Step 3 - Multiple lines for a single connection

When talking to other NETServers, the NETServer can spread a single TCP/IP connection over multiple lines (increasing throughput). Individual IPX clients/socket connections will show little (if any) benefit from this technique. However, because load balancing is employed, this technique may allow you to pipe more IPX clients/socket connections through the same bandwidth. There are two parameters used to set this up: High Water Mark and Maximum Ports. Furthermore, there is some additional setup needed to allow the dialing NETServer to dial multiple numbers from a single location table entry.

High Water Mark

Determines when the NETServer should open an additional connection to a remote NETServer. The NETServer will open another port if all of the following are true:

The number of bytes queued for the remote location exceeds the High Water Mark

There is an available port in the location’s dial group

The number of ports currently being used for the connection is less than the Max Ports setting.

Default is 0 (immediately open Max Ports lines every time).

If you configure a small high water mark, the NETServer will use an additional line whenever one is available. A larger high water mark will cause the NETServer to use additional lines only when they are really needed, leaving them free for other uses. Keep in mind the kind of traffic you expect across the link. Light traffic, such as a user Telnet session, will usually only queue a few hundred bytes. File transfers, on the other hand, can easily queue several thousand. Use the following command:

set location <location> high_water <bytes>

6-18 LAN-to-LAN Routing

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USRobotics NETServer/8, NETServer/16 manual Multiple lines for a single connection