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Neoware e140 - Thin Client User Manual

Neoware image manager 4.6 user manual
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Neoware Image Manager 4.6

USER MANUAL

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Summary of Contents for Neoware Neoware e140 - Thin Client

  • Page 1: User Manual

    Neoware Image Manager 4.6 USER MANUAL...
  • Page 2 © 2007 by Neoware, Inc. 3200 Horizon Drive, King of Prussia, PA 19406 USA Tel.: +1-610-277-8300 Fax: +1-610-771-4200 Email: info@neoware.com Web: http://www.neoware.com This manual is copyrighted by Neoware, Inc. All rights are reserved. This document may not, in whole or in part, be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form without prior consent, in writing, from Neoware, Inc.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Table of Contents Introduction 1 CHAPTER 1 What is Neoware Image Manager? 1 About This Manual 2 Conventions 2 Overview of Contents 3 Overview of Neoware Image Manager 7 CHAPTER 2 Software Suite Components 7 How Neoware Image Manager Works 8 Neoware Image Manager Boot Process 9 Adding a New Desktop &...
  • Page 4 Table of Contents Using a Cluster of Servers 14 Technical Notes 14 Neoware Image Manager Licenses 15 Server Licenses 16 Client Package Licenses 16 Licenses Explained 16 Evaluation Version 17 Installing Image Manager Components 19 CHAPTER 3 System Requirements 19 Client Requirements 19 Server Requirements 20 Network Requirements 22...
  • Page 5 Table of Contents DHCP Server Configuration 61 Client Configuration 62 Troubleshooting 63 Assigning Volumes to Clients 65 CHAPTER 6 Introduction 65 Running the Image Manager Console 65 Adding New Clients 67 Adding a New Group 68 Assigning a Volume to a Group 69 Creating or Modifying a Volume 70 Adding a Volume from Another Configuration File 73 Changing a Volume’s Write Mode 75...
  • Page 6 Table of Contents Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or CHAPTER 9 TC 103 What is Neoware UbiBoot? 103 Installing Neoware UbiBoot 104 Potential Incompatibilities 105 Running Neoware UbiBoot 106 Using a UbiBoot Enabled Hard Disk 110 Learn to Use Unknown Hardware 110 Master HD for Building Images 110 Detecting New Hardware 111...
  • Page 7 Table of Contents Windows Product Activation 127 CHAPTER 11 Introduction 127 Product Activation Procedure 128 Windows User Profiles 131 CHAPTER 12 Domain Roaming Profiles 131 "Local" Roaming Profiles 132 Folders Redirection 134 Adding Clients & New Software 135 CHAPTER 13 Adding a New Client 135 Modifying an HD Image to be Used by Several Clients 136...
  • Page 8 Table of Contents Adding a New Client to the Domain 168 Do I Need to Reboot? 169 Storing Domain Credentials in the System Partition 170 Client Names 174 Adding a New Client to the Domain 174 Merging Image & CVol Files 177 CHAPTER 15 Introduction 177 Using the CVolCompactor Tool 178...
  • Page 9 Table of Contents The Network Tab 205 The Authorized Subnets Tab 206 The Nvdd Manager 207 Merging Configuration Files 209 Password for Remote Administration 210 The NVDD Configuration File 213 CHAPTER 17 Introduction 213 The nvdd.smalldisk.vol.conf File 214 Configuration File Settings 217 IP Addresses &...
  • Page 10 Table of Contents Client Naming 233 Setting Client Name using NVD Protocol 233 Updating Client Name from Client 234 Enabling Client MultiBoot 235 Example nvdd.conf with Multi-Volume Support 238 NVDD Server Administration 241 CHAPTER 18 Introduction 241 Secured NVDAdmin Protocol 242 The NVDDAdmin Tool 242 NVDDAdmin Command Syntax 242 Command Examples 243...
  • Page 11 Table of Contents Cloning a Partition 272 Example Cloning Procedures 273 Cloning Directly to an Attached Hard Disk 273 Cloning to a Network Shared Hard Disk 274 Cloning to Another Image Manager Virtual Hard Disk 275 Expert Options 276 Disable Options 276 Boot Options 277 Command Line Options 277 Error Messages 279...
  • Page 12 Table of Contents Troubleshooting 291 The TFTPD Installer 293 APPENDIX B Introduction 293 Using the TFTPD Installer 294 Managing the TFTPD Service 295 Configuring the DHCP Server 297 APPENDIX C Introduction 297 Before Installing DHCP Server 297 Configuring the Server 298 Configuring DHCP 301 DHCP Reservations 312 Related Resources 315...
  • Page 13 Table of Contents NVDD Reference 337 APPENDIX F Introduction 337 Command Syntax 337 Verbose Mode 337 Port Number 338 Configuration File 338 Log File 338 No Lock File Check 338 NVD.SYS Reference 341 APPENDIX G Introduction 341 Parameters 341 IP Address 341 File Transfer 345 APPENDIX H Introduction 345...
  • Page 14 Table of Contents Issues 357 Network Adapters 358 VIA Rhine Family 358 Servers with Several Network Adapters 359 Volumes 359 Multi-Volume Windows 2000 Clients 359 ACPI 360 Stand By & Hibernation 360 Shutdown & Reboot 360 NVD.SYS Shutdown Delay 360 Windows 2000 Without the Latest Service Pack 361 Startup 361...
  • Page 15 Table of Contents Maximum Number of Applications Run from an Image 371 Recommended Network Configuration 372 Copyright Notices & License Terms 375 APPENDIX L Patents 375 Third Parties Copyrights 375 Software Copyrighted by Aladdin Enterprises 375 Software Copyrighted by Paul Kocher 376 Software Copyrighted by Brian Gladman 376 Software Copyrighted by Lukas Gebauer 377 Software Copyrighted by Jordan Russell 379...
  • Page 16 Table of Contents...

  • Page 17: Introduction

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Introduction CHAPTER 1 This chapter introduces Neoware Image Manager and describes the scope of this User Manual. What is Neoware Image Manager? Neoware Image Manager delivers operating systems and applica- tions on-demand from your server to PCs or thin clients. The server is used as a virtual disk drive, so clients do not require a hard disk or flash memory.

  • Page 18: About This Manual

    Introduction You can think of Neoware Image Manager as a network storage product (a SAN product) that makes it possible to boot several clients off a single virtual drive hosted on the server. About This Manual This manual describes how to install and use Neoware Image Man- ager version 4.6.

  • Page 19: Overview Of Contents

    Introduction Overview of This manual is divided into the following chapters and appendices: Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Introduces Neoware Image Manager and describes the scope of this User Manual. Chapter 2: Overview of Neoware Image Manager Provides a brief description of how Neoware Image Manager works.
  • Page 20 Introduction Chapter 10: Managing Local Hard Disk Access Describes how to enable or disable client access to local hard disks. Chapter 11: Windows Product Activation Describes how to activate Windows products for Image Manager clients. Chapter 12: Windows User Profiles Describes how to configure your Neoware Image Manager system so that clients can use Windows user profiles.
  • Page 21 Introduction Chapter 19: The mPXELdr Configuration File Describes the mPXELdr configuration file and the settings that can be specified in it. Chapter 20: Neoware Active Cloner Describes how to use Neoware Active Cloner to clone the current system partition to another partition. Chapter 21: Virtualized Environments Describes how to use Neoware Image Manager with virtual machines, which can run Image Manager clients...
  • Page 22 Introduction Appendix H: File Transfer Describes issues relating to the file transfer capabilities of Image Manager. Appendix I: NVDD Temporary Files Describes issues relating to temporary files created by process. nvdd Appendix J: Boot Process Comparison Provides a side-by-side comparison between a HDD- based boot process and the Neoware Image Manager based boot process.

  • Page 23: Overview Of Neoware Image Manager

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Overview of Neoware CHAPTER 2 Image Manager This chapter provides a brief description of how Neoware Image Manager works. Software Suite Components Neoware Image Manager consists of the following main compo- nents: Neoware Image Manager Server - Allows the remote boot and •...

  • Page 24: How Neoware Image Manager Works

    Overview of Neoware Image Manager How Neoware Image Manager Works Neoware Image Manager enables you to quickly build and distribute virtual hard disk images (volumes) to diskless PCs and clients. The procedure is very straightforward and can be summarized as follows. Neoware Image Manager First of all you would install then run Server...

  • Page 25: Neoware Image Manager Boot Process

    Overview of Neoware Image Manager always boot from the originally defined configuration. User profiles (desktop, shortcuts, favourites, bookmarks, application settings, etc.) may be stored on a remote server and presented according to which user logs into the desktop device. This enables user personalization based on Windows User Profiles while desktops are not dedicated to any one user.
  • Page 26 Overview of Neoware Image Manager mPXELdr sends an “init” packet to the server to retrieve information about the bootable virtual drives available to the client that runs mPXELdr. If several bootable virtual drives are available, mPXELdr displays a boot menu. The users can then choose the drive to be used as the system (boot) drive.

  • Page 27: Adding A New Desktop & Upgrading Hardware

    Overview of Neoware Image Manager Adding a New Desktop & Upgrading Hardware UbiBoot Neoware Image Manager provides a set of utilities that can enable you to modify a hard disk image so that it is able to serve a range of desktops (PCs and thin clients) with heterogeneous hard- ware configurations.

  • Page 28: Client Writing Modes

    Overview of Neoware Image Manager Client Writing Modes Image Manager allows administrators to customize how clients write data to virtual volumes. The main writing modes are described below. Refer to the chapter “Controlling the Use of Images & Volumes” on page 79 for a complete description of all the modes available.

  • Page 29: Persistent Mode

    Overview of Neoware Image Manager Persistent Mode Persistent mode is similar to Volatile mode except it enables you to retain some customization of the volume for each client, separate from the hard disk image. For example, to retain Windows XP acti- vation data customized for each computer.

  • Page 30: Servers List

    Overview of Neoware Image Manager Servers List Neoware Image Manager clients use an initialization file that the Image Manager boot loader loads and interprets to determine the server to contact from a list of servers. Neoware Image Manager cli- ents can also use a specific DHCP option (DHCP Option 132) to determine the server to contact from a list of servers.

