Q148354: PC NTMMTA: Contents of the Readme File, MMTA.TXT
Article: Q148354
Product(s): Microsoft Mail For PC Networks
Version(s): WINDOWS:3.5; :3.5
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s):
Last Modified: 07-NOV-1999
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Mail for PC Networks, version 3.5
- Microsoft Mail Multitasking MTA for Windows NT, version 3.5
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SUMMARY
=======
This article contains the contents of the MMTA.TXT Readme file included on the
Multitasking MTA for Windows NT Server version 3.5 disk.
MORE INFORMATION
================
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Microsoft Mail Multitasking MTA version 3.5
README File
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(C) Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 1991-95
This document (MMTA.TXT) contains important information that
supplements the Microsoft Mail Multitasking Message Transfer Agent
Administrator's Guide.
INFORMATION FOR MICROSOFT MAIL ADMINISTRATORS
=============================================
This section covers the following topics:
1. New features on the MMTA
1.1 Hosted on Windows NT Server version 3.51
1.2 Run as a Windows NT service
1.3 Services can be remotely created and monitored
2. Differences from previous releases
2.1 Drive usage when running as a Windows NT service
2.2 Warning regarding Windows NT File Manager and delivery to
postoffices hosted on Novell NetWare file servers while running
as a Windows NT service
2.3 EXTERNAL.INI and DISPATCH.INI Files
2.4 DrivesNovell .INI Option
2.5 Permanent drive mapping
2.6 Limit of External or Dispatch services per Windows NT computer
2.7 Home postoffice on NetWare servers
2.8 Remote service creation of External and Dispatch services
2.9 Remote monitoring of the External and Dispatch services
2.10 MONITOR.EXE command-line switches
2.11 SCHDIST.EXE will not run as a Windows NT service
3. Eicon WAN services for Windows NT and the MMTA
4. Specific Windows NT notes
4.1 Windows NT event logs
4.2 Notes for Banyan administrators
4.3 Using Performance Monitor
1. New Features of the MMTA
---------------------------
This release of the Microsoft Mail Multitasking Message Transfer Agent has a
number of new features over the previous version. These features are described
in the following subsections.
1.1 Hosted on Windows NT Server Version 3.51
--------------------------------------------
This release requires Windows NT Server version 3.51, build 1057 or higher.
1.2 Runs as a Windows NT Service
--------------------------------
This release supports the External MTA and Dispatch directory- synchronization
applications running as services under Windows NT.
Note: The user associated with the service must have the Windows NT "Log on as a
Service" privilege. For more details, see "Configuring a Windows NT Service" in
Chapter 2 of the Administrators Guide.
1.3 Services Can Be Created and Monitored Either Locally or Remotely
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Microsoft Mail Service Manager application created in the Microsoft Mail
program group allows you to create and monitor services on either the Windows NT
Server you have installed to or on a remote LAN/WAN- connected Windows NT
Server.
2. Notes for Administrators
---------------------------
2.1 Drive Usage When Running as a Windows NT Service
----------------------------------------------------
When running as a service under Windows NT, it is recommended that you do not
make drive connections from the File Manager or command prompt in the range used
by MMTA services. Each service that is connecting to multiple postoffices will
use three drives. The first is for the home postoffice, and the others are for
dynamic drives. It is suggested that you monitor the service, check which drives
are being used, and if you do need to connect to another server, use an unused
drive.
2.2 Warning regarding Windows NT File Manager and delivery to
postoffices hosted on Novell NetWare file servers while running
as a Windows NT service
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When the MMTA is running as a Windows NT service and messages are being sent or
received from a postoffice hosted on a NetWare file server, selecting the File
Manager Window.Refresh option may freeze that MMTA instance. The MMTA will
display an error "Drive is either local, used or greater than LASTDRIVE." To
recover from this, stop and restart the MMTA instance. It is strongly suggested
that this option not be selected in File Manager when an MMTA service is
running.
Note: This will leave a connected drive that cannot be disconnected. The only way
to clear this drive is to reboot Windows NT.
2.3 Executable and .INI Files
-----------------------------
When running as a Windows NT service, all executables and .INI files must either
be local to the computer the service is hosted on or a UNC path must be given.
Note:. There is a greater reliance in this release on the EXTERNAL.INI and
DISPATCH.INI files. Command-line switches are still available, but it is
suggested you move all commands to the .INI file.
2.4 DrivesNovell .INI Option
----------------------------
The DrivesNovell .INI file option has been removed and all paths to postoffices
must be in the DrivesUNC format. For more details about the DrivesUNC option,
see the "Connecting Postoffices" section in Appendix A of the MMTA
Administrator's Guide.
