Recovery Techniques for NetWare 3 and 4 Servers." RECOVERY.BMP Flow Chart graphic from the article in "Recovery.APP." TABEND.wp6 Found in the directory "Docs\." This document, "Troubleshooting Abends," is a general troubleshooting guide for dealing with server hangs, Abends, Page Faults, etc. It can also serve as a guideline for troubleshooting server problems in general. TABEND.TXT Tabend.wp6 document in ascii text form. TABENDS.WPG Troubleshooting Abends flow chart graphic in WordPerfect format. Additional Reference: Compression and High Utilization Technical Information Document (TID) 1005736. This document is a discussion of high utilization vs. file compress at the NW4.1 server. Suballocation and High Utilization Technical Information Document (TID) 1005436. This document is a discussion of high utilization vs. NW4.1 file system suballocation. Troubleshooting High Utilization Technical Information Document (TID) 1005963. This document is a discussion of troubleshooting ideas and issues when troubleshooting a NW4.1 high utilization. Most of the ideas in the document also apply to NW3.x. Technical Information Document (TID) 2905856. This document is an addendum to TID1005963, found in HIGHUTIL.TRB. The document recommends set parameter changes to be made to server with an average of 100 or more connections in use. Diagnostic Tools: IMGCOPY.NLM ****************************************** Found in the directory "Diags\IMGCopy\." Imgcopy (Image Copy) is used to transfer a core dump, that has been initially copied to your servers dos partition, to a NetWare volume. This method usually allows you to bring your server up more quickly. Installation Instructions: IMGCOPY can either be run from a floppy drive or can be copied to SYS:SYSTEM. After an image file has been generated and the server brought back up, type the following at the file server console screen*: LOAD IMGCOPY < > NOTE: For both 3.11 and 4.10 SFT III. Load IMGCOPY in the Mirrored Server Engine. Depending on how the parameter "MSEngine Use Primary Server For DOS I/O" is set will determine which machines' DOS hard drive will be used. You will need to either set this to on or off depending on where the image to be copied resides. where: SOURCE PATH Full path (including file name) of the image file which resides on the local hard drive. If no source path is specified, the default is C:\COREDUMP.IMG. DESTINATION PATH The location on the SYS: volume where the image file should be copied. This must be a complete NetWare path specification, including volume and file names. The default destination path is SYS:COREDUMP\COREDUMP.IMG. If the destination path does not already exist, IMGCOPY will attempt to create that directory on the network drive. If the file specified already exists, it will be overwritten without any warning to the user. PRIORITY This parameter specifies what priority level is to be used when copying the image file. The valid options are LOW, MEDIUM, and HIGH. If no priority is given, MEDIUM is assumed. When running at LOW priority, IMGCOPY allows the file server to service user requests for longer intervals. LOW priority will exhibit the least amount of server degradation, but it will take much longer to complete the file transfer. At MEDIUM priority, there is no degradation of server functionality, although the transfer time is reduced considerably. At HIGH priority, the server will almost exclusively be processing transfer requests, thereby making it nearly impossible for the file server to perform other duties until the file has been transferred. This is the fastest transfer priority available. Note that all the above parameters are optional, and may be specified in any order. Once loaded, IMGCOPY will immediately begin to transfer the image file from the server's local DOS partition, to the network drive. A status screen will be displayed, showing the selected source and destination files, as well as the priority level. Also, a counter indicating the number of bytes successfully transferred will be display. The user can toggle out of the IMGCOPY screen by typing Alt + Esc. When the image file has been successfully transferred, IMGCOPY will display a message to the file server console and automatically unload itself. File server activity will then resume at normal operating levels. It is possible to abort the file transfer by unloading IMGCOPY while the transfer is taking place. A note about Real and Protected mode: During normal operation, the file server runs in protected