Comtrol interchange vs1000 Operator's manual

InterChangeVS™1000 Series
VS1000 and VS1100
Novell®NetWare®
Installation and Configuration
Guide

Copyright © 1998. Comtrol Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Third Edition, April 8, 1998
Comtrol Corporation makes no representations or warranties with
regard to the contents of this guide or to the suitability of the Comtrol
products for any particular purpose. Specifications subject to change
without notice. Some software or features may not be available at the
time of publication. Contact your reseller for current product
information.
Trademarks
Comtrol is a trademark of Comtrol Corporation.
InterChangeVS is a trademark of Comtrol Corporation.
Microsoft and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation.
Novell, NetWare, BorderManager, and Intranetware are registered
trademarks of Novell, Inc. NetWare Connect, NetWare Loadable
Module, NLM, NetWare MultiProtocol Router, NetWare Directory
Services, and NDS are trademarks of Novell, Inc.
Citrix and WinFrame are registered trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc.
WanderLink is a registered trademark of Funk Software, Inc.
FAXserver is a trademark and Computer Associates is a registered
trademark of Computer Associates.
Other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Corporate Corporate Headquarters:
Internet URL: www.comtrol.com
email: [email protected]
FTP site: ftp.comtrol.com
FAX: [phone]
Phone: [phone]
Comtrol Europe:
Internet URI: www.comtrol.co.uk
email: [email protected]
FAX: [phone]
Phone: [phone]
Document Part Number: 6610D

3
Table of Contents
List of Tables........................................................................................5
Introduction.........................................................................................7
Product Overview...................................................................................7
Operating System Requirements....................................................7
Connectivity Requirements.............................................................7
Installation Overview.............................................................................8
Initial Installation............................................................................8
Installing VS-Link Software Updates.............................................8
Adding a VS1000 to an Existing Installation.................................9
Adding a VS1100 to an Existing Installation.................................9
“Hot-Swapping” a VS1000.............................................................10
“Hot-Swapping” a VS1100.............................................................10
Obtaining Software or Document Updates.........................................11
Comtrol Corporate Headquarters..................................................11
Comtrol Europe..............................................................................11
Technical Support.................................................................................12
Novell NetWare..................................................................................13
Overview................................................................................................13
Software Installation............................................................................14
Before You Begin............................................................................14
Extracting the Files........................................................................14
Creating an AIOVS1 Load Line...........................................................15
NetWare Connect Installation and Configuration..............................16
Adding VS1000 Virtual Servers....................................................21
Adding VS1100 Expansion Units..................................................21
NIAS/MPR Installation and Configuration.........................................22
Configuring Network Interfaces....................................................27
Configuring WAN Call Destinations.............................................28

4
Table of Contents
Configuring Protocols.....................................................................29
Configuring Bindings.....................................................................30
Reinitializing the System...............................................................32
Adding VS1000 Virtual Servers....................................................32
Adding VS1100 Expansion Units..................................................32
Troubleshooting....................................................................................33
Problem Resolution Procedures.....................................................33
VS1MAN.NLM................................................................................34
Operating VS1MAN.......................................................................34
Replacing Units in Service (“Hot-Swapping”)...............................34
VS1TRACE.NLM............................................................................37
Operating VS1TRACE...................................................................37
Notes on the Use of Trace Types...................................................39
Printer Configuration.....................................................................39
Index.....................................................................................................41

5
List of Tables
Table 1.Support Call Information.....................................................12
Table 2.Novell Operating System Releases Supported...................13
Table 3.AIOVS1.NLM Parameters....................................................15
Table 4.Port Name Parameters.........................................................17
Table 5.VS1MAN Commands...........................................................35
Table 6.VS1TRACE Commands.......................................................38
Table 7.VS1TRACE Type Codes.......................................................39

