3Com 3C980-TXM, 3C980B-TXM, 3C980C-TXM, 3C982-TXM User guide

EtherLink

Server 10/100 PCI NIC Family User Guide

3C980x-TXM 10/100 PCI server network interface card with Dynamic Access

3C982-TXM 10/100 PCI dual port server network interface card with Dynamic Access

technology

http://www.3com.com/ http://www.3com.com/productreg

Published October 2000

3Com Corporation Bayfront Plaza Clara, California

■

Santa

■

95052-8145

■

5400

Copyright © 2000 3Com Corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be reproduced in any form or by any means or used to make any derivative work (such as translation, transformation, or adaptation) without written permission from 3Com Corporation.

3Com Corporation reserves the right to revise this documentation and to make changes in content from time to time without obligation on the part of 3Com Corporation to provide notiﬁcation of such revision or change.

3Com Corporation provides this documentation without warranty, term, or condition of any kind, either implied or expressed, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties, terms or conditions of merchantability, satisfactory quality, and ﬁtness for a particular purpose. 3Com may make improvements or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this documentation at any time.

If there is any software on removable media described in this documentation, it is furnished under a license agreement included with the product as a separate document, in the hard copy documentation, or on the removable media in a directory ﬁle named LICENSE.TXT or !LICENSE.TXT. If you are unable to locate a copy, please contact 3Com and a copy will be provided to you.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT LEGEND

If you are a United States government agency, then this documentation and the software described herein are provided to you subject to the following:

All technical data and computer software are commercial in nature and developed solely at private expense. Software is delivered as “Commercial Computer Software” as deﬁned in DFARS 252.227-7014 (June 1995) or as a “commercial item” as deﬁned in FAR 2.101(a) and as such is provided with only such rights as are provided in 3Com’s standard commercial license for the Software. Technical data is provided with limited rights only as provided in DFAR 252.227-7015 (Nov 1995) or FAR 52.227-14 (June 1987), whichever is applicable. You agree not to remove or deface any portion of any legend provided on any licensed program or documentation contained in, or delivered to you in conjunction with, this User Guide.

Unless otherwise indicated, 3Com registered trademarks are registered in the United States and may or may not be registered in other countries.

3Com, the 3Com logo, DynamicAccess, EtherDisk, EtherLink, and Parallel Tasking are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation or its subsidiaries. 3Com Facts is a service mark of 3Com Corporation or its subsidiaries.

Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. Microsoft, Windows and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. NetWare and Novell are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. SCO, SCO OpenServer, and UnixWare are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.

All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

About This Guide

This guide describes how to install, conﬁgure, and troubleshoot the following 3Com

network interface

card (NIC):

Description Model Number

3Com EtherLink Server 10/100 PCI NIC

3C980-TXM 3C980B-TXM 3C980C-TXM

3Com EtherLink 10/100 PCI Dual Port Server

3C982-TXM

NIC

This guide is intended for the network administrator, network operator, or network hardware installer. Knowledge of Ethernet and the server network operating system is required.

Documentation is available in Adobe Acrobat Reader Portable Document Format (PDF) or HTML on the 3Com Web site: http://www.3com.com. You can download Acrobat Reader from the Adobe Systems Incorporated web site: http://www.adobe.com/.

ONTENTS

NTRODUCTION

Overview 1 Advanced Server Features 2

Bidirectional Load Balancing 2 Self-Healing Drivers 3 Failover 3 VLANs 4

Server Features Using Other NICs 5 Hot Plug NIC Installation 5 Remote Wake-Up (Single Port Models Only) 5 Managed PC Boot Agent (MBA) Software 5 Desktop Management Interface (DMI) 2.0 6 Remote System Alerts 6

NSTALLING

Safety Precautions 7 Installation Requirements 7 Preparing the NIC and the Computer 8 Installing and Connecting the NIC 9 Installing Software 11

Obtaining Installation Diskettes 12

Creating Diskettes in Windows 12

NSTALLING

Software Installation Requirements 13 Getting Help 13 Installing in Windows NT 13 Installing in Windows 2000 14 Conﬁguring SHD Parameter Settings 14

Windows NT 14

Windows 2000 15 Verifying Successful Installation 16

Windows NT 16

Windows 2000 16 Updating Software in Windows 16

Windows NT 16

Windows 2000 17

AND

ONNECTING

ONFIGURING

THE

NIC

INDOWS

DynamicAccess Server Features 17

Planning Groups and VLANs 17 Installing Dynamic Access Software 19 Conﬁguring Server Features 19

