Subject: NFS & TCP/IP FAQ for PCs & Macs [part 02/06]

From: [email-masked] (Rawn Shah)
Date: 1 Nov 1993 19:21:55 GMT

Archive-name: pcnfs-faq/part2
Last-modified: 1993/10/28
Version: 1.5

C-4.  How can I test NFS performance?

The following information does not contain information on LADDIS which is a
newer test suite for NFS systems. Please look at C-10 for information on
LADDIS. 

The following is a post from the archives from a while back which answers
this directly:

   As it turns out, there's a surprising amount of software floating around
that looks at NFS.  Such software includes:

	nfswatch -- curses-based promiscuous NFS monitor.  This program
		prints out a running tally of how many of each type of
		request comes in, and of which file systems are the most
		heavily used.  Nfswatch can be used to look at traffic to
		individual files, too.  This is anonymously FTPable from
		icarus.riacs.edu.

	server_stat -- a NFS monitor program that runs on Encore Multimaxes.
		This shows information on hosts, users, and NFS request
		types performed.  This is capable of talking to a
		rpc.srvstatd process on another machine, though I don't know
		of other machines that support the Encore srvstatd program.

	nfsstone -- the Encore NFS benchmark, as presented in:

		Shein, B., Callahan, M., Woodbury, P., NFSSTONE: A Network
		File Server Performance Benchmark, Usenix Summer 1989
		conference proceedings, pp 269-275.

		This is a synthetic benchmark load, with an empirically-
		determined mix of operations.

	nhfsstone -- the Legato NFS benchmark.  This is also a synthetic
		load generator, based again on a particular observed
		load mix.  You can get this by sending mail like:

			To: [email-masked]
			Subject: send nhfsstone

			path path_back_to_me

		I had some problems getting this, though I was ultimately
		successful.

	NetMetrix (formerly EtherView) -- 
		a Sun-based packet spy that is capable of doing some
		characterization of NFS load and response times.  This is
		a commercial product.  For more information, contact:

			Hewlett Packard, Network Test Division
			One Tara Blvd., Suite 403, Nashua NH 03062
			(603) 888-7000
			
	LANWatch -- another packet spy, from FTP Software, Inc.  This can
		filter out NFS traffic; I don't know what can be done with
		the packets though once they're filtered out.  For more
		information, call FTP at (800) 282-4FTP, or send mail to
		[email-masked].

	[ There's lots of other packet spies, too, and I suspect that most
	of them can do at least a little bit with NFS packets. ]

   The problem with most of the programs above (except for the synthetic
loads, to which this just doesn't apply, since they're not NFS monitors) is
that you don't get raw data points which you can then analyze.  You get the
data that the authors thought you might want...  and which might not be what
you really want.  There's much to be said for the approach of dumping traces
and lots of timestamps into a file, then providing (a) programs that analyze
such files, and (b) the format of the files, so that people can write their
own analysis programs.  On a PC-based packet spy, this is a hard thing to
do.

   There's a fair number of people (at the major NFS server vendors, Sun,
DEC, and a few universities) who are also poking around at the problem.
Some people are looking at filesystem activity tracers, which (in addition
to being interesting research on its own) could provide still more reams of
interesting statistics when combined with a NFS tracer.

   The consensus was that the best way to trace NFS operations is to do so
via a promiscuous packet spy.  Such an approach has many advantages.  First,
if you don't have kernel sources, you can still get useful information.
Second, because you don't instrument the server kernel, you don't have to
worry about influencing the experiment in adverse ways.  However, there's
some chance (depending on your hardware and on how fast you make your
software go) that you'll drop packets.  The 'hack the server kernel'
approach won't drop any requests, but violates the above constraints.  I
suspect that the best way to gather statistics is by using *both* methods of
measurement, then comparing the results.

   I was also referred (twice) to the SunOS 4.1 NFS implementation, and in
particular the adaptive NFS retransmission code therein.  These numbers might
be interesting to see, once 4.1 is more easily available.

