I need help!! I have a server with Novell 3.12 and a partition of 19 Gb, it installed and funtionating OK. The problems is that the terminals when login at the server, only detect a volumen of 2 Gb. I'm using DOS 6.22 or Startnet from Nwclient of my boot diskete. Please, I'm waiting any response. Thanks

Hello again Luis, I attempted to answer your previous post, as I explained nothing there, I'll continue here. > The problems is that the terminals > when login at the server, only detect > a volumen of 2 Gb. OK, why is this? MS-DOS 6.22 was made to function on a FAT16 Partition and it can only "see" a set number of directories. By its nature, FAT16 has a physical limitation of 2GB and writable information. The need for MS-DOS 6.22 to see beyond a 2GB limitation was irrelivent. This is half of the problem. On the Novell side is the other half as only with recent patches is it even comprehensible to load a large disk volume. As MS-DOS 6.22 only looks at the last 31 bits or so from the Novell client, it truncates what it cannot understand. If DOS receives a current value over the 31 bit mark (2GB) it either claims it recieved a 2GB value, or it simply "imagines" it sees something to make itself happy. If you can DIR a small directory, all information is there, but the totals are off. If you cant see the information, its STILL THERE, only DOS doesn't know it. The data is there. The nulls are there. But DOS just doesn't see whats happening. It can write to it. It can read from it. Unfortunately, DOS is as confused as a baby in a topless bar. Trying other DOS versions would not help, as the NetWare DOS client has expired support. Any further development has since been at the discretion of the few wanting to hack the client ot improve it. The VLM solution was offered as it is cleaner than NETX, but the problem appears to be universal. So what am I saying? Is it impossible to get it to work? No. But its impossible to get it to work in the old way. DOS reads 2GB, but there's 20 GB of information. DOS can still read the information, only it isnt aware of it. By creating selective access to specific areas or directorys, you could map drives in client's start-up scripts to find the targets. The clients would still be able to see all the information within a mapped drive, although the total drive capacity would be off. The client would access all data within the mapped drive, and 10 mapped drives, sensibly structured with 2GB in mind, would be the complete volume. You may not even need to go that far. DOS has physical limitations with programs as well as with simply reading with DIR. So the totals are off toward the actual limit, it matters little. So not all directories are listed, it matters little. Any single DOS program that is fully capable of using the entire volume is moot. You can still CD to diectories, clients can still see thier information if its within a 2GB window of a directory, and if they cant, simply map them to a position where they could. Novell will handle the data storage, the mapping will handle the ability to SEE the stored data, and MS-DOS will provide users with the belief that everything is normal. Understand that this DOS failing is PURELY COSMETIC. You could always create 10 2GB volumes, or get out of the DOS world with something like Linux. The only limitation is based on the amount of work you want to put into it. HTH, -J

I don't believe this is a dos seeing fat16 issue. Dos 6.22 has nothing to do with seeing a nework volume. Dos's limitation of 2gig is a LOCAL not NETWORK issue. Dos is not what is communicating with the server. So Dos's rules don't apply. It's the network drivers ie. Netware client being used or how/what is being broadcast from the server. Don't forget now, The_File_Clerk, that Netware doesn't use a Microsoft file system so Dos file system rules don't apply. This is also why systems can interoperate [like Netware/MS/Unix/Sun] since thru the network the server file system is not revealed. You can easily prove this by connecting a 98 box and appropriate NW Windows [not dos] client to the same server. I would say it comes down to the dos netware client being used.

Hi wanderer, This was his initial post: http://www.computing.net/netware/wwwboard/forum/4655.html As the last & best Novell Netware client had no effect, (and I feel I was assuming and needed proof) I dug up this: http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?/2911784.htm and posted accordingly. I don't believe it's a FAT16 issue, as its: a. The inability of dos to see beyond 2gb (manufactured for ONLY FAT16 recognition) and b. The Novell client's failure to only meet MS-DOS at the point of its needs. =) Cheers, -J