Windows NT 19

Windows 2000 19 Creating a Group 20 Adding NICs to a Group 21 Specifying a Dedicated IP Address 21 Changing an IP Address 22 Creating a VLAN 22 Specifying Trafﬁc Priorities (Windows NT 4.0 Only) 23 Saving the Conﬁguration 23 Disabling Load Balancing for a Group 23 Changing the Primary NIC 24 Removing a NIC from a Group 24 Deleting or Editing a VLAN 24 Displaying NIC Properties 24 Displaying Group Properties 24 Specifying Failover from Gigabit to 10/100 PCI 24 Troubleshooting a Load Balancing Conﬁguration 25 Changing Windows 2000 Property Settings 25 Identifying Windows 2000 Miniport and LAN Connections 25

NSTALLING

Software Installation Requirements 27

Netware Packet Receive Buffers 27 Slot Numbers for Multiple NICs 27 Obtaining Slot Numbers 27

Installation and Conﬁguration Instructions 28

Load the 3Com EtherLink Server CD 28 Copy the Driver 28 Specify the Slot Number 29 Load the Driver 29 Set Up Another NIC 29 Install Server Features 30 Conﬁgure Groups 30 Verify the Installation and Conﬁguration 31

Changing NetWare Driver Conﬁguration Parameters 32 Conﬁguring Groups 34

Planning the Conﬁguration 34 Adding a Secondary NIC to a Group 35 Adding a Group 36 Server Feature Commands 37

group 38

display status 38

help 38

AND

ONFIGURING

ARE

link timeout 39 probe interval 39 receive timeout 39 retry count 39 send timeout 40 ungroup 40 wait timeout 40

Troubleshooting a Group Conﬁguration 41

ONFIGURING

Conﬁguration Settings 43 Conﬁguration Methods 44 Conﬁguring the NIC in Windows 44 Conﬁguring the Managed PC Boot Agent (MBA) 45 Booting From the Network 45 Disabling the 3Com Logo 46

ROUBLESHOOTING

Interpreting the LEDs 47

Viewing the NIC LEDs in the Diagnostics Program 48 Accessing the 3Com Knowledgebase 48 Accessing the 3Com NIC Help System 48 Accessing Other Information 48 Troubleshooting the Network Connection 49 Troubleshooting Remote Wake-Up 49 Removing the Network Driver 50

Windows NT 50

Windows 2000 51

NetWare 51 Removing Server Features 51

Windows NT and Windows 2000 51

NetWare 52 Removing 3Com NIC Diagnostics 52

Windows NT and Windows 2000 52

THE

NIC

THE

NIC

UNNING

Overview 53 Running the NIC Test 53 Running the Network Test 54 Viewing Network Statistics 54 Using the 3Com Icon in the Windows System Tray 54

Enabling the Icon 54

Displaying Network Statistics 55

NIC D

IAGNOSTICS

INDOWS

NSTALLING

Windows Fresh Installation 57

Windows NT 57 Windows 2000 57

NetWare Fresh Installation 57

Requirements 57 Installation Instructions 57

NSTALLING

Overview 59 System Requirements 60 Installation Instructions 60

PECIFICATIONS

ECHNICAL

Online Technical Services 63

World Wide Web Site 63

3Com FTP Site 63 Support from Your Network Supplier 63 Support from 3Com 64 Returning Products for Repair 66

THE

UPPORT

NIC W

DMI A

HILE

GENT

NSTALLING

THE

NOS

NDEX

ORPORATION

EGULATORY

RODUCT

NFORMATION

SER

EGISTRATION

IMITED

OFTWARE

ICENSE

ARRANTY

GREEMENT

NTRODUCTION

Overview

The 3Com

EtherLink

Server 10/100 PCI NIC family of network interface cards (NIC)

connect PCI-compliant server computers to Ethernet or Fast Ethernet networks.

Parallel Tasking II

hardware technology, plus a powerful suite of DynamicAccess® technology software features, relieve network congestion and ensure high performance and maximum bandwidth availability.

Figure 1 EtherLink Server 10/100 PCI NIC

MBA Boot ROM

Remote Wake-Up (RWU) connector

TX DATA

ACT

L N

100

Figure 2 Dual Port EtherLink Server 10/100 PCI NIC

MBA Boot ROM

ACT

10/100

ACT

10/100

2 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Each NIC supports these features:

■ Advanced Server Features—Improve network performance, management, and

control.

■ Hot Plug NIC Installation—Lets you add a new NIC or remove and replace a NIC

without turning off power to the computer.

■ Remote Wake-Up (Single Port Models Only)—Lets you power-on a computer

remotely for after-hours administration.

■ Integrated boot ROM (through port A on 3C982-TXM) with Managed PC Boot

Agent (MBA) Software—Adds management capabilities by enabling the

computer to boot from another computer, rather than from its local drive.

■ Desktop Management Interface (DMI) 2.0—Enables managed computers and

net computers to report details about themselves and their peripheral devices across the network to a DMI 2.0-compliant management application.

■ Remote System Alerts (heartbeat packets)—Can signal a possible computer

power loss or theft.

