Macintosh and Appletalk Stack Limits Imposed

ID: Q99240

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1
Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0
Microsoft LAN Manager versions 1.0, 1.0a, 2.0, 2.10, 2.10a and 2.20

SUMMARY

This article describes the Macintosh and AppleTalk stack limits imposed on Microsoft LAN Manager and Windows NT Services for Macintosh servers.

MORE INFORMATION

LAN Manager

LAN Manager Services for Macintosh (SFM) versions 1.0 and 1.0a allow a maximum of 50 Appleshare clients per server. This limit is imposed by SFP server architecture (which uses one thread per connected client) and by OS/2, which is limited to 53 threads per process.

Adding network cards does not allow you to connect more clients because the limit is in the server process itself, not the protocol. The AppleTalk protocol is architecturally limited to 255 sessions. When the server has multiple adapters, AppleTalk can be bound to each one and can route between them. Each adapter board is registered as a different AppleTalk node, and the actual AFP server process registers on only one of them. Users on nets connected to other boards can connect to the server because LAN Manager Services for Macintosh routes packets to the network that the server appears on.

Windows NT

Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1 and Windows NT Server 3.5x and later no longer impose the 50 client connection or 255 session limitation. AppleTalk sessions are now limited only by system resources. Potentially, an unlimited number of clients can attach to a single SFM server.

Additional query words: sfm LMSFM 1.0 1.00 1.0a 1.00a 2.0 2.00 2.1 2.10 2.1a 2.10a 2.2 2.20 3.10 macfile Apple Server Apple share

Keywords : kbnetwork NTSrv ntnetwork ntsfm
Version : WinNT:3.1,3.5,3.51,4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbinfo