TCPBEUI Networking install notes

By Al Savage

These are notes I made regarding OS/2 NetBIOS over TCP/IP ("TCPBEUI"). Feel free to send me comments on my choices or omissions.

Be aware that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is not nearly as speedy as plain NetBIOS, so it's best to use TCPBEUI only if you need it, to be able to use NetBIOS resource sharing using TCP/IP as the transport layer, to transcend the limitation of NetBIOS to a single network segment. NetBIOS is much faster than TCPBEUI for most operations.

In CONFIG.SYS, make sure you have this line: SET USE_HOSTS_FIRST=1 This insures that TCP/IP will look in the local HOSTS file for domain name resolution first, before querying the default domain name server (DNS).

Edit x:\MPTN\ETC\HOSTS and add a line for every machine's TCP/IP hostname (not machinename) with which you want this box to communicate. Note: it is not necessary that a box's TCP/IP hostname and it's NetBIOS machinename be the same (see note), but it does make things easier to track.

If you wish to have the "net view" command to show the host box, add the hostname/specific IP mapping (in addition to "localhost") to x:\MPTN\ETC\HOSTS

An example HOSTS file contents: 209.180.204.154      Joni     # Joni, OS/2, webserver 207.109.82.16        Winni    # Winni, W95c, PhotoShop, scanner 209.180.210.145      Tori     # This box, specific IP mapping Run MPTS, install NIC MAC/NDIS drivers:
 * Install "TCP/IP" protocol,
 * Install "NetBIOS over TCP/IP" protocol,
 * Install "Select "Change Number", change the number for "NetBIOS over TCP/IP" to "1",

MPTS configuration of TCP/IP & TCPBEUI protocols


 * Select "NetBIOS over TCP/IP",
 * Select "Edit",
 * Select "Driver Parameters",
 * Select "Configure",

TCPBEUI: setting Driver parameters

Change "Maximum number of name-IP address pairs in NAMES file" to 20.

TCPBEUI NAMESFILE configuration

Select "OK".

Add names to x:\IBMCOM\RFCNAMES.LST

Now to add TCPBEUI mappings for NetBIOS (machine) names to IP hostname (via DNS) names.
 * Select "Names list",
 * Select "Configure",

TCPBEUI RFCNAMES.LST configuration

Select "Add".

TCPBEUI: setting NAMESFILE parameter

Add a NetBIOS machinename / TCP/IP hostname pair for each TCPBEUI box on your network. In theory, this step should not be necessary for B-node operation on a single subnet. In practice, I'm advised that it often is. It is possible to use an IP address instead of a box's hostname, but not recommended, because you'd then have to maintain the IP in both the HOSTS file (on other boxes) and the RFCNAMES.LST file (on this box). Select "OK".


 * RFCNAMES.LST explained: Machinename vs. Hostname
 * The first column contains the (Peer Networking) NetBIOS machinenames, set via the "Computername = machinename" entry in x:\IBMLAN\IBMLAN.INI.

_ The second column contains the TCP/IP hostnames, set by the "SET HOSTNAME=hostname" line in CONFIG.SYS.

Sample RFCNAMES.LST contents: "Joni"                    Joni "Winni"                   Winni


 * Add names to x:\IBMCOM\RFCBCST.LST
 * Now to add a list of computers to which this box broadcasts:


 * Select "Broadcast list",
 * Select "Configure",

TCPBEUI Broadcast configuration


 * Select "Add".

TCPBEUI RFCBCST.LST configuration

Add a TCP/IP hostname for each TCPBEUI box on your network. Again, for a single subnet, this step should not be necessary but often is. [Dec2014: Dan Napier says, "The RFCNAMES list did not work for me until I SET the names in UPPERCASE. Then, rather than rebooting, I just ran rfcaddr.exe ]"

Select "OK", Select "Close", Select "OK", Select "Close", Select "Exit" (etc., etc. Close MPTS down.)


 * Edit CONFIG.SYS again, to fixup what MPTS always screws up:
 * Remove the "& nul" from the end of the line

"CALL=x:\OS2\CMD.EXE /Q /C x:\MPTN\BIN\MPTSTART.CMD & NUL"
 * Put the "/v" back on the ends of these three lines:

DEVICE=E:\MPTN\PROTOCOL\SOCKETS.SYS /v DEVICE=E:\MPTN\PROTOCOL\AFOS2.SYS /v DEVICE=E:\MPTN\PROTOCOL\AFINET.SYS /v


 * Check x:\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL.INI
 * Check against the lines in the sample below. All references to "EL90xxxx" are for the 3Com 3C905x series MAC/NDIS driver:

 [PROT_MAN]

DRIVERNAME = PROTMAN$

[IBMLXCFG]

tcpbeui_nif = tcpbeui.nif tcpip_nif = tcpip.nif EL90XIO2_nif = EL90XIO2.NIF

[NETBIOS]

DriverName = netbios$ ADAPTER1 = tcpbeui$,1

[tcpbeui_nif]

DriverName = tcpbeui$ Bindings = ,,EL90XIO2_nif NODETYPE = "B-Node" OS2TRACEMASK = 0x0 SESSIONS = 130 NCBS = 225 NAMES = 21 SELECTORS = 15 USEMAXDATAGRAM = "NO" NETBIOSTIMEOUT = 500 NETBIOSRETRIES = 2 NAMECACHE = 1000 PRELOADCACHE = "NO" NAMESFILE = 20 DATAGRAMPACKETS = 20 PACKETS = 50 INTERFACERATE = 300

[tcpip_nif]

DriverName = TCPIP$ Bindings = ,EL90XIO2_nif

[EL90XIO2_nif]

DriverName = EL90X$ MaxTransmits = 40




 * Check x:\IBMLAN\IBMLAN.INI"
 * Check against the lines in the sample below:

 [networks]

net1 = TCPBEUI$,1,LM10,100,150,14

[requester] [. . . ] wrknets = NET1 wrkservices = MESSENGER,PEER Computername = Joni Domain = ALSHOME

[peer] [ . . . ] SRVSERVICES = srvnets = NET1 srvcomment = Joni: WebServer, ftp server 

If you used MPTS to remove NetBIOS and add TCPBEUI, it's common for the line

net1 = TCPBEUI$,1,LM10,100,150,14

to still read "NETBEUI", and you'll have to fix it manually. I've seen this happen twice.

Reboot.

Revision History

 * 28Dec2014
 * Added Dan Napier's comment about rfcnames in UPPERCASE.


 * 30Apr2013
 * Fixed up HTML to validate properly; no content change.


 * 08-Apr-01
 * Added note about "net1 = TCPBEUI$,1,LM10,100,150,14" not getting fixed.


 * 30-Jan-01
 * Added explanation of "machinename" vs. "hostname".
 * Markup cleanup.


 * 29-Jan-01
 * Initial release.