Advanced Server Features

Bidirectional

Load Balancing

3Com DynamicAccess technology advanced network software adds intelligence to the NIC to improve network performance, management, and control. DynamicAccess server features relieve network congestion and ensure high performance and maximum bandwidth availability.

■ Self-healing drivers (SHDs) detect common error conditions and correct them

while maintaining server link performance.

■ Bidirectional load balancing groups share the network load over resilient server

links (RSLs) that keep trafﬁc ﬂowing both into a server and out of a server even if a NIC in a group is temporarily disconnected.

■ VLANs (IEEE 802.1Q multiple virtual LANs) let you divide network segments

into logical partitions that simplify conﬁguration changes, organize work groups efﬁciently, help to control trafﬁc, and provide extra security.

■ Trafﬁc prioritization (IEEE 802.1p/Q)—Ensures that business-critical and

delay-sensitive trafﬁc (such as multimedia applications) has priority over normal data.

For detailed information on DynamicAccess technology products, go to:

http://www.3com.com/dynamicaccess

Bidirectional load balancing maximizes bandwidth at the server through the use of multiple parallel resilient server links (RSLs) that share the network load.

An RSL consists of two or more NICs that form a virtual NIC. Each virtual NIC has multiple physical NICs bound to it, forming a group. Each NIC in a group uses the same protocols and frame types. One NIC is designated the primary NIC and the others secondary NICs.

Advanced Server Features 3

Clients

Bidirectional

Server

Primary

Secondaries

Transmit-only

Primary

Secondaries

Switch

¨ ¨

Figure 3 Types of Load Balancing Arrangements

Self-Healing Drivers Self-healing drivers (SHDs) work together with RSLs to maintain the network

connection. An SHD monitors the NIC continuously for error conditions and makes corrections. These corrections can include resetting the NIC, rebuilding software data structures, temporarily disabling features, or transferring all network trafﬁc to secondary NICs (termed a failover event). An SHD can also continuously monitor the status of the physical NICs in a virtual NIC group before and after failover. Errors and actions are reported to the system console and to the system log ﬁle. Error threshold values can be conﬁgured at any time.

Failover In addition to load balancing, RSLs provide failover fault tolerance between a

server and a switch—if one NIC in a group fails, the others assume the network load of the failed NIC. The failover behavior of secondary NICs depends on how you set load balancing:

■ In a transmit load balancing arrangement, the primary NIC is the only one that

receives packets. If the primary NIC fails, a secondary NIC assumes the conﬁguration proﬁle, network trafﬁc, and active status of the failed primary NIC.

■ In a bidirectional load balancing arrangement, all NICs receive packets. If any

NIC fails, receive load balancing is disabled, and the other NICs continue transmit-only load balancing activity. Receive load balancing is restored when new connections are established with clients.

Bidirectional load balancing is restored after a failure when applications create new connections and new clients log in.

4 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Figure 4 Bidirectional Load Balancing Failover

Bidirectional

load balancing

Server

Primary failure Secondary failure

Switch

Clients

Primary

Secondaries

Primary

¨ ¨ ¨

Secondaries

Primary

Secondaries

VLANs A VLAN is a group of location-independent and topology-independent devices

that communicate as if they were on the same physical LAN. Network devices on different LAN segments and of different media types can be members of the same VLAN. Membership in a VLAN is determined by a VLAN tag that is transmitted with the Ethernet frame for use by a switch.

With VLANs, you can deﬁne a network according to:

■ Organizational groups—For example, you can have one VLAN for the

Marketing department and one for the Finance department.

■ Application groups—For example, you can have one VLAN for e-mail users and

one for multimedia users.

Implementing VLANs on a network has these advantages:

■ It eases the change and movement of devices on IP networks.

With traditional IP networks, if users move to a different IP subnet, the IP addresses of each workstation must be updated manually. With VLANs installed, if an end station on VLAN 1 is moved to a port elsewhere on the network, you need only to specify that the new port is on VLAN 1.

■ It helps to control trafﬁc.

With traditional networks, congestion can be caused by broadcast trafﬁc that is directed to all network devices whether they require it or not. Each VLAN can be set up to contain only those devices that need to communicate with each other, increasing network efﬁciency.

■ It provides extra security.

Devices within each VLAN can communicate only with member devices in the same VLAN. If a device in VLAN 1 needs to communicate with devices in VLAN 2, the trafﬁc must cross a router.

The DynamicAccess technology multiple VLAN capability supports IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tagging and works with any switch that is compliant with IEEE 802.1Q speciﬁcations. See your Ethernet switch documentation for more information on IEEE 802.1Q VLANs.

Hot Plug NIC Installation 5

Server Features Using

Other NICs

Hot Plug NIC Installation

Remote Wake-Up (Single Port Models Only)

Two foreign NICs (two that are not 3Com EtherLink Server NICs) are allowed per server. For guidelines on using foreign NICs, see these topics:

■ Windows NT and Windows 2000—Planning Groups and VLANs on page 17.

