N. CD-ROM MATERIAL

N.1 How do I get to see a CD drive on my Netware v3.12 server?

Only SCSI CD-ROMs can be mounted by NetWare [until recently, see N.5 below].

The documentation for CD-ROM support failed to tell you that you need to load an additional .DSK driver before loading CDROM.NLM. The NetWare installation program is equally inept in this regard; there are several such .DSK drivers on your SYSTEM_2 diskette, yet it does not copy any of them to your SYS:SYSTEM directory.

For Adaptec ASPITRAN, the driver you want is ASPICD.DSK. For generic ASPI interfaces, you want CDNASPI.DSK. For other implementations, try out the .DSK drivers on SYSTEM_2, but you may need to contact the vendor of your SCSI host adapter to get the correct driver. Future Domain has a BBS at 714-253-0432, in the short term, eMail can be sent to Virendra Rode at virendra@nexus.chapman.edu

[Thx to V.K.R.]

N.2 100% CPU utilization when mounting a CD-ROM

When mounting a CD-ROM on a Netware server, CPU utilization may go to 100% for a long time. This is a normal part of the behaviour of the original 3.12 CDROM.NLM, but has been at least partially cured in later releases. You should upgrade to the current release (NetWare 4.10 users, as of this writing, have the current release; all others need CDROM3.EXE).

When you mount a disc for the first time, the server builds an index table on SYS: in a hidden directory, SYS:CDROM$$.ROM. This index holds all directory information for the CD-ROM and allows the server to do directory searches on the CD-ROM much faster than it would be able to if it had to physically access the disc each time as CD-ROM drives have seek times an order of magnitude worse than those for hard drives. Also, this index is read into memory when the CD-ROM is mounted, providing a further speed improvement. The process of building this index appears to be very CPU- intensive. The duration of this CPU hit varies depending on the power of your CPU and the complexity of the CD-ROM; it may run anywhere from a second or so to many (tens of) minutes.

When this process is complete, the system has an index ready for the next time you mount the CD-ROM. By default, all subsequent mount requests for this CD-ROM will be fulfilled by reading the index from the hard drive into memory, making the process of re-mounting the CD-ROM fast and not nearly as CPU-intensive.

[Thx S.M.D.]

N.3.1 CD-ROM software products for NetWare

SCSI Express from Microdesign International, WInterhaven Fl.

[Thx F.R.]

N.3.2 CD-ROM hardware products for NetWare

Pioneer 604X "jukebox". Load 6 CD's at once, quad speed drive, less than $1,000 US. Saves money as fewer SCSI cards/CD-ROM servers are needed. Some performance trade-off when jukebox has to load a different CD-ROM.

[Thx F.R.]

N.4 CD-ROM resources via the WWW

[The following information is out of date as of April 26, 1998 - if you have additional information on these resources, please contact the FAQ maintainer: faq@jelyon.com]

Dave Ro maintains two CD-ROM resources for the Network Professional Association (NPA). One resource is a list of Network Support Resources on CD-ROM, the other is a list of Hardware and Software Solutions for CD-ROM networking. These resources can be found at:

> http://bos_npa.silverplatter.com/cdref.htm

> OR

> http://bos_npa.silverplatter.com/cdrom.htm

[Thx D.R.]

N.5 Mounting an IDE CD-ROM on a NetWare server

There is an updated version of the CDROM.NLM (and other related files) available that allows an IDE CD-ROM to be mounted on a 3.12 or 4.1 server.

[Thx J.H.]

The most current patches is can be downloaded from http://support.novell.com.

[Thx S.R.#2]

N.6 Mapping CD-ROM drives

Most Windows programs do not need search drives nor do they need specific drive mappings, so it is better to use UNC notation instead.

For example, if your "cdsoft" executable was in SYS:APPS\CD, set the run line as \\servername\SYS\APPS\CD\CDSOFT.EXE, with a working directory of \\servername\cdvolume.

In a multi-server environment, where you wish to attach to a server, map drives, launch programs, then undo it all, then look into WINFINITE, from Winfinite Software, 22K Worlds Fair Dr., Somerset, NJ 08873 908-805-1931.

[Thx D.K.]