Upgrading from Netware 4 to Netware 5

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

This web page provides some information on the process of upgrading a server from Novell Netware 4 to Netware 5.

It is based on my experience of upgrading from Netware 4.11 to Netware 5.0.

It is not a full list of instructions, more some information that may help to avoid some of the pitfalls.

 

Hardware

The first thing to decide is if the existing hardware is adequate for the task.

According to the Novell documentation, the minimum hardware spec for Netware 5.0 is a 133 MHz server class pentium with 64 Mb of RAM.

I have experience of Netware 5.0 running on

  • a 133 MHz Pentium with 64 Mb of RAM

  • a 200 MHz Pentium with 64 Mb of RAM

  • a 466 MHz Celeron with 64 Mb of RAM

In all cases, there have been no problems, however these servers were not heavily loaded.

So it might be worth trying available hardware before purchasing new hardware.

 

Hard drives

If a Netware 4 server has been running for two or three years or more, then it is time for the hard drive to be replaced. They have a limited life span.

There are some very strong additional advantages in replacing the hard drive before doing an upgrade to Netware 5

  • Many Netware 4 servers are struggling along with SYS volumes that are only 500 Mb or so in size.

    Maybe okay for Netware 4, not much use for Netware 5. Quite apart from running Netware 5 plus the add-on`s, the upgrade process will not work without plenty of space.

    If space is limited, then at least 1 Gb might be okay. If space is not a problem, go for 2 Gb.

  • A new hard drive allows for a fall-back position to be created. The old SYS and any data volumes are copied on to the new drive, the old drive is disconnected, and the upgrade is done on the new drive.

    If there are problems with the upgrade, then it is a simple matter to disconnect the new drive, reconnect the old drive, and the server is back to its original form.

  • The data volumes can be increased in size.

 

Types of hard drive

The first thing to say about this is that it does appear to be possible to mix the type of hard drives in a server - ie, it seems to work if a server has both an IDE drive and a SCSI drive.

Both DOS and Netware 4 + 5 seem to be happy with this.

It all appears to work okay if the DOS partition and the "nwserver" folder are on the IDE drive, and the Netware partition is on the SCSI drive.

I don`t think it will work the other way round - DOS sees the IDE drive as the first drive, and calls it C:. Then it finds the SCSI drive. A DOS partition on the SCSI drive is given the drive letter of D:. So there could be problems with booting the server.

As far as I am aware, the use of IDE drives in a server is not recommended by Novell, but I do know of servers that use them.

 

Installing a new hard drive - the DOS partition -1

Since the new hard drive is going to replace the old drive, the new drive will have to have on it a DOS partition as well as the Netware partition.

It is possible to copy across the DOS partition from the old hard drive to the new one, using a programme such as Server Magic.

However, it only copies across what is there, and on many Netware 4 servers, this is a very minimal set of DOS executables.

My personal preference is to create a new DOS partition from scratch, and to install a new clean version of DOS.

Novell recommend 50 Mb of space in the DOS partition, but again my preference is to give it 200 Mb.

Note that it will be necessary to disconnect the old drive before doing this, or the installation may well corrupt the existing DOS partition on the old drive.

After creating the new DOS partition, the folder "nwserver" can be copied across from the old drive to the new drive, plus any required miscellaneous files in the root of C:

 

Installing a new hard drive - the DOS partition - 2

After creating the DOS partition by whatever means, it will be neccessary to rewrite the config.sys and autoexec.bat files to provide CD support.

Also make sure that there is no kind of memory management set up by the config.sys or autoexec.bat files - the install of Netware 5 will not work if there is.

Generally speaking, as far as the installation of Netware is concerned, not much else is needed. Maybe some keyboard mapping could be useful, or some path mapping. The installation process rewrites these two files anyway.

 

Installing a new hard drive - the Netware partition

Install can be used to create the Netware partition on the new hard drive.

Data volumes in themselves are not really much of a problem, new volumes can be created ( with different names ), and then directories and files can be copied across between the old and new volumes. Trustee rights, etc, will have to be dealt with. Many file copying programmes do not preserve trusree rights. The easiest method is use a programme like Server Magic.

However the SYS volume is more difficult - the SYS volume contains a hidden folder called _Netware - normal file copying methods will not see this folder. And this folder contains a collection of files which in turn contain all the NDS information that is kept on the server.

The easy method to transfer the SYS volume is to use a programme like Server Magic, and just copy across the SYS volume to the new partition, using a different Volume name. Then stretch the new volume with Server Magic.