■ NetWare—Planning the Conﬁguration on page 34.

If your computer supports PCI hot plug speciﬁcations, you can add a new 3Com NIC or remove and replace a 3Com NIC without turning off power to the computer. Hot plug NIC installation allows you to expand connections without taking the computer out of service and makes troubleshooting faster and easier because you do not need to wait for the computer to reboot.

For instructions on performing a hot plug NIC installation, refer to your computer documentation and to the HOTPLUG.TXT ﬁle in the HELP directory on the 3Com EtherLink Server CD.

Remote Wake-Up is the ability to remotely power-on a computer for after-hours administration.

If the computer is compliant with PCI 2.2, Remote Wake-Up is automatically enabled through the PCI bus. If the computer is compliant with PCI 2.1, Remote Wake-Up support is enabled by connecting a Remote Wake-Up cable from the NIC Remote Wake-Up (RWU) connector to a 3-pin Remote Wake-Up connector on the computer motherboard.

Managed PC Boot Agent (MBA) Software

The following items are needed to use Remote Wake-Up:

■ Management application that supports Remote Wake-Up

■ BIOS that supports Remote Wake-Up

■ PCI 2.2-compliant bus or a 3-pin Remote Wake-Up connector on the computer

motherboard and a 5-volt standby power supply unit rated at a minimum of 375 milliamperes

■ A power supply in the computer that can support multiple Remote Wake-Up

devices (to use multiple NICs as Remote Wake-Up NICs in the same computer)

If you are unsure whether the computer meets the requirements listed above, refer to the computer documentation or contact the computer manufacturer.

For more information on Remote Wake-Up, including a list of computers that currently support this feature, go to:

http://www.3com.com/partners/acpi

The Managed PC Boot Agent (MBA) software adds management capabilities to the NIC, enabling the computer to boot from the server, rather than from its local drive.

This preboot support allows you to use management applications to perform the following tasks remotely:

■ Install and conﬁgure a new computer that has never been connected to the

network.

6 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

■ Upgrade software.

■ Conﬁgure or reconﬁgure multiple systems simultaneously.

■ Scan for viruses.

■ Back-up hard drives and perform disaster recovery tasks.

For information on conﬁguring the MBA to boot from the network, see

Conﬁguring the Managed PC Boot Agent (MBA) on page 45.

For detailed information on the MBA, see the Managed PC Boot Agent User Guide, located with the MBA software on the 3Com EtherLink Server CD.

Desktop Management Interface (DMI) 2.0

DMI 2.0 enables managed computers and net computers to report details about themselves and their peripheral devices across the network to a DMI

2.0-compliant management application.

A network administrator can then use this information to conﬁgure and manage a client or server computer remotely.

For instructions on installing the 3Com DMI Agent, see Installing the

3Com DMI Agent on page 59.

For more detailed information on DMI, go to:

http://www.3com.com/managedpc

Remote System Alerts The NIC can be conﬁgured to continuously transmit a packet to an alert target

management station. If the management station fails to receive the regularly scheduled packet, an alert can be triggered that signals a possible computer power loss or theft.

The NIC can also transmit a workgroup keep-alive packet periodically while the computer is in a sleep state. This packet prevents the computer workstation address from being aged-out of switch router tables.

INSTALLING AND CONNECTING THE NIC

Safety Precautions Observe the following safety precautions:

WARNING: Computers operate with voltages that can be lethal. Before removing the cover, turn off the computer and unplug it. Disconnect all cables that are connected to the main system unit. Remove jewelry from your hands and wrists. Use insulated or nonconductive tools.

CAUTION: The NIC is packed in an antistatic container to protect it during shipment. Do not touch the components or any metal parts on the NIC, except for the backplate. To avoid damaging the NIC or the computer, reduce static electricity on your body by wearing an electrostatic discharge wrist strap attached to the chassis or by touching an unpainted metal part of the chassis before unplugging the computer and before handling the NIC.

Installation Requirements

CAUTION: Install the NIC in a PCI slot that conforms to PCI 2.1 or higher speciﬁcations. Do not attempt to install the NIC in an ISA or EISA slot. Doing so may damage the NIC and the computer.

WARNING: Make sure that the computer power cord is unplugged. Only properly trained and authorized personnel should perform service. Contact the computer manufacturer for information about safe service techniques.

The following items are required for hardware and software installation:

■ NIC—At least one 10/100 NIC.

■ Processor—Intel-based CPU (Pentium-class processor).

■ Server RAM—128 megabytes minimum; 256 megabytes recommended.

■ PCI slot—For each NIC, one bus master slot that conforms to PCI 32/64-bit

speciﬁcations, revision 2.1 or 2.2.

■ Drive—CD-ROM.

■ Cable—Category 5 UTP (for 100 Mbps operation).

■ Connector—RJ-45, one or two ports.

