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Guide to DIGITAL OpenVMS Disk Services for Windows NT

4 Troubleshooting

This chapter contains the following sections:

4.1 Checking if a Windows NT Computer Has Lost a Connection

From OpenVMS

To check whether a Windows NT computer has lost its connection to a disk service, use the NTDS SHOW SERVICES command on all the OpenVMS Alpha nodes that are configured to provide the service. For example: 

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:SYSMAN
SYSMAN> SET ENVIRONMENT /NODE=(GREEN,BLUE,YELLOW)
SYSMAN> SET PROFILE /PRIVILEGES=SYSPRV
SYSMAN> DO NTDS SHOW SERVICES "Movies"

If the node on which the service is active has (none) in the Computer connected field, the Windows NT computer has lost its connection to the disk service.

Take immediate steps to correct the problem that caused the computer to lose the connection, for example, repair the network link.

From Windows NT

You cannot tell if the Windows NT computer has lost a connection by looking at the NTDS Administrator's Main screen (Figure 2-1). This screen shows which services it is configured to connect to. The Connected status means:

To check whether the computer has lost its connection to a disk service, use the Windows NT Event Viewer. Follow these steps:

  1. Log on to the Windows NT computer as an Administrator.

  2. Run the Windows NT Event Viewer (by default, from the Windows Start Bar click Programs, then Administrative Tools (Common), then Event Viewer).

  3. On the Log menu, make sure that System is selected.

  4. Look for warning entries with yellow icons that have NTDS in the Source column.

    These warnings are logged:

    Double click the NTDS warning entry to display the description text which tells you the cluster name and service name, for example:

  5. Each warning entry should have a matching information entry, later in the log, that has a blue icon and NTDS in the Source column.

    Its description text looks like this:

  6. If a warning entry does not have a matching information entry, the computer has lost the connection to the disk service.

    Take immediate steps to correct the problem that caused the computer to lose the connection, for example, repair the network link.

4.2 Failing to Automatically Reconnect During Startup

During its startup sequence, a Windows NT computer automatically tries to connect to all of the disk services that it was connected to (or was trying to reconnect to) when it was shut down.

If the Windows NT computer fails to connect to a service during startup, follow these steps:

  1. Correct the problem that prevented it from connecting to the service.

    For example, if the service has been stopped on the OpenVMS Cluster, use the NTDS START SERVICE command to restart it.

  2. Log on to the Windows NT computer as an Administrator.

  3. Run NTDS Administrator (by default, from the Windows Start Bar click Programs, then DIGITAL OpenVMS Disk Services, then NTDS Administrator).

    The screen shown in Figure 2-1 appears.

  4. Select the service then click Connect.
Note
If a Windows NT computer loses its connection to a disk service, it automatically tries to reconnect to the service whenever it restarts, unless you run NTDS Administrator.

Running NTDS Administrator resets the status of the disk service to Disconnected.

4.3 Failing to Connect to a Service on Another Subnet

If your Windows NT computer cannot connect to a disk service that is being provided by an OpenVMS Cluster on another subnet, it could be that your routers are not configured to allow messages to be broadcast to other subnets. In this case, follow these steps:

  1. Log on to the Windows NT computer as an Administrator.

  2. Run NTDS Administrator (by default, from the Windows Start Bar click Programs, then DIGITAL OpenVMS Disk Services, then NTDS Administrator).

    The screen shown in Figure 2-1 appears.

  3. Click View. The screen shown in Figure 2-2 appears.

  4. Check that the list of subnets has an entry for each OpenVMS node that can provide the service. Each entry should give the actual IP address of the OpenVMS node and have a subnet mask of 255.255.255.255.

    If necessary, use Add to add the appropriate entries to the list.

4.4 NTDS Administrator Hangs When You Disconnect a Service

If NTDS Administrator takes a long time to disconnect a disk service, check whether the service has been stopped on the OpenVMS Cluster.

Use the NTDS SHOW SERVICES command on each node that is configured to provide the service, for example: 

$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:SYSMAN
SYSMAN> SET ENVIRONMENT /NODE=(GREEN,BLUE,YELLOW)
SYSMAN> SET PROFILE /PRIVILEGES=SYSPRV
SYSMAN> DO NTDS SHOW SERVICES "Movies"

If the service is not available, restart it immediately, using the NTDS START SERVICE command.

4.5 Disconnecting With Open Files

Disconnecting a disk service automatically closes all open files in NTFS partitions on its virtual disk.

You cannot disconnect a disk service if its virtual disk has a partition formatted with a file system other than NTFS (for example, the FAT file system) and there are any open files in the partition.

If the virtual disk has multiple partitions, the failed attempt to disconnect the service may succeed in taking other partitions on the disk off line and making them inaccessible. These partitions no longer appear in the Drive column of NTDS Administrator's Main screen (Figure 2-1).

To get these partitions back on line again, use the Windows NT Disk Administrator to reassign drive letters to them.

4.6 NTDS Commands Fail With %SYSTEM-E-NOT_LOADED

If NTDS commands fail with the %SYSTEM-E-NOT_LOADED error, follow these steps:

  1. Check whether the execlet SYS$NTDS.EXE exists: 
    $ DIRECTORY SYS$LOADABLE_IMAGES:SYS$NTDS.EXE

    If it does not exist, reinstall the server component of DIGITAL OpenVMS Disk Services for Windows NT, as described in Installing DIGITAL OpenVMS Disk Services for Windows NT.

  2. If the execlet SYS$NTDS.EXE does exist, reboot the OpenVMS node to load it.

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