   Of course, the usual Unix file access pattern (i.e., lots of short-lived
files in /tmp, most of which get written, then read once, then deleted)
information applies.  This was mentioned by several people; one reference
given was:

	Floyd, Rick, Short-Term File Reference Patterns in a UNIX Environment,
	    University of Rochester Department of Computer Science TR 177,
	    March 1986.

   Another good paper (with not much data on NFS, though) is:

	Lazowska et al, "File Access Performance of Diskless Workstations",
	    ACM TOCS, volume 4, number 3, August 1986, pp 238-268.
	
   Not a whole lot was said about general models of NFS access.  Most places
that had any models had derived them from some number of studies and from
the output of nfsstat, or so it seemed.  It does seem that there's a few
general trends, however.  There are some sites (including ours, I suspect)
that fall into the low-utilization, few write model, where the server rarely
satisfies more than one client's NFS requests in some given time slot.
There's also the high-utilization, many write model, which is what I'm sure
a lot of sites see.  One responder said that once one's clients have enough
memory, the buffer cache ends up reducing the number of random reads going
on, so one is left with the reads that happen to start up a new process, and
with writes.

   Those who talked about models generally said that they think there's
almost as many models as there are networks using NFS.  I suspect that this
is true, but that perhaps some useful information (or at least methods) can
be abstracted out, regardless.

   A number of people also suggested that I talk to Legato and to Auspex and
see what they've done in this area.  I have a couple of papers from Auspex;
at a first glance, I don't think they look too closely at NFS load
characterization (at least, not as I define that), but instead concentrate
on what Auspex did to get better speed out of their NFS file server.  The
Auspex paper titled, "Benchmark Methodology and Preliminary Performance
Specifications for the Auspex NS5000 Network Server" (Bruce Nelson, Auspex
TR #2, October 1989) has more load characterization information than do the
other Auspex TRs I have, but it still doesn't have a whole lot.  (By the
way, I'm not implying that Auspex hasn't looked at load characterization,
because they obviously have.  I just don't have the fine details of their
results.)  I also did some talking with people at Legato; their comments and
models show up in the nhfsstone benchmark, or are otherwise repeated above.

	-Steve

Spoken: Steve Miller    Domain: [email-masked]    UUCP: uunet!mimsy!steve
Phone: +1-301-454-1808  USPS: UMIACS, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

C-5.  What is NHFSSTONES? Where can I get it?

"Nhfsstone" (pronounced n-f-s-stone, the "h" is silent) is a
copyrighted product of Legato Systems, Incorporated and is provided for
unrestricted use and distribution of the binary program derived from
it.

nhfsstone is a NFS load generating program.  It is used on an NFS client
to generate an artificial load with a particular mix of NFS operations.
It reports the average response time of the server in milliseconds per
call and the load in calls per second.  The program adjusts its calling
patterns based on the client's kernel NFS statistics and the elapsed
time.  Load can be generated over a given time or number of NFS calls.
The current version of the program can only be compiled on 4.x BSD
based UNIX systems.

To obtain the nhfsstone source shar file, send email to
"[email-masked]" or {sun,uunet}!legato!request.  The Subject line
and/or body of the message should have contain the command line:

	send unsupported nhfsstone

Note the exact spelling of "nhfsstone".  To issue delivery, you should
also add a line of the form:

	path <address>

where <address> is the preferred email address to use.  Generally,
using a domain-style email address works best.  A uucp path starting
with "sun!" or "uunet!" can also be used.

Joseph Moran
Legato Systems Inc.
260 Sheridan Avenue
Palo Alto, CA  94306
(415) 329-7886
[email-masked] or {sun,uunet}!legato!mojo

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

C-7.  How many nfsd's & biod's should I run on my server?

Default number of nfsd's & biod's is 8

Suggested Equation for nfsd's is:
	[number of disks exported] + [number of network interfaces]

Suggested maximum number of nfsd's runinng on a Sun system (SunOS 4.x) without any
accelerators is 22. Any more does not help in performance.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

C-8.  What is asynchronous I/O? How can I modify my NFS server system to use
      asynchronous I/O?

Asynchronous I/O (ASYNC) means that information comes and leaves at unannounced
intervals whereas synchronous I/O (SYNC) has a predetermined interval when
I/O can actually pass.

