Microsoft KB Archive/134756

= PC Gen: MMTA.TXT: Mail 3.5 MMTA for Windows NT =

Article ID: 134756

Article Last Modified on 10/30/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Mail Client 3.5

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This article was previously published under Q134756



The following is the MMTA.TXT from the version 3.5 Microsoft Mail for PC Networks Multitasking MTA for Windows NT Server.            -- Microsoft Mail Multitasking MTA version 3.5 README File --                 (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
 * 1) 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
 * 1) Eicon WAN services for Windows NT and the MMTA
 * 2) 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.

2.1 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> 

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.

4.1 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.)

Keywords: KB134756

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