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HOW TO: Using Ghost with a Bootable CD ROM and Network access even on a Gx270
If you use a Dell Gx270 (or newer), read up on the Symantec (Norton) Ghost/Intel incompatability here: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=oplex_network&message.id=3714.
Technical Synopsis: Dell and other computer manufacturers are switching to motherboards that support the newer Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives. To support these drives, these motherboards use newer versions of the Intel chipsets, specifically chipset version 865 and newer. The heart of the issue is that the new chipset makes the the network card and IDE controller to share the communications interrupt. The general release Symantec Ghost 7.5 (and Norton Ghost 2003) is sophisticated enough to no longer use Dos's Interrupt 13h to communicate to the hard drive but use the new method defined by these chipsets. However, it is not sohpisticated enough to allow the network cards to communicate in the same fashion. It assumes all traffic sent on the the hard drive's interrupt is from the hard drive. So, network traffic befuddles Ghost and it locks. You can force ghost to use Int13h using the -fni switch but there is a significant performance hit.
Bottom line: Symantec has released an update to their Enterprise Gold level support members who call in to request it. It is a maintenance release and only the Gold support members get the maintenence releases. We do have an active Gold level support membership but I called anyway. The woman on the other end was very helpful and gave me the username and password to download the instructions and patch.
Back to the main issue for this post, I'm using BootCDs since the Gx270s made the floppy drive a $19 add-on option. I will now use the same methods on my Gx260s since it saves around a minute of boot time. The Gx60s are not working right with the E100b driver on the CD. So, I'm sticking with floppies for them.
I've done this with both PC-Dos 7.1 and MS Dos 6.22. The boot discs were a pain till I figured all this out. Now they should be easy to maintain. They have access both to the remainder of the CDRom access and to the network. I have a standard boot disk (floppy) that does most of the work and then calls C:\autorun.bat (C: is the CDRom after CD boot) that contains the details for the different configurations of the Gx270s that we use. This means I can always use the same boot.img file to make the disk bootable and I don't have to keep the bootable floppy around after the fact. Then I can simply change the content in the root of the CD to make adjustments to my ghosting method or image used.
I split the net directory between the floppy disk and the CD-Rom so that I have room enough for the required emm386 on the floppy. If you don't use emm386 you get a binding error when connecting to the network. Basically the Net call runs out of memory with a SYS0006 error. Also my current method requires a fixed IP address as the DHCP mode tries to write a log file (a:\Net\DHCP.) and that doesn't work well on a read only CD. (Please email me if you know how to get around this or have a full parameter list for Protman.dos)
Here are my steps:
Create a PC Dos 7.1 boot disk using Ghost or a Dos 6.22 boot disk using Dells util
Replace/Add these files:
Here's my config.sys:
DEVICE=A:\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=A:\EMM386.EXE NOEMS HIGHSCAN I=B000-B7FF
BUFFERS=10,0
FILES=25
DOS=HIGH,UMB
LASTDRIVE=Z
FCBS=4,0
STACKS=9,259
DEVICE=A:\NET\PROTMAN.DOS /I:A:\NET
rem Gx260 270
DEVICEHIGH /L:3,51264 =A:\NET\E1000.DOS
rem GX60
rem DEVICEHIGH /L:3,32880 =A:\NET\E100b.DOS
DEVICE=A:\NET\NTSTS.DOS
DEVICEHIGH /L:1,7840 =A:\NET\DLSHELP.SYS
DEVICE=NEC_IDE.SYS /D:CD1
Here's my autoexec.bat:
@ECHO OFF
LH /L:2,44352 MSCDEX.EXE /V /D:CD1 /M:15 /L:C /K /E
SET PATH=C:\NET\;a:\;%PATH%;C:\
SET TEMP=A:\
SET TCPHELP=C:\NET
SET ETCDIR=C:\NET
REM \MOUSE.COMLH /L:0;2,24592;3,272;1,68400 /S C:\NET\NET START
C:\NET\NET.EXE USE N: \\MyServer\N
if not Exist N:\ServerTools\Command.com goto NetError
SET PATH=%PATH%;N:\ServerToolsif not Exist c:\Autorun.bat Goto CDError
call c:\Autorun.bat
Goto :End:NetError
Echo Could not map the network Drive. Did you attach the network cable and use the right disk?
Goto :End:CDError
Echo AutoRun.Bat does not exist in the root of the CD or the CD was not recognized. Nothing more to do.