NFS has been used both through SYNC and ASYNC communications. The original
specification stated that SYNC I/O should be used although did not bind to
it. This results in slower communications during transfers. ASYNC creates
problems in that, if for some reason communications should fail (eg., your
NFS server crashes), there may be inconsistency in the data. The bright side
of ASYNC is that performance increases by a great deal.

Many implementations of NFS using asynchronous I/O are available. Despite
the disadvantage, the number of complaints about data loss due to this are
far fewer than the reports of performance increase. However, be warned that
asynchronous I/O is a direct violation of the NFS specification from X/Open
which states that all procedures of the NFS protocol are synchronous. This
makes such a server no longer compliant to X/Open

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

C-9.  What is a good NFS server?

Network Appliances Corp have recently come out with a product which they
call an NFS appliance, the FAServer. It is a 486 based system with an EISA
bus, 16 MB RAM, 2 MB NVRAM, and a RAID subsystem. The RAID subsystem keeps
up to 20 logical copies of the entire file system. They have a proprietory
operating system which does only simple management and disk serving. 
The pricing is about $20,000.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

C-10.  What is LADDIS?

LADDIS is multi-vendor and vendor neutral SPEC NFS Benchmack designed by
engineers from Leato, Auspex, Data General, DEC, Interphase and Sun [LADDIS
is an abbreviation using their first letters]. This covers local Ethernet or
FDDI nets and not WAN.

An excerpt from the LADDIS abstract:
"
	The purpose of the LADDIS benchmark is to give users a credible and
	undisputed test of NFS performance, and to give vendors a publishable
	standard performance measure that customers can use for load planning,
	system configuration, and equipment buying decisions. Toward this end,
	the LADDIS benchmark is being adopted by SPEC (the System Performance
	Evaluation Cooperative, creators of SPECmarks) as the first member of
	SPEC's System-level File Server (SFS) benchmark suite."
"

LADDIS is available directly from SPEC. Here is the contact person:

	Name:	Dianne Dean (SPEC contact person at NCGA)
	Phone:	703-698-9600 Ext 318
	Fax:	703-560-2752
	Email:	[email-masked]
	Mail:	SPEC
		c/o NCGA
		2722 Merrilee Drive, Suite 200
		Fairfax, VA 22031-4499

There is about a $1000 charge for the distribution tape.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

C-11.  What is XRemote & LBX?

These are specifications for running the X11 windows system over lower
bandwidth connections like serial lines.

XRemote is a private specification developed by NCD. Inc. It is available in
commercial packages.
LBX (Low-Bandwidth X) is the specification also contributed by NCD to the
X11 standard forthcoming next year, ie. X11R6. You can get information on
LBX via FTP from:
	export.lcs.mit.edu:/contrib/LBX-xconf93-paper.ps.Z

This is not a formal document only an informative disclosure.

Running a low bandwidth X protocol over something like Ethernet would not be
useful since the compression algorithms involved would incur additional CPU
usage and so you would not get much of a performance advantage at all.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Section D: Applications
=======================

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-1.  Where can I get mail with (PC)NFS?

POPmail versions 2 and 3 and SMTP are the most common mail protocols for 
(PC)NFS and TCP/IP systems for PCs. Please look at the chart G-3 for mail 
systems.

Here are some additional third-party mail packages that work with PC-NFS:
	a. Open Systems Mail by Pinesoft (US) [[email-masked]]

	b. Mail-It by Unipalm (UK) [[email-masked]]
		   Tom Kermeen
		   Unipalm Ltd
		   216 Cambridge Science Park
		   Milton Road
		   Cambridge CB4 4WA
		   UK
		   +44 223 420002
		   +44 223 426868 [FAX]
		[Site license is available for L5000 (five-thousand pounds)]

		Distributed in the US by:
		   Unipress Software
		   2025 Lincoln Highway, 
		   Edison, NJ 08817
		   USA
		   (800) 222-0550
		   [email-masked]

	c. WinELM was written by Peter Churchyard of Imperial College,
	   London. It is available for winsock systems from the ftp site
		   ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/pc-nfs/Mail/winelm.zip
		   lister.cc.ic.ac.uk:/pub/winelm
	   There are also DOS, PC-NFS and WinSock API versions there.