■ Software—One 3Com EtherLink Server CD with DynamicAccess technology

software and network drivers.

8 CHAPTER 2: INSTALLING AND CONNECTING THE NIC

■ Operating system—Base drivers and DynamicAccess software are available

for the following operating systems:

■ Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0 with the most recent Service Pack

available from Microsoft technical support (www.microsoft.com).

■ Microsoft Windows 2000 with the most recent Service Pack available from

Microsoft technical support (www.microsoft.com).

■ Novell NetWare version 4.2 or 5.x with the most recent patches and

updates available from Novell technical support (www.novell.com).

Base drivers are also available for the following operating systems:

■ SCO UnixWare 7 available on the 3Com Web site

(http://support.3Com.com/infodeli/tools/nic/SCO.htm).

■ SCO OpenServer 5 available on the 3Com Web site

(http://support.3Com.com/infodeli/tools/nic/SCO.htm).

■ Linux available on the 3Com Web site

(http://support.3Com.com/infodeli/tools/nic/linux.htm).

Check the 3Com Web site (http://support.3Com.com/infodeli/tools/nic) for other supported drivers.

Preparing the NIC and the Computer

■ Computer BIOS—Latest version. Contact the computer manufacturer

to verify.

■ Remote Wake-Up—For requirements, see Remote Wake-Up (Single Port

Models Only) on page 5.

Observe the precautions listed in Safety Precautions on page 7. Follow these preparation steps:

1 Decide if you want to use the Remote Wake-Up feature.

If you want to use the Remote Wake-Up feature on a computer that is compliant with PCI 2.1, you must obtain a Remote Wake-Up cable for the NIC (for details, see Remote Wake-Up (Single Port Models Only) on page 5). If the computer is compliant with PCI 2.2, Remote Wake-Up is automatically enabled through the PCI bus and no Remote Wake-Up cable is required.

2 Make sure that cable requirements are met.

The RJ-45 port provides a 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps connection automatically, depending on the speed of the connected hub or switch.

The following table shows the cable requirements and maximum network cable lengths for the RJ-45 port.

Maximum

Network Environment Cable Required

10 Mbps (10BASE-T) Category 3, 4, or 5 unshielded

twisted-pair

100 Mbps (100BASE-TX) Category 5 unshielded twisted-pair 100 m (328 ft)

Cable Length

100 m (328 ft)

Installing and Connecting the NIC 9

3 Unpack and inspect the NIC for damage. 4 Exit all open applications and user processes. 5 Turn off the power to the computer and attached devices. 6 Unplug the power cables from the power source. 7 Remove the computer cover. 8 Locate an empty, nonshared bus-mastering PCI slot and remove its slot cover. Save

the screw, if there is one.

Do not install the NIC in a shared PCI slot. Avoid any PCI slot next to an ISA slot. This is often a shared slot and does not support bus mastering.

If you do not know how to identify a PCI slot, check the computer documentation or ask the system administrator.

If you are planning to install the Remote Wake-Up cable, choose an empty PCI slot that is close to the matching connector on the computer motherboard. The Remote Wake-Up cable is required only if the computer is compliant with PCI 2.1 and you want to use the Remote Wake-Up. The cable is not required if the computer is compliant with PCI 2.2.

9 Write down the MAC address of the NIC and note the relative position of the

intended PCI slot.

Installing and Connecting the NIC

This information is helpful when you are installing the network drivers and connecting the cables to the hub or switch. The MAC address is the 12-digit hexadecimal number printed on the small bar code label on the component side of the NIC.

The next step is to install the NIC in the computer and connect it to the network.

Observe the safety precautions listed in Safety Precautions on page 7.

Prepare the NIC and the computer as described in Preparing the NIC and the

Computer on page 8.

The following instructions apply to installing the NIC in most computers. If these instructions are not appropriate for your computer, refer to the documentation that accompanied the computer.

10 CHAPTER 2: INSTALLING AND CONNECTING THE NIC

TX DATA

ACT

100

L N K

Figure 5 Installing and Connecting the NIC

–

1 Carefully insert the NIC into an empty PCI slot.

Press ﬁrmly to ensure that the NIC is fully seated in the slot. Secure the NIC with the screw if you removed one earlier.

2 Follow these steps only if you need to connect a Remote Wake-up cable:

■ Make sure that the NIC is properly installed in a PCI slot.

■ Insert the Remote Wake-Up cable in the RWU connector on the NIC.

Twist the cable two times before attaching the cable to the computer.

■ Attach the other end of the cable to the connector on the computer

motherboard. Refer to the computer documentation if you need help locating the connector.

3 Replace the computer cover and plug in the power cord.

Do not turn on the power to the computer.

Installing Software 11

4 Plug the RJ-45 connector on the twisted-pair network cable into an RJ-45 port on

the NIC backplate.

If you are installing a dual port NIC, plug the ﬁrst cable into Port A on the NIC backplate.