Goto :End:End
The net directory on the floppy contains only these files:
PROTOCOL.INI
e1000.dos
PROTMAN.EXE
PROTMAN.DOS
NTSTS.DOS
DLSHELP.SYS
E100B.DOS
Using Easy CD Creator (or nero etc) create a bootable CD image from that floppy. Then add the following to that CD.
In the root, put an Autorun.bat that maps drives and does whatever fancy Ghost calls you want.
The net directory burned onto the root of the CD should contain:
NETWORK.INI
NETXP.MSG
NETH.MSG
NET.MSG
NET.EXE
CMDS16.EXE
Burn the CD and go!
That should get you up and running. I'll leave it up to you to find all the right files for the hardware you order on your systems. But this should be enough to get you going. As you can see I used Nec_IDE.Sys in config.sys downloaded from the NEC support site but now that the memory is available I think the normal OakCDRom.sys supplied with Ghost will work fine.
Enjoy!
dkma2
4 Posts
0
August 15th, 2003 11:00
SilverPaladin
24 Posts
0
August 15th, 2003 12:00
[network.setup]
version=0x3100
netcard=NIC,1,NIC
transport=nts$ntst2,NTS$NTST2
transport=ibm$netbeui,IBM$NETBEUI
lana0=NIC,1,ibm$netbeui
lana1=NIC,1,nts$ntst2
[NTS$NTST2]
DefaultDomain=MyDomain
;BOOTPFLAG=DHCP <------- Writes IP cache to floppy; won't work with CD Use Fixed IP and enter you own #s
DNSaddr=[192.168.0.##]
GatewayAddr=[192.168.0.#]
NetSubNetMask=[255.255.255.0]
IPAddr=[192.168.0.###]
DriverName=ntsts$
VCs=16
VCReceiveLarge=6
VCSends=6
RcvWindow=2920
UseMemory=UMB
BINDINGS=NIC
LANABASE=1
[protman]
DriverName=PROTMAN$
PRIORITY=ibm$netbeui
[IBM$NETBEUI]
DriverName=netbeui$
SESSIONS=20
NCBS=20
BINDINGS=NIC
LANABASE=0
; Protocol.Ini section for the Intel(R) Adapters
[nic]
;Gx260 270
DRIVERNAME = E1000$
;Gx60
;DRIVERNAME = E100b$
; NODE = "00D00C123456" ; override the burned in MAC address
; SPEEDDUPLEX = 0 ; 10Mbps half duplex
; = 1 ; 10Mbps full duplex
; = 2 ; 100Mbps half duplex
; = 3 ; 100Mbps full duplex
; SLOT = 7 ; set this for each NIC if using more than one
; CACHEFLUSH = 1 ; set this if doing an unattended installation of
; Windows NT 4.0 using this driver to make the initial
; connection
SilverPaladin
24 Posts
0
August 15th, 2003 12:00
Volume in drive A has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 1E58-02C0
Directory of A:\
05/31/1994 06:22 AM 54,645 COMMAND.COM
08/13/2003 09:26 AM 387 CONFIG.SYS
08/14/2003 10:07 AM 713 AUTOEXEC.BAT
05/31/1994 06:22 AM 120,926 EMM386.EXE
05/31/1994 06:22 AM 29,136 HIMEM.SYS
03/01/1996 02:56 PM 23,437 NEC_IDE.SYS
08/13/2003 09:28 AM
08/13/2003 09:33 AM
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 25,361 MSCDEX.EXE
7 File(s) 254,605 bytes
Directory of A:\NET
08/13/2003 09:28 AM
08/13/2003 09:28 AM
11/30/2001 09:19 AM 7,840 DLSHELP.SYS
03/09/2003 11:20 PM 51,264 e1000.dos
06/19/2001 03:18 PM 32,880 E100B.DOS
11/30/2001 09:19 AM 89,540 NTSTS.DOS
11/30/2001 09:19 AM 21,696 PROTMAN.DOS
11/30/2001 09:19 AM 13,770 PROTMAN.EXE
08/14/2003 03:56 PM 1,189 PROTOCOL.INI
7 File(s) 218,179 bytes
Directory of A:\DOS
08/13/2003 09:33 AM
08/13/2003 09:33 AM
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 11,208 ATTRIB.EXE
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 12,241 CHKDSK.EXE
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 41,600 CHKSTATE.SYS
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 1,754 CHOICE.COM
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 413 EDIT.COM
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 29,336 FDISK.EXE
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 22,974 FORMAT.COM
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 32,502 MEM.EXE
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 119,557 MEMMAKER.EXE
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 2,545 MORE.COM
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 165,864 MSD.EXE
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 194,309 QBASIC.EXE
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 7,169 SIZER.EXE
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 9,432 SYS.COM
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 26,416 UNDELETE.EXE
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 6,920 SCANDISK.INI
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 124,262 SCANDISK.EXE
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 16,930 XCOPY.EXE
05/31/1994 08:22 AM 11,111 DELTREE.EXE
19 File(s) 836,543 bytes
Total Files Listed:
33 File(s) 1,309,327 bytes
6 Dir(s) 59,904 bytes free
SilverPaladin
24 Posts
0
August 15th, 2003 13:00
I remember two minor issues:
1. When adding the E1000 driver into Ghost Console's driver list, you are asked for a driver name. You must specify E1000$ The $ is very important or it will not match the protocol.ini section loaded at the same time. I'd guess that's what you're running into. Another guy here at work did the same thing. And the only thing we'd done differently is that I left the $ in there.