	d. ECSMail is a commercial package which supports IMAP & MIME
	   contact [email-masked]. I also supports Macintosh & Unix
	   You can get a demo version of ECSMail from
		ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/pc-nfs/Mail/ecs.zip
	   [The demo requires an IMAP daemon such as in the Pine mailer]

	e. Cin'etic Mail Manager works directly with mounted file systems
           and sends mail via different setups like rsh on PC-NFS. Its
	   publicaly availble via ftp (cmm21f.zip). You can also contact
	   them at:
		[email-masked] 
		71460,666 (Compuserve)
	   This package currently supports PathWay, PC/TCP, PC-NFS, FSUUCP
	   by Fubar Systems, UUPC/extended by Drew Derbyshire. Its
	   configuarble for other systems as well. 

In addition, for mail arrival notifiers, there is WinBiff (version 1.6)
for MS-Windows 3.x that works with PC-NFS, UUPC, Waffle and FSUUCP. This is 
available from:
	ftp.cica.indiana.edu: /pub/pc/win3/mirrors/wnbff16.zip
	wsmr-simtel20.army.mil: PD1:<MSDOS.WINDOWS> WNBFF16.ZIP

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-2.  Where can I get a news client for (PC)NFS?

USENET News (NNTP) clients are available specifically from:
   Super-TCP [Z-16] - Windows version
   WinQVT    [Z-22] - Windows version
   Chameleon [Z-3]  - DOS version.

There is a public domain program called WinVN which uses the Winsock API. 
This means that just about any product which has the Winsock.dll should be
able to run it. It is available from:
    sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/micro/pc-stuff/ms-windows/winsock/apps/winvn.zip

Trump and WinTrump are other popular packages for news available from
	sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/micro/pc-stuff/ms-windows/winsock/apps/*

A simple news client by Stan Barber and a client by Kjettil Otter Olsen
(with source code) are avalable from
    ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/pc-nfs/news

WinVN is a newsreader for Windows 3.x systems publically available from:
	titan.ksc.nasa.gov: [anonymous.pub.win3.winvn]	(Its a VAX host)

Macintosh newsreaders include:
	TheNews
	Newsreader
	MacNews
	Nuntius
All are available from:
	mac.archive.umich.edu:/mac/util/comm/*

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-3.  Where can I get an FTP server for (PC)NFS?

The following systems have FTP servers:

BW-TCP, PC-NFS, PC/TCP, Chameleon, PathWay, Super-TCP, IBM TCP/IP, Lanera TCP

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-4   Where can I get RWALL for my (PC)NFS system?

As far as memory serves me there currently are no implementations of the
rwall command as in Sun ONC on (PC)NFS systems, except possibly one for
the Macintosh NFS/Share product from Intercon.

Sorry folks. If anyone has information on this one please mail me, there are
people who want to know.

Here is what Geoff Arnold had to say about it back in 1989:
"
One of the questions I am often asked about PC-NFS is "how come
there's no way for me to find out when a particular file server
is going down? Unix users get notified." I point out that (at least
on SunOS) the mechanism used is "rwall", which is an RPC service, and that
for size reasons we can't afford to embed a version of rpc.rwalld in 
PC-NFS. This explanation is reasonable, but unsatisfactory. 

My reaction was to say "let's ask the NIC for a UDP port so that
we can use it to send unsolicited messages to PCs running PC-NFS."
That would certainly do the trick. However, a moment's thought
reveals that the problem is bigger than just PC-NFS. Surprisingly,
there is at present no simple ubiquitous message protocol to fulfil this
function. rwall is fine for SunOS and other ONC licensees, but
what about other systems? Do I have to rely upon SMTP? That's
incompatible with the idea of broadcasting a simple message
such as "The backbone will be down for five minutes at 12:00
to replace a bridge." 

