NetWare's Transaction Tracking System

Last week, in talking about backing up or replacing open files, I mentioned that using NetWare's Transaction Tracking System could prevent corruption of records in files by backing out incomplete transactions and keeping a record of backed-out data. The phrase I used was " the NetWare File System. " As at least one astute reader pointed out, there are two NetWare File Systems - the traditional file system and NetWare Storage Services file system.

All versions of the traditional NetWare File System support TTS. The NetWare 6 implementation of NSS also supports TTS. But the version of NSS that shipped with NetWare 5 and 5.1, does not. This was the major reason why you could not use NSS for the SYS volume of a NetWare 5.x server, since the directory files and other system files rely on TTS for file integrity.

TTS is turned off, by default, on NetWare 6 NSS volumes, however. Unless you're using some other method of preserving transactions (such as a database system that does its own transaction tracking), you should enable TTS by going to the server console and typing:

NSS /TRANSACTION=<volume name>

Novell justified not having TTS available for NSS volumes in NetWare 5 by saying " File systems in the 1990s no longer provide transactional semantics and applications no longer require this from file systems " (Novell Technical Information Document # 10022368). It appears to have been another way of saying: " We didn't think of that. We don't know how to do that. So you don't need that just now. " It's especially interesting in light of the fact that Novell chose not to implement its system files of a non-TTS enabled volume.

You might also compare the definition of TTS from the NetWare 5 documentation (www.novell.com/documentation/lg/glossary/index.html?glossenu/data/gl3436.html) with the earlier, and much more complete, NetWare 3 documentation (www.novell.com/documentation/lg/nw312/docui/index.html#./cncptenu/data/a4pqzq1.html).

The NetWare 6 entry reads " TTS - A NetWare feature that protects database applications from corruption by backing out incomplete transactions that result from a failure in a network component. " The NetWare 3 entry goes on for a number of pages.

Novell believes in transaction tracking strongly enough to prevent you from putting system files on a nontransactional volume. Users demanded that Novell revise NSS so that it became a transaction-enabled file system. Too bad Novell didn't take that final small step and enforce " transactionalism " by making it the default for NSS volumes.

It's a misstep you can easily overcome, right now, by typing a few words at the system console. Don't wait too long, or you might forget. Then browse the NetWare 3 documentation I pointed out above and learn as much as you can about transactional file systems so that you can best decide which files should be flagged with the " T " attribute.

Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. His most recent book is "Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks" published by SAMS. Dave's company, Virtual Quill, provides content services to network vendors: books, manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing, technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill provides "words to sell by..." Find out more at Virtual Quill or by e-mail at info@vquill.com

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