HOT SWAP WITH RACORE PCMCIA

Support Bulletin: 6040 Rev A

Abstract:

This document contains information on how to employ the PCMCIA HOT SWAP feature for NetWare 4.x using the NetWare Event Service Layer (NESL).

This provides the ability to remove the Racore M8134 PCMCIA adapter which is attached and logged-in to a NetWare 4.x server, temporarily use the slot for another PCMCIA device, then re-insert the Racore adapter without having to re-load any drivers or login again. After re-insertion, the Racore adapter will resume its connection as if nothing had happened.

To employ the HOT SWAP feature, follow these guidelines:

1. The Racore card must be inserted into the PCMCIA slot before the DOS ODI stack is initially loaded.

2. Card and Socket Services drivers which comply to revision 2.1 of the PCMCIA specification must be loaded. As of 5-16-96, System Soft and Award drivers have been shown to work with this feature.

3. PCMDRI ( Point Enabler for the PCMCIA card ) must NOT be loaded.

4. NESL.COM ( available from Novell ) must be loaded.

5. The BUS ID keyword specifying Bus ID 3 must be included in the NET.CFG
file: BUS ID PCMCIA 3.

6. VLMs must be used ( NETX will NOT work ).

7. HIMEM.SYS must be loaded in the CONFIG.SYS file.

8. Re-insert the card before the NetWare watchdog timer expires to avoid having to re-login. See below.

example load sequence for ODI stack:

LSL.COM

NESL.COM

RCPTRODI.COM v4.32 or higher

IPXODI.COM

VLM.EXE

example NET.CFG file:

LINK DRIVER RCPTRODI

BUS ID PCMCIA 3

When the card is removed from the PCMCIA slot, the NetWare client driver will become inactive and wait for the card to be reinserted. Other "hot-swappable" PCMCIA cards may be used in the interim. When the Racore Token-Ring PCMCIA card is re-inserted, the Netware client driver will reconnect in the same context as it was in when the card was removed and the session will continue as if nothing had happened.

NOTE: this assumes the NetWare Server watchdog timer had not yet expired. If the NetWare Server's watchdog timer has expired, a new LOGIN will be required. The watchdog timer duration can be adjusted to suit your needs.

See NetWare documentation for setting the watchdog timer. Due to NetWare restrictions, only one network card may be "hot-swapped". You cannot alternate between two networks. NetWare will only reconnect to the network/s to which it was previously connected.