SNA Setup Fails When Installing 33rd DLC 802.2 Link Service

 Last reviewed: August 1, 1996
Article ID: Q131786
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft SNA Server for Windows NT, versions 2.0 and 2.1

SYMPTOMS

When you try to install the 33rd SNA Server DLC 802.2 link service, SNA Server Setup fails with the following error: 

   The installation process failed

CAUSE

The SNA Server setup program generates a unique link service name during installation of SNA Server DLC 802.2 link services. The link service names are generated as follows: 

  SNADLC1, SNADLC2, ... SNADLC9, SNADLCA, SNADLCB ... SNADLCU
However, after SNADLCU, the link service name generation fails, causing a link service name of SNADLC to be generated for the 32nd, and all additional, link services. When the 33rd link service is installed (with a name of SNADLC), the 32nd link service already exists with that name.

MORE INFORMATION

This restriction only affects customers who want SNA Server to emulate more than 32 physical units to the same host system, through a single host TIC address. In this configuration, a unique link service must be defined for each PU, where each link service would be configured with a unique local SAP address. For more information, see Q107192.

Because multiple connections to the same AS/400 are not supported, AS/400 connections are not affected For more information, see Q131625.

SNA Server supports up to 128 unique 802.2 connections over a single 802.2 link service. The restriction described here affect only configurations involving more than 32 802.2 link services.

Each 802.2 link service configured over a given adapter must have a unique SAP address. The first SNA SAP address is 0x4, with subsequent SAP addresses specified in multiples of 4 (for example, 0x04, 0x08, 0x0c, 0x10, 0x14, etc.), through 0xEC (addresses from 0xF0-FF can't be used). Because the SAP address is a single digit, only 59 SNA SAP addresses (and, thus SNA DLC 802.2 link services) can be configured over one adapter.

Because the problem exists in SNA Setup when generating a link service name, regardless of the number of LAN adapters installed in the server, adding a second LAN adapter does not alleviate the problem.

RESOLUTION

To correct this problem, upgrade to SNA Server version 2.11. Link service names are now generated using 1 or 2 digit index with base 36. For example: 

   SNADLC1,  SNADLC2,  ... SNADLC9,  SNADLCA, ... SNADLCZ,  SNADLC10,
   SNADLC11, SNADLC12, ... SNADLC19, SNADLC1A ... SNADLC1Z, SNADLC20,
   ...
There is no workaround for customers using SNA Server 2.0 or 2.1. These versions are limited to 32 unique 802.2 link services.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SNA Server versions 2.0 and 2.1. This problem was corrected in SNA Server version 2.11.

KBCategory: kbnetwork kbsetup kbbug2.00 kbbug2.10 kbfix2.11
KBSubcategory: ntnetserv ntconfig
Additional reference words: prodsna 2.00 2.10 3.50

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Last reviewed: August 1, 1996
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