This could be trivially simple or slightly more involved
(but still simple). The trivial approach is to dedicate
a UDP port for unsolicited system messages. Anyone could send one,
in a single datagram, and the listener process would be responsible
for delivering it as seemed appropriate for the system (dialog
box, console message, etc.) A more complete approach would be to
define a formal protocol so that it would be possible to convey
information about the coding of the message, message length (so that
TCP could be used instead) and so forth. [If the spec exceeds
one page, it's too complicated.]

Comments?

Geoff
"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   
D-5.  Where can I get an INT-14 redirector for (PC)NFS?

INT-14 redirectors are available with various (PC)NFS products including:
	BW-NFS		[Z-2]
	PC/TCP 		[Z-14]
	Chamelon NFS    [Z-3]
	
There is a version for PC-NFS v5.0 (by Geoff Arnold) at:
	ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/pc-nfs/utils/int14/*
	sorokin.anu.edu.au:/pub/nfs5-addons/int14.zip

An INT-14 redirectory for WATTCP is available from:
	dorm.rutgers.edu:/pub/msdos/wattcp/apps.zip

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-6.  Where can I get YPPASSWD for PC-NFS?

There is a version of YPPASSWD for PC-NFS v5.0 at:
      ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/pc-nfs/utils/yppasswd/yppasswd.zip

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-7.  Where can I get IBM 3270 terminal for (PC)NFS?

Please see chart in section G-1 under TN3270.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-8.  Where can I get X-Windows for (PC)NFS?

The following X-windows products are available:

For DOS:
Product	    	Cost	Company			Version
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Xvision		$395	VisionWare Soft, Inc	X11R5
PC-Xware 	$545	NCD, Inc.		X11R5
PC DECwindows	??	DEC			X11R4
PC Xsight	??	Locus Computing		X11R4
Micro X-Lite 	$75	StarNet Comm. Corp.	X11R4
X Appeal 	$350	Xtreme			X11R5
Xoftware	??	AGE Logic		X11R4
PC X-Kit	$249	XLink			X11R5
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For MS-Windows:
Product	    	Cost	Company			Version
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
HCL-eXceed	??	Hummingbird Software    X11R5
eXcursion	??	DEC			X11R5
MultiView/X	??	JSB Corp.		X11R4
PC-Xview	$445	NCD Inc.		X11R5
Xoftware	??	AGE Logic		X11R4
eXodus		$295	White Pine Software	X11R5
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For Macintosh:
Product	    	Cost	Company			Version
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MacX		??	Apple Computer Corp.	X11R5
eXodus		$295	White Pines Software	X11R5
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For OS/2:
Product	    	Cost	Company			Version
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
X Windows 	$150	IBM			X11R5
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-10.  Where can I get a database that works with (PC)NFS?

Any database would be able to use the NFS mounted drive as long as it
recognizes it as a local drive. Most network versions of a database however
will not work unless they specifically say they support (PC)NFS & TCP/IP.
DBMS's known to work with (PC)NFS include SQL*Net (Oracle), and Sybase for
DOS. 
PC-NFS is known to work with Paradox for Windows & DOS for network file
storage. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-11.  Where can I get a WAIS client for (PC)NFS?

WAIS Manager 3.0 by Kebin Gamiel (representing MCNC CNIDR and UNC-Chapel
Hill) has recently been announced which is WinSock compliant. Features
include multi-format handling capability, relevance feedback and a new
interface with Toolbar for quicker access.

You can get this via ftp from:
  sunsite.unc.edu: /pub/micro/pc-stuff/ms-windows/winsock/apps/waisman3.zip
  ftp.cnidr.org: /pub/NIDR.tools/wais/pc/windows/waisman3.zip

There is a WAIS client for PC/TCP at:
	calvin.sfasu.edu: /pub/dos/network/pc-tcp/wais.zip

WinWAIS is another winsock version of WAIS by EINET
is available from:
  ftp.einet.net:/einet/pc/*
  sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/micro/pc-stuff/ms-windows/winsock/apps

MacWAIS is a MacTCP compatible application for System 6 and 7 by EINET:
  ftp.einet.net:/einet/mac/*

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-12.  Where can I get an archie client for (PC)NFS?