  • Page 31: Neoware Image Manager Licenses

    Overview of Neoware Image Manager There is no theoretical limitation to the number of clients that can • be connected to a single Neoware Image Manager server, as long as there are enough bandwidth and hard disk resources on the network and server to fulfill all the client requests in an accept- able time.

  • Page 32: Server Licenses

    Overview of Neoware Image Manager Server Licenses A Server License file is required. There can be only one server license file and the server license file must be named lanpcsrv.lic Server license files contain the number of clients and the expiration date(s).

  • Page 33: Evaluation Version

    Overview of Neoware Image Manager Evaluation Version If you use an evaluation version of Neoware Image Manager, there are some limitations with the product. It is limited to a certain date. The expiration date is displayed in • Neoware Image Manager Server logs when the server module starts.
  • Page 34 Overview of Neoware Image Manager Evaluation Version...

  • Page 35: Installing Image Manager Components

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Installing Image CHAPTER 3 Manager Components This chapter describes how to install Neoware Image Manager components on the server and client computers. System Requirements Client Requirements PXE 2.x enabled. • Any CPU supported by the operating system to be downloaded •...

  • Page 36: Chapter 3 Installing Image Manager Components

    Installing Image Manager Components partition on the server, the partition size cannot be larger than 4 GB because FAT32 does not support files larger than 4 GB. Listed below are the typical maximum file sizes for common file systems. NTFS File size limited only by size of server volume.
  • Page 37 Installing Image Manager Components Hard drive capacity: 1.5 MB dedicated to Image Manager, plus • disk space required to store the client hard disk image files and cache files (the default maximum cache file size is 512 MB per client). Note: Some releases of Neoware Image Manager do not include the latest version of Linux/FreeBSD components.

  • Page 38: Network Requirements

    Installing Image Manager Components service packs, patches, updates and hotfixes are applied to the server operating system. A server class Network Adapter is recommended for the Image Manager server network card. You should install the latest NIC (Network Interface Card) drivers for the NICs in the server, which are usually available from the NIC manufacturer web site.

  • Page 39: Installation Summary

    Installing Image Manager Components you are using a Microsoft DHCP server, refer to the appendix “Configuring the DHCP Server” on page 297 for a step-by-step installation procedure. A configurable TFTP service must be installed and properly configured to serve boot files to PXE PROM. For example, MS- TFTPD for Windows 2000/2003 Server, 3Com freeware tftp server for Windows systems, tftpd daemons shipped with Linux and Unix, freeware TFTPD32.

  • Page 40: Running The Installshield Wizard

    Installing Image Manager Components Running the InstallShield Wizard You will need to run the InstallShield Wizard on the server (or a Windows PC if the server is running Linux or FreeBSD - see note below) and then again on the client computer to install the relevant Neoware Image Manager software components.
  • Page 41 Installing Image Manager Components Next Click to begin the install process. License Key Type in your software exactly as provided in your Next documentation, then click This and the following dialog provide instructions on how to Next install the software. Click to continue.
  • Page 42 Installing Image Manager Components Next Click to continue. Read the License Agreement and, if you agree to the terms, I accept Next select the option then click Running the InstallShield Wizard...
  • Page 43 Installing Image Manager Components User Name Company Name Enter the and specify if the application is to be installed for a single user or multiple users. It is usually recommended to install only for you (the administra- tor) so that users do not have easy access to Neoware Image Manager components that are usually reserved for administra- Next tors.
  • Page 44 Installing Image Manager Components Select the type of installation required from the following options: Server Installation (Windows) Select this option if you are installing Neoware Image Manager on the Windows server that will host your images. Decompress (required for Linux/FreeBSD server) Select this option if you plan to run Neoware Image Manager server on a Linux/FreeBSD server that will host your images (you will need to install onto a Windows PC then copy the...
  • Page 45 Installing Image Manager Components Console Select this option if you would like to install only the Neoware Image Manager Console on a computer running a Windows OS. UbiBoot Extractor Select this option if you are installing UbiBoot Extractor on a client machine that needs to be added to the current capabilities of existing images.
  • Page 46 Installing Image Manager Components Next Click to review the settings before continuing. Next If the settings are correct, click to begin installing the files to the specified location. A progress bar will indicate the current status of the installation. Running the InstallShield Wizard...
  • Page 47 Installing Image Manager Components Note that if the destination device does not have enough disk space for the software to be installed, the following message will be displayed: Finish When the installation has been completed, click Now that the software components have been installed, you need to configure the server as described in the section “Image Manager Server Configuration”...

  • Page 48: Image Manager Server Configuration

    Installing Image Manager Components Image Manager Server Configuration Disk Storage The Image Manager server must have a partition containing enough Required on Server free space to contain all the virtual hard disks required by clients. A virtual hard disk consists of a hard disk image file plus a CVol (Cli- ent Volume OverLay) write cache file that will contain all data writ- ten by the clients.
  • Page 49 Installing Image Manager Components C:\Program Files\Neoware\Image_Manager_4.6 If your server runs Linux or FreeBSD OS, the required server module and server tools are stored in the following subdirectory of the target directory in which the Neoware Image Manager archive was decompressed: Server\Linux or Server\FreeBSD Server Server with Console...
  • Page 50 Installing Image Manager Components This completes the Neoware Image Manager server initial configu- ration. You can test that the NVDD server module is installed cor- rectly by navigating to the directory containing NVDD then typing one of the following at the command prompt to launch it: Windows system: nvdd -c nvdd.smalldisk.vol.conf Linux/FreeBSD system:...

  • Page 51: Uninstalling Neoware Image Manager

    Installing Image Manager Components Uninstalling Neoware Image Manager This section describes how to remove Neoware Image Manager from your computer. Note that it is possible to uninstall the Image Manager software from an Image Manager bootable drive. It will just uninstall the components that have been copied during InstallShield installation, but will not uninstall the components and configuration performed during Image Creation.
  • Page 52 Installing Image Manager Components Remove Next Select then click A warning message will be displayed to check whether you really want to remove the software. Click to start the remove software process. Uninstalling Neoware Image Manager...
  • Page 53 Installing Image Manager Components When the InstallShield Wizard has completed removing the Finish software, click Uninstalling Neoware Image Manager...

  • Page 54: Undoing Client Builder Changes On An Hdd-Based Configuration

    Installing Image Manager Components Undoing Client Builder Changes on an HDD-based Configuration It is possible to undo the changes that Neoware Image Manager Client Builder has performed on an HDD based configuration, in case the creation process did not complete smoothly or was not closed neatly.

  • Page 55: Creating A Client Image

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Creating a Client CHAPTER 4 Image This chapter describes how to use Client Builder to create a client image on the Image Manager server. Introduction The Client Builder component of Neoware Image Manager makes a complete image of a system partition (hard disk) based on the size of the partition, not its contents.

  • Page 56: Chapter 4 Creating A Client Image

    Creating a Client Image Using Client Builder The following procedure assumes that you have already installed the Client components of the Neoware Image Manager on the hard disk drive that will be used to create the client image. You must be logged on as a user with administrator privileges.
  • Page 57 Creating a Client Image The Client Builder dialog will be displayed. If your server’s IP address does not appear in the dialog, please verify that your Image Manager server is running, shares a non- bootable virtual disk such as , and both client and SmallDisk server can access the network.
  • Page 58 Creating a Client Image Expert In order to enter the IP address manually, check the Server Address or to access the options in the dialog. Enter the Name of the server hosting Neoware Image Manager. Do not Server port change the default setting 2184 unless your server Find NVD servers listens on a non-default port.
  • Page 59 Creating a Client Image Accept Read the license agreement then click to continue. A list of available network interface cards (NICs) will be dis- played. This enables you to specify which NIC(s) to use to boot the client on Neoware Image Manager. All the available NICs are selected by default.
  • Page 60 Creating a Client Image If your client OS is Windows XP SP2 and you have Windows XP Security Center enabled, you may be prompted that Auto- matic Windows Updates have been disabled. This is normal if you did not change Advanced Settings in the first step. You should not restore Automatic Windows Update (or any other Windows settings) before the image has been created.
  • Page 61 Creating a Client Image Using Client Builder...
  • Page 62 Creating a Client Image Continue Anyway Click the button. My Computer Explore Right-click on and select in the pop-up menu. An additional hard disk called should now be SMALLDISK My Computer listed in the list of hard disk drives. For example: Using Client Builder...
  • Page 63 Creating a Client Image My Computer Manage/ You can also right-click on and select Disk management in the pop-up menu. If you do, do not do anything on this volume, even if Windows proposes actions to be performed on it (for example: Initialize and Convert Disk wizard).
  • Page 64 Creating a Client Image The Client Builder dialog is displayed with the volume name and server address automatically set by the system. If you need Expert to change the entries in this dialog, check the box to enable the options. Note that the settings in the right half of the dialog use the inter- nal protocol between Client Builder and the NVDD server mod- ule to create the image.
  • Page 65 Creating a Client Image ensures that when Client Builder creates an image from an existing Neoware or ThinTune XPe flash disk, it will create the correct type of image. If the system partition is the first partition, only the first partition (actually the MBR plus the first partition) will be used as the source of the image.
  • Page 66 Creating a Client Image Important: When you create the image file on the server, if the image creation takes more than 5 minutes per gigabyte of parti- tion, this implies that the global performance of your system is not adequate. You may then have problems when using diskless clients, especially when using several clients at the same time.
  • Page 67 Creating a Client Image Client Builder has created an image that contains exactly the same data as stored on your original hard disk drive, including the disk signature. Windows may not be able to reliably handle two drives that have the same signature, nor detect such a situa- tion in a manner that suits your requirements.
  • Page 68 Creating a Client Image If you click , the previous dialog will be displayed and you Expert will be able to check the box and configure Client Builder for it to change the local drive signature. The following dialog will be displayed if you configured Client Builder to change the local drive signature: Click if you want to change the signature on the local drive.
  • Page 69 Creating a Client Image Click In order to restore the original configuration of your client OS, Windows needs to be stopped. This is required in order to com- pletely remove all the drivers installed previously. Click to shutdown the client computer. If you click Neoware Image Manager Client drivers will not be completely removed from the local OS.

