1. What things do I need to do before installing anything?
2. What things improve performance without the NPP expense?
3. Migrate Novell to NT FAQ
4. The Revelation Technologies NT Service FAQ
5. Why do I keep having Indexing problems Not yet)

(When you've looked this over, I'd appreciate some feedback; you can use our Feeback page.)

What things do I need to do before installing anything?

What this means is

1. what things could be causing a problem and
2. what SHOULD I have done initially to prevent them?

Where shall we start?  There are so MANY!  Well, until I write this out and let it gel for a couple of weeks, this is, in no particular order, the things I do FIRST on an NT Server 4.0..

1. Before doing ANYTHING, I go to the SERVICES panel on the CONTROL panel and shutdown every service I don't need right now (if you don't have some or any of these, don't worry about them).  I shut down:
   1. Content Indexer
   2. SQL Server
   3. Clipbook Server
   4. Both NetDDEs that are still open
   5. DHCP Client
   6. Directory Replicator
   7. SMTP Service
   8. DTC (Transaction Control)
   9. Radius Proxy Server
   10. All Remote Access Services running
   11. Spooler
   12. Windows Internet Name Server
   13. All Internet Information Services starting with FTP server.
   14. Any 3rd party programs (i.e. PC Anywhere, PC Remote)
   15. Now, close SERVICES and open the TASK MANAGER and make sure that all EXE or DLLs that are superfluous are stopped. (if you're not SURE, don't do an END TASK on them).
       
2. Ok, now that everything is shut down (oops! Did you shut down your tape backup?   Just restart it.), we're going to save off the registry so that not only can we back it up more easily, but we can also restore easily it if we need to.  To do this, you:
   1. Go to your START button, click it, then click RUN right above it.
   2. In the RUN box, type in REGEDIT.and bring up the old REGEDIT, not the new REGEDT32.
   3. On the menu in REGEDIT, click on Registry and then EXPORT.
   4. I usually export the registry to another physical drive; if you only have one drive, the do what ya gotta do.
   5. I make the filename I'm exporting to meaningful (meaning LONG). i.e. EXPORT_BEFORE_SP4_INSTALL.reg
   6. Close REGEDIT.
   7. The problem is that some backup software doesn't really backup the registry since all of it stays locked all of the time.  This gets around that.
   8. Backup your system onto whatever medium you usually use.
      
3. Now, if you have two or more physical disks, change your TEMP and TMP to be on something other than the boot drive, and I usually move them from the user to the system; the user settings can always override.  I also move my Internet Explorer cache to another drive, 2 levels down. i.e. L:\TEMP\Internet\Cache.   Better yet, if a someone uses their explorer a lot, or you've got a busy Intranet, make the cache on the LOCAL drive (i.e. C:\TEMP\Internet\Cache).   Takes a real load off of the server.  (Obviously, this means re-assigning your TEMP and TMP to this local hard drive, also.)
   
4. Bring your server, and any associated software, up to the latest release; however, bring NT server up to SP4 is the most important.
   
5. Now, reboot and you're ready for the next steps.

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Arev 3.12 Client migrating from Netware to NT

From: Jonathan Bird
12/22/98

You will need the NT service. Included with it is the NPP, you do not need to buy the two sepreately.
Migrating from Netware to NT should be a matter of:

Installing Client services for Netware on one pc, and connect it to both servers.
Copy the application to and data to the new server
Installing the NT service and changing the network driver in the new copy
Checking it all works (LOCKING!!! PRINTING!)

Does your software make any calls to Netware utilities? (NPRINT, CAPTURE etc. If so all these will need to be changed prior to the switch.

Hope this helps,
JB jb@psiltd.co.nz

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NT Service Tech FAQ
1. What is the NT Service?
The NT service is a program that gets installed onto your Intel-based NT Server. It processes linear hash functionality on the NT server. It processes the reads, writes, deletes, and other linear hash functionality on the NT server itself. This means that a workstation can not corrupt a file by abnormally terminating (losing power, being rebooted, etc.)The result of a corrupted file would be errors such as GFE's.