A ported version of c-archie is available for PC-NFS at the ftp sites:
	bcm.tmc.edu: /nfs/archie.exe
	ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/pc-nfs/utils/archie.exe (has source as well)
This version works for PC-NFS v4.0a

There is a version for PC/TCP at:
	calvin.sfasu.edu:/pub/dos/network/ftp-pctcp/archie.zip

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-13.  Where can I get a gopher client for (PC)NFS?

nfsgopher is available from bcm.tmc.edu in /nfs which will work with PC-NFS
gopher for MS-Windows is available for PC-NFS systems in an alpha release
>from the ftp site:
	lister.cc.ic.ac.uk: pub/wingopher/{readme.txt,gopher.exe}
	ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/pc-nfs/utils/gophersfx.exe

source available in ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/pc-nfs/utils/gofer.zip

HGopher (Hampson's Gopher) is a client for gopher systems. The following
version has been tested at ANU:
	sorokin.anu.edu.au: /pub/nfs5-addons/hgopher.exe
It is originally distributed from:
	lister.cc.ic.ac.uk: /pub/wingopher

There is a gopher client for PC/TCP at the following site:
	calvin.sfasu.edu:/pub/dos/network/ftp-pctcp/goph1_05.exe

gophbook from UNC is an Asymetrix Toolbox application which uses winsock.dll
and is available from the ftp site:
  sunsite.unc.edu: /pub/micro/pc-stuff/ms-windows/winsock/apps/gophbook.zip

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-14.  Where can I get a WWW (World Wide Web) client for (PC)NFS?

There is a version of such a client for PC-NFS at
	ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/pc-nfs/utils/wwwpcnfs.zip

Winsock clients are now commonly available and should work with any PC
TCP/IP system which supports winsock. Some winsock clients are Cello and
NCSA Mosaic.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-15 Where can I get X25 for (PC)NFS ?

The Software Forge developed a PC/TCP-IP adapter for X25, which is a hardware/
software bundle that :

- conforms to PDS specification 1.09
- conforms to RFC 877/1356 (TCP-IP over X25)
- supports PC/TCP and PC-NFS (probably any PDS-compliant software)
- does address resolution of 100 Internet adresses (expandable)
- can have up to 20 simultaneous sessions

For more information, contact UniPalm (+44(0)223250100) or [email-masked]

The Software Group Ltd also makes X.25 software for PC systems. They can be
contacted at: 
	2 Director Court, Suite 201
	Woodbridge, Ontario, 
	Canada L4L 3Z5
	(418) 856-238
	(418) 856-0242 

	or email [email-masked]

There is also an X.25 package available with Super-TCP from Frontier
Technologies [Z-16].

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-16 Where can I get NEWGRP.EXE for PC-NFS ?

NEWGRP.EXE is a utility written by Geoff Arnold that does the equivalent of
the Unix newgrp command. See man newgrp if you are really interested. It can
be ftp-ed from some of the ftp sites found in C-2.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

D-17 Where can I get AUTOCONF for PC-NFS ?

AUTOCONF is a shareware utility designed and implementes by Henk Swaters that
allows system administrators to define an NIS map (pcnfs.config) that holds
the equivalent of DRIVES.BAT. The NIS map works on a user-basis and the mounting
and unmounting of existing resources is performed trough a single .EXE file.

AUTOCONF.ZIP is available on ftp.york.ac.uk in /pub/pc-nfs. You do need at least
PKUNZIP 2.04G to unzip it. What follows is the README.

AUTOCONF                                                           14-06-93
                        autoconf utility for pcnfs
                        ==========================

NAME
        autoconf.exe - configure PCNFS-client network drives and printers

DISCRIPTION
        This program is made to configure the network drives and printers
        of a PCNFS-client from the NIS database. The name of the NIS-map
        is pcnfs.config. Each line of the pcnfs.config file defines user
        or group information and has the format

                username/groupname list-of-drives/printdevices

        where list-of-drives/printdevices is either another username/
        groupname, or a network drive/printdevice: 
        
                (drive:,hostname:/path,/option,option..)
                or
                (printdevice:,hostname:printername,/option,option..)

