DOS NetWare Clients and Packet Drivers

This page covers using using mTCP (or other software) that requires a Packet Driver on top of the DOS NetWare Client using a Packet Driver to ODI shim.

You can't use two TCP/IP stacks at once!
Client32 using 32bit ODI drivers
Client32 using 16bit ODI drivers
NetWare DOS Requester (VLM) client using 16bit ODI drivers
NetWare DOS Shell (NETX) client using 16bit ODI drivers
Trying it out with mTCP
Going the other way: Running a NetWare client on top of a Packet Driver?

You can't use two TCP/IP stacks at once!

If the packet driver software you're using provides its own TCP/IP stack (such as the mTCP utilities) or is a TCP/IP stack (eg Trumpet) do not select any of the following options when installing Client32:

TCP/IP protocol stack
NetWare/IP
IPX/IP Gateway

If you have already installed Client32 with TCP/IP you'll need to edit startnet.bat (in C:\NOVELL\CLIENT32 by default) and remove the following entries if they're present:

LOAD C:\NOVELL\CLIENT32\TCPIP.NLM
LOAD C:\NOVELL\CLIENT32\NWIP.NLM

If you're currently using the 16bit VLM Client (NetWare DOS Requester), make sure TCPIP.EXE and NWIP.EXE are not being loaded.

Running Packet Driver software on top of Client32 using 32bit ODI drivers

You've got Client32 setup using 32bit ODI drivers and you want to run something that requires a packet driver (like mTCP). For this you will need:

ODIPKT.COM: A shim that makes a 16bit ODI driver look like a Packet Driver. Download v3.0 and copy it to your machine.
LSL.COM: The 16bit ODI Link Support Layer (included with Client32)
PDOSETH.COM: Provides a 16bit ODI interface to the loaded 32bit protected mode ODI driver (included with Client32)

To get everything working:

Place ODIPKT.COM in C:\Novell\Client32 or where ever Client32 is installed

Edit NET.CFG which is, by default, located in C:\Novell\Client32 and insert the following:

Link Support
    Buffers 6 1600
    
Link Driver PDOSETH
    Frame Ethernet_II
    Frame Ethernet_802.2
    Frame Ethernet_802.3
    Frame Ethernet_SNAP

Edit STARTNET.BAT which is, by default, located in C:\Novell\Client32 and:
- Check the network driver is loaded once for each frame type. For example:
```
LOAD PCNTNW.LAN FRAME=Ethernet_II
LOAD PCNTNW.LAN FRAME=Ethernet_SNAP
LOAD PCNTNW.LAN FRAME=Ethernet_802.2
LOAD PCNTNW.LAN FRAME=Ethernet_802.3
```
- Make a note of the order the network drivers are loaded in. In this case the first board (board 0) will be loaded with the Ethernet_II frame type, board 1 with Ethernet_SNAP, etc.
- Check that TCPIP.NLM and NWIP.NLM are not being loaded. Comment them out if they are.
- Add the following to the end of the file (where 0 is the Ethernet_II board number and 96 is the driver interrupt in decimal):
```
LH LSL.COM
LH N16ODI.COM
LH NESL.COM
LH PDOSETH.COM
LH ODIPKT.COM 0 96
```
- I'm not sure if N16ODI.COM and NESL.COM are strictly required - things appear to work ok without them.
Setup mTCP

Running Packet Driver software on top of Client32 using 16bit ODI drivers

You've got Client32 setup using 16bit ODI drivers and you want to run something that requires a packet driver (like mTCP). For this you will need only ODIPKT.COM, a shim that makes a 16bit ODI driver look like a Packet Driver. Download v3.0 and copy it to your machine.