  • Page 70: Testing The Image

    Creating a Client Image Testing the Image You can check that the image works correctly by running it on the Image Manager server as follows: Run NVDD with the parameter: -c nvdd.<image filename>.conf For example: Windows: nvdd.exe -c nvdd.disk0.vol.conf Linux/FreeBSD: ./nvdd -c nvdd.disk0.vol.conf Check that the messages displayed are OK.

  • Page 71: Advanced Client Builder Options

    Creating a Client Image Advanced Client Builder Options The Client Builder includes additional options for more advanced control over its operation. You can display these options by clicking Advanced settings button in the initial dialog displayed when you run Client Builder. You should not change the default settings in this dialog, except for the Virtual Memory settings, unless you are fully aware of the effect the changes will have.
  • Page 72 Creating a Client Image Disable Windows Updates Default: Checked This option prevents Windows from using the Automatic Updates features. You should NOT uncheck this option unless you only use volumes mounted in Admin mode (i.e. a unique volume for each client computer).
  • Page 73 Creating a Client Image system, such as an NTP server. For example, you can tweak the W32Time service according to the following document: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q223184 Disable Memory Dumps Default: Checked If Windows crashes, it tries by default to dump the crashed computer memory into a file that can be used later by experts to analyze the cause of the crash.
  • Page 74 Creating a Client Image Disable System Restore Default: Checked The System Restore feature enables users to restore a previous state of their hard disk. With Neoware Image Manager clients, system restore is usually not needed. It would use up disk space unnecessar- ily.

  • Page 75: Enabling Clients To Access Images

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Enabling Clients to CHAPTER 5 Access Images This chapter describes how to configure the network and clients so that hard disk images can be accessed. TFTP & DHCP Server Configuration Before clients can access and boot from images on the Neoware Image Manager server, your TFTP and DHCP server must be con- figured to serve the Neoware Primary Bootstrap Loader file mPX-...

  • Page 76: Chapter 5 Enabling Clients To Access Images

    Enabling Clients to Access Images Copy the file from the directory of the mPXELdr.bin Server Neoware Image Manager distribution package, into the direc- specified by the registry entry above. tory (Neoware Image Manager includes a utility called TFTPD Installer that helps you to do this. Refer to the appendix “The TFTPD Installer”...

  • Page 77: Dhcp Server Configuration

    Enabling Clients to Access Images DHCP Server Configure your DHCP server so that it serves the file mPXELdr.bin Configuration to the clients. (Refer to the DHCP , TFTP and PXE documentation for details.) If you use Microsoft Windows DHCP Server on a Windows 2000/ 2003 server, refer to the appendix “Configuring the DHCP Server”...

  • Page 78: Client Configuration

    Enabling Clients to Access Images Client Configuration If the client contains a bootable hard disk drive or flash disk, either disable the disk or physically remove it. Make sure the client is configured to boot with PXE (boot from LAN). Start the client.

  • Page 79: Troubleshooting

    Enabling Clients to Access Images Troubleshooting If you experience any problems when the client boots, such as a blue screen or the client freezing, please do the following: Power off the client. Wait for 1 minute. Power on the client again.
  • Page 80 Enabling Clients to Access Images Troubleshooting...

  • Page 81: Assigning Volumes To Clients

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Assigning Volumes CHAPTER 6 to Clients This chapter describes how to use the Image Manager Console to assign volumes to clients. Introduction This chapter describes how to use the Image Manager Console to assign volumes to clients. "Volume" is the name of the Virtual Disk Drive logical object.

  • Page 82: Chapter 6 Assigning Volumes To Clients

    Assigning Volumes to Clients To open a Neoware Image Manager Server configuration file in the File Open Console, display the menu and select . Neoware Image Manager Server configuration files have the file extension .conf You can also open a configuration file actually in use on a remote nvdd server by clicking the button in the tool bar.

  • Page 83: Adding New Clients

    Assigning Volumes to Clients its group. You can easily select or deselect volumes for a specific group by selecting the name of the group (or a computer within it) then clicking the relevant volume check boxes. If you want to make a computer a member of a group, just drag and drop the computer icon on the target group.

  • Page 84: Adding A New Group

    Assigning Volumes to Clients Typical subnet masks are: 32 This is the subnet mask for a single IP address. For example, 194.199.93.24/32 means a range of 1 IP address (a single client computer). 24 254 IP addresses (a complete class C). For example, 192.168.0.0/24 means all the IP addresses between 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.254.

  • Page 85: Assigning A Volume To A Group

    Assigning Volumes to Clients The drop-down list box will list all the bootable volumes currently associated with the group. Select the name of the default volume to boot from then click Note that if there are two or more bootable volumes associated with a group, when you switch on a client that belongs to that group, it will display a list of the volumes available to boot from.

  • Page 86: Creating Or Modifying A Volume

    Assigning Volumes to Clients Creating or Modifying a Volume You can create a new volume by right-clicking in the Volume panel Create Volume and selecting in the pop-up menu. You can modify an existing volume by double-clicking on the Volume item in the Prop- Volume panel, or by right-clicking on this item and selecting erties...
  • Page 87 Assigning Volumes to Clients Cylinders (size of volume image (bytes) / (512 * heads * sectors)) + 1 Note that Client Builder will automatically provide the correct geometry parameters when it creates an image file and the associ- ated configuration file. Parameters tab enables you to specify the client writing mode Volume Mode...
  • Page 88 Assigning Volumes to Clients CVOL tab enables you to specify a different directory for this volume’s CVol files if they are not to be stored in the general CVol directory. Note that the file paths are relative to the location of the running nvdd server.

  • Page 89: Adding A Volume From Another Configuration File

    Assigning Volumes to Clients Allowed Computers tab enables you to specify which computers are allowed to access this volume, and which computers are allowed in Admin mode. When you have finished specifying volume settings, click the button and the new volume name will appear in the Console Vol- umes list.
  • Page 90 Assigning Volumes to Clients Load volumes from file button to list the names of the volumes defined in the configuration file. Select the volume you want to copy to the current configuration file then click . The volume will appear in the Console Volumes list. Repeat for each volume you want to add.

  • Page 91: Changing A Volume's Write Mode

    Assigning Volumes to Clients Changing a Volume’s Write Mode You can quickly change the write mode of a volume. Just double- Volume Properties click on the name of the volume to display the Parameters dialog, then click on the tab. Volume Mode Special clients Change the...
  • Page 92 Assigning Volumes to Clients To connect to an Image Manager server, enter the server’s IP address, port number (leave as 0 if using default port number on Connect server side), and password if required, then click the button. Note that the drop-down list contains the server addresses that have been used previously, so you can quickly select one of these.
  • Page 93 Assigning Volumes to Clients The name of the configuration file currently being used by the remote server is also displayed. You can edit this configuration file Nvdd Manager Open conf file from within the dialog by clicking the server Save button.
  • Page 94 Assigning Volumes to Clients Modifying a Configuration File Currently Running...

  • Page 95: Controlling The Use Of Images & Volumes

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Controlling the Use of CHAPTER 7 Images & Volumes This chapter describes the image configuration file settings that determine how clients can use images and volumes. The Image Configuration File With each hard disk image it creates, Client Builder also creates a corresponding configuration file that allows you to control how the image is used by clients.

  • Page 96: Chapter 7 Controlling The Use Of Images & Volumes

    Controlling the Use of Images & Volumes Client Volume Overlay Files In the Image Manager system, a client mounts a server-based virtual disk drive (volume) consisting of a hard disk image file and a pair of Client Volume Overlay (CVol) files. The CVol files are created automatically by Neoware Image Manager Server based on settings in the hard disk image configuration file.

  • Page 97: Location Of Cvol Files

    Controlling the Use of Images & Volumes Location of CVol CVol files are stored in the same directory as the NVDD server Files module by default. You can specify a different general directory Tools using the Image Manager Console by displaying the menu >...

  • Page 98: Volume Write Modes

    Controlling the Use of Images & Volumes CVol file created for this volume can grow to using the Image Man- Properties ager Console. Right-click on the Volume name, select CVOL CVOL the pop-up menu, then click the tab in the dialog. The Size setting determines the total number of megabytes that can be used by each CVol data file.

  • Page 99: Admin Mode

    Controlling the Use of Images & Volumes Volume Mode settings enable you to specify the standard writing mode to be used when a client mounts the volume, while the Special Clients options enable you to specify a different writing Volume mode for individual clients.

  • Page 100: Volatile Mode

    Controlling the Use of Images & Volumes write cache file and will not be lost when the volume is re-mounted. This enables clients to have different configurations while sharing the same image file. The CVol files can be sent to remote sites where an identical refer- ence hard disk image file exists.
  • Page 101 Controlling the Use of Images & Volumes Note that if the hard disk image file is modified, the CVol files asso- ciated with it will be obsolete. Therefore Persistent mode should only be used when the original image file will not change often or when you can easily recreate persistent files after the image file has changed.
  • Page 102 Controlling the Use of Images & Volumes Volume Write Modes...

  • Page 103: Adding Network Boot Devices To An Image

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Adding Network Boot CHAPTER 8 Devices to an Image This chapter describes how to add bootable network card details to an image so it can be remote booted on different machines. Overview Neoware UbiBoot is a suite of tools that enable you to reduce the number of images required for a fleet of heterogeneous client hard- ware, making image management easier.

  • Page 104: Chapter 8 Adding Network Boot Devices To An Image

    Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image ‘Normal’ (an image with a CVol file that will still be accessible at the next reboot - the common image file itself must then be modified using the tool), or ‘Admin’ (we recommend that you cre- CVolMerge ate a backup copy of the image before making changes to it in Admin mode).

  • Page 105: Before Using The Ubiboot Extractor & Ubiboot Inserter Tools

    Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image Before Using the UbiBoot Extractor & UbiBoot Inserter Tools The data file created by UbiBoot Extractor must be stored in a work- space that is accessible by both source and destination machines. The workspace can be a USB key, a share on a networked machine, or any other storage that can be accessed by both machines.