        example:
        ----------------------------------------------------------------
        all\
                (g:,calibra:/export/MSDOS/WinEnv)
        printer_staff\
                (lpt1:,pslw1:lw1,/fmt=raw)
        smith\
                all (f:,calibra:/export/MSDOS/DosEnv)\
                printer_staff
        ----------------------------------------------------------------

        When user smith executes autoconf.exe he mounts the following
        environment:

                g:      calibra:/export/MSDOS/WinEnv
                f:      calibra:/export/MSDOS/DosEnv
                lpt1:   pslw1:lw1       /fmt=raw

USAGE
        A known user has to be logged in, otherwise the program
        terminates. If the program is executed without any options
        the username is used as keyvalue. It is possible to give
        one or more keyvalues as argument of the program. These
        arguments can be either usernames or groupnames. By Default
	the program unmounts a drive before mounting a new drive on the
        same device. The argument /n or /nounmount switches this 
        option off. The argument /h or /help prints out a help screen
        and terminates the program. There will be no mount or unmount
        command.

        example with the same auto.config as above:

                autoconf printer_staff /n 
                or 
                autoconf /nounmount printer_staff

        These equivalent commands try to mount:

                lpt1:   pslw1:lw1       /fmt=raw

        There will be no unmount command and if there is already
        a network device on lpt1: there are no changes made.

AUTHOR
        Henk Swaters Dept. of Computer Science University of Twente.
        [email-masked]
        
HISTORY
        autoconf.exe 
        -------------
        14-06-1993      verion 1.0 

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D-18. Where can I get a remote backup utility for (PC)NFS?

WATTCP has a backup utility called "rtar" with its applications
distribution. 

The following commercial packages have similar facilities:
PC/TCP, Super-TCP, BW-TCP, Lanera TCPOpen, XLink PC-Link 

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D-19.  Which (PC)NFS packages support DNS [named]?

Please see the chart Z-3.

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D-20.  Where can I get a traceroute program?

BW-TCP [Z-X] has a traceroute program with their package.

There is a traceroute program available for WATTCP at:
	polysla.calpoly.edu:/pub/mdurkin/trtb91b.zip

This is for an older version of WATTCP but is being converted to the new
version currently.

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D-21.  Where can I get an LPD program?

For commercial and some PD packages which have an LPD program please look at
the chart G-4. 

There's a Winsock-compliant LPD called NLPD available via ftp from:
	sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/micro/pc-stuff/ms-windows/winsock/apps/wslpd.exe

A PC-NFS LPD version is in ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/pc-nfs/utils

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Section E: Problems & General Q&A
=================================

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E-2.  Can I use DNS instead of NIS with PC-NFS?

No. PC-NFS currently only supports the Sun ONC NIS product. (Even NIS+ is
not fully compatible).

DNS is available with other packages.

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E-3.  Why do versions of (PC)NFS not follow symbolic links?

This is because according to the NFS definition, filenames are handled by
the NFS client. In some (PC)NFS if the files in the symbolic links may not
be in the same exported directory as the directory the link is in. NFS
mounted files appear as drives on the clients and the clients cannot parse
any files which appear higher up on the tree or on a different tree segment
than that of the NFS exported drive (from the server).

Certain versions can be clever enough to counter this problem by their own
methods but it is generally accepted that (PC)NFS systems do not support
symbolically linked files.

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E-4.  PC-NFS v4.0 has trouble with Cntl-S, Cntl-Q.

This has been fixed in release 4.0a and 5.0. For 4.0a please look at the ftp
sites [H-5]

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E-5.  PC-NFS v4.0 has trouble with redrawing windows.

This has been fixed in release 4.0a and 5.0. For 4.0a please look at the ftp
sites [H-5]

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E-6.   PC-NFS v4.0 doesn't allow me to access the local printer when I have
       network printers.

This is because the default setup for printers in PC-NFS v4.0 is as a
network printer. In the print manager choose the printer and change the
setup. At the bottom of the setup screen for the printer should be a
checkbox indicating that it is a network printer. Uncheck this box.

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E-7.  I cannot delete any file that PC-NFS makes with a ~ (tilde) in it.