6
List of Tables

Product Overview 7
Introduction
Product Overview
The Comtrol InterChangeVS 1000 is a rack-mountable or stackable
“network appliance” that connects via Ethernet to a host server and
supports from 16 to 64* RS-232 asynchronous serial ports per network
address (MAC). All ports are supported at rates up to 230.4K bps.
* The base VS1000 has 16 ports. Additional ports can be added by
plugging in VS1100 expansion units, to a maximum of three
VS1100 expansion units per each VS1000 base unit.
Operating System Requirements
The InterChangeVS 1000 requires at least one network server
running one of the following operating systems:
• Microsoft Windows®NT (3.51, 4.0, or higher)
Note: Windows NT 4.0 or higher is required to support Multilink
PPP.
Note: RAS or RRAS is required to support Remote Access Service.
•Citrix
®WinFrame®(1.7 or later)
• Novell®NetWare®(3.12, 4.11, or IntranetWare™)
Note: Contact Novell for information regarding Multilink PPP
support for NetWare.
Your choice of operating system determines the limits of the VS1000/
VS1100 configuration. Novell NetWare supports a maximum of 128
ports per server, while Microsoft supports up to 256 RAS ports or 1,000
COM ports per server.
Connectivity Requirements
• An Ethernet connection, either to an Ethernet hub or to a NIC card
in the host server. (See the Installing the Hardware section.)

8 Installation Overview
Introduction
Installation Overview
The following outlines summarize the various VS1000/VS1100
installation scenarios. For more information about hardware issues,
see the Installing the Hardware section. For more information about
software issues, see the section for your network operating system.
Initial Installation
A. Hardware Installation
1. Install the VS1000.
2. Install one or more VS1100 units (optional).
3. Install RS-232 serial devices.
4. Connect the VS1000 to the network hub or server.
5. Power-up the new VS1000 and verify that it passes the power-
on diagnostics.
B. Software Installation
1. Unzip the VS-Link distribution file.
2. Install the VS-Link software.
3. Configure VS-Link to support the VS1000/VS1100.
4. Configure serial ports to support the RS-232 devices.
5. Shut down and restart the server.
Installing VS-Link Software Updates
A. Hardware Installation (no changes needed)
B. Software Installation
1. Remove the existing VS-Link software.
2. Install the new version of the VS-Link software.
3. Configure VS-Link to support the VS1000/VS1100.
4. No port configuration changes are required.
5. Shut down and restart the server.

Installation Overview 9
Introduction
Adding a VS1000 to an Existing Installation
A. Hardware Installation
1. Install the VS1000.
2. Install any associated VS1100 expansion units.
3. Install RS-232 serial devices.
4. Connect the VS1000 to the network hub or server.
5. Power-up the new VS1000 and verify that it passes the power-
on diagnostics.
B. Software Installation
1. Configure VS-Link to support the new VS1000/VS1100.
2. Configure serial ports to support the RS-232 devices.
3. Shut down and restart the server.
Adding a VS1100 to an Existing Installation
A. Hardware Installation
1. Install the VS1100.
2. Power down the VS1000 base unit to which you are attaching
the VS1100 expansion unit.
3. Connect the VS1100 cable from the VS1100 port on the VS1000
base unit to the Input port on the VS1100 expansion unit.
4. Install the terminator plug in the Output port on the last
VS1100 in the chain.
5. Install RS-232 serial devices.
6. Power-up the VS1000 and verify that it passes the power-on
diagnostics.
B. Software Installation
1. Change the VS-Link configuration for the VS1000 base unit to
support the added serial ports.
2. Configure the serial ports to support the RS-232 devices.
3. Shut down and restart the server.

10 Installation Overview
Introduction
“Hot-Swapping” a VS1000
Replacing a VS1000 with an identical VS1000
A. Hardware Installation
1. Power-down the VS1000 to be removed from service.
2. Install the new VS1000.
3. Transfer all cabling from the old VS1000 to the new VS1000.
This includes the VS1100 cable, if used.
4. Do not add or remove VS1100 expansion units. The new
VS1000mustbeconnectedtothesamenumberofVS1100units
as the VS1000 that is being removed from service.
5. Connect the new VS1000 to the network hub or server.
6. Power-up the new VS1000 and verify that it passes the power-
on diagnostics.
B. Software Installation
1. Change the VS1000 VS-Link configuration to reflect the
network address (MAC) of new VS1000 base unit.
2. No port reconfiguration is needed.
3. Do not shut down and restart the server.
“Hot-Swapping” a VS1100
A. Hardware Installation
1. Power-down the VS1000 base unit.
2. Install the new VS1100 expansion unit.
3. Transfer all cabling from the old VS1100 to the new VS1100.
4. Power-up the VS1000 base unit and verify that it passes the
power-on diagnostics.
B. Software Installation
1. No software changes required.
2. Do not shut down and restart the server.