2.5 Permanent Drive Mapping
---------------------------
When running as a Windows NT service, only the home postoffice is mapped as a
permanent drive. All others will be handled dynamically.
NOTE: Specific drive mappings cannot be specified to either the External or
Dispatch services.
2.6 Limit of External or Dispatch Services per Windows NT Computer
------------------------------------------------------------------
If each service that is created is one which includes LAN/WAN connections to
other postoffices, there is a maximum of 7 concurrent MMTA services that can be
run on each Windows NT server. This is because each service maps one drive for
its home postoffice and two for its dynamic range. If an eighth service is
started, a Windows NT error 2140 will be displayed by the Windows NT service
manager.
Note: If a service has the Single Postoffice Service option checked in the
Microsoft Mail Service Manager, that service will only use one drive mapping.
2.7 Home Postoffice on NetWare Servers
--------------------------------------
A service that is created with the Home Postoffice set to a postoffice hosted on
a NetWare Server will need the service account to have a valid account with the
same name on the NetWare server. The password must also be the same.
2.8 Remote Service Creation of External and Dispatch Services
-------------------------------------------------------------
When a service is created remotely, the path given to the executables and .INI
file must be able to be reached from the computer where the service is created.
It is suggested that UNC paths be given in that case.
2.9 Remote Monitoring of the External and Dispatch Services
-----------------------------------------------------------
The MMTA now allows for monitoring of the External or Dispatch services either
from the Windows NT computer the service is running on or a remote Windows NT
computer. For more details, see the "External Configurations for the MS-DOS
Workstations" section of Chapter 3 of the Administrators Guide.
2.10 Monitor from a Command Line
--------------------------------
The Monitor option in the Microsoft Service Manager application is also able to
be called from the command line using the following command:
Monitor [external|dispatch] <\\computer_name> <instance_name>
External|Dispatch - The type of service
\\computer_name - Name of the Windows NT Server running the service
instance_name - Name of the instance that should be monitored
Note: If you want to monitor specific instances regularly, create a batch file
containing the preceding command and place it on your Windows NT desktop or in
the Start folder.
2.11 SCHDIST.EXE Will Not Run as a Windows NT Service
-----------------------------------------------------
SCHDIST.EXE is not supported as a Windows NT service and can only be run from
within a Windows NT command prompt.
3. Eicon WAN Services for Windows NT and the MMTA
-------------------------------------------------
For information about installing the Eicon Gateway software, see the Eicon
documentation and Appendix F, "X.25 Settings for Mail," in the Microsoft Mail
Administrator's Guide. Your Eicon setup must match the configuration of the line
leased from your X.25 carrier. The X.25 service must be running. Values vary by
carrier and installation-- confirm all values set by the ECCFG program with your
carrier.
Before running the MMTA to use X.25 communications, the Eicon X.25 card must be
installed on the Windows NT computer running the Eicon WAN Services for Windows
NT Version 3, Release 2. For more information about installing and testing these
components, see the documentation that comes with the Eicon product.
The Multitasking MTA uses a series of translation files to convert the OS/2 X.25
API calls to Windows NT API calls. This process of converting APIs is known as
"thunking." The X.25 thunk layer relies on 3 DLL files and the Eicon WAN
services for NT service. These .DLL files are:
1. WINNT\SYSTEM32\OS2\DLL\X25.DLL
2. WINNT\SYSTEM32\X25T32.DLL
3. WINNT\SYSTEM32\X25NTM8.DLL
The Microsoft Mail Administrator's Guide provides information about options that
are critical when setting up the Eicon board and software. For the configuration
option Number Of TVCs, a value of 004 is suggested. The correct value depends on
the line installed--a different value could be appropriate for your
configuration.
4. Specific Windows NT Tips
---------------------------
4.1 Windows NT Event Logs
-------------------------
When the MMTA is running in trusted Windows NT domains, the Security event log
will have an entry for every connection the MMTA makes. It is suggested that you
set a limit to the size of the event log.
4.2 Notes for Banyan Administrators
-----------------------------------
The Multitasking MTA cannot service postoffices hosted on Banyan servers when
running as a Windows NT service. These servers can be serviced by the MMTA in a
console. For notes on the syntax for accessing a Banyan server with a UNC path,
see the Release Notice for the Banyan Enterprise Client for Windows NT Version
5.56 (5) or higher.
4.3 Using Performance Monitor
-----------------------------
Performance Monitor is a graphical tool for measuring the performance of your own
Windows NT-based computer or other Windows NT-based computers on a network. It
is located in the Administrative Tools group of both the Windows NT Workstation
and Windows NT Server products. On each computer, you can view the behavior of
objects such as processors, memory, cache, threads, and processes. Each of these
objects has an associated set of counters that provide information on such
things as device usage, queue lengths, and delays, as well as information used
for throughput and internal congestion measurements. It provides charting,
alerting, and reporting capabilities that reflect current activity along with
ongoing logging. You can also open log files at a later time for browsing and
charting as if they were reflecting current activity.
