eddie@CC.MSSTATE.EDU (Eddie Mikell) (04/21/89)
Could anyone assist me with finding information about the econfig command on a Novell setup. I am using this command (as a suggestion from the users who helped me get NCSA - Netware running) in order to configure my Novell server for the proper ethernet packets. I have searched all the numerous manuals included with the system, but have found no mention of Econfig. Thanks in advance (and thanks to everyone who has helped so far!) Eddie H. Mikell Mississippi State University Sorry, no cute disclaimers for me.
jas@proteon.com ("John A. Shriver") (04/21/89)
OK, it's time to explain to the world the mess that is Novell Ethernet encapsulation. They shroud it in mystery because it contains, well, some serious mistakes. What they have been using for some time (since Advanced NetWare with IPX?) is something that they claim conforms to "the 802.3 specification". They send their NetWare IPX packets in the 802.3 packet format (length) instead of the Ethernet packet format. However, they do not use 802.2, which is the common data link protocol required for all 802.X networks. They just start off with their checksum (always FFFF) where the 802.2 header should have started. Needless to say, anything on the Ethernet that expects any 802.3 packet to also have an 802.2 header will get greatly confused. Here are these packets to and from the broadcast data-link service access points, with completely random control fields (whatever the IPX length is). All your hosts that think ISO will be wailing away with error messages on every broadcast packet. For instance, SunLink-ISO complains constantly about "no uppper layer interface for 802.2 packet". Well, the campuses that were fed up with this complained loudly enough to Novell that they made it configurable. However, the documentation for the ECONFIG command is only (to my knowledge) in "Supplement to NetWare Driver Specifications for Network Interface Cards", June 1988. ECONFIG allows you to set the encapsulation back to Ethernet, using Novell's Xerox-allocated Ethernet type of 8137. Of course, every NetWare node on that Ethernet will have to be configured. (You will not be very popular when you propose this.) There are supposed to be hooks in any Ethernet driver that allow ECONFIG to work, but it is not required for driver certification. (It is "strongly recommended".) Thus, there may be Ethernet drivers out that they won't ECONFIG. For a file server, you do: ECONFIG NET$OS.EXE A:N, B:E 8137 This will set driver A to "Novell" (802.3 without 802.2), and driver B to "Ethernet" type 8137. For a IPX driver, you do: ECONFIG IPX.COM SHELL:E 8137 to set to "Ethernet" type 8137. Apparently, if you just type ECONFIG, it will print some help (!). ECONFIG does not apply to any other LAN types supported by NetWare. They do use 802.2 on 802.5, although I doubt they own the SAP they are using.