Microsoft KB Archive/163267

= Delay While Establishing SPX II Connection =

Article ID: 163267

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q163267



SYMPTOMS
While establishing an SPX II connection, you may experience approximately a five second delay during the SPX session setup.



CAUSE
When establishing a SPX II session, you follow these steps.
 * Client - SPX II Connection Request
 * Host - Extended SPX II ACK
 * Client - Negotiate Size Request
 * Host - Extended SPX II ACK (Negotiate Size ACK)
 * Host - Session Setup/Negotiate Size
 * Client - Extended SPX II ACK (Negotiate Size ACK)

When Windows NT sends the last Client ACK, it does not require an ACK to be returned (does not turn on the acknowledge bit). The server, in these cases, is waiting for a packet that requires an ACK to start transmission. Apparently, during the session setup phase of SPX II, it is OK to require that all packets have the ACK bit set. Because the client did not require an ACK on the last packet of the negotiation, the Novell server does not start sending data, as we would normally expect it to. Instead, we timeout the NWLNKSPX Parameter for KeepAliveTimeout (which defaults to 12), which is a measurement in half seconds. This is the delay before a packet that requires an ACK is sent, and this starts the server going again.

Sample Trace of an SPX II Connection with This Failure
Time  Src MAC Addr  Dst MAC Addr Protocol  Description 0.245 Client        The Server   ConCtrl = 0xCC, DtaStrm = 0x00, 0xE3A0 -> 0xFFFF 0.247 The Server    Client       ConCtrl = 0x8C, DtaStrm = 0x00, 0x235C -> 0xE3A0 0.249 Client        The Server   ConCtrl = 0xCC, DtaStrm = 0x00, 0xE3A0 -> 0x235C 0.252 The Server    Client       ConCtrl = 0x8C, DtaStrm = 0x00, 0x235C -> 0xE3A0 0.270 The Server    Client       ConCtrl = 0xCC, DtaStrm = 0x00, 0x235C -> 0xE3A0 0.270 Client        The Server   ConCtrl = 0x8C, DtaStrm = 0x00, 0xE3A0 -> 0x235C 6.223 Client        The Server   ConCtrl = 0xC8, DtaStrm = 0x00, 0xE3A0 -> 0x235C 6.224 The Server    Client       ConCtrl = 0x88, DtaStrm = 0x00, 0x235C -> 0xE3A0



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 3.51. We are researching this problem and will post new information here as it becomes available.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 4.0. This problem was corrected in the latest Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

S E R V P A C K

Additional query words: prodnt Silent RIP

Keywords: kbnetwork KB163267

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