mode. However, in order to access the local DOS partition to read the image file, the file server must switch to real mode each time a read request is processed. While in real mode, all normal file server activity ceases. Due to this frequent state switching, users may experience loss of keystrokes at the file server console if a key was pressed while the server was in real mode. These keystrokes are stored in a real mode buffer and will not be seen at the file server console. The higher the priority level, the more apparent this will become. At the MEDIUM and HIGH priority settings, users may not be able to toggle between screens easily or type anything at the server console. This condition will disappear as soon as the file has been transferred and IMGCOPY has been unloaded. NETALIVE.NLM ****************************************** Found in the directory "Diags\NetAlive\." This nlm is also used for core dumps. It gives you the option of having a core dump sent to another servers volume. This is usually the fastest way to get a core dump. Installation Instructions: First, on the server where the memory image is to be downloaded from, load the client drivers for the selected card and login to the server where the memory image is to be downloaded to (NOTE: you will need to know the drive letter that was used when connecting to the server where the memory image will be downloaded to when the memory image is executed). Then, bring the server up. Once the server is up, load the NETALIVE.NLM with the following syntax: LOAD (path):NETALIVE server_name Example: Assume a server named "747" is where the memory image is going to be downloaded from and that a regular user connection is being made (via a second lan card) to prv- temp-pse (i.e. the server where the memory image will be downloaded to). The syntax for loading the NETALIVE.NLM would be as follows: LOAD A:NETALIVE 747 PRV-TEMP-PSE This will start a timer at 300 seconds. When the timer counts down to 0, a message will show that each server is being notified, then the timer will reset to 300 seconds. Checking the connection information in monitor for the client card, the request count will increment by 1. HDUMP.NLM ******************************************** Found in the directory "Diags\CDump\," Hdump.nlm and the other files here are used to aid you in taking a core dump on a NW3.11 server. A core dump is an image of the servers memory, which is in the form of a file. This file can then be sent to Novell for anaylsis. Don't take a core dump unless you have an open tech support incident with Novell and you have been asked to get the core dump by a tech support engineer. Installation: To install HDUMP, simply place the HDUMP.NLM file in the same directory as the other NLM files (SYS:SYSTEM or DOS partition). From the file server console screen, type: load hdump If no destination path/filename is specified, HDUMP will use C:\COREDUMP.IMG as the default. HDUMP will attempt to create the destination directory if it does not already exist. The user will be warned if the destination file already exists, and given the option to overwrite the existing image file on the local drive or exit. If HDUMP must abort for any reason, the user will be given the option of writing the coredump to floppy disk. If an ABEND occurs, or a coredump is forced, HDUMP will automatically begin execution and will display the following: Writing diagnostic dump to: Reading memory range x of x. Dumping sector x of x. Upon successful completion, the message "Diagnostic dump complete" will be displayed. At this point, it may be useful to use the IMGCOPY.NLM and/or CHOP.EXE utilities to copy the file from the DOS partition. See their respective documentation for details. PATCHMAN.NLM (v.2.20) will only operate on NetWare 386 v3.11. Future versions of NetWare 386 will require a version of PATCHMAN specific to that release and may also require a different version of HDUMP. FCONSOLE.EXE ******************************************** Used to down a file server from a workstation. Found in the directory "Diags\Fconsole\." This file and the related files shipped with NW 3.x and is used to down a file server from a workstation. Fconsole did not ship with NW4.x and has not been tested, however, it has been seen to work without problem in most cases to down a 4.x server. 