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Chapter 3
Application Configurations
Application Configurations
Tower with Telebit ACS
Tower as a NetWare Router with QL Series Boards
The LCS Tower has a multisegmented passive backplane. Each segment in the backplane is completely independent of the other segments. Each segment must include a BC Series plug-in computer to control the remaining slots in the segment.
Up to eight completely independent processors can reside in one LCS Tower. With a Cubix BC Series processor installed, each segment in the Tower is an ATcompatible system. Each processor may be dedicated to a single function, such as a dedicated gateway to a mainframe or WAN, or a dedicated dialin processor for remote communications.
There are hundreds of possible configurations and options available for the LCS Tower. These application notes can help set up and configure an application.
Sample Configurations
! Tower with Telebit ACS. Page 3 1.
! Tower as a Netware Router with QL Series boards. Page 3 6.
The LCS Tower used in this configuration is a Tower Seven, which contains sixteen slots divided into seven segments. Therefore it can support seven processors. This sample configuration uses Cubix BC 3030 boards to provide seven 386SX processors. Six of the segments consist of two slots each, with a BC 3030 board and a LAN adapter in each segment. The seventh segment has a BC 3030 with three additional slots.
All seven BC boards are independent. Each has its own processor, memory, COM port, video port, and floppy disk drive. The Tower is functionally equivalent to seven standalone PC workstations on the network.
The Telebit Asynchronous Communications System (ACS) provides dial-in/dial-out functionality via intelligent serial I/O boards. These I/O boards provide a modem interface for the ACS communications. In this example, two I/O boards with eight serial ports each are installed with a BC 3030 and NIC in one segment of the Tower Seven. This four-slot segment functions as the Communications Server. The remaining six segments will be assigned by the ACS software as dial-in workstations.
Tower with Telebit ACS
Installing the ACS Tower
BC 3030 Boards and Network Interface Controllers
Install a BC 3030 board and a NIC card in each of the seven segments. To maximize memory for the workstation, setting the NIC memory option (if required) to C800 hexadecimal is recommended.
Telebit ACS Board
Install the Telebit ACS board in one slot of the fourslot segment. Check the Telebit ACS manual for the proper switch settings for the ACS board. At this point, the four-slot segment should contain a BC 3030, a NIC card, and an ACS board. A second ACS board may optionally be installed in the fourth slot.
Connecting to the LAN
Connect the installed NIC cards to the network following the cabling information provided with the NIC boards.
Make Workstation Boot Diskettes
The BC 3030 boards will function as Novell workstations. Each BC 3030 should have a Workstation Boot Diskette created for it which contains an IPX.COM file for the particular NIC being installed with the BC 3030. If a current version of the IPX.COM for this NIC already exists, copy it to the Workstation Boot Diskette. Otherwise, use Novell's SHGEN or WSGEN to create an IPX.COM file using the instructions in the Novell manuals.
Create seven Workstation Boot Diskettes for the workstations in the Tower. The following samples are files used to boot the workstations using the DOS 5.0 operating system. DOS 5.0 will support loading the NetWare files (IPX and NETX) into upper memory to increase the amount of memory available for running application programs.
1 Table 3 - 1
Workstation Boot Diskette
Workstation Boot Diskette:
DOS 5.x
2MB or more Memory installed
Extended Memory only (No EMS)
Ethernet Adapter at RAM address C800 for 16KB installed
Available memory after booting: DOS UMB EMS XMS
612KB 84KB NO YES
Files on disk
command.com
autoexec.bat
config.sys
ipx.com
netx.com
emm386.exe
himem.sys
AUTOEXEC.BAT
echo off
prompt $p$g
set comspec=y:command.com
1h ipx
1h netx
f:login
CONFIG.SYS
device=himem.sys
device=emm386.exe i=b000-b7ff i=cc00-efff i=f700-f7ff
x=c800-cbff noems
³
dos=high, umb ³
files=40 ³
buffers=15 ³
lastdrive=e ³
³
³
Exclude this range for an Ethernet Adapter at RAM address C800.
