SUBJECT:      Invalid channel semaphore state on NETWARE release ERROR

DATE:         Jan. 24, 1990

OS VERSION:   2.1x





GENERAL 

INFORMATION:  Error messages



PROBLEM:      Error message at the server:  INVALID CHANNEL SEMAPHORE 

              STATE ON NETWARE RELEASE



SOLUTION:     We have seen this error several different times and in 

              each case it involves a Future Domain VADD.  We contacted 

              Future Domain, and they said that the version 2.02 fixes 

              this problem.  The customer needs to upgrade the VADD.



COMMENTS 

(Optional):   Customer needs to contact Future Domain with this error 

              message and fix.  FAX number: 714-259-5210



  (XX)    This information has been verified.





SUBJECT:      Mirroring Using Generic SCSI or Future Domain VADD

DATE:         February 13, 1990

OS VERSION:   2.15

REVISION:     C

SHELL 

VERSION:      N/A

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GENERAL 

INFORMATION:  DCB Generic SCSI: Disk process accesses the drive to 

              determine the number of heads and cylinders, rather than

              using a table like the rest of the options in DISKSET.  

              If the information cannot be read, the message "ABEND: 

              Error adding a Generic Scsi Drive" appears.  This 

              message means that the OS, COMPSURF, VREPAIR, BACKUP, 

              RESTORE, and so on, could not talk to the drive, which 

              denotes a hardware problem.



PROBLEM:      On a system with mirrored 600 Meg drives, using the 

              Generic SCSI option, a customer reported that he 

              could not bring the system up after a bad drive was 

              removed.  His problem was two-fold because in one 

              case two DCBS were used and in the other case the 

              Future Domain VADD was used.



              The Future Domain VADD is similar to the DCB 

              "Generic SCSI" option in that it also determines 

              the number of heads and cylinders from the drive.  

              But, unlike the DCB, that is the ONLY way it can be 

              set up.  Therefore if one drive is removed it attempts 

              to communicate with the missing drive, fails, and

              doesn't add the drive to its table.  When the system 

              comes up under this condition, the message "ABEND: 

              Invalid mirror definition table.  Run NETGEN" appears 

              because the hardware only recognized one of the drives 

              and the master system table has been configured with 

              two.



              When using the DCB "Generic SCSI" option in the above 

              situation, to avoid the error "ABEND: Error adding a 

              Generic Scsi Drive," the tendency is to remove the 

              "Generic SCSI" drive using DISKSET leaving no drives 

              defined on one of the DCBS.  When the system comes up 

              under this condition, the message "ABEND: Invalid 

              mirror definition table.  Run NETGEN" appears because, 

              again, the hardware only recognized one of the drives 

              and the master system table has been configured with 

              two.



SOLUTION:     With the Future Domain VADD there is no way around 

              this other than replacing the missing drive.  The

              drive doesn't have to be the same size as the drive 

              removed, so long as there IS a drive there for the 

              VADD to look at, the system will come up.



              With the DCB the workaround for this is to configure 

              the DCB which has the bad drive defined for something 

              other than "Generic SCSI" using DISKSET (i.e.  

              "CDC WRENIII/EMBEDDED SCSI").  The message "Probem 

              with drive XX: Error reading disk redirection

              information on sector 14" (where XX is the logical 

              drive number of the drive removed) will appear, but 

              the system will come up. Likewise with COMPSURF, 

              VREPAIR, and so on, the same message will appear.



  (XX)    This information has been verified.