[Q]: W4W compatible server

[A]: Sasha Plavinskiy (2:5052/4.22)

NETWORKING THE OS/2 PEER REQUESTER WITH MS-Workgroups for Windows

What you'll need:

a. Windows for workgroups
b. os/2 2.1x or os/2 2.1x for windows
c. Network transport services/2 (NTS/2)
d. OS/2 Lan Requester

I'm not sure of all available sources for (c) and (d) above, but I know

they come with LAN server. Several Os/2 catalogs (IE: corner store) list “OS/lan requester licencse” for $49 or so, but I am note sure if that comes with the disks for NTS/2 and the OS/2 lan requester.

(1) Before worrying about the OS/2 machine(s), get your MS-Workgroups for windows setup. When Windows asks for a “workgroup” name, pick a name that is also an OS/2 compatible domain name (IE: 8 chars or less, no spaces). When windows asks for a “machine name”, again pick an os/2 compatible one (8 chars, etc).

(2) Now for the OS/2 machine(s). Install Network Transport Services/2 (NTS/2). NTS/2 is the package that contains the lower-layer (IE: NDIS) drivers for OS/2. NTS/2 comes with support for a number of network cards. When you install NTS/2, one of the options is for what “protocols” to support on your card. Make sure you include support for “NETBIOS”.

(3) Reboot and make sure all of the NTS/2 drivers which were added to your CONFIG.SYS come up properly. If they don't, their is no reason to go on to the next step. If anyone has any problems getting the NTS/2 stuff to come up, drop my a line and I'll try to help.

(3) Next, install the OS/2 Lan Requester on your OS/2 Machine(s). Don't do the “base” install, do a custom one. Install at least the base-requester and peer-requester options. When the install program asks for a DOMAIN name, use the same name as you used for your MS4WG “workgroup”. You can use whatever you want for the machine/requester name, but lets assume you use “OS2PEER” as the machine/requester name. When the OS/2 lan requester install is done, it will tell you that the default user ID and password are “USERID” and “PASSWORD”.

(4) Reboot and verify that the OS/2 lan requester drivers come up properly. If it doesn't, their is no reason to go on to the next step. Again, if anyone has any problems just drop me a note and I'll try to help.

(5) Go to an OS/2 screen or window. If you didn't specify to automatically start the requester via STARTUP.CMD, type “NET START REQ” at the os/2 prompt. Next you need to share your drives. For example, to share your C: drive, type “NET SHARE C=C:\ /USERS:1 /PERMISSIONS:XRWCDA”. “NET SHARE” is the command that tells the OS/2 peer requester to share something. “C=C:\” tells the requester to share, under the network name “C”, your “C:” drive, “\” (root) directory; with all permissions, (IE: e“X”ecute, “R”ead, “W”rite, etc)

(6) On your W4WG machine, login using the name “USERID” and “PASSWORD” for the password. These are the defaults used by the OS/2 peer requester. Go to the file manager. Select “Connect network drive”. Eventually, a dialog will come up showing you what “shared directories” you can connect to. The OS/2 peer-requester machine will not be listed, but it is available! Go to the “Path” input field, and type “\\OS2PEER” (or whatever name you used for the os/2 peer requester/machine) and press <ENTER>. Walla! The OS/2 peer requester and it's shared directories (“C” if you followed the example in #5) will be on the list. Click on the “C” shared-directory, press OK, and bang, your connected.

(7) to connect to drives on your W4WG machine _from_ os/2, share your drives on the W4WG machine via the normal mechanmism (IE: use the File Manager “share as” menu option). Don't specify any passwords, and set the access typ to whatever you want (IE: read only, full) For our examples, lets say you share your W4WG machine's C:\ directory under the share name “C”, and your W4WG machine is named “Bill”. NEXT, Goto an OS/2 window or screen, and at the prompt type “NET USE F: \\BILL\C”. This command tells the OS/2 requester to “USE” “\\BILL\C” on the W4WG machine as the local “F:” drive.

All of this is working great on my machine. The only caveats I have are (1) 4OS2 (a replacement shell that can be used instaed of os/2s CMD.EXE) seems to have some problems with this setup; and (2) when connecting to a w4wg drive from an os/2 peer, some programs running on the os/2 machine cause os/2 to report “write errors” when writing to the w4wg drive. No actuall errors seem to occur–os/2 just reports that they are happening.

Also, I'm running on NE2000 cards which are not natively supported by NTS/2. I had to get a copy of 2000NDIS.EXE which is a self-extracting zip which includes OS/2 NDIS / NTS/2 drivers for the NE2000.