  • Page 106: Extracting Boot Device Details

    Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image Extracting Boot Device Details Note: Before you perform the actual extraction process, we recom- mend that you update the Network Card Drivers on the computer whose hardware support is to be added to an existing Neoware Image Manager virtual disk.
  • Page 107 Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image Clicking on a device in the list will display a summary of its technical characteristics, such as its descriptive name and manu- facturer, the OS of the machine containing the device (in this case, the OS currently running on the machine), and some file information that describes the device driver and environment.
  • Page 108 Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image Note that if the device details have already stored as a file in the UbiBoot Extractor directory, the following dialog will be dis- played. Cancel Clicking will cancel the export operation. Clicking will overwrite the information currently stored for this NIC with the latest information.
  • Page 109 Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image All the information about the currently selected NIC will be saved in a file in the repository directory. By default the name of the file is the complete PCI ID of the network adapter with the extension.
  • Page 110 Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image IMPORTANT NOTE Starting with version 1.2 of the UbiBoot Extractor/Inserter pro- grams, the original date and time of the driver files (typically the files) are preserved across extraction and insertion. .INF .SYS Previous versions did not preserve the original date and time, and the files were marked as last modified at the time they were inserted.

  • Page 111: Inserting Boot Device Details Into An Image

    Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image Inserting Boot Device Details into an Image The following procedure will insert the details of a bootable network device in a Neoware Image Manager image. Start Neoware Image Manager Tools UbiBoot Select > >...
  • Page 112 Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image is too long for it to be displayed entirely, just leave your mouse pointer on it for a few seconds. A ’hint’ box will be displayed with the complete path. In the device list, any device that was extracted from a machine environment that is not strictly compatible with that of the cur- rent machine will appear in red letters.
  • Page 113 Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image Insert Click the button. If the device was marked in red in the list (the OS or HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) of the source and destination machines are not identical), the following con- firmation message(s) will pop up: Inserting Boot Device Details into an Image...
  • Page 114 Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image Even if the same NIC device drivers could be used on the source and destination machines, extracting and inserting are only sup- ported on source and destination machines that: run the same OS, service pack included. For example, •...
  • Page 115 Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image If the device files that you are about to insert into the NVD image are older than the device files in the current (destination) machine, warning and confirmation messages similar to the fol- lowing will appear: This message might be displayed twice, once for the device file and once for the device...
  • Page 116 Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image Save Log The log messages can be saved in a file by selecting File menu, or by copying and pasting them into a word pro- cessor. Exit Click the button to leave the program. Note: It is possible (although completely useless and strongly dis- couraged) to inject the same NIC information multiple times on the same machine.

  • Page 117: Testing The Image

    Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image Testing the Image When the Neoware Image Manager virtual disk on the destination machine has been correctly modified by UbiBoot Inserter, you must validate that the source machine can actually be booted off that image: If you were using CVolwrite/Normal mode on the destination machine, you might:...
  • Page 118 Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image itself using the tool and, optionally, the CVolMerge CVolCom- tool (if you intend to deploy the CVol file to remote pactor locations, for instance). The image has now been enhanced and you can now switch back to CVolwrite/Volatile mode.

  • Page 119: Building A Virtual Hard Disk To Boot Any Pc Or Tc

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Building a Virtual CHAPTER 9 Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC This chapter describes how to use Neoware UbiBoot to build a vir- tual hard disk that can boot a range of PC and TC configurations. What is Neoware UbiBoot? Neoware UbiBoot is a suite of tools that enable you to reduce the number of images required for a fleet of heterogeneous client hard-...

  • Page 120: Installing Neoware Ubiboot

    Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Create a hardware-independent Windows installation containing • operating system, hardware drivers and applications which can be used on any hardware configuration. The hardware will be detected and configured when Windows boots. Create a Windows installation containing all the hardware drivers •...

  • Page 121: Potential Incompatibilities

    Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Start with a freshly formatted hard disk containing a clean instal- • lation of Windows. Note that Pre-installed Windows setups often embed proprietary components that may not be compatible with all the hardware configurations your Windows installation may need to run on.

  • Page 122: Running Neoware Ubiboot

    Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Running Neoware UbiBoot The following basic procedure describes how to create a Windows system hard disk that can boot a variety of PC hardware configura- Client tions. It assumes that you have already installed the compo- nents of Neoware Image Manager on a regular IDE hard disk containing a correctly configured Windows installation in partition...
  • Page 123 Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Click the button. An end-user License Agreement dialog will be displayed. Read I accept the agreement and, if you agree to the terms, select then Go On click the button.
  • Page 124 Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Note that you can also run the executable file ( NIMCloner- ) “directly” as long as the required files ( GUI.exe NIM- ) are stored Cloner.exe NRdmpSvc.exe VVSAToolsDll.dll in the same directory as the executable file. Select as the target the hard disk drive that you will be using to detect the new hardware whose support is to be added to the operating system on the virtual disk drive.
  • Page 125 Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC HDD now has a UbiBoot-enabled Windows installation in its system partition. Connect the target HDD to the platform whose hardware is to be detected in order to add support for it. Switch on the PC or TC so that it boots off the target HDD.

  • Page 126: Using A Ubiboot Enabled Hard Disk

    Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC A hard disk image is created by running Client Builder on any of the clients that can be booted from the target HDD, as described in the chapter “Creating a Client Image” on page 39. If in the future you need to add or change a client configuration in the hard disk image, you may need to transfer the image to an actual IDE hard disk to enable Windows to recognise the new client hardware configuration.

  • Page 127: Detecting New Hardware

    Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Detecting New You must run Neoware UbiBoot each time you want to detect new Hardware hardware. If you don’t run Neoware UbiBoot just before connecting the UbiBoot enabled HD to the new hardware, Windows may not be able to start correctly (BSOD, reboot…) and then it won’t be able to detect the new hardware.

  • Page 128: Updating Or Removing Drivers For Off-Line Devices

    Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Updating or You can update all the drivers for different clients on a single com- Removing Drivers puter that boots a Neoware UbiBoot enabled system. You can also for Off-line Devices delete drivers for devices that will not be used anymore.

  • Page 129: Additional Uses For Neoware Ubiboot

    Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Additional Uses for Neoware UbiBoot Creating a Neoware UbiBoot enables you to create a Windows installation that Windows can be run on unknown hardware. This can then be used as a Installation that can hardware independent pre-installed and preconfigured Windows Run Unknown...
  • Page 130 Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC HAL, • ACPI PIC ( HALACPI.DLL ACPI Uniprocessor PC HAL, ACPI APIC UP ( • HALAACPI.DLL ACPI Multiprocessor PC HAL, ACPI APIC MP ( •...

  • Page 131: Mixing Acpi & Non-Acpi Computers

    Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Mixing ACPI & Non-ACPI Computers Advanced Control and Power Interface (ACPI) is considered by Windows 2000/XP/2003 OS as the root-most device in a PC archi- tecture. A Windows 2000/XP/2003 installation that was made for an ACPI enabled computer will not be able to boot a non-ACPI com- puter, even if Neoware UbiBoot has been applied to the system HD.

  • Page 132: Downgrading Hal After Windows Installation

    Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Windows, you can disable ACPI in your PC BIOS setup before you install Windows. You can also press the F5 key during the first part of the Windows Press F6 if you need to install a SCSI installation (when you can see or RAID controller Standard PC...

  • Page 133: Recommended Hal

    Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Finish Close Click then Reboot the computer. Let Windows re-detect the hardware (detection may not occur). The HAL used by the Windows installation on the system drive (either HDD or virtual drive) is now the one you just selected. Recommended HAL Depending on the fleet of computers that must boot off the same UbiBooted drive, we recommend you use the following HAL:...

  • Page 134: Windows Product Activation

    Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Windows Product Activation When changing the hardware of a Windows system that needs to be activated (Windows XP, Microsoft Office XP, etc.), you may need to re-activate the product. It is recommended that you use VLA (Volume License Agreement) editions of the products.

  • Page 135: Ubiboot Expiry Date

    Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC after the image is enriched with new or modified hardware, necessi- tating the handling of multiple logical images. Note that both Neoware UbiBoot and Microsoft SysPrep may be used together. SysPrep will not overwrite what UbiBoot has done. UbiBoot Expiry Date The UbiBoot expiry date, if any, only affects the GUI application that runs when you apply Neoware UbiBoot.
  • Page 136 Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC Your client can use at least one of the following protocols: • HTTP protocol using port 80, either directly or through a proxy server. SNTP protocol to connect to NTP servers outside your LAN. This protocol uses UDP port 123.
  • Page 137 Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC After I applied Neoware UbiBoot successfully, Windows detected my new hardware and is running correctly but is very slow and reacts as if it was overloaded. There might be a process that is using a lot of system resources. Process Open the Task Manager, click on the tab, check the box...
  • Page 138 Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or TC After moving an UbiBooted HDD that was made for an AMD- based Windows installation to an Intel-based computer, the Intel- based computer cannot boot. The computer blue screens or reboots just before the desktop should be displayed.

  • Page 139: Managing Local Hard Disk Access

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Managing Local CHAPTER 10 Hard Disk Access This chapter describes how to enable or disable client access to local hard disks. Introduction Neoware Image Manager clients can be customized in order to enable or disable access to local hard disks. This is achieved using the Local HD Manager wizard LocalHDManager.exe The Local HD Manager wizard modifies a virtual disk image so...

  • Page 140: Chapter 10 Managing Local Hard Disk Access

    Managing Local Hard Disk Access Backup the HD image on the server. Modify the relevant configuration (using Neoware Image nvdd Manager Console or a text editor) so that the virtual volume will be opened in Admin mode. Reload the new configuration to the NVDD server module Reload conf file (either click the button in the Neoware Image...
  • Page 141 Managing Local Hard Disk Access Enable delayed (or late) local HDs detection - Windows will detect the local disk drives in the second (or third) part of the boot process (not as boot devices). This is useful when there are issues accessing certain local disk drives.
  • Page 142 Managing Local Hard Disk Access Start at least one client computer and check that access to the local HDs meet your requirements. NOTES Local HDs Detection Note that the setting will apply to all local • HDs. If you need more detailed options, such as preventing some specific drive letters to appear in Windows Explorer, you may want to use TweakUI.

  • Page 143: Windows Product Activation

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Windows Product CHAPTER 11 Activation This chapter describes how to activate Windows products for Image Manager clients. Introduction Windows XP and some other products edited by Microsoft need to be activated. This activation is made through a link between a unique Product Key and data that are specific to each computer.