2. If you try to add network access to a cd boot disk without careful memory management, you will not get the network. You're told that the service Requester did not load and then you get a SYS0006 error form Net.exe. Running memmaker fixes this however to do that, you have to take Ghost and some of the network files off of the floppy in order to get it all to fit.
For testing I have a CD burned with the autorun stuff in the root and the \net stuff I specified in the other posting in there. I put the CD in and the floppy in and then boot to the floppy disk. Then I can change the CD content since it is not closed and I can change the floppy content too. Then once it all is correct I'll burn the bootable CDs. Bootable CDs have to be closed (Read only) so that the DOS driver can read them.
BTW for those reading this who are new to the subject (and in order to add a couple new keywords that can help search engines find this thread) a BootCD uses a syntax called the El Torito Specification that puts the image of a floppy disk on the CD in ISO9660 format so that the PC BIOS can access the drive and boot. Of course you have to load the MS DOS (OS2, BSD, etc, etc) CDRom drivers and network drivers if you want to have access to those facilities. But did you ever wonder where "El Torito"? Well as continued proof that Software Engineers have a demented sense of humor, this spec was written by Curtis Stevens, of Phoenix Technologies and Stan Merkin, formerly of IBM (currently of Dell Computers - Hello Stan!) over lunches (and probably under salsa) at the El Torito Grill in Irvine, CA. (See www.ElTorito.com for a menu)...
dkma2
4 Posts
0
August 15th, 2003 13:00
Dagger100
1 Message
0
September 8th, 2003 23:00
This is an outstanding How-To for the Bootdisk for ghost, I have run into each and every hurdle you mention in your post, I cleared all of them the same way except one. I assume that your Ghost image repository is on the same subnet as the client machine you are Ghosting/Booting.
My Repository is on another subnet, and I can not get the client machine to resolve the name in the net use UNC.
Example, the client is on network 10.10.10.0/24 and the servers are on 10.10.1.0/24. I figure since when you use DHCP the WINS server is passed but since we have to use the fixed IP address for the CDROM boot disk, we have to find the key work for the [NTS$NTST2] area of the protocol.ini, that will allow the client to resolve the name with WINS. The DNS line is filled in but the machine can not resolve the IP for the server in the net use statement.
Any thoughts???
Micheal
SilverPaladin
24 Posts
0
September 9th, 2003 01:00
Thank you for the independant confirmation. I only wish one or the other of us could have avoided the pain of learning it all through trial and error! Being a Borland Delphi user, I'm used to everyone freely sharing solutions to tricky problems. So, as soon as I was sure I had it right, I posted. And now that I have captured all my images and our stock of Gx260s is depleated, we've found an issue with the Gx270 Hyperthreading causing a long delay in launching one of our apps even if it is on a client machine that connects to a server... Another day an other issue...
Now, about your issue, I think there may be some aspect of your network that I am missing right now. Can I first ask what is inhibiting you from using the subnet that the servers are on, 10.10.1.0/24, during the ghosting process? The final result, the content stored in the image, does not need to be on the same subnet as the one used during casting... In otherwords, use the boot disk to attach to the 10.10.1.0/24 subnet during cloning and casting even though the 10.10.10.0/24 is used when the computer is up and running Windows (or whatever is in the image).
