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Netware Server Configuration

Configuring SLP Parameters for a Netware Server

The following parameters should be set on Netware servers in the C:\NWSERVER\STARTUP.NCF file. Setting parameters in the STARTUP.NCF file ensures that the settings will be in effect after the server is rebooted.

When configuring SLP parameters on a server, you can enter the changes via the console prompt or Monitor. After this is done, enter the exact same changes into the STARTUP.NCF file.

You will need to reboot the server in order to activate changes made to the "SLP Scope List" parameter. In order to activate any other SLP configuration changes, you only need to "reset" SLP on the server. This is described below.

 

The following 4 parameters should be configured as described:

SLP Scope List
Netware servers use the "slp scope list" parameter to determine which SLP scope(s) the server's SAs register with. Because DAs are used at NCSU, this parameter determines which DAs the server's SAs will register with.

At NCSU, the SLP Scope List parameter should be set to NCSU.

SLP DA Discovery Options
This parameter controls how your server will discover DAs on the network. It is a concatenated binary setting made up of 4 bits. As such, valid values are 0-15.

The following are the binary flags that can be ON/OFF (set = ON, unset = OFF):
0x01 (binary 0001) - Dynamic Discovery
0x02 (binary 0010) - DHCP Discovery
0x04 (binary 0100) - Static Discovery
0x08 (binary 1000) - Disable Dynamic Discovery IF Static or DHCP configured DA is valid

At NCSU, you should statically specify the DAs your server will use in the SLP.CFG file (described below). Because of this, you don't need to use dynamic discovery or DHCP discovery.

SLP DA Discovery Options should be set to 12 (0x04 + 0x08). This means that your server will try to use the static entries in the SLP.CFG file. If the server finds a valid DA from the SLP.CFG file, dynamic discovery will be disabled and network traffic will be reduced.

SLP TCP
This parameter determines whether SLP will try to use the TCP protocol rather than UDP. Your server may experience more reliable SLP communications is TCP is used. This parameter should be set to ON.

SLP Default Lifetime
This parameter determines how often an SA will try to register its service. The default for this paramter is 3600 seconds (1 hour). It is recommended that this parameter be set to 43200 (12 hours). Increasing this parameter will reduce the amount of SLP traffic your server generates.


To add these parameters to the STARTUP.NCF file:

  • From the server console, type:

    • EDIT C:\NWSERVER\STARTUP.NCF

You should see something that looks like this (the pre-existing entries will probably be different):

  • Add the following 4 lines to the end of the file:

    SET SLP SCOPE LIST = NCSU
    SET SLP DA DISCOVERY OPTIONS = 12
    SET SLP TCP = ON
    SET SLP SA DEFAULT LIFETIME = 43200

The file should now look like this:

  • Press <ESC> and select "Yes" to save the file
  • Press <ESC> again and exit the Edit utility

(Note: if you reboot the server after editing the STARTUP.NCF file, you won't have to enter any of the commands via the console prompt or Monitor.)

To set the SLP scope list parameter from a server's console prompt:

  • Type the following line at the server's console prompt:

    SET SLP SCOPE LIST = NCSU
    SET SLP DA DISCOVERY OPTIONS = 12
    SET SLP TCP = ON
    SET SLP SA DEFAULT LIFETIME = 43200

To set the SLP scope list parameter from the Monitor utility:

  • Open the Monitor utility by typing monitor at the server's console prompt
  • Press <TAB> to bring the menu items to the foreground
  • Scroll down to the bottom of the "Select Menu Category" list
  • Select "Server Parameters" and press <ENTER>
  • Scroll to the bottom of the "Select a parameter category" list
  • Select "Service Location Protocol" and press <ENTER>
  • Find the 4 parameters described above and change the settings as suggested

Configuring the SLP.CFG File

In order to fully take advantage of the SLP Directory Agent (DA) services offered on campus, you should configure the SYS:ETC\SLP.CFG file on each Netware server. In this file, you specify the IP addresses of the DAs on campus. This allows your server's SAs to know which DAs to register its services with.

You can use the link provided below to download a pre-configured SLP.CFG file which can be used on your servers. To use this file, simply replace the SYS:ETC\SLP.CFG file on your servers with this one:

Download: SLP.CFG (2 KB)

 

If you prefer to edit the SLP.CFG file manually, perform the following steps:

  • From the server console, type

    • EDIT SYS:ETC\SLP.CFG

  • Add the following 2 lines to the end of the file:

    DA IPV4, 152.1.3.98
    DA IPV4, 152.1.3.99

The end of the file should look like this:

  • Press <ESC> and select "Yes" to save the file
  • Press <ESC> again and exit the Edit utility
  • You will either need to reset SLP or reboot the server for these changes to take effect
Activating SLP Configuration Changes (Resetting SLP)

The only SLP parameter that requires a server reboot if changed is "SLP Scope List". All of the others will be activated by resetting SLP on the server. To reset SLP on a server:

  • At the server console, enter the following command:

    SET SLP RESET = ON

You can also reset SLP via the Monitor utility. To use Monitor to reset SLP:

  • Open the Monitor utility by typing monitor at the server's console prompt
  • Press <TAB> to bring the menu items to the foreground
  • Scroll down to the bottom of the "Select Menu Category" list
  • Select "Server Parameters" and press <ENTER>
  • Scroll to the bottom of the "Select a parameter category" list
  • Select "Service Location Protocol" and press <ENTER>
  • Find the menu item called "SLP Reset" and press <ENTER>
Checking if A Server is Properly Configured for SLP

Display SLP Services Command
You can enter the following command at the server console to view the SLP services that the server is aware of:

DISPLAY SLP SERVICES

(Note: The word "DISPLAY" is optional if you are running Netware 6)

If you have a NW 5.1 SP3 or later server and you do not see the full list of SLP services when issuing the DISPLAY SLP SERVICES command, then issue these two commands at the console:

SET SLP TCP = ON
SET SLP RESET = ON

Wait a few seconds and then issue the DISPLAY SLP SERVICES command again. You should see the whole list.

Display SLP DA Command
You can enter the following command at the server console to view the SLP Directory Agent servers that the server has discovered:

DISPLAY SLP DA

You should see the IP addresses of the SLP DA servers:

View NCSU Scope Container with ConsoleOne
One of the best features of Novell's SLP DA architecture is that configuration and service information are stored in NDS. When your server's SAs successfully register their services with a DA, "SLP Service" objects are created in NDS. You can look at the container were these objects are stored to see if your server is correctly configured to advertise its services via SLP.

To use ConsoleOne to see if SLP Service objects have been created for your server's services:

  • Open ConsoleOne
    • ConsoleOne is available via the NAL in the "Admin Tools" folder
    • ConsoleOne can be launched from most Netware servers by executing SYS:Public\mgmt\ConsoleOne\1.2\bin\ConsoleOne.exe
  • Browse the NCSUNDS tree to the following SLP Scope Unit container:

    NCSU.SLP-NCSU.Services.NCSU

  • You should see a large number of "SLP Service" objects

    The NCSU Scope Unit container should look something like this:

  • If your server appears in the NCSU Scope Unit container, it is being advertised via SLP