Tuning LAN Manager RAS Servers for Windows NT RAS Clients

Last reviewed: March 24, 1997
Article ID: Q99372

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0

SUMMARY

Windows NT Remote Access Service (RAS) is fully compatible with Microsoft LAN Manager RAS. However, some tuning may be required when connecting from a Windows NT RAS client to a LAN Manager 1.x RAS server. Windows NT uses more NetBIOS names than any other Microsoft networking client. (Windows NT uses eight NetBIOS names while LAN Manager and Windows for Workgroups use only four-five names.) Because of this, if some parameters on the LAN Manager RAS server are not modified, errors can be generated, indicating the server's name table is full or that insufficient NetBIOS sessions are available on the server.

The following file fragments are from a sample LAN Manager RAS server configuration that has been tuned for Windows NT RAS clients. Additional information on these settings can be found in the "Additional Information on LAN Manager RAS Settings" section below.

LANMAN.INI

[REMOTEACCESS]

MAXNAMES = 8          ;Specifies the max. number of NetBIOS names for
                      ;a single client.
REMOTELISTEN = ALL    ;Remote RAS workstations to act as full peers
                      ;on the LAN. Increases number NetBIOS names
                      ;listened for.

PROTOCOL.INI

[NETBEUI_XIF]

SESSIONS = 160        ;This must be large enough to accommodate all
                      ;simultaneous sessions between this server
                      ;and LAN clients, this server and RAS clients,
                      ;and RAS clients and other network servers.

NCBS = 180 NAMES = 160

[TCPIP_XIF] NBSESSIONS = 100

NUMNAMES = 127        ;This is the maximum for the TCP/IP stack.
;NUMNCBS = 85         ;Commenting out NUMNCBS line lets TCP/IP stack
                      ;assume the highest value possible.

These modifications represent the minimum settings for Windows NT RAS client support. If the LAN Manager server is also handling many other network clients, these values may need to be increased.

Additional Information on LAN Manager RAS Settings

The RemoteListen parameter is one of the most important settings. It can greatly affect the resources devoted to RAS clients and effectively make RAS clients full members of the LAN. For more information on this parameter, query on the following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   REMOTELISTEN and MESSAGES

The number of RAS ports in use at once greatly affects how you tune your LAN protocols. With more lines, you can have more sessions; with more sessions, you will need more names for each protocol. Because Windows NT RAS clients already have twice as many names as LAN Manager and Windows for Workgroups RAS clients, this issue becomes even more important. If you think you are having a problem relating to this, try stopping the messenger service. The messenger service registers NetBIOS names for your computer, login identification, and domain; disabling the messenger service will reduce your name usage by three.

Windows NT RAS servers are not affected as much by a high number of names, as their default maximum names parameter is set to 255. Also, under Windows NT, these names are stored in paged memory and do not take up system resources as severely as under LAN Manager. The only reason to reduce this number is to limit the number of names each client can use.

Additional query words: wfw wfwg prodnt
Keywords : kbnetwork NTNETSERV NTRAS NTSrvWkst
Version : 3.1 4.0
Platform : WinNT

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Last reviewed: March 24, 1997
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