The servers I'm ghosting are actually destined for a different subnet than the one that they were on when I capture the image. They will be used on a 192.168.100.0/24 network. My normal subnet is on 192.168.0.0 /22. That's propably not the standard way to do things but the machines I'm casting to are destined to be sent out to client sites and we will only be VPN'ing into them. I've chosen to take the easy way out on the image and have it on the 192.168.0.0 /22 subnet (via DHCP) when the image is captured. That way I can use Ghost Console and maintain all of the sysprep scripts on my PC. I then have a step that our shipping department follows to set the correct IP address for our server computers. All of the other client computers pick up the correct subnet via DHCP from the router we ship with them. This is not the most elegant solution but it works for our model.
I think simply having the CDs boot to the 10.10.1.0/24 subnet will work fine for you unless there is a particular requirement in your configuration that I am unaware of...
Message Edited by SilverPaladin on 09-08-2003 09:19 PM
RamsQBKurtWarne
1 Message
0
September 16th, 2003 16:00
Can you please post an image of this network boot disk. After several attempts, I still haven't been able to successfully create a network cd boot disk. Thank you.
Hondahawkrider
1 Message
0
October 13th, 2003 19:00
I have a working boot disk for the gx270 - that uses TCP/IP via DHCP and maps to a network resource - without any problems - It was created
using the Symantec Ghost Boot Wizard from 7.5 (via MS_DOS - not IBM-DOS) - and modified it to use the correct Dos drivers and changed it to
use TCP/IP instead of Netbeui
Here is the config.sys
DEVICEHIGH=HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=EMM386.EXE noems i=b000-b7ff
DOS=HIGH,UMB
files=100
buffers=30
DEVICEhigh=\net\protman.dos /I:\net
rem DEVICEhigh=\net\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICEhigh=\net\E1000.dos
DEVICEhigh=\net\nemm.dos
DEVICEhigh=\net\tcpdrv.dos
lastdrive=z
DEVICEHIGH=A:\ifshlp.sys
Here is the Autoexec.bat
@ECHO OFF
SET PATH=a:\net;a:\;
cd \net
a:\net\net initialize
a:\net\netbind.com
a:\net\umb.com
a:\net\tcptsr.exe
a:\net\tinyrfc.exe
a:\net\nmtsr.exe
a:\net\emsbfr.exe
a:\net\net start
A:\NET\NET.EXE USE Y: \\images\ghost (use your Server Name and Share - where the ghost.exe is share out as network resource)
A:\NET\NET.EXE USE x:\\images\files (your path here as well)
Here is the protocol.ini
[network.setup]
version=0x3100
netcard=NIC,1,NIC,1
transport=tcpip,TCPIP
lana0=NIC,1,tcpip
[NIC]
drivername=E1000$
;INTERRUPT=3
;IOBASE=0x300
;SlotNumber=1
[protman]
drivername=PROTMAN$
PRIORITY=NDISHLP
[ndishlp]
drivername=ndishlp$
BINDINGS=NIC
LANABASE=0
[tcpip]
NBSessions=6
DefaultGateway0=
SubNetMask0=
IPAddress0=
DisableDHCP=0
DriverName=TCPIP$
BINDINGS=NIC
LANABASE=0
here is the system.ini
[network]
filesharing=no
printsharing=no
autologon=yes
computername=gx270t2 (rename as you see fit)
lanroot=a:\net
username=XXXX (your username here)
workgroup=XXXX (your domain here)
reconnect=no
dospophotkey=N
lmlogon=0
logondomain=XXXX (your doman here)
prefferedredir=full
autostart=full
maxconnections=8
[network drivers]
netcard=E1000.DOS
transport=tcpdrv.dos,nemm.dos
devdir=a:\net
LoadRMDrivers=yes
[Password Lists]
*Shares=a:\net\Shares.PWL
Here is a list of all the files
Directory of A:\
05/11/1998 08:01 PM 222,390 IO.SYS
06/29/1998 03:12 PM 9 MSDOS.SYS
05/11/1998 08:01 PM 93,880 COMMAND.COM
11/30/2001 09:19 AM 37,681 MOUSE.COM
10/13/1996 01:38 PM 29,136 HIMEM.SYS
10/13/2003 03:17 PM 233 AUTOEXEC.BAT
10/13/2003 03:43 PM 286 CONFIG.SYS
10/08/2003 04:58 PM
NET
08/31/1994 12:00 AM 4,644 IFSHLP.SYS
10/13/1996 01:38 PM 120,926 EMM386.EXE
9 File(s) 509,185 bytes
Directory of A:\NET
10/08/2003 04:58 PM
.