5 Connect the other end of the network cable to an active network port.

The next step is to install the software.

If your site network installation procedures require you to verify that installed hardware is functional before you install software, run the 3C90XCFG.EXE DOS diagnostics program before installing the driver. This program is located on the 3Com EtherLink Server CD.

Figure 6 Connecting a Remote Wake-up Cable (PCI 2.1 only)

Installing Software See the following topics for requirements and instructions on installing software in

various operating systems:

■ Installing and Conﬁguring in Windows on page 13

■ Updating Software in Windows on page 16.

■ Installing and Conﬁguring in NetWare on page 27

12 CHAPTER 2: INSTALLING AND CONNECTING THE NIC

Obtaining Installation

Diskettes

Creating Diskettes in

Windows

If your computer does not have a CD-ROM drive, access a computer that has a CD-ROM drive and use the installation utilities to create installation diskettes from ﬁles on the 3Com EtherLink Server CD.

If you do not have access to a computer that has a CD-ROM drive, you can download the drivers from the 3Com web site:

http://www.3com.com/

Use the installation utilities on the 3Com EtherLink Server CD to create installation diskettes. The installation diskettes allow you to install drivers, diagnostics, DynamicAccess technology server features, and associated text ﬁles. The installation diskettes do not contain the user guide that is available on the 3Com EtherLink Server CD.

You will need ﬁve blank formatted diskettes.

To create the installation diskettes:

1 Turn on the power to the computer and start Windows. 2 Insert the 3Com EtherLink Server CD in the CD-ROM drive. 3 On the Welcome screen, click on NIC Software. 4 Click Installation Utilities. 5 Click on Create Installation Diskettes. 6 Follow the prompts to copy ﬁles to the diskettes.

INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING IN

Software Installation Requirements

Getting Help To display the Help system during the software installation, click Help on any

INDOWS

Before you install software, you may want to verify that the installed server NICs are functional or change their conﬁguration settings by running DOS diagnostics. Use the 3C90XCFG.EXE program located on the 3Com EtherLink Server CD.

If you are installing the software during the installation of the network operating system, see Installing a 3Com NIC While Installing the NOS on page 57.

For a list of installation requirements, see Installation Requirements on page 7.

The installation instructions assume you are using the Windows Auto Run feature. If the Welcome screen does not come up automatically, you can perform the installation by running begin.exe.

3Com window.

Installing in Windows NT

Before you begin software installation:

■ Make sure that all installation requirements are met. See Installation

Requirements on page 7.

■ Install the hardware. See Installing and Connecting the NIC on page 9.

Use the following procedure to install the driver and diagnostics for the ﬁrst time in a computer that is running Windows NT. (If you are updating a previous installation, see Updating Software in Windows on page 16.)

1 Boot the computer and start Windows NT. 2 Log in to the Windows NT Administrator account. 3 Insert the 3Com EtherLink Server CD in the CD-ROM drive. 4 From the Welcome screen, select NIC Software. 5 Click NIC Drivers and Diagnostics. 6 Follow the Wizard prompts. 7 Choose Typical or Custom Installation.

The Please Wait screen appears. After the installation is completed, an Update dialog box appears.

14 CHAPTER 3: INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING IN WINDOWS

8 Click OK.

The Setup Complete screen appears.

If your network environment uses the TCP/IP communications protocol, the Microsoft TCP/IP Properties dialog box appears. Enter the information needed to deﬁne an IP address. Continue after you have deﬁned the TCP/IP settings.

9 Click Finish to complete the installation. 10 Click Exit. 11 Restart your computer for changes to take effect.

Installing in Windows 2000

Before you begin software installation:

■ Make sure that all software installation requirements are met. See Installation

Requirements on page 7.

■ Install the hardware. For instructions, see Installing and Connecting the NIC on

page 9.

Use the following procedure to install the driver and diagnostics for the ﬁrst time in a computer that is running Windows 2000. (If you are updating a previous installation, see Updating Software in Windows on page 16.)

1 Reboot the computer, start Windows 2000, and log in to the Windows 2000

Administrator account.

The Windows 2000 Found New Hardware wizard detects the new NICs and begins the driver installation.

2 Insert the 3Com EtherLink Server CD in the CD-ROM drive.

3 From the main menu, select NIC Software.

4 From the list on the left, click NIC Drivers and Diagnostics.

5 Follow the Wizard prompts.

6 Choose Typical or Custom Installation.

The Please Wait screen appears. After the installation is completed, an Update dialog box appears.

Conﬁguring SHD Parameter Settings

Windows NT

7 Click OK

The Setup Complete screen appears.

8 Click Finish to complete the installation.

9 Click Exit.

Follow the procedure for your operating system.