To get rid of the problem, in your config.sys, run pcnfs.sys as:

C:\NFS\PCNFS.SYS /c^

where c reassign the immediately following character. [In this case to the
character '^']

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E-8.  PC-NFS says that it cannot open any more files even when the limit in 
      autoexec.bat is set higher.

PC-NFS uses its open own file limit and not the DOS system open file limit. To
modify this limit use the /f flag as such in the config.sys:

C:\NFS\PCNFS.SYS /f50

The limit here is set to 50. The maximum is 64.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

E-9.  Can (PC)NFS mount file systems which are bigger than 2 GB?

Most server file systems do not handle such large file systems, but this is
possible with various software enhancements like Disk-Suite for Sun systems.

NFS clients on the other need not know how big the actual remote file system
is. It only receives information on how big the individual files are and not
the file system itself.

The Network Appliance server has one partition under which all drives can be
mounted for NFS exportation.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

E-10.  What is NFS/TCP? Will it work with my NFS product?

NFS/TCP is a different type of the original NFS protocol which uses the TCP
protocol as opposed to the originally specified UDP protocol. NFS over UDP
works well over a single LAN but is as not suitable for multiple LANs or
WANs as NFS/TCP. TCP's windowing of packets capability and reliability gives
it an advantage. In UDP dropped packets are not acknowledged between the two
hosts, however, TCP retransmits all dropped packets. One more aspect of TCP
(which is more idealistic than real) is the congestion control capacity
between routers for TCP which prevents overflooding of a congested network
link. In NFS/UDP it is easy to create UDP data which look like NFS requests
>from other machines. However, TCP makes it much more difficult to add
falsified packets which impersonate another machines data.

The problem with NFS/TCP is that it is incompatible with NFS/UDP. Therefore
all servers running the TCP version will be invisible to clients running a
UDP version and vice versa.

NFS/TCP is available in PC/TCP and BWNFS.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

E-11.  What is PKTD.SYS? Where can I get it?

PKTD.SYS is a shim that allows PC-NFS to use packet drivers instead of its
native drivers. It is available from:
	bcm.tmc.edu
	src.doc.ic.ac.uk
	ftpserver.massey.ac.nz
	ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/pc-nfs/pktd/pktd.zip

The current version is 5.0.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

E-12.  How can I run Netware 3.xx at the same time as (PC)NFS using NDIS?

You can run the NDIS-over-ODI shim available from Novell that will let you
run netware at the same time as any other product running NDIS (ie. many
(PC)NFS products.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

E-14.  Is it possible to modify the read & write buffer sizes in (PC)NFS?

Different (PC)NFS systems have different sizes with default at 1024 Kbytes
for both.  The standard maximum is 8 KB.

In PC-NFS, read buffer size is fixed (1024KB) but you can modify the write
size to any thing below this maximum. Currently anything less than 128 bytes
is cached into a 256 byte datagram. Anything more than this is passed as its
specific size.

PC/TCP, PathWay Client NFS & BWNFS allow modification of read & write buffer
sizes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

E-15.  How can I install an Ethernet board not supported by (PC)NFS?

Contributed by Farid Rahmi:

If you're installing on an IBM PC or compatible, you can use NDIS drivers in
general for your Ethernet board. 

Although I only upgraded to 5.0 after installing a beta version of 5.0
on my 3C509 PC, the procedure should still be the same :

1) Get the NDIS driver, the PROTOCOL.INI and the .NIF file from the LANMAN
   directory off the floppy that shipped with the 3C509 and copy these three
   files onto your harddisk (*NOT* in C:\LANMAN !!!, see below)

2) Select NDIS during installation.

3) This should wake up QUIKNDIS, which will transform PROTOCOL.INI for you
   and put it in C:\LANMAN together with the NDIS driver.

Three remarks :

- If you have an EISA machine and an ISA 3C509, please RTFM before complaining
  about lockups.

- I noticed that QUIKNDIS would scratch (make zero byte file) the NDIS driver
  if placed into C:\LANMAN. As mentioned, this was in the beta release.

- Too bad SunSelect couldn't ship the drivers with 5.0. Seen most of the other
  vendors ship these drivers and they are publicly available (ftp.3com.com)...

Farid ([email-masked])

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