The hard way is to use Install and manual volume creation and file copying, a possible method would be -

  • using Install, create a new volume with a different name from SYS - call it SYSNEW

  • also create the new data volume with a different name from that in use - eg, DATANEW or HOMENEW

  • mount SYSNEW

  • check that long.nam is running on the server

  • at the console prompt type     " add name space long to sysnew "

  • using, for example, Ncopy with the /S/E switches, copy across all directories and files from SYS to SYSNEW

  • repeat the above to copy across the contents of the data volumes

  • using Install, freeze NDS and create "backup.nds" file in SYS:System

  • copy "backup.nds" into SYSNEW:system

  • down server and disconnect old hard drive

  • up server and rename new volumes to SYS, HOME, etc

  • down server and restart it

  • restore NDS using Install

  • down server and restart it again

  • use DSRepair/Advanced options to get the Volume objects attached to the right volumes

No guarantees are given that this procedure will work in any particular situation.

Don`t use this procedure on a server which is the only server in a tree, or carries the only replica for a partition. The restoration may fail if the process can`t find the tree outside the server being worked on.

Ncopy does not preserve trustee rights, so a file copying programme that does may be a better option.

 

A Mouse

Very few Netware 4 servers have a mouse attached to them. Netware 5 does however use a mouse at the server console.

One of the facilities that Netware 5 provides is a Java based GUI. When Netware 5 is running, this Java based GUI offers a replacement for NWAdmin.

During the upgrade to Netware 5, another Java based GUI is used as the means to enter configuration data. A mouse is required for this.

It is possible to install Netware 5 without a mouse, by using keystrokes to drive the pointer around. It is however rather laborious, and not recommended.

 

The autoexec.ncf file

One of the things that is done during the upgrade process is the rewriting of the autoexec.ncf file.

However this is not a complete rewrite, it is a rewrite of only those parts that are required to be changed. Everything else is left unchanged.

This means that all the entries in the autoexec.ncf file that start up ancillary services are still there, and will try to load these services the first time the server is restarted.

Therefore it may be a good idea to "rem" out all lines referring to ancillary services.

If this is done before the hard drive is redone, it will also avoid problems at that time as well.

 

Netware 4 service packs and autoexec.ncf

There are two things that can arise during the upgrade, due to service packs having been previously installed on the Netware 4 server.

The first occurs during the upgrade process - there may be messages that come up which state that a particular file on the server is a later version than the one that is about to replace it. The upgrade wizard asks whether to replace the file or leave it.

The second occurs after the upgrade - as stated above, the upgrade process modifies the autoexec.ncf file, but it does not recreate it.

So any information in the autoexec.ncf put there by a service pack is still there after the upgrade to Netware 5.

So the first thing that happens to the new Netware 5 installation is that the Netware 4 service pack settings overwrite the default Netware 5 settings. Not good.

My current thinking on these two issues is that before doing the upgrade,

  • "rem" out or delete all the information added to autoexec.ncf by the Netware 4 service packs

  • during the upgrade process, take the option to overwrite all the files

This gives a clean default Netware 5 installation. Then use a Netware 5 service pack as required.

 

The startup.ncf file

During the upgrade process the startup.ncf is radically altered.

The primary reason for this is that Netware 5 has a different way of using hard drive drivers from the way Netware 4 uses them, so all the hard drive driver information has to be changed.

As an added extra, it does appear that information added to the startup file by Netware 4 service packs is removed.

However, there can be other SET information in the startup.ncf file, and these are not removed. So as above, it could be advisable to delete this before doing the upgrade.

 

The upgrade process

The upgrade process is quite straight forward, just follow the screen prompts.

However be aware of a trap created by Novell which is very near the start.

One of the first screens to come up asks if you want to do an install.

You don`t.

You need to change this to an upgrade.

If you accept the default, the install process will delete all your new volumes.

Which you probably don`t want to happen.

 

Aborting the upgrade process

If something goes wrong, and the upgrade process has to be aborted part of the way through, then when you restart the process, nothing will happen.

One of the first things that the upgrade process does is to rewrite the config.sys and autoexec.bat files on the DOS partition. This means that the CD support in these files has gone.

However all is not lost, as when it does this, it saves the original files as config.000 and autoexec.000.

The second time it starts the upgrade process, it stores them as config.001 and autoexec.001

The third time as .002, and so on.

So after every abort of the upgrade, it is necessary to copy back the original config.sys and autoexec.bat files before starting again.

 

© 2002 Ron Turner

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