1 Right-click My Network Places and select Properties from the menu.

2 In the next window, right-click a connection and select Properties from the menu.

3 Click Conﬁgure.

Windows 2000

Configuring SHD Parameter Settings 15

4 In the NIC Properties window, click the Advanced tab. 5 In the Advanced window, you can conﬁgure the SHD parameters. Select a

parameter in the Property ﬁeld and change its value in the Value ﬁeld. Table 1 describes the SHD parameters. Default values are optimal for most networks.

1 From the Windows Start menu, select Settings/Control Panel. 2 Double-click the Network icon. 3 In the Network window, click the Adapters tab. 4 Double-click the adapter you want to modify 5 Double-click a parameter to change its value. Table 1 describes the SHD

parameters. Default values are optimal for most networks.

Slot numbers listed in the SHD Conﬁguration window may not match those labeled on the mother board

6 When you are ﬁnished, click OK. 7 Remove the 3Com EtherLink Server CD from the CD-ROM drive. 8 Restart the computer.

Table 1 SHD Parameters (Windows)

Range of Values

Field

Self Check Level

Sampling Window

Sampling Ratio 0–100 percent

Error Tolerance Low

Alert Type (Windows NT)

(Defaults in Bold)

Off, Basic, Enhanced Basic level checking monitors Tx/Rx errors (see

0–65536 packets 0 disables sampling.

1024

Medium

High

Information Warning

Error

Description

Sampling Window), link beat, and NIC hardware.

Enhanced level adds maintenance of valid data structures and uses more CPU cycles. Basic level checking is forced when RSL is enabled. Off disables SHD.

This option specifies the number of Tx/Rx packets to be sampled for carrier lost, late collisions, jabbers, CRC, overruns, underruns, and bus contention errors. Setting the Sampling Window to 0 effectively disables all checking.

Sampling Ratio establishes a rate of error accumulation. Every second, the error counters are diminished by the Sampling Ratio. The larger the Sampling Ratio, the more recent are the accumulated errors.

Error Tolerance specifies threshold levels for Tx/Rx errors. An RSL failover or NIC reset occurs when the threshold is exceeded during the sampling period.

Low = 5 of each error category Medium = 50 of each error category High = 100 of each error category

Double-click to enable or disable alert types. Enabled types are reported to the Windows System Events monitor.

16 CHAPTER 3: INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING IN WINDOWS

Table 1 SHD Parameters (Windows) (continued)

Verifying Successful Installation

Windows NT

Windows 2000

Field

SHD Inform messages

SHD Warning messages

SHD Error messages (Windows 2000)

Range of Values (Defaults in Bold) Description

Enabled Disabled

Select a parameter in the Property field and change its value in the Value field. Enabled types are reported to the Windows System Events monitor.

Follow the procedure for your operating system.

1 Double-click the My Computer icon, then the Control Panel icon, and then the

Network icon.

2 Select the Adapters tab.

3 Make sure that the name of the NIC appears in the list of network adapters.

1 Right-click My Network Places and select Properties from the menu.

Updating Software in Windows

Windows NT

2 Check connections in the Network and Dial-up Connections window.

The following procedures update a previous installation of the network driver and NIC diagnostics software in Windows.

1 Boot the computer and start Windows NT.

2 Log in to the Windows NT Administrator account.

3 Insert the 3Com EtherLink Server CD in the CD-ROM drive.

4 From the Welcome screen, select NIC Software.

5 Click NIC Drivers and Diagnostics.

The Please Wait screen appears.

6 Follow the Wizard prompts.

7 Choose Custom Installation.

8 Select the desired installation option.

9 Click Next. 10 Choose any advanced features you would like set. 11 Click Next. 12 Click OK. 13 Click Finish to complete the installation.

Windows 2000

DynamicAccess Server Features 17

14 Click Exit. 15 Restart your computer for changes to take effect.

After you restart the computer, you may wish to conﬁgure self-healing drivers. To do so, bring up the Adapters tab in the Network window, select a NIC, and click Properties. For details on the SHD parameters, see SHD Parameters (Windows) on

page 15.

1 Reboot the computer, start Windows 2000, and log in to the Windows 2000

Administrator account.

The Windows 2000 Found New Hardware Wizard detects the new NICs and begins the driver installation.

2 Insert the 3Com EtherLink Server CD in the CD-ROM drive. 3 From the Welcome screen, select NIC Software. 4 Click NIC Drivers and Diagnostics. 5 Follow the Wizard prompts.

DynamicAccess Server Features

6 Choose Custom Installation. 7 Select the desired installation option. 8 Click OK

The Setup Complete screen appears.

9 Click Finish to complete the installation.

10 Click Exit.

DynamicAccess technology server features allow you to conﬁgure load balancing groups and virtual LANs (VLANs). The features are described in Advanced Server

Features on page 2.

The following DynamicAccess technology server features are available for NIC groups in Windows:

■ Bidirectional load balancing

■ RSL failover

■ Multiple VLANs

The examples in this section illustrate typical actions you might take in the course of maintaining a DynamicAccess server conﬁguration in Windows.