To get everything working:

Place ODIPKT.COM in C:\Novell\Client32 or where ever Client32 is installed
Edit NET.CFG which is, by default, located in C:\Novell\Client32 and:
- Insert the following at the top of the file:
```
Link Support
    Buffers 6 1600
```
- The link driver section will look someting like the example below. Make a note of the order the FRAMEs are specified. In this example, Ethernet_802.2 is in position 0 and Ethernet_II is in position 2. You need at least the Ethernet_II frame for TCP/IP to work so add it in if its missing:
```
Link Driver PCNTNW
    FRAME Ethernet_802.2
    FRAME Ethernet_802.3
    FRAME Ethernet_II
    FRAME Ethernet_SNAP
```
Edit STARTNET.BAT which is, by default, located in C:\Novell\Client32 and add LH ODIPKT.COM 2 96 to the end of the file (where 96 the driver interrupt in decimal and 2 is the position of the Ethernet_II frame in NET.CFG). Also check TCP.EXE isn't being loaded.
Setup mTCP

Running Packet Driver software on top of the NetWare DOS Requester (16bit VLM) client

You've running the old 16bit VLM client you want to run something that requires a packet driver (like mTCP). For this you will need only ODIPKT.COM, a shim that makes a 16bit ODI driver look like a Packet Driver. Download v3.0 and copy it to your machine.

The process for this client is basically the same as when using Client32 with 16bit ODI drivers:

Place ODIPKT.COM in C:\NWCLIENT or where ever the NetWare client is installed
Edit NET.CFG which is, by default, located in C:\NWCLIENT and:
- Insert the following at the top of the file:
```
Link Support
    Buffers 6 1600
```
- The link driver section will look someting like the example below. Make a note of the order the FRAMEs are specified. In this example, Ethernet_802.2 is in position 0 and Ethernet_II is in position 2. You need at least the Ethernet_II frame for TCP/IP to work so add it in if its missing:
```
Link Driver PCNTNW
    FRAME Ethernet_802.2
    FRAME Ethernet_802.3
    FRAME Ethernet_II
    FRAME Ethernet_SNAP
```
Edit STARTNET.BAT which is, by default, located in C:\NWCLIENT and add LH ODIPKT.COM 2 96 either before or or after the VLM command. In this command 96 the driver interrupt in decimal and 2 is the position of the Ethernet_II frame in NET.CFG. While here also check TCP.EXE isn't being loaded.
Setup mTCP

Running Packet Driver software on top of the antique NetWare DOS Shell (NETX) client

The process here is pretty much the same as with the VLM client described above. I won't provide any instructions for doing it because there was no install program for this client so no standard locations where things live or default net.cfgs, etc. All you really need to do is make sure the network driver is loaded with the Ethernet_II frame type in NET.CFG if you want to use TCP and then run odipkt.com with the appropriate board number after LSL.COM and the ODI driver have been loaded.

Its perhaps worth stating that this requires you to use ODI drivers. Until around 1990 the NetWare DOS Shell used a different driver model which is very much incompatible with ODIPKT.COM. If you're using the client disks that came with NetWare 3.11 or older (labeled WSGEN) you will need to either use the "DOS ODI Workstation Services Disk" if you have it or upgrade to a newer version of the client. This page has the latest verison of the NETX client if you need it.

Try it out with mTCP

The following should get mTCP working:

Copy mTCP to C:\mTCP
Edit C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT and add the line: SET MTCPCFG=C:\mTCP\TCP.CFG
Edit the new file C:\mTCP\TCP.CFG and set the contents to the following (where 0x60 is 96 in hex)
```
PACKETINT 0x60
HOSTNAME myhost
MTU 1500
```
reboot
Run startnet.bat if you don't have it set to run automatically
Run C:\mTCP\dhcp.exe and you should get an IP address

Going the other way: Running a NetWare client on top of a Packet Driver?

There is a shim, PDETHER.EXE (documentation), which provides an ODI interface to a packet driver. It is incompatible with Client32 but I've not tested the older clients. Provided your NetWare server has IPX bound to the Ethernet_II frame type (the only frame type supported by packet drivers) it may be possible to use this with the NETX and VLM clients. Given the ubiquity of ODI drivers and the limitations of using PDETHER.EXE there probably isn't much reason to do this though - you'll almost certainly be better off using an ODI driver and ODIPKT.COM.

Disclaimer & Comments

I'm not a netware expert, don't have any of those fancy novell certifications and have never administred a netware network; I've just played with it at home occasionally since 2004 or so. Email me if you've got any suggestsions or corrections for this page or any extra information you think is worth including here. My address is david at this websites domain name (without the www bit of course).

ZXnet