Booting the Workstations
To boot the seven BC boards in the Tower as workstations on the network:
If a monitor and keyboard are connected to each BC board
Insert a Workstation Boot Diskette into each segment's diskette drive and turn on power to the Tower.
Each segment should boot as a NetWare workstation. Log on to the network.
If only one monitor and keyboard are available to use for testing
1. Connect the monitor and keyboard to the BC 3030 in the first segment. Use the video/keyboard multiplexor if present; otherwise, attach monitor and keyboard through the rear panel.
2. Insert a Workstation Boot Diskette into that segment's diskette drive and turn on power to the Tower.
The segment should boot as a NetWare workstation. Log on to the network.
3. Repeat these steps for each segment to ensure that each BC 3030 boots and connects to the network.
Summary
Seven BC Series workstations are now booted on the network. Each should be a fullyfunctional workstation.
The final part of the installation is to incorporate the Telebit software into the LCS Tower environment. Ensure that the Cubix hardware is fully functional before installing the software.
For any questions or problems installing the Cubix hardware, please call Cubix Customer Service at 8008290551.
Installing Telebit ACS Software
Follow the instructions in the Telebit documentation for installing the ACS software on the network.
* An appendix in the Telebit ACS manual contains a quick installation guide using easytofollow steps.
The four-slot segment in the Tower Seven contains the ACS board; this is the ACS Communications Server. The software installation procedure uses the diskette drive, keyboard and monitor connected to that segment (Drive 1).
The other six segments in the Tower will boot as workstations. The ACS software will assign them as needed as dialin workstations.
The modems for the Communications Server connect to the ACS board. The ACS software does not use the COM ports on the individual workstations. All communications are handled by the ACS board and software.
The individual workstations in the Tower will each load the ACS PDWSINF program and a copy of PCAnywhere, as explained in the ACS installation manual.
Telebit's Technical Support number is 4087344333.
The Tower One used in this configuration has a single segment. This segment contains sixteen slots, with a Cubix BC 4030 board in one slot, a NIC in one slot, and up to fourteen QL Series boards in the remaining slots.
The BC 4030 is a 80486 processor functioning as a NetWare router and interfacing with the LAN via the NIC card.
The QL Series boards function as NetWare workstations used for remote communications. The QL Series processors are slave cards which use the bus to transfer network packets to/from the BC 4030 NetWare router. The router then directs these packets (via the NIC) to the appropriate NetWare file server.
The COM port on each QL Series processor is connected to a modem. Users can dial-in through the modem and use a QL processor to host their network applications. Several remote communications software packages are available for this purpose.
With a BC 4030 and NIC installed, the Tower One can accommodate fourteen QL Series boards. Cubix offers several QL Series products. The QL 3002 product used in this example provides two 386SX communications processors on a single board. A Tower One fully populated with QL 3002 boards can accommodate 28 remote users in a single LCS Tower enclosure.
Tower as a NetWare Router with Cubix QL Series Boards
Installation
Check off the following steps as the installation progresses. Following all of the steps in the proper order will ensure a smooth and troublefree installation.
0 1. Install the QL Series boards as described in the QL 3002 Hardware Installation Guide provided with the boards.
0 2. Connect the modems and phone lines to the Tower and QL 3002 COM ports following the instructions in the QL 3000 Series Guide to Operations.
0 3. Connect the LCS Tower to the network, and boot the BC 4030 using the Bridge Boot Diskette. Ensure that the system loads all the selected LAN drivers, and connects properly to the server.
0 4. Run QLVision from a workstation on the network to ensure that all the QL 3002 processors booted properly.
0 5. Install the communications or application software following the instructions provided with the software. If a communications program is being installed, it is suggested that it be installed in a subdirectory under \LOGIN.
0 6. Create individual batch files for the QL Series processors in the \LOGIN subdirectory.
0 7. Reset the QL 3002 processors using QLVision, causing them to read and execute the batch files created.
0 8. Use QLVision to take control of the QL 3002 processors to ensure that they are loading the application software properly.
This document, and all Web contents, Copyright © 1997
by Cubix Corp., Carson City, NV, USA.