This section discusses memory usage and which counters are effective in detecting
memory bottlenecks.
4.3.1 Memory - Pages/sec
------------------------
Pages/sec is the number of pages read from the disk or written to the disk to
resolve memory references to pages that were not in memory at the time of the
reference. As a rule, you can assume that if the average of this counter is
consistently greater than 5, then memory is probably becoming a bottleneck in
the system. Once this counter starts to average consistently at 10 or above,
performance is significantly degraded and disk thrashing is probably occurring.
4.3.2 Memory - Available Bytes
------------------------------
Available Bytes displays the amount of free physical memory. If this counter
stays consistently below 1 MB on servers and 4 MB on workstations, paging is
occurring and performance is less than optimal.
4.3.2 Memory - Committed Bytes
------------------------------
Committed Bytes displays the size of virtual memory (in bytes) that has been
committed (as opposed to simply reserved). If this counter is greater than the
amount of main memory, it indicates that main memory may not be large enough to
accommodate all functions of all currently active processes--some paging may be
inevitable. However, before making such an assumption, you should check Memory -
Pages/sec and Memory - Page Faults/sec. If the Memory - Pages/sec is greater
than 10 (10 is a reasonable guideline, but varies with disk hardware) and Memory
- Page Faults/sec is greater than Memory - Cache Faults/sec, then you are paging
too much.
When Memory - Committed bytes approaches the Memory - Commit Limit and the page
file has already reached maximum page file size, there are simply no more pages
available, in main memory or in the page file. The Memory - Commit Limit is the
amount of virtual memory that can be committed without extending the page file.
If this occurs on a server running Windows NT Server, you may experience 3
errors in the Event Log. (EVENTVWR.EXE is located in the Administrative Tools
group). They are from the source: SRV.
2020: The server was unable to allocate from the system paged pool because
the pool was empty.
2001: The server was unable to perform an operation due to a shortage of
available resources.
2016: The server was unable to allocate virtual memory.
If this occurs, it is generally related to a memory leak in another process.
To determine the process at fault, you can monitor each process's Page File
bytes or Working Set.
Another condition you may want to be aware of is the following nonpaged pool
error in the server's Event Log:
2019: The server was unable to allocate from the system nonpaged pool because
the pool was empty.
Nonpaged pool pages cannot be paged out to the paging file, but instead
remain in main memory as long as they are allocated. By default,
NonPagedPoolSize is dynamically calculated as follows:
You can monitor the system's nonpaged pool allocation with the "Memory Pool
Non Paged Bytes" counter. If there is a shortage of nonpaged pool, you may
also see the following error on a remote system or even the local system:
Not enough storage available to process this command. If this occurs, start
looking at each process's nonpaged pool allocation. This is generally caused
by an application incorrectly making system calls and using up all allocated
nonpaged pool.
4.3.4 Adding More Memory
------------------------
To determine how much memory to add, use the following formula:
Paging File - % Usage - MAX * Page file size = number of bytes used
Add together the bytes used for all page files. This is the amount of memory that
would need to be added to allow all of the applications to perform their
operations with minimum paging. For example, if your page file is 100 MB and the
% Usage MAX is 20%, then you would need 20 MB additional RAM to have a system
that does minimal paging. The reason this formula only gives you an idea about
how much memory to add is that a) not all page file "in use" code is accessed
all of the time; and b) the formula ignores the requirements for code and mapped
files not backed by the paging file. Therefore, this estimate is neither an
upper bound, nor a lower bound--it is only an "indication." The truth is that
there is no good way to know how much memory to add at this time. A more
accurate way to measure the amount of memory an application would require is to
run the application on a very large machine and measure the needs under some
slight memory pressure. (There is a tool in the Windows NT Resource Kit, volume
3, Utilities, called Response Probe, that can aid in this area.)
NOTE: Adding memory without upgrading the secondary cache size sometimes degrades
processor performance. This is because the secondary cache now has to map the
larger memory space, usually resulting in lowered hit rates in the cache. This
slows down processor-bound programs because they are scattered more widely in
memory after memory has been added. (Secondary cache refers to the physical
cache memory chip(s) usually located on the motherboard, as opposed to within
the processor itself. In the future, processors will be built with secondary
cache on the same substrate as the processor chip, or even within the processor
chip itself.)
Additional query words: 3.50
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Keywords :
Technology : kbZNotKeyword2 kbMailSearch kbZNotKeyword3 kbMailPCN350 kbMailMMTA350NT
Version : WINDOWS:3.5; :3.5
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