NOVELL TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOCUMENT

TITLE:  Decrenfx.nlm v1.03 patch for NW 4.11/4.2
TID #:  2961245
README FOR:  DECRENFX.EXE

SUPERSEDES:
decrnft3.exe

NOVELL PRODUCTS and VERSIONS:
NetWare 4.2
Server 4.2

ABSTRACT:

Decrenfx.nlm v1.03 (11/8/2000) patch for NetWare 4.2/4.11.  

This revision of the patch corrects a server hang issue that was introduced
within the PK411.NLM included in Support Pack 9 for NetWare 4.2. The patch
originally addresses an issue where a client application (word processor,
database application, spreadsheet application, or the like) would attempt to
save an existing file that was compressed.  The file save attempt would return
one of the following messages:   "Access to file xxxxxxxx.xxx denied", "Network
error" or "file permission error". The patch was formerly known as
DECRNFT3.EXE.


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INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:

Install this patch by first loading the latest PK411.NLM patch.  This patch can
be found in Support Pack 9 for NetWare 4.11/4.2 and is automatically installed
when the support pack is applied.

Copy the included DECRENFX.NLM file to the C:\NWSERVER directory. Since the
orignal version of the patch is imbedded in the PK411.NLM. It will be necessary
to first unload the old version of the patch and to then load this new revision
of the patch.  

After the load line of the PK411.NLM patch in the STARTUP.NCF file, use the
"PMUNLOAD" and "PMLOAD" commands to properly replace the patch.  (see the
example below)

Example:
LOAD C:\NWSERVER\PK411.NLM      #(This line added by the support pack)
PMUNLOAD DECRENFX.NLM           #(add this line)
PMLOAD C:\NWSERVER\DECRENFX.NLM #(add this line)

ISSUE: 

After applying PK411.NLM v9.05, which was released with Support Pack 9 for
NetWare 4.11/4.2, the server may experience a hang which would be characterized
by the lack of Disk I/O to one or more of the volumes.  This symptom was the
result of a "stuck" volume use counter which happened because of a bug in the
DECRENFX.NLM v1.02.
 
Orignal the patch addresses an issue where a server thread can get in to a loop
while a compressed file is being renamed.  This will result in the rapid
proliferation of the "mopen count" for an open file.  The server will rapidly
run out of memory and produce memory allocation errors such as "Short term
memory allocator is out of memory".  To identify this specific problem, look in
Monitor.nlm under "Resource Utilization->Alloc Memory (bytes)->Server.nlm file
locks" the file locks bytes in use count will be very high (in the millions)
and will be incrementing very rapidly.  The server will eventually hang or
ABEND for lack of memory.

Another issue addressed occurs when a client application (word processor,
database application, spreadsheet application, or the like) would attempt to
save an existing file that was compressed.  The file save attempt would return
one of the following messages:   "Access to file xxxxxxxx.xxx denied ",
"Network error" or "file permission error".

Self-Extracting File Name: DECRENFX.EXE

Files Included          Size         Date          Time
..\
  DECRENFX.TXT   (This file)
  DECRENFX.NLM          2216    11-8-2000    3:19:38 pm



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