  • Page 144: Chapter 11 Windows Product Activation

    Windows Product Activation CVolwrite/Persistent (or CVolwrite/Normal) client writing mode so that each client machine would have its own activation link. Product Activation Procedure The administrator can use the following procedure to activate products. Modify the configuration file (using Neoware Image Man- nvdd ager Console or a text editor) so that the system volume will be opened in CVolwrite/Persistent write mode (or in CVolwrite/...
  • Page 145 Windows Product Activation When you use this method to manage activations, you must re-acti- vate each client computer every time the shared HD image file is modified. This is because the reference CVol files that contain the individual activation data are not valid anymore (they contain client- specific differences (deltas) to the HD image file).
  • Page 146 Windows Product Activation Product Activation Procedure...

  • Page 147: Windows User Profiles

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Windows User CHAPTER 12 Profiles This chapter describes how to configure your Neoware Image Manager system so that clients can use Windows user profiles. Domain Roaming Profiles Neoware Image Manager can be used to set up a system in which user profiles are kept persistent.

  • Page 148: Local" Roaming Profiles

    Windows User Profiles "Local" Roaming Profiles You can use an original setup where all the users are created only on the reference local shared configuration (in fact in the local system users accounts database). Users are created on a client computer booted from an actual HD or from a remote HD Image in Admin mode.
  • Page 149 Windows User Profiles Boot only ONE client. On the client computer, issue the following command at the command prompt for each user created earlier: net user <UserName> /profilepath:\\<ProfileServerIP- AddressOrName>\<UserName>\PROFILE Log on successively with each user login name and password and check that everything is running correctly. (This step is rec- ommended because it will create the appropriate “local profile folders”...

  • Page 150: Folders Redirection

    Windows User Profiles ing documentation). Local Settings may contain, typically, Outlook files, WallPaper etc. The directories should not be in this Local Settings History list. The directory Local Settings\Application Data\ may be in this list, though it is not in this list by Microsoft\Windows default.

  • Page 151: Adding Clients & New Software

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Adding Clients & CHAPTER 13 New Software This chapter describes how to add a new client, add new software, and restore a virtual hard disk volume to an actual hard disk. Adding a New Client When you add a new client so that it boots off one of the existing virtual drives, its hardware must be 100% identical to the clients that can boot off that virtual drive.

  • Page 152: Chapter 13 Adding Clients & New Software

    Adding Clients & New Software Modifying an HD Image to be Used by Several Clients Using Admin Mode The following procedure enables you to make changes to a hard disk image that is used by several clients. For example, to add a new application so that it is available to all the clients.

  • Page 153: Using The Cvolmerge Tool

    Adding Clients & New Software Reload the new configuration to the NVDD server module Reload conf file (either click the button in the Neoware Image NVDD Manager Manager Console dialog, or stop then restart the NVDD server module). Boot only the client that will perform the changes. Log on to this client with a user that has enough rights to per- form the desired changes on the volume.
  • Page 154 Adding Clients & New Software Make sure your NVDD server module runs so that the system vol- ume you want to modify is mounted in CVolwrite/Normal mode by the client used to perform the changes on the HD image file. Let us assume that the volume you want to modify is named and that the corresponding image file path is MyDisk...
  • Page 155 Adding Clients & New Software When CVolMerge completes, you have two images: the original unchanged image on which clients are still running, and the new updated image. To make your clients boot from the new image, you can either (1) stop all clients and change the configuration file so that they boot from the new one, or (2) let the clients run the old image and make the NVDD server give them the new one the next time they reboot.
  • Page 156 Adding Clients & New Software You can keep the old image definition in the configuration file. Then, when you update the new image using the CVolMerge tool, you can commit the changes to update the old image file which will become your newest image. For example, let us assume you have two image files: , and the corresponding vol- MyImage1.vol...

  • Page 157: Managing & Updating Images Located At Multiple Remote Sites

    Adding Clients & New Software Managing & Updating Images Located at Multiple Remote Sites Neoware Image Manager servers are usually located on the same LAN as the clients that mount the virtual volumes. If you have sev- eral servers at different locations (at different branches for example), you may require a mirrored copy of the same image at each location.
  • Page 158 Adding Clients & New Software On the Remote NVDD server(s) (the server(s) containing the mir- rored copy of the same image that is mounted by local clients): Decompress (unzip) the CVol file. (You can use the nvddadmin tool to do this.) to merge the CVol file and the image file into a CVolMerge new updated image file.
  • Page 159 Adding Clients & New Software file on the Master server. %3 is the image filename on the servers. %4 is the UNC Path of the remote server folder in which the CVol File is to be copied and where the Image to be modified resides.

  • Page 160: Restoring A Virtual Volume To An Actual Hard Disk

    Adding Clients & New Software Restoring a Virtual Volume to an Actual Hard Disk It may sometimes be necessary to dump the current system volume that a Neoware Image Manager client used to boot from to an actual hard disk. This is necessary if you intend to use Neoware UbiBoot in order for an existing volume to be used on new hardware and you cannot use the UbiBoot Extractor and Inserter tools.
  • Page 161 Adding Clients & New Software the primary partition in the local hard drive can be different from the filesystem of the current system volume (for instance, the system volume can use FAT32 filesystem and the target parti- tion can be formatted with NTFS filesystem). Use the computer to which the actual HD is physically connected to perform these operations.
  • Page 162 Adding Clients & New Software \\MYSERVER\NIMCLONER\NIMCLONER E: Neoware Active Cloner will dump the contents of the actual system partition used to boot the client onto the target partition in the actual local hard disk. It uses an incremental cloning system so that files that are the same in the source and the target partition are not actu- ally copied.

  • Page 163: Adding Clients To Windows Domains

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Adding Clients to CHAPTER 14 Windows Domains This chapter describes how to add Neoware Image Manager cli- ents to a Windows domain using the Neoware Domain Wizard. Introduction The Neoware Domain Wizard enables you to add NeoDomain.exe Image Manager clients to a Windows domain.

  • Page 164: Chapter 14 Adding Clients To Windows Domains

    Adding Clients to Windows Domains Domain Credentials are stored when the client computer shuts down. When a client computer boots off a shared virtual HD it will use its own personalized Domain Credentials. Repository for Domain Credentials The Neoware Domain Wizard can store the domain credentials for each member either in a directory on the server (default), the system partition, or in another partition.

  • Page 165: Repository In A Non-System Partition

    Adding Clients to Windows Domains will not be saved with the domain credentials because the system Virtual HD is mounted in CVolwrite/Volatile mode. The domain controllers will assume that the client knows its new password when this password has actually been forgotten by the client when it rebooted.
  • Page 166 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Same Repository used by Different Shared System HD Images When the repository is stored on a Neoware Image Manager server or in a separate drive, the domain credentials can be associated with different shared system HD images that have been created from a common "strain"...

  • Page 167: Storing Domain Credentials In An Nvdd Server Directory

    Adding Clients to Windows Domains client computer can still be a member of the domain and use the same domain credentials no matter which HD image was used to boot up the computer. Another application of this unique feature is when the Administrator changes the unique HD image that is assigned to a client computer as its system image.
  • Page 168 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Shutdown all the clients that are using the image you will be modifying. If you will be working on a copy of an image created in the previous step, make sure that no clients are using that image.
  • Page 169 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Next Click to continue. Storing Domain Credentials in an NVDD Server Directory...
  • Page 170 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Repository on Image Manager server Select the option (default) Next then click If you use CVolwrite/Volatile mode for your system Virtual HD, you should keep the default options. Apply Click to continue. Operation completed You will see the message in the Neoware Domain Wizard window.
  • Page 171 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Storing Domain Credentials in an NVDD Server Directory...
  • Page 172 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Storing Domain Credentials in an NVDD Server Directory...
  • Page 173 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Storing Domain Credentials in an NVDD Server Directory...
  • Page 174 Adding Clients to Windows Domains When needed, provide the domain administrative account user name and password. If a computer account already exists in the domain for the client, you can re-use this account. Reboot the computer. Log on to the client computer using any Domain Account. Shutdown the client computer.

  • Page 175: Windows 2000 Professional Clients

    Adding Clients to Windows Domains Windows 2000 The procedure is the same as for Windows XP Professional clients Professional Clients described in the previous section, except that there is no Network ID wizard in Windows 2000. Instead, you have to do the following to replace Network ID wizard operations: Control Panel System...
  • Page 176 Adding Clients to Windows Domains It is possible to use automated scripts that use the Microsoft netdom utility in order to perform the "join domain" task. for Windows 2000 sp4 clients is available at the following Netdom Internet address: http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/service- packs/SP4/supporttools.asp for Windows XP sp2 clients is available at the following Netdom...
  • Page 177 Adding Clients to Windows Domains In order for such a script to work, you have to make sure that: is in the system search path (for example, copy it in • netdom.exe c:\windows\system32 the Environment variables • DomainName UserName UserPass are consistent.

  • Page 178: Storing Domain Credentials On A Non-Volatile Drive

    Adding Clients to Windows Domains Storing Domain Credentials on a Non-Volatile Drive The following procedure requires that you use the Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional operating system. Before you perform the following procedure, make sure that the client computer is not a member of a domain. If it is a member of a domain, you must remove it before you continue.
  • Page 179 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Save the configuration file in Neoware Image Manager nvdd Console. Reload the configuration file in Neoware Image Manager nvdd Console so that the writing mode changes are taken into account. Boot ONE client. Log on this client using an Administrator Local User Account (a user account local to this client user’s database with administra- tive rights).
  • Page 180 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Next Click to continue. Repository in non-system Partition Select the option Path to repository folder In the field , enter the path of the direc- tory in which you do want the domain credentials to be stored Storing Domain Credentials on a Non-Volatile Drive...
  • Page 181 Adding Clients to Windows Domains (e.g. ). Note that you can only choose a directory on an exist- ing drive as the path to repository folder. Hide repository drive in Windows If you check the option Explorer , the drive on which the repository is housed will not appear in Windows explorer.
  • Page 182 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Operation completed You will see the message in the Neoware Domain Wizard window. Make sure that the client preferred DNS IP address is set to a Domain Controller IP address. You may need to tune your DHCP server options in order to set the preferred DNS server for your clients.
  • Page 183 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Reload the configuration file in the Image Manager Con- nvdd sole so that the writing mode changes are taken into account. Boot one other client. Log on this client using an Administrator Local User Account (a user account local to this client user’s database with administra- tive rights).