10/08/2003 04:58 PM
..
08/08/2003 10:28 AM 50,624 E1000.DOS
08/31/1994 12:00 AM 4,294 EMSBFR.EXE
08/31/1994 07:36 PM 817 LMHOSTS
08/31/1994 12:00 AM 2,619 NEMM.DOS
02/07/1995 12:40 PM 450,326 NET.EXE
03/03/1995 07:11 PM 76,234 NET.MSG
08/31/1994 12:00 AM 8,513 NETBIND.COM
03/03/1995 07:12 PM 123,066 NETH.MSG
08/31/1994 06:52 PM 395 NETWORKS
08/31/1994 12:00 AM 22,826 NMTSR.EXE
08/31/1994 12:00 AM 21,940 PROTMAN.DOS
08/31/1994 12:00 AM 13,782 PROTMAN.EXE
08/31/1994 06:52 PM 795 PROTOCOL
08/31/1994 12:00 AM 4,174 TCPDRV.DOS
08/31/1994 12:00 AM 71,040 TCPTSR.EXE
08/31/1994 12:00 AM 233 TCPUTILS.INI
12/01/1994 07:39 PM 37,024 TINYRFC.EXE
08/31/1994 12:00 AM 3,325 UMB.COM
10/13/1996 01:38 PM 840 WFWSYS.CFG
10/08/2003 05:00 PM 412 PROTOCOL.INI
10/13/2003 02:16 PM 622 SHARES.PWL
10/13/2003 02:16 PM 396 SYSTEM.INI
10/13/2003 03:45 PM 0 CONNECT.DAT
23 File(s) 894,297 bytes
Total Files Listed:
32 File(s) 1,403,482 bytes
3 Dir(s) 45,056 bytes free
The only issue is that when running the ghost.exe - y:\ghost.exe (y is mapped to \\images\ghost) - You must use Ghost.exe -FNI to keep if
from freezing (see http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=oplex_network&message.id=3371&page=8) for more info ... If
anyone needs a copy - email me at jip98@acs.org and I will send the files
Jason I. Picton, Senior Systems Administrator
MCSE (NT 4.0 & 2000), MCP+I, MCP,
American Chemical Society (www.acs.org)
1155 16th Street NW - Washington DC 20036
Phone: 202-452-2117 Fax: 202-872-4519
Email: j_picton@acs.org
SilverPaladin
24 Posts
0
October 17th, 2003 17:00
HondaHawkRider,
Thanks for posting this. I want to make a couple quick points:
BTW I love the EULA at BootDisk.com It basically says "If post my stuff on your website, you agree to let me and any of my friends hack your site." Well, that's probably not how he intended it but see for your self: "End User License Agreement: If you host the applications or utilities that I produced on your site than you agree to allow me, my agents, or partners to directly link to them or other files on your site for download. "
SilverPaladin
24 Posts
0
October 17th, 2003 17:00
RamsQBKurtWarner,
I found that we do have a way to create the image of the floppy disk I use to create the CD. We didn't have disk image or anything to create a .img file and I don't think you can create a GHO of a floppy, but some one just told me we have a license for a program that turns a disk into an exe. I'll post that file when I get some free time...
SilverPaladin
24 Posts
0
December 13th, 2003 11:00
jb347
5 Posts
0
January 12th, 2004 21:00
watchphone
6 Posts
0
February 11th, 2004 16:00
If you don't use emm386 you get a binding error when connecting to the network. Basically the Net call runs out of memory with a SYS0006 error. Also my current method requires a fixed IP address as the DHCP mode tries to write a log file (a:\Net\DHCP.) and that doesn't work well on a read only CD.
How do you get it to work? emm386???? Can you explain more
SilverPaladin
24 Posts
0
February 14th, 2004 01:00
Well I did use Emm386 as you can see in the config.sys listed in my first post. I actually have full copy of MSDOS 6.22 for in house testing from the MS Technet membership the company had in 98. That gave me access to some utilities I did not have in the Dos version I downloaded from Compaq. Using MemMaker (Remember that oldie but goodie?) from that version of DOS, I created a floppy disk version of my boot disc and optimized the Config.sys and Autoexec.Bat setups that I wanted to use. Since I didn't have the rights to distribute the memmaker files, I removed them from the disk and used all the other files with their new settings to make the CD.
The final result is what is detailed in my first post.
Does that make it more or less clear?