2. Why is the Network Performance Pack included with the Revelation NT Service?
The Network Performance Pack is used to communicate with the NT service using a network protocol known as named pipes. The NT service "advertises" its services. Then it "listens" for requests for its services. Then it sends "responses" to the requests. All of this communication is handled by the Network Performance Pack on one end and by the NT service on the other. This communication can happen over any protocol (TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, Netbeui etc.)
It is very important to note that the licensing for the Network Performance Pack is explicitly for one copy of Advanced Revelation or OpenInsight. This licensing is in effect for the Network Performance Pack whether it comes as part of the Revelation NT Service or is purchased separately.
**You do not need to purchase a license of the Network Performance Pack
for OpenInsight for Workgroups 3.12 or higher.

3. Which should be installed first, the NT Service or the Network Performance Pack or does it matter?
No it does not matter which is installed first. However, a good rule of thumb is to upgrade the server first, and install the REVPARAM files first. This will help ensure that no users are logged into the system when you install the Network Performance Pack driver.

4. Do I have to use the NT Service in conjunction with the Network Performance Pack (NPP) or is there a situation in which I only need to use the NPP?
The general guidelines are as follows:
If you are running OpenInsight or Advanced Revelation on a NT Server, and you are using Win '95 or NT client workstations, you need the Network Performance Pack If you have more than 10 users accessing your system, we would suggest the Network Performance Pack in conjunction with the NT Service for maximum performance. For all versions of OpenInsight over 3.12, the NPP is included with the software. If you are using versions below 3.12, you need to purchase it as an additional product.

5. I have linear hash data located on multiple NT servers, do I only need one copy of the NT service on one of these servers or do I need the NT service on every NT server that contains data?
Ideally, the Revelation NT Service should be installed on every NT file server containing OpenInsight or Advanced Revelation linear hash files in order to provide maximum performance benefits. The NT Service will only work in drives that are physically attached to a machine running the NT Service.

6. What is local mode?
Local mode refers to how the client workstation reads the data from the server. What this means is that if the workstation is reading the linear hash data directly, instead of through the NT service, it is operating in what we call local mode. With the NT service this should only be used to verify that you are able to see the data.

7. OK, so how does this relate to the REVPARAM file and ServerOnly = true?
What the REPARAM file and the ServerOnly statement do is to prevent workstations from reading the data in local mode. If the REVPARAM with the ServerOnly statement is in a directory that contains LH data it will prohibit the client from reading the data, and only allow the file server to access the data.

8. How do I stop and start services on an NT server under windows NT instead of doing it from the command line? (see the NT service documentation for a detailed description of how to use this function from the command line)
NT 3.51 - Go to the Main Group, Control Panel, then click on the "services" icon
NT 4.0 - Click on Start, Settings, Control Panel then click on the "services" icon
This will display a dialogue box featuring the services currently running under NT

9. I am running multiple protocols on my system, is this OK to do with the NT service?
Yes, it is OK and you will be able to run your application, however, less is best. We call that "stacking" your protocols. You will notice a significant decrease in performance of your Arev or OI product the more protocols you have running on your system. We would recommend using only one protocol for maximum performance on your workstation.
Also, Microsoft's Netbeui will typically be your fastest protocol, TCP/IP will be the second fastest, and the IPX/SPX protocol will be the third fastest. If you need to be running IPX/SPX when talking to an NT Server, you want to make sure you are using Microsoft drivers.

10. I run Windows for Workgroups and once I installed the NT Service on my NT 3.51 server, I did not see any performance benefits. Is there something I am doing wrong?
The NT server installation CD (3.51) that you have contains a patch for Windows for Workgroups. We suggest you install the patch prior to setting up the NT service. \clients\update.WFW. We have had several clients see a big improvement once they have installed this patch.

11. What do I do if I get the following error message mean during the Network Performance Pack install?
+----------------------------------------------------+
¦Fatal Error Readnexting in table LH2_INSTALL ¦
¦---[FS107]---------------------------------------- ¦
¦ ¦
¦ Read error. ¦
¦ OS File = "A:\AREV\REVxxxxx.LK". ¦
¦ ¦
¦-------------------------------------------------- ¦
¦[ESC] to terminate, Break to debugger? ([ESC]/B) ¦
¦< >¦
+----------------------------------------------------+
You should un-write-protect the Network Performance Pack disk.

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