Novell Memory Issues
Title: Novell Memory Issues
KnowledgeBase number: 15826
Creation Date: 06/12/96 FBE
Modified Date: 07/19/99 CAO
This document applies to: Novell NetWare 3.11 , 3.12 and later
All versions of Progress
Summary:
On Novell servers you can get errors like 'Cache Memory Allocator
out of available memory' even when there is a considerable amount of
memory reckognized by NetWare.
Solution:
When a disk driver is loaded in the STARTUP.NCF, a scan takes place
to see if the SYS volume is on one of its devices. If so, the SYS
volume is automatically mounted. If NetWare has only recognized 16MB
of memory at this point, the OS will define a memory block within
this 16MB to cache the SYS volume. All other volumes will cache within
this memory block as well. All subsequent volume mounts will use the
first 16MB block. To prevent the OS from defining this memory block
prior to NetWare recognizing all available memory, the SYS volume
must be prevented from mounting untill all memory is available to the
OS. To do this take the following steps:
NetWare 4.x:
Register memory manually in the STARTUP.NCF (NetWare 4.x allows the
registering of memory manually in the STARTUP.NCF, whereas NetWare
3.x only allowes this in the AUTOEXEC.NCF after you FIRST adjust
some parameters in the STARTUP.NCF).
NetWare 3.x:
STARTUP.NCF
set auto register memory above 16M = off
set reserved buffers below 16M = 200
The first entry prevents the adapters and drivers from writing to
memory above 16M as they are being loaded. The server does not see
any memory above 16M. Once the drivers for the 16 bit adapters are
loaded this entry will be used via the AUTOEXEC.NCF to allow access
to the rest of the memory installed on the server.
The next entry reserves an amount of RAM below 16M for adapters that
cannot access higher memory. This entry also prevents other processes
from over utilizing the memory below 16M. These reserved buffers can
only be accessed through a special API call which was created
explicity for making calls into this reserved area of memory. On
NetWare 3.11 the maximum # of reserved buffers is 200 and on
NetWare 3.12 or later it is 300.
AUTOEXEC.NCF
file server name <servername>
ipx internal net <address>
load <diskdrivers>
register memory 1000000 <memory above 16MB in hex>
mount all
NOTE:
For the 3.x solution, the AUTOEXEC.NCF must be copied to the server
boot directory and the copy residing in the SYS:SYSTEM directory
should be renamed or deleted.
Additional Reference:
Upgrading and Repairing Networks - QUE book by Zacker and Doyle
Software configuration and network guides dealing with the
administration of a Novell Server