TCP/IP DOS Networking

[houseisland]

Does anyone have some good general reference links on TCP/IP DOS networking?

I am having to reacquaint myself with MS DOS clients as Novell servers slowly vanish from the IT landscape.

I have had good luck with Workgroup Add-On for MS DOS, version 3.11. It seems a better product than MS DOS Client 3.0. 3.11 has fewer memory "challenges," and it has a server component. It does not come with a TCP/IP protocol stack, though, but it is possible to tease the stack out of Client 3.0 and get it working with Add-On 3.11. I have had success with NDIS2 (DOS) and NDIS3 (WFW) drivers for most basic networking things.

Where I run into problems is with third party applications that require packet drivers. The packet drivers seem to knock out TCP/IP bindings with a resulting loss of connectivity. Arachne (a fun item, not actually required for any work-related stuff) is a good case in point. I have TCP/IP configured and working with DNS and Sockets, all the basic bells and whistles. But the packet driver required for Arachne (both the native drivers and the drivers supplied with NICs) end all connectivity when they load. Does Arachne require and ODI interface rather than an NDIS one? Does it have its own TCP/IP protocol software? Is it incompatible with with the MS client software and its TCP/IP protocol stack?

Sorry for the above rambling, but my understanding/memory of this all is so hazy at the moment that I am not able ask any coherent/focused/specific questions.

General remedial educuational guidance here woud be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[NEPATEC]

Have you looked into Unicoi's Fusion TCP/IP?

http://www.unicoi.com/Documentation/ProductBriefs/tcpip_unicoi.pdf

[houseisland]

Hi,

I have looked at it now. I also looked through Google group posts on it. Thanks.

Unfortunately, businesses who are still using DOS clients are not ones who want to spend money. Fusion TCP/IP is not free nor does it seem likely to be inexpensive. There is no chance at all I would be able to convince anyone to pay for such a thing, even if it were needed.

Thanks again.

[Gollo]

Does anyone have some good general reference links on TCP/IP DOS networking?

I am having to reacquaint myself with MS DOS clients as Novell servers slowly vanish from the IT landscape.

I have had good luck with Workgroup Add-On for MS DOS, version 3.11. It seems a better product than MS DOS Client 3.0. 3.11 has fewer memory "challenges," and it has a server component. It does not come with a TCP/IP protocol stack, though, but it is possible to tease the stack out of Client 3.0 and get it working with Add-On 3.11. I have had success with NDIS2 (DOS) and NDIS3 (WFW) drivers for most basic networking things.

Where I run into problems is with third party applications that require packet drivers. The packet drivers seem to knock out TCP/IP bindings with a resulting loss of connectivity. Arachne (a fun item, not actually required for any work-related stuff) is a good case in point. I have TCP/IP configured and working with DNS and Sockets, all the basic bells and whistles. But the packet driver required for Arachne (both the native drivers and the drivers supplied with NICs) end all connectivity when they load. Does Arachne require and ODI interface rather than an NDIS one? Does it have its own TCP/IP protocol software? Is it incompatible with with the MS client software and its TCP/IP protocol stack?

Sorry for the above rambling, but my understanding/memory of this all is so hazy at the moment that I am not able ask any coherent/focused/specific questions.

General remedial educuational guidance here woud be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
I wouldn't count novell out just yet. With their recent purchases (Suse and Ximian) I see them putting together a complete solution for businesses. Server, client and email. I mean think about it. The whole workplace working on linux. You get better security at lower costs. What's not to like? My predicition: Novell's coming back and strong. (Hmmmmm maybe I should go buy a few shares :D)

[NooNoo]

Novell Business suite rocks!

The licencing per seat is cheaper, the os allows for two concurrent server installations, has mail and they have worked hard to ensure compatibility with open source software.

I think they are indeed getting their act together.

PS a page full of useful articles. (http://www.freedos.org/freedos/news/technote/157.html)

[houseisland]

OK. So I should have said Netware servers....

Don't get me wrong. I like Netware servers. Set up properly on good hardware, they run and run and run without problems.

Their stability and ease of use for file and print services has not served Novell well -- no real incentive for users to upgrade -- no cash flow for the company. I know of lots of small businesses who are still using 3.11 and quite happily so. How many installs of NT 3.x servers are still out there?

Anyway, this is all off topic, a tendency which is par for the course here and which is part of what makes this site interesting and enjoyable.

[houseisland]

Sorry, NooNoo.

I overlooked the link in your reply. I thought it related to Novell Business Suite and didn't follow up on it right away.

Looks interesting. Thanks.

[bybybaby]

Here's a nice page about dos networking, this guy made his dos box his dos file server:
http://www.tigerbliss.com/dos_networking.html

[amcfreek]

this may not be of anny help .. but
i have actually used a dos boot disk to gain acess to shares., then mapped a drive and used 3.11 as my windows client .The 3.11 install was on my server and installed to a d: drive partition , so the corect mapped drive was d: , it got a lil bit pisy about being networked over the bootdisk , as it was loaded from dos so its native networking was disabled , you can actually copy these files from floppy and make them load from the hard drive at boot.

i actually used windows nt 4.0 servers remote install bootdisk., and hacked it per say of ms recomendations, then because you cant properly use a more then a 2 gig hd partition with dos i started useing a 98 boot disk , but you have to cab all the needed files and use a ram drive as the floppy isnt big enough ..
i borrowed bovis techs and re did it , but i used thier netbeui and changed all the drivers to later drivers as the ones they used i had probs with ..
the oly thing is you cant share a 3.11 /dos share , you can acess other shares , you just cant share with a dos driver ...

check support.microsoft.com windows nt server remote install bootdisk
and www.bovistech.com
you need to be able to uncab then recab the files with a progie for ms compatability also you need a copy of either win image , or use linux winwrite to write the images and then just open the progie and make as many boot floppies , then their is a progie from winternals that allowes you to read a ntfs partition , just cant write to it , nice for copying mp3s of a customers comuter...and porn ... sucks long file names arent preserved.
but you can run a dos boot disk from startup of computer and windows 3.x will still recognize it wich i think is the way 3.0 3.1 used to recognize the network as a client , its just not peer to peer compatible .. oh and load the ntfsdos last

sorry for the ramblings stress and a busy day ahead of me ..
laterz gotta do some legal **** on a lawsuite i have on the back burner..
laterz
amcfreek