Alacritech Release 6.0.1.0 README File Date: Tues. Apr. 30, 2003 ====================================== Contents - Introduction - Features + Legacy Operating System Support - Known Issues + Integration Issues + Open Bugs - Users Guide - Support and Feedback Mechanism - Bug Reports Introduction ============ This is the release of the 6.0.1.0 driver for Alacritech Server and Storage Accelerators for Microsoft Windows platforms. This release supports Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Windows Server 2003 (.NET) and Windows NT 4.0 are not supported in this release. This file provides details on known outstanding bugs, support issues and feedback mechanisms for this release. This release contains the following file and directories: autorun.inf A small file which launches the installation process on a Windows system if it is located on CD media. bin A set of binaries which contain useful programs for viewing documentation. These specifically include Acrobat Reader. If you have your own Acrobat Reader on your system, these binaries will not be necessary to use. doc Files and documentation associated to Alacritech's hardware and software products. This includes the Alacritech Server and Storage Accelerator Users Guide setup.exe The Alacritech Accelerator Setup application, which allows the Alacritech drivers and libraries to be installed properly on your system. Readme.txt This file. w2k The software drivers and libraries for Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Features ======== The significant features added by this release are: - Support for Microsoft Windows XP - Support for systems containing more than 4GB of physical memory - Support for a larger subset of the network tunables supported by the native Microsoft stack - A system tray icon for launching the Alacritech team configurator The significant features removed by this release are: - Support for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Details on new features as well as features that were available in previous drivers can be found in the Users Guide. Legacy Operating System Support ------------------------------- Though this release does not support Windows NT4.0, support for Alacritech on NT4.0 is still available in the form of our 5.x series of drivers. Those drivers are available from our website at http://www.alacritech.com/html/techsupport.html Known Issues ============ This section contains a list of currently understood issues. Both open bugs and known integration issues are documented based on this specific release. Please review the current open bugs and known issues before filing a bug report. See the Support and Feedback section below for details on reporting bugs. Integration Issues ------------------ No known issues at this time. Open Bugs --------- Bug 00512 [w2k] (Poor performance when running iSCSI with 2k random i/o) 2K random I/Os through the Alacritech 2.2.4 iSCSI initiator would perform slowly in comparison with other data sizes. Bug 00625 [w2k] (single stream HTTP performance is poor) Single-stream transfers with small packet sizes is showing less than ideal performance. Bug 00637 [w2k,XP] (Intel adapter messed up after SLIC upgrade) A conflict occurs between Intel's PROMon application and Alacritech's setup program. Upgrades can cause problems with the Intel driver due to PROMon's driver interactions. Bug 00643 [XP] (HTTP performance is poor) Alacritech HTTP performance is lower than expected for HTTP. Bug 00678 [w2k,XP] (Alacritech behavior does not match Microsoft for network tunables) Some tunables for Windows are not evaluated and interpreted by the Alacritech drivers, particularly TcpMaxDataRetransmissions. Please see the Alacritech Accelerator FAQ (http://www.alacritech.com/html/accellerator_FAQ.html) for more details. Bug 00702 [w2k,XP] (less than expected performance on GC) NetBench performance gains fall short of 30% on ServerWorks Grand Champion LE chipset systems, depending on CPU configuration and whether HyperThreading is enabled or not. Bug 00704 [XP] (atcp fails to initialize after attempting to open MSTCP) If Alacritech adapter is physically present in a NT4.0 workstation that is subsequently upgraded to Windows XP, and then the Alacritech 6.0.1.0 driver is installed, atcp cannot contact MSTCP, causing most networking services and protocols to fail. Bug 00755 [w2k] (install problem when card is removed without uninstalling adapter) With two cards in a system, if the second card is removed without uninstalling the adapters and the adapters for the first card are uninstalled, subsequent installations using setup.exe fails until the system is rebooted. Bug 00756 [w2k,XP] (Dell 1650 hangs with iSCSI I/O to disk) A Dell 1650 hangs when doing iSCSI I/O to two different iSCSI target vendors, using Microsoft draft 20 iSCSI initiator. Bug 00753 [w2k] (Various installation problems) Installation of Alacritech cards in systems with large numbers of network interfaces installed (50+) causes multiple networking service failures for existing non-alacritech interfaces. removing and reinstalling the non-Alacritech interfaces will usually restore network functionality. Bug 00787 [w2k,XP] (Team Configurator race condition) If you dissolve a network team, but don't exit the team configurator (slictray), and then proceed to enable/disable network interfaces, any and/or all network interfaces may become unusable. To avoid this problem, always exit the slic team configurator before enabling/disabling network interfaces. If you have already encountered this problem, use the 'remove' program (run in a cmd window) included in the w2k directory of the Alacritech distribution to uninstall the Alacritech adapters, and then reinstall them normally. Bug 00807 [XP] (Uninstall leaves trash in registry) After uninstalling Alacritech cards cruft left in registry will cause any subsequent installation of any NICs to start Local Area Connection numbers to skip, as if the Alacritech cards were still installed. If you encounter this problem, use the 'remove' program (run in a cmd window) included in the w2k directory of the Alacritech distribution to clean up the errant registry entries. Bug 00808 [XP] (Dissolving team can cause LAC properties window to hang) If you dissolve a network team in XP by bring up the team configurator from the properties window of the Network connection for the team itself (the recommended method for win2k), the properties window will hang after the team is dissolved. You can safely kill the window with the task manager. To avoid the problem, use the slictray device to make any teaming changes on windows XP. Users Guide =========== There is a Users Guide provided to customers for use with Alacritech accelerators. For details on installation, management, teaming, and interoperability issues, please review the Users Guide, as full details have been provided there. Support and Feedback Mechanism ============================== Before Contacting Customer Support, please browse the troubleshooting section of the Users Guide, as well As the appropriate section of the FAQs (http://www.alacritech.com/html/accelerator_FAQ.html). Should you need to contact customer support, please gather all of the information requested in the Bug Reports section (below) before initiating contact. To contact Alacritech customer support you may use one of the following options: Web Site (preferred): The URL is http://www.alacritech.com/html/techsupport.html. Click the Customer Care Center button to register and file a support request. Phone: Phone number for the United States is 408-287-9997. Select option 2. E-mail: The address is support@alacritech.com. Your request for assistance will be responded to in a timely manner. Bug Reports =========== Please include the following information when sending in a bug request: Hardware: CPUs Amount of memory PCI busses Number of Alacritech accelerators Other network interfaces Software: Windows Version (2000, XP) Windows Service Pack version Version of Alacritech drivers Log information Event Viewer details related to Alacritech Windows dump files (if there is a crash) Testing environment What software is being tested What types of tests reproduce the problem Where is the failure occurring What has been done to try and solve the problem Patents ======= One or more United States and international patents apply to Alacritech products, including without limitation: U.S. Patent Nos. 6,226,680, 6,247,060, 6,334,153, 6,389,479, 6,393,487, 6,427,171, 6,427,173, 6,434,620, and 6,470,415 900093 Rev 3