410PBOFF.NLM ********************************************* Found in the directory "Diags\PBOFF\." This nlm is used for troubleshooting where you want to disable packet burst at the server. This is for troubleshooting only since disabling packet burst will severely reduce your servers performance. CONFIG.NLM ********************************************** Found in the directory "Diags\Config\." Used to document your server configuration. This is useful to document a servers configuration for your own records. Also, we will often ask for this information if you call Novell with a tech support issue. Config.nlm is a command line utility. ConfgNut.nlm is included and is a menu driven utility. The CONFIG.NLM program collects the following information: Volume size in Megabytes Loader version on Nw v4.x Serial Number ABEND.LOG on NW v4.11 IO$LOG.ERR MSSTATUS.DMP TIMESYNC.CFG ATPS.CFG whether COMPRESSION, SUBALLOCATION, and MIGRATION are enabled on each volume. CONFIG.NLM and CONFGNUT.NLM work on all versions of NetWare. If when loading CONFIG or CONFGNUT, the error LOADER CAN'T FIND PUBLIC SYMBOL appears then update CLIB.NLM, NWSNUT.NLM, and MATHLIBC.NLM. Installation Instructions for CONFIG.NLM Copy CONFIG.NLM and CONFGNUT.NLM to the SYS:SYSTEM directory of the server. At the console prompt type LOAD CONFIG or LOAD CONFGNUT and press return. CONFIG.NLM and CONFGNUT.NLM create a text file (CONFIG.TXT) in the SYS:SYSTEM directory. If CONFIG.TXT exists CONFIG.NLM will overwrite the file. CONFGNUT and CONFIG can append or overwrite CONFIG.TXT. CONFIG.NLM no longer creates its own SCREEN, so watch the SERVER CONSOLE SCREEN for CONFIG IS DONE or any other messages that CONFIG.NLM will post. By default CONFIG will not include the SYSTEM files or the SET parameters. LOAD CONFIG /d to include the SYSTEM file listings. LOAD CONFIG /s to include the SET parameters and LOAD CONFIG /a to append to CONFIG.TXT. LOAD CONFIG /ads to get set parameters, file listing, and append to CONFIG.TXT. CONFIG.TXT has a list of all the MODULES that were loaded on the server when CONFIG.NLM was run. It also has the contents of all NCF files on the default local drive and in the SYS:SYSTEM directory. It includes CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files for the server. A directory of SYS:SYSTEM and your local drive is also placed in CONFIG.TXT if /d is put on the command line. The SET parameters can be obtained by putting /s on the command line. On NW SFT III servers, load CONFIG or CONFGNUT in both IOENGINES and in the MSENGINE. When loading CONFIG on SFT III it is loaded 3 times. On the 2nd and 3rd times you load CONFIG be sure to use the /a to append to CONFIG.TXT. CONFGNUT is a GUI version and should be self explanatory. There are many more options available in CONFGNUT. Self-Extracting File Name: tabnd2a.exe Files Included Size Date Time ..\ TABND2A.TXT (This file) DOC 1914 7-14-97 3:35:30 pm TABND2A.TXT 9815 7-14-97 5:19:44 pm ..\DIAGS\ ..\DIAGS\CONFIG\ CONFGNUT.NLM 50874 3-17-97 3:26:38 pm CONFIG.NLM 43998 3-17-97 3:48:50 pm ..\DIAGS\FCONSOLE\ FCONSOLE.EXE 213984 8-11-93 3:58:44 pm FCONSOLE.HLP 131647 2-7-91 10:11:36 am IBM$RUN.OVL 2400 7-13-89 9:30:00 am SYS$ERR.DAT 9170 12-10-90 1:37:24 pm SYS$HELP.DAT 14092 1-29-91 2:39:10 pm SYS$MSG.DAT 25138 1-30-91 3:10:02 pm ..\DIAGS\HDUMP\ HDUMP.NLM 4194 10-2-91 9:37:24 am IMGCOPY.DOC 6062 10-3-91 11:14:44 am IMGCOPY.NLM 4775 9-3-91 2:08:38 pm ..\DIAGS\HDUMP\CHP\ CHOP.DOC 2416 6-29-92 12:43:16 pm CHOP.EXE 18288 6-10-92 12:14:18 pm UNCHOP.EXE 19434 6-10-92 12:18:04 pm ..\DIAGS\HDUMP\PCHMN220\ PATCHMAN.DOC 4240 10-10-91 3:16:18 pm PATCHMAN.NLM 8923 10-10-91 9:09:10 am ..\DIAGS\IMGCOPY\ IMGCOPY.NLM 4775 9-4-91 8:35:54 am ..\DIAGS\NETALIVE\ NETALIVE.NLM 3693 8-24-94 9:00:00 am ..\DIAGS\PBOFF\ PBRSTOFF.NLM 1110 3-9-95 1:38:18 pm PM410.NLM 18652 3-8-95 10:46:46 am ..\DOCS\ RCSI.APP 119867 4-11-95 12:46:30 pm RECOVERY.APP 163866 6-18-96 10:23:56 am RECOVERY.BMP 622320 5-23-95 1:28:58 pm TABEND.TXT 42834 6-21-96 12:14:00 pm TABEND.WP6 100479 6-21-96 12:15:44 pm TABENDS.WPG 6663 6-20-96 3:03:44 pm Installation Instructions: The document "TABEND.WP6" is a general troubleshooting guide which suggests a logical flow for troubleshooting a server Abend, or hang condition. You will also find specific suggestions and ideas to aid your troubleshooting. This document will also direct you to other applicable files or documents, most of which are included in Tabnd2.exe. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Any trademarks referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners. Consult your product manuals for complete trademark information. -----------------------------------------------------------------