Planning Groups and

VLANs

Consider these items when planning groups and VLANs:

■ Decide whether you want to use bidirectional load balancing, or transmit load

balancing.

To use bidirectional load balancing, you must assign a dedicated IP address for each load balancing group. This address must be unique (not used elsewhere on the network). For details, see Specifying a Dedicated IP Address on page 21.

18 CHAPTER 3: INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING IN WINDOWS

■ Decide which NICs are to be part of each group. Each group must

include at least two NICs.

■ Decide whether you want to use a foreign NIC in one of the groups.

Two foreign NICs (two that are not 3Com EtherLink Server NICs) are allowed in one group per server.

■ Decide which NIC is to be the primary NIC in each group.

■ You can specify failover from a Gigabit NIC to a 10/100 NIC. To ensure optimal

performance, this type of failover requires that you disable load balancing for the group.

■ For the best failover performance, turn the spanning tree feature off at

switches that are connected directly to the server. If the spanning tree feature is turned on, a failover may be delayed up to 30 seconds while the switch processes the spanning tree algorithm.

■ Plan the cable changes required to connect each primary NIC and all secondary

NICs to the same network segment.

■ Observe the recommended support limit of four groups per server.

■ The following guidelines apply to groups under Windows 2000:

802.1p Support Property—The value of the Windows 2000 802.1p Support property must be the same for all NICs in a group. For example, if this property is enabled for the primary NIC, it must also be enabled for all other NICs in the group.

Microsoft Task Ofﬂoad Support—It is possible to form a group of NICs that have different levels of support for Microsoft Task Ofﬂoad features (TCP Checksum, TCP Segmentation, and IP Sec). In this case, the ofﬂoad support is limited to the features supported by all NICs in the group. For example, if two NICs in a group support all ofﬂoad features but one NIC supports only TCP Checksum, then ofﬂoad support for the group is limited to TCP Checksum.

■ Observe these VLAN conﬁguration guidelines:

■ Assign a VLAN ID number to each VLAN. If you are not using a DHCP server,

each VLAN that is using IP services requires an IP address and subnet mask.

■ DynamicAccess software supports as many as 16 VLANs per server.

■ Each VLAN bound to TCP/IP must exist on a separate IP subnet. DHCP

servers used to allocate IP addresses must be located on the same IP subnets as the VLANs.

■ Each VLAN bound to the IPX/SPX protocol must use a unique network

number.

■ Under Windows 2000, when VLANs are enabled, the Windows 2000

802.1p Support property must be disabled for all the underlying miniports.

■ A minimum of 128Mb of RAM is required for multiple VLAN conﬁgurations

(up to a maximum of 16 VLANs). You can improve overall system performance with VLANs by increasing the physical RAM, the virtual memory page size, or both.

DynamicAccess Server Features 19

Installing

DynamicAccess

Software

Conﬁguring Server

Features

Use the following procedure to install DynamicAccess technology server features in a computer that is running Windows NT or Windows 2000.

Installing teaming software from multiple vendors may cause problems with your system. Before installing DynamicAccess software, uninstall any other teaming software you may have previously installed on your computer.

1 Insert the 3Com EtherLink Server CD in the CD-ROM drive. 2 From the Welcome screen, select NIC Software. 3 Click DynamicAccess Technology. 4 Click Install DynamicAccess Server Software. 5 Select Windows 2000 or Windows NT installation. 6 Click OK to Install the DynamicAccess server software. 7 Restart your system.

When DynamicAccess server features are installed, NICs bind to the DynamicAccess protocol and real protocols bind to the DynamicAccess Miniport. Do not modify these bindings.

The DynamicAccess server features window contains tabs for these windows:

■ In the Load Balance/RSL window, you can create and change Load

Balancing/RSL groups. The NICs in a group work together to route trafﬁc efﬁciently and to recover from failures.

■ In the VLANs window, you can set up virtual LANs. All groups listed in the

Load Balance/RSL window also appear as groups in the VLAN window. Any ungrouped NICs in the Load Balance/RSL window are also listed in the VLAN window.

Windows NT

Start DynamicAccess server features under Windows NT as follows:

1 Log in to the Windows NT Administrator account. 2 From the Windows Start menu, select Settings/Control Panel. 3 Double-click the DynamicAccess Server icon.

The DynamicAccess Resilient Server Link/Load Balance/VLAN Conﬁguration window appears. Click the appropriate tab to conﬁgure server features.

Windows 2000

Access DynamicAccess server features through the Windows 2000 Network and Dial-up Connections window as follows:

1 Log in to Windows 2000 with administrator privileges. 2 Launch the Windows 2000 Network and Dial-up Connections window. 3 Select a Local Area Connection icon. 4 Click the right mouse button and select Properties.

The Local Area Connections Properties window appears.

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