For any workstation, the only section of the configuration file that must be completed is the header section. The header section defines the connections between workstations. The header section must be the first thing in the text file, before any of the other sections are defined. The header section is the only section that needs to be filled out if the program is to run as a master.
The following list is not a complete list of acceptable parameters. Appendix C shows a complete list of parameters along with a functional grouping.
Parameter defaults, acceptable maximum and minimum values are listed in Appendix B.
The following file listing shows the header information for a typical master workstation named RED with three consoles, named GREEN, BLUE and ORANGE.
NOTE: Parameters marked with an asterisk (*) are not optional. Optional parameters will use system defaults if not present.
; sample config file master.cfg
FUNCTION= MASTER
COMPUTERNAME= RED
CYCLESUSPEND= 200
WRITESUSPEND= 200
PIPEBUFFER= 10240
ERRORTRAP= ON
MAXRETRYS= 3
;REMOTE INFO
STATION= GREEN
PROTOCOL= NAMED_PIPE
CLASS= CONSOLE
;REMOTE INFO
STATION= BLUE
PROTOCOL= NAMED_PIPE
CLASS= CONSOLE
;REMOTE INFO
STATION= ORANGE
PROTOCOL= NAMED_PIPE
CLASS= CONSOLE
*FUNCTION
This defines whether a workstation is a master or a console. Valid entries are either MASTER or CONSOLE. After this field is defined, all the other fields can be defined in any order.
*COMPUTERNAME
This name should match the computer name given to the workstation during the operating system installation. It is important, however, that the header sections of the other workstations communicating with this workstation use exactly the same name.
CYCLESUSPEND
The cycle suspend defines how long the program will sleep between scans. The length of the sleep period is in milliseconds. This controls the timing and speed of the system by controlling how long a cycle is, which is used in the INPUT and OUTPUT sections of the configuration file.
WRITESUSPEND
The write suspend time defines how long the program will sleep between attempts to write to a busy connection. This value is measured in milliseconds.
READSUSPEND (NETBIOS cycle suspend)
This is the main Netbios buffer processing cycle suspend time. Should be set low since messages missed due to a suspended process are dropped.
PIPEBUFFER
The pipebuffer defines the size of the named pipe that runs between each workstation. The size is in bytes and defines both the input buffer size and the output buffer size. This value determines the number of messages a process may write to a pipe before the pipe will overflow. Only the master uses this option, as it creates all pipes.
The maximum pipebuffer size allowed is 32000 in the configuration file. Do not attempt to set a larger value for this parameter.
ERRORTRAP
If this option is defined as ON, all error messages returned by the network operating system calls will be printed on the screen and explained. This option should be used in conjunction with the Monitor Mode option (see OPERATION).
MAXQSIZE (Maximum queue size)
Maximum number of message buffers in the incoming message queue. Messages received in excess of this number are dropped.
ACKRESPOND
The time limit a workstation will wait for an acknowledgment prior to assuming a dropped connection. Only applies to Netbios connections.
NETWORK (Local named pipe)
Set this parameter to off to indicate a local named pipe on a master machine. If LSO Master and LSO Console will be running on the same computer, the NETWORK parameter must be set to OFF in the Console configuration file.
NETBIOS_ ENABLE
The NETBIOS_ENABLE option should be set to ON if master-to-master communications is desired. This allows the sharing with other masters of data marked as global in the NT list if no other connections are NETBIOS.
NETNAME (Network name)
This is the network name. Only applies to Netbios connections.
RESETDELAY
The amount of time a workstation will delay after a reset request. This allows time for the other workstation to recover. Only applies to Netbios connections.
NCBS (Maximum NETBIOS buffers)
Maximum number of Netbios NCB receive buffers. This should be set higher in networks with a large number of workstations. Only applies to Netbios connections.
Remote Information
After all of the above listed options are defined or left at their default values, the names of the console workstations that the master is to connect to are listed.
MTRNCB
The MTRNCB parameter specifies the amount of NCB's to reserve for masterto-master communications. This parameter should be higher when the number of masters increases or the amount of global data increases. Typical values range from 1 up to 1/2 the number of MAXNCBS specified.
INITDELAY
The INITDELAY is set in milliseconds. It is the amount of time to delay after sending the initial values for all your tags to the master. This parameter allows the master more time to process initialization data. This parameter should be set higher when the total number of table locations increases. The value should increase by approximately 6000 for every 4000 table locations in the NTLIST.
BLOCKSIZE
The block size configures the amount of NetBios packets sent together as a block. A higher block size will increase the rate of data sent. This value should be set higher when a large amount of data is being transferred. Setting the BLOCKSIZE too high may cause performance degradation due to insufficient NCB's available at the receiver, or due to the increasing chance of an error occurring in a larger block.
SUSPENDSET
The SUSPENDSET parameter is used to allow recovery from peak load situations without loss of data. This parameter is measured in milliseconds and should be set higher when the amount of data transferred is high. The value should increase by approximately 2000 for every 100 exceptions per second anticipated.
SETPOINT
The SETPOINT parameter is used to determine the point at which peak load recovery will occur. The lower this value is set the sooner recovery operation will occur. This value should be set at approximately 40 for heavy data loads.
DGPKT_SZ
The parameter DGPKT_SZ will determine how many messages can be fit into a single packet. The more messages that fit into a single packet the greater the number of point changes per second LSO can support. If the maximum traffic through any single master or console exceeds 300 point changes per second you should consider using this parameter.
*STATION
Each time the keyword STATION is listed, it indicates a connection to another console workstation of that name.
*PROTOCOL
This option controls the protocol that LSO should use in communicating with the STATION name last listed. Legal settings are NAMED_PIPE and TCP/IP.
*CLASS
This option is set for each remote station to either MASTER or CONSOLE. The following header section is for a console workstation named GREEN that is connected to a master with the workstation name of RED.
; Sample Config file CONSOLE.CFG
FUNCTION= CONSOLE
COMPUTERNAME= GREEN
CYCLESUSPEND= 500
WRITESUSPEND= 100
ERRORTRAP= OFF
; REMOTE INFO
STATION= RED
PROTOCOL= NAMED_PIPE
CLASS= MASTER
The rules for defining a console workstation's header are the same as those for defining a master workstation's header, except that there is only one remote station name defined, and this must be the master's name. The PIPEBUFFER size is only significant in the master. The suspend times should also be somewhat higher for a console since the communications work load is much lower than that of a master. After this, all the other fields work as described.