  • Page 184: Client Ip Addresses

    Adding Clients to Windows Domains Optional, depending on the "no-need for reboot" validation (refer to the section “Do I Need to Reboot?” on page 169): Use the Neoware Image Manager Console to change the default writ- ing mode for the virtual system volume (the volume usually mounted as on your clients) to CVolwrite/Volatile.

  • Page 185: Do I Need To Reboot

    Adding Clients to Windows Domains add to domain again using scripts run by the clients when they boot- It is possible to use automated scripts that use the Microsoft netdom utility in order to perform the "leave domain" and "join domain" tasks.

  • Page 186: Storing Domain Credentials In The System Partition

    Adding Clients to Windows Domains Try to log on to each of these client computers with Domain User • credentials. If you can log on these clients using Domain User name and pass- word, you do not need to reboot between removing and joining each client to the domain again.
  • Page 187 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Log on this client using an Administrator Local User Account (a user account local to this client user’s database with administra- tive rights). Do not use a domain user account. On this client, launch the Neoware Domain Wizard either from Start Programs Neoware...
  • Page 188 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Next Click to continue. Repository in System Partition Select the option then click Next If you use CVolwrite/Volatile mode for your system Virtual HD, you should keep the default options. Storing Domain Credentials in the System Partition...
  • Page 189 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Refer to the following web sites for information on the Fore- ground Policy option: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q305293/ http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/ windowsserver2003/library/ServerHelp/274e614e-f515- 4b80-b794-fe09b5c21bad.mspx Apply Click to continue. Operation completed You will see the message in the Neoware Domain Wizard window. Make sure that the client preferred DNS IP address is set to a Domain Controller IP address.

  • Page 190: Client Names

    Adding Clients to Windows Domains Log on this client using an Administrator Local User Account (a user account local to this client users database with administra- tive rights), not a domain user account. Repeat steps 13-20 until all the required client computers’ accounts are created.
  • Page 191 Adding Clients to Windows Domains It is possible to add Neoware Image Manager clients to the domain without having to sit in front of each client to perform domain mem- bership subscription. You can just use one client PC to add all the clients into the domain.
  • Page 192 Adding Clients to Windows Domains Storing Domain Credentials in the System Partition...

  • Page 193: Merging Image & Cvol Files

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Merging Image & CHAPTER 15 CVol Files This chapter describes how to use the CVolMerge tool to create a new hard disk image from an existing image and a CVol file. Introduction tool enables you to create a new hard disk image CVolMerge file from an existing image and a CVol file, or update an existing image with the content of a CVol file.

  • Page 194: Chapter 15 Merging Image & Cvol Files

    Merging Image & CVol Files C:\Program Files\Neoware\Image_Manager_4.6\Server\ FreeBSD\Dynamic\Tools C:\Program Files\Neoware\Image_Manager_4.6\Server\ FreeBSD\Static\Tools Using the CVolCompactor Tool tool is used to reduce the size of a CVol file CVolCompactor before merging it with a hard disk image file. will look at the sectors in the CVol file and compare CVolCompactor them with the sectors in the image file.
  • Page 195 Merging Image & CVol Files Please note that does not check if the parameter CVolMerge <CVol actually refers to a CVol file relative to the hard disk file path> image in <Existing HD image file path> Also, remember that the parameter is [new HD image file] optional;...
  • Page 196 Merging Image & CVol Files Using the CVolMerge Tool...

  • Page 197: The Image Manager Console

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual The Image Manager CHAPTER 16 Console This chapter describes how to use the Image Manager Console to change settings in an nvdd configuration file. Introduction The Image Manager Console provides a graphical interface for editing an configuration file.
  • Page 198 The Image Manager Console . (See later in this chapter for how to open a server configura- .conf tion file of a server that is actually running, and how to reload a modified configuration file into a server that is running.) When an image configuration file is opened in the Image Manager Console, the two panels will list the associated Clients and Volumes.

  • Page 199: The Toolbar

    The Image Manager Console The Toolbar The toolbar provides a quick way of accessing menu options just by clicking a button. To create a new configuration file. Open To open an existing configuration file. Save To save the currently opened configuration file. New Group To define a new group of computers.

  • Page 200: The File Menu

    The Image Manager Console Search To search an object. About About To open the dialog. The File Menu File menu provides standard functions for opening and saving files, and exiting the Image Manager Console. The Edit Menu Edit menu enables you to create clients and volumes, and view and edit their properties.

  • Page 201: The Tools Menu

    The Image Manager Console Create Selecting will display a menu enabling you to create a new Computer Group Volume . Note that you must select a corre- sponding object in the relevant Console panel in order to create a new version of that object. The dialogs displayed when you select Properties these options are the same as those when you select Properties...

  • Page 202: The View Menu

    The Image Manager Console Nvdd Manager Selecting will display a dialog enabling you to con- nect to a running Image Manager server and open and edit configu- ration files on it. Merge conf file Selecting will display a dialog that enables you to open another configuration file in order to copy volume settings from it into the currently open configuration file.

  • Page 203: Client Properties

    The Image Manager Console Edit Properties Properties ing the menu and selecting dialog is displayed when you create a Computer, Group or Volume. Client Properties Client Properties dialog enables you to specify the properties of a client Object. These properties contain the name assigned to the client object, whether this object is a collection of workstations or a subnet (or a single workstation), or an individual client identified by its IP address or MAC address.
  • Page 204 The Image Manager Console or specifying a unique MAC Address, Displaying & Changing Properties...
  • Page 205 The Image Manager Console or specifying an IP subnet. When idenfified as a subnet, the identification is made of two fields. The IP address (address of the “network”) and the subnet mask. Typical subnet masks are: 32 This is the subnet mask for a single IP address. For example, 194.599.93.24/32 means a range of 1 IP address (a single client computer).
  • Page 206 The Image Manager Console If several definitions exist that match the same client, the priorities are as follows (highest priority first): MAC address, Unique IP address (actually IP subnet with subnet mask of 32 bits), IP subnet with subnet mask of 31 bits, IP subnet with subnet mask of 30 bits, IP subnet with subnet mask of 1 bit, IP subnet with subnet mask of 0 bit (actually 0.0.0.0/0, the...

  • Page 207: Group Properties

    The Image Manager Console If you want this client to follow the default behaviour set in the Generic Properties Use Generic Option dialog, check the check box. Use Generic Option Note that when is checked, the greyed options Enabled will reflect the value of the default options (either Disable For more information on client naming, refer to the section “Client Naming”...

  • Page 208: Volume Properties

    The Image Manager Console Volume Properties Volume Properties dialog provides a range of options for defin- ing a volume that can be accessed by clients. It is divided into sev- General eral tabs, with the tab shown by default. Refer to the section “Creating a Volume”...

  • Page 209: Creating A Volume

    The Image Manager Console Creating a Volume You can create a new volume either by right-clicking in the Volume Create Volume panel and selecting in the pop-up menu, or by dis- Edit Create Volume playing the menu and selecting then .
  • Page 210 The Image Manager Console names of the CVol files are directly derived from the related Volume name and changing this name while the volume is mounted by Neoware Image Manager client will crash the clients. The Console will display a warning when you want to change an existing volume name File name Specify the name of the hard disk image file to use in the...

  • Page 211: The Parameters Tab

    The Image Manager Console The Parameters Tab Parameters tab enables you to specify the client writing mode for the volume and how it is shared. Volume Mode settings enable you to specify the standard writ- Special clients ing mode to be used, while the options enable you to specify a different writing mode for individual clients.

  • Page 212: The Cvol Tab

    The Image Manager Console The CVol Tab CVOL tab enables you to specify a different directory for this volume’s CVol files if they are not to be stored in the general CVol General Generic Properties directory (specified in the tab of the dialog).

  • Page 213: The Computers Tab

    The Image Manager Console The Computers tab Computers tab will display the names of all the computers that can share this volume. (This is not where you specify which comput- ers share the volume.) Double-clicking on a group or computer name will display the rele- Properties vant dialog.

  • Page 214: The Allowed Computers Tab

    The Image Manager Console The Allowed Computers Tab Allowed Computers tab enables you to specify which computers or subnets are allowed to access this volume, and which computers or subnets are allowed in Admin mode. Allowed computers Admin computers To add a computer to the list, select the computer name in the central list box then click the + (plus) button under the relevant list box to add it to that list.

  • Page 215: Generic Options

    The Image Manager Console Generic Options The General Tab General tab enables you to specify settings that affect network access, the directory to use for client volumes, and the default maxi- mum size of the CVol file and the default Client-Driven name change behaviour.
  • Page 216 The Image Manager Console Flush disk data on write operation option is used when you want to make 100% sure that when a client sends a request to write some data, it gets an acknowledgement that the write operation suc- ceeded when the data have actually been written on the disk drive.

  • Page 217: The Directories Tab

    The Image Manager Console allow specific clients to override this general setting. For more infor- mation on client naming, refer to the section “Client Naming” on page 233. Client-Driven Name Change Note: If you disable the parameter (default behavior) and you enable Client-Driven Name Change for the Client Object “everybody”...
  • Page 218 The Image Manager Console CVOL Volume directory for a volume’s CVol files on the tab of the Properties dialog. Client files folder setting specifies the root directory for file transfer. Files transferred by a client will be placed in a subdirectory within this directory.

  • Page 219: The Executable Paths Tab

    The Image Manager Console The Executable Paths Tab Binary files folder setting specifies the path to the tools that can be launched by the server during a remote session from nvddadmin MD5 Executable Archiver Executable enable you to specify dif- ferent executable files to the default ones used for these operations.
  • Page 220 The Image Manager Console Archiver Executable default: (Windows) or gunzip.exe gunzip (Linux/FreeBSD). Archiver Parameters default: the only parameter given to the exe- cutable file will be the filename given by the administrator through Archiver Parameters . If is set, the parameters will be nvddadmin given first, followed by the filename.

  • Page 221: The Network Tab

    The Image Manager Console The Network Tab Network tab specifies the address and port to use for communi- cating with clients, and the Admin protocol address and port for communicating with the Image Manager server. Admin protocol is used by Client Builder to create the image file and by Neoware Image Manager Console to control running servers.

