Microsoft KB Archive/99240

= Macintosh and Appletalk Stack Limits Imposed =

Article ID: 99240

Article Last Modified on 11/26/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft LAN Manager 1.0
 * Microsoft LAN Manager 1.0
 * Microsoft LAN Manager 2.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft LAN Manager 2.1 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft LAN Manager 2.1a
 * Microsoft LAN Manager 2.2 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q99240



SUMMARY
This article describes the Macintosh and AppleTalk stack limits imposed on Microsoft LAN Manager and Windows NT Services for Macintosh servers.



LAN Manager
LAN Manager Services for Macintosh (SFM) versions 1.0 and 1.0a allow a maximum of 50 Appleshare clients per server. This limit is imposed by SFP server architecture (which uses one thread per connected client) and by OS/2, which is limited to 53 threads per process.

Adding network cards does not allow you to connect more clients because the limit is in the server process itself, not the protocol. The AppleTalk protocol is architecturally limited to 255 sessions. When the server has multiple adapters, AppleTalk can be bound to each one and can route between them. Each adapter board is registered as a different AppleTalk node, and the actual AFP server process registers on only one of them. Users on nets connected to other boards can connect to the server because LAN Manager Services for Macintosh routes packets to the network that the server appears on.

Windows NT
Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1 and Windows NT Server 3.5x and later no longer impose the 50 client connection or 255 session limitation. AppleTalk sessions are now limited only by system resources. Potentially, an unlimited number of clients can attach to a single SFM server.

Additional query words: sfm LMSFM 1.0 1.00 1.0a 1.00a 2.0 2.00 2.1 2.10 2.1a 2.10a 2.2 2.20 3.10 macfile Apple Server share

Keywords: kbinfo kbnetwork KB99240

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