  • Page 222: The Authorized Subnets Tab

    The Image Manager Console The Authorized Subnets Tab Authorized subnets tab is a security feature that allows you to configure the subnets the Image Manager server will accept. The server will accept requests from any IP address if no subnets are specified here.

  • Page 223: The Nvdd Manager

    The Image Manager Console The Nvdd Manager One of the most useful features of the Console is the ability to man- age running Image Manager servers. Nvdd Manager Nvdd Manager Display the dialog by selecting in the Tools menu. This enables you to connect to and manage Image Man- ager servers directly.
  • Page 224 The Image Manager Console When the Console runs on a computer that also runs the Neoware Nvdd Manager Image Manager server module, you can use and con- nect to IP address 127.0.0.1 (local host) or to any of the server’s assigned IP addresses.

  • Page 225: Merging Configuration Files

    The Image Manager Console Merging Configuration Files The Console enables you to import volume details stored in another configuration file, especially single-volume configuration files cre- ated using Client Builder. The merge command enables you to copy volume definitions from another configuration file into the current configuration file.

  • Page 226: Password For Remote Administration

    The Image Manager Console File name then change the path specified in , or browse to find the image file. Click to finish. Volume IDs for imported volumes may also have to be tuned manually so that they do not use an exist- ing ID.
  • Page 227 The Image Manager Console Note: can be used while is running. You do not NvddPasswd nvdd need to restart for the new password to be taken into account nvdd for new connections. Password for Remote Administration...
  • Page 228 The Image Manager Console Password for Remote Administration...

  • Page 229: The Nvdd Configuration File

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual The NVDD CHAPTER 17 Configuration File This chapter describes the nvdd configuration file and the settings that can be specified in it. Introduction configuration file is used to define virtual hard disk vol- nvdd umes and specify which clients can access them. Every hard disk image that Client Builder creates will have an associated configura- tion file called .

  • Page 230: The Nvdd.smalldisk.vol.conf File

    The NVDD Configuration File The nvdd.smalldisk.vol.conf File file supplied in the Image Manager nvdd.smalldisk.vol.conf installation provides default configuration settings for the basic hard disk volume that is used as the foundation for creat- smalldisk.vol ing hard disk images and volumes for clients to access. The following shows the initial contents of the configuration file .

  • Page 231: The Nvdd Configuration File

    The NVDD Configuration File disk_threads=1 recv_buf=131072 send_buf=131072 client_files_dir=./ bin_directory=./tools certificate_file=./nimcert.pem certificate_passwd=78gfd3sD # USERS definitions users=everybody, admin everybody.subnets=0.0.0.0/0 admin.subnets=127.0.0.1/32 # VOLUME definitions #volumes = vol0, vol1 volumes=SmallDisk SmallDisk.id=1 SmallDisk.file=smalldisk.vol SmallDisk.desc=Small 8MB Virtual Volume SmallDisk.cylinders=1 SmallDisk.heads=255 SmallDisk.sectors=63 SmallDisk.floppy=false SmallDisk.boot_device=false SmallDisk.check_cvol=true SmallDisk.no_admin_cvol=true SmallDisk.write_mode=cvolwrite SmallDisk.cvol_mode=volatile SmallDisk.sectors_map_size=0 SmallDisk.client_volumes_dir=...
  • Page 232 The NVDD Configuration File SmallDisk.users=admin, everybody SmallDisk.unicast_users=admin, everybody SmallDisk.admin_users=admin, everybody SmallDisk.admin_mode_users= SmallDisk.normal_mode_users= SmallDisk.volatile_mode_users= # GROUP definitions groups=group0 #group0.vols = vol0, vol1 group0.vols=SmallDisk group0.unicast=true group0.read_only=false group0.users=everybody, admin The nvdd.smalldisk.vol.conf File...

  • Page 233: Configuration File Settings

    The NVDD Configuration File Configuration File Settings The following configuration file setting descriptions generally fol- low the order shown in the example file nvdd.smalldisk.vol.conf shown in the previous section. Comments can be specified in the configuration file by beginning the line with the # character. Caution: Neoware Image Manager will erase existing comments when it modifies a configuration file.

  • Page 234: Timing

    The NVDD Configuration File authorized_subnets (optional – default: all subnets) If this setting is present, will deny access to clients whose IP nvdd addresses do not match the comma-separated list of subnets. A subnet definition is of the form: a.b.c.d[/bits|:netmask] where , and must be fully specified.

  • Page 235: Directories For File Transfer

    The NVDD Configuration File Directories for File client_files_dir = ./files/ Transfer This option specifies the root directory for file transfer. Files transferred by a client will be placed in a subdirectory within this directory. The name of each subdirectory will consist of the MAC address of the client initiating the file transfer.
  • Page 236 The NVDD Configuration File Md5_params = [<params>] (optional) is set, this option is used to give the executable file its md5_file command line. By default, the only parameter given to the executable file will be the filename given by the administrator through .

  • Page 237: Certificate File

    The NVDD Configuration File Certificate File certificate_file=./Certificates/cacert.pem This specifies the name of the SSL certificate that the server is to use for admin connection. Although SSL encryption is disabled in Neoware Image Manager 4.5, the certificate file must still be present and the parameter that specifies its path must be correctly set.

  • Page 238: Computer Name Change Default

    The NVDD Configuration File have to respond to many Delayed Write Failed messages by clicking button). You can then increase the sector map size value so that when the server is restarted the client can continue its write operations. If the CVol file becomes full and the sector map size for a volume is the same as the total number of sectors in the volume, a "Disk Full"...

  • Page 239: Number Of Processing Units

    The NVDD Configuration File This option is intended to be used in a high-availability environment when there are several servers that can write to the same shared storage. Number of disk_thread Processing Units (optional – default: Specifies the number of processing units dedicated to disk opera- tions.

  • Page 240: Client Mac Address

    The NVDD Configuration File A station is identified by its IP address and given the name of the last matching subnet of different client (named “users”) definitions. More details about IP addresses notation with slash can be found here: http://www.erg.abdn.ac.uk/users/gorry/course/inet- pages/ip-address.html Note that if the subnets restrict the identification to a unique com- puter (bits=32), then the client will be able to receive its name from...

  • Page 241: Computer Name Change

    The NVDD Configuration File Computer Name <user>.save_name=[true¦false] Change This option defines the behavior of the server when the client changes its name during a session. If it is not specified, it defaults to the global value default_save_name When defined for a subnet, this parameter is applied to all the clients that belong to this subnet and do not belong to a more precise subnet or are not defined by MAC address.

  • Page 242: Volume Geometry

    The NVDD Configuration File choose from (i.e. if several bootable volumes are available to this client). For example: disk0.desc=Windows XP sp2 (Back Office) Volume Geometry The following parameters are created by Client Builder when it cre- ates the image file and associated configuration file. <volume_name>.cylinders Specifies the number of cylinders for the virtual disk.

  • Page 243: Volume Integrity

    The NVDD Configuration File This parameter is now obsolete and performs no function. It is retained only for compatibility with earlier versions of Neoware Image Manager. Volume Integrity <volume_name>.check_cvol (optional – default: false This parameter is used to make check the integrity of CVol nvdd files before opening them.
  • Page 244 The NVDD Configuration File If the write mode is set to , then the command cvolwrite cvol_mode specifies the submode. You can also specify different write modes for specific clients using the same volume, so the default write mode is ignored. The follow- ing commands would be used to indicate which clients are to use which mode: <vol_name>.admin_mode_users=<comma separated clients>...
  • Page 245 The NVDD Configuration File will have the same name plus the extension for the header, and .ref for the data file. If this reference CVol does not exist, it .ref.dat will be copied from the existing CVol file for this client. This means that the first time a volume is opened by a client in Persistent mode, the reference CVol file is automatically copied from the existing CVol file.

  • Page 246: Directory For Cvol Files

    The NVDD Configuration File CVol file folder and will be treated as a normal CVol. Note that in this case, when the client reboots, the reference CVol file will be created from the current CVol file for this client (file ) as described in Case 2 above.

  • Page 247: Allowed Clients

    The NVDD Configuration File Allowed Clients <volume_name>.users Comma separated list of clients allowed to access this volume. <volume_name>.admin_users (optional) Comma separated list of clients allowed to access this volume as administrators. Note that only one administrator client is allowed at the same time.
  • Page 248 The NVDD Configuration File <group_name>.unicast (optional – default: false This specifies if the stations should mount volumes in unicast or not. Values: true false <group_name>.read_only (optional – default: false This specifies if the station should mount volumes in read only mode or not.

  • Page 249: Client Naming

    The NVDD Configuration File Client Naming Neoware Image Manager uses several methods to assign names to clients. You can either specify the name of a client directly in the configuration file using the NVD protocol (highest priority), or nvdd if no name is specified one will be assigned either based on DHCP option 12 (client host name) or, if no DHCP option 12 was set for this client, a name consisting of the letter H + the client MAC address.

  • Page 250: Updating Client Name From Client

    The NVDD Configuration File Updating Client When a client name has been set using the NVD protocol, it can be Name from Client updated from the client side. At shutdown time the client sends a message to the NVDD server in which the client’s name is embed- ded.

  • Page 251: Enabling Client Multiboot

    The NVDD Configuration File Enabling Client MultiBoot Neoware Image Manager provides a MultiBoot feature. When two or more bootable volumes are associated with a client, the client will display the descriptions of these volumes so that the user can select the one to boot from.
  • Page 252 The NVDD Configuration File gets the parameter of each bootable mPXELdr <volume_name>.desc volume. displays this description after the number assigned mPXELdr to the corresponding volume. If there is no <volume_name>.desc parameter for a specific volume, will not not display any- mPXELdr thing after The first volume in the list is assigned the number 1, the second vol-...
  • Page 253 The NVDD Configuration File inition to be non-bootable. For example, you could have the follow- ing entries in the configuration file: nvdd volumes= VolXPHE, VolXP, VolXPNoBoot VolXPHE.file=VolXPHE.vol VolXPHE.desc="Windows XP HOME Edition" VolXPHE.boot_device=true VolXP.file=VolXP.vol VolXP.desc="Windows XP PRO" VolXP.boot_device=true VolXPNoBoot.file=VolXP.vol VolXPNoBoot.desc="Windows XP PRO Non Bootable" VolXPNoBoot.boot_device=false groups= group0, group1 group0.vols=VolXPHE, VolXP...

  • Page 254: Example Nvdd.conf With Multi-Volume Support

    The NVDD Configuration File Example nvdd.conf with Multi-Volume Support The following example configuration file shows typical set- nvdd tings for multi-volume support. # nvdd.conf generated by Neoware Image Manager Console #Network Settings address=0.0.0.0 port=2184 admin_addr=0.0.0.0 admin_port=29035 authorized_subnets= #Server settings max_idle_time=3600 sectors_map_size=2000000 default_save_name=true disk_threads=1...
  • Page 255 The NVDD Configuration File # VOLUME definitions volumes=disk2, disk1 disk2.id=1 disk2.file=./disk2.vol disk2.desc=disk2 disk2.cylinders=447 disk2.heads=255 disk2.sectors=63 disk2.floppy=false disk2.boot_device=true disk2.check_cvol=true disk2.no_admin_cvol=true disk2.write_mode=cvolwrite disk2.cvol_mode=normal disk2.sectors_map_size=0 disk2.client_volumes_dir= disk2.cache_size=0 disk2.type=0 disk2.users=admin, everybody disk2.unicast_users=admin, everybody disk2.admin_users=admin disk2.admin_mode_users= disk2.normal_mode_users= disk2.volatile_mode_users= disk1.id=2 disk1.file=./disk1.vol disk1.desc=disk1 disk1.cylinders=447 disk1.heads=255 disk1.sectors=63 disk1.floppy=false disk1.boot_device=true disk1.check_cvol=true disk1.no_admin_cvol=true...
  • Page 256 The NVDD Configuration File disk1.users=admin, everybody disk1.unicast_users=admin, everybody disk1.admin_users=admin, everybody disk1.admin_mode_users= disk1.normal_mode_users= disk1.volatile_mode_users= # GROUP definitions groups=group0 group0.vols=disk1, disk2 group0.unicast=true group0.max_ram_sectors=102400 group0.read_only=false group0.users=admin, everybody Example nvdd.conf with Multi-Volume Support...

  • Page 257: Nvdd Server Administration

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual NVDD Server CHAPTER 18 Administration This chapter describes the NVDDAdmin tool and NVDAdmin protocol commands for administering a remote NVDD server. Introduction The NVDAdmin protocol is used to communicate with a running program. This protocol is used between a Neoware Image nvdd Manager console and a remote NVDD server in order to retrieve the configuration file currently in use, to reload it after it has been...

  • Page 258: Chapter 18 Nvdd Server Administration

    NVDD Server Administration Secured NVDAdmin Neoware Image Manager server and the clients that use NVDAdmin Protocol protocol can use SSL (OpenSSL) to encrypt communications. This is mainly dedicated to configurations where a console controls a remote server through WAN. The data sent between the console and the server are then encrypted.

  • Page 259: Command Examples

    NVDD Server Administration -c <trusted certificates path> The default certificates path is /etc/ssl/certs/ -f <filename> The default filename is . If this option is specified, NVDDAd- stdin min will execute each of the commands in the specified file, making it possible to automate complex sets of instructions. Command Nvddadmin –h 127.0.0.1 Examples...

  • Page 260: Conventions

    NVDD Server Administration parameter: ‘name’. This is the name of the file after it has been trans- ferred. If this second parameter is not specified, the file keeps its original name after the transfer. commands exist in several flavors: secured (prefix s) or non secured, with resume (prefix r).
  • Page 261 NVDD Server Administration nopwd Switch to AUTH mode when the password on the server side has not been set. exit Exit this utility. help Display basic help text. admin [P] Use single admin mode (aka exclusive admin mode, exclusive admin connection). This mode is used to make sure that the NVDAdmin connection to the remote server is the only connection of this kind that exists.
  • Page 262 NVDD Server Administration get <filename> [<name>] [P] Gets from server without resume mode on non- filename secured socket. rget <filename> [<name>] [P] Gets from server with resume mode on non-secured filename socket. sput <filename> [<name>] [P] Copies to server without resume mode on secured filename socket.
  • Page 263 NVDD Server Administration remote server as (using a command), and current.<filename> send the reload command to the server. load_conf <filename> [X] Reload server with the specified configuration file. Caution: When using this command, you must make sure that exist- ing clients that may be running and have mounted virtual volumes defined in a conf file will not be disrupted.
  • Page 264 NVDD Server Administration rm <filename> [P] Removes the specified regular file on the server side. get_users [P] Prints a list of IP addresses and port numbers of clients that are currently connected to nvdd server. get_volumes [P] Prints a list of volumes on nvdd. info_user <IP_address>:<port>...
  • Page 265 NVDD Server Administration unzip <filename> [P] unzip remote file. The file (or executable gunzip.exe gunzip for Linux/FreeBSD) must be present in on the bin_directory server. is specified in the configuration file. bin_directory nvdd Another "decompressor" executable and optional parameters can be specified through the use of the appropriate settings in the conf file.
  • Page 266 NVDD Server Administration NVDDAdmin Commands...

  • Page 267: The Mpxeldr Configuration File

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual The mPXELdr CHAPTER 19 Configuration File This chapter describes the mPXELdr configuration file and the settings that can be specified in it. Introduction mPXELdr can use a configuration file to set the list of NVD servers that it will try to communicate with, in addition to DHCP Option 132.
  • Page 268 The mPXELdr Configuration File ip1_ip2_ip3.ini Search for an file common to all IP addresses starting with .ini ip1.ip2.ip3 ip1_ip2.ini Search for an file common to all IP addresses starting with .ini ip1.ip2 ip1.ini Search for an file common to all IP addresses starting with .ini m1_m2_m3.ini Search for an...

  • Page 269: Contents & Syntax

    The mPXELdr Configuration File This search mechanism can be used to organize a multi-level hierar- chy of configuration files, from the most specific (a specific piece of hardware) to the most general (all stations, for a common default) configuration. In order to be processed by mPXELdr, all the configuration files must be installed in the same directory as mPXELdr itself.
  • Page 270 The mPXELdr Configuration File The value ends either with a standard value terminator or with a • keyword-specific terminator. Because the end of line control characters are standard value terminators, values usually do not extend across lines unless otherwise specified (keyword-specific syntax).

  • Page 271: Example Mpxeldr .Ini File

    The mPXELdr Configuration File Example mPXELdr .ini File # Comments are allowed in the .ini file. # Blank lines are allowed too. # A ‘whitespace’ is either a space or a TAB character. # Whitespaces may appear before the # sign. # Whitespaces may appear before keywords (such as NVDServers) too.

  • Page 272: Keywords

    The mPXELdr Configuration File Keywords The Include Syntax: Include = <Filepath> Keyword Examples: Include = MyIncludeFile.ininc Include = /MyIncludeFile.ininc Include = SomeRelativePath/MyIncludeFile.ininc Include = /SomeAbsolutePath/MyIncludeFile.ininc Default value: None is either absolute (expressed starting relative to the <Filepath> TFTP root directory) or relative (to the directory where the mPX- ELdr boot program resides).
  • Page 273 The mPXELdr Configuration File from the PXE TFTP file path and the file. This is important .ini because mPXELdr has no idea whether the TFPT server is talking to a Windows, Linux or UNIX server. Even if the TFTP specification allowed such information to be known, the PXE specification is not designed to relay such information to mPXELdr.

  • Page 274: The Nvdservers Keyword

    The mPXELdr Configuration File file may include other files. This is one of the ways to Include build structured configurations. files can only be nested Include four levels deep. The NVDServers Syntax: NVDServers = <server list> Keyword Examples: NVDServers = 192.168.0.209,192.168.0.161:2300,111.111.111.111:111; NVDServers = 192.168.0.209,192.168.0.161:2300,111.111.111.111:111 NVDServers = 192.168.0.209,192.168.0.161:2300,111.111.111.111:111! Default value:...
  • Page 275 The mPXELdr Configuration File boot file (and its file) to the list of potential NVD servers. This .ini is the default option. If the terminating character is a ‘!’, the PXE boot loader will not add the TFTP server to the list of NVD servers. If multiple keywords are found by mPXELdr during NVDServers...

  • Page 276: The Bootmode Keyword

    The mPXELdr Configuration File directive documented in this chapter. This capability allows Include the administrator to create a few number of sublists as NVDServers independent files, and assemble them in different configuration files through the use of in the various files.
  • Page 277 The mPXELdr Configuration File Answers its connection request • Has a bootable volume this station can see and reach. The first • bootable volume on the server that the station can see will be used for booting. The order of volumes on the server are defined by the server configuration.
  • Page 278 The mPXELdr Configuration File The selection is achieved using the Up and Down arrow keys then pressing the Enter key. Pressing the F1 key from this screen will change the display to the log screen which shows messages printed by mPXELdr as it runs. Pressing the F2 key will return you to the Boot Volume Selection screen.
  • Page 279 The mPXELdr Configuration File Interactive Mode In this mode, the whole process of server and volume selection is done by the user through interactive menus. mPXELdr first displays a Boot Volume Selection screen containing the server list build using the keywords and the NVDServers Option132 servers, with one entry per server found.
  • Page 280 The mPXELdr Configuration File Volume selection is achieved using the Up and Down arrow keys then pressing the Enter key. Note that even if there is only one volume available for selection, the user still has to press Enter to continue.

  • Page 281: The Volselectionto Keyword

    The mPXELdr Configuration File Pressing the F1 key from the Boot Volume Selection screen will change the display to the log screen which shows messages printed by mPXELdr as it runs. Pressing the F2 key will return you to the Boot Volume Selection screen.

  • Page 282: The Prebootpause Keyword

    The mPXELdr Configuration File umes available on the server. If the user does not touch the keyboard during this time period, mPXELdr will automatically select the first volume in the list and attempt to boot. Valid values are 1 to 60 seconds. Values larger than 60 seconds are reduced to 60 seconds.

  • Page 283: The Requerydhcp-Options Keyword

    The mPXELdr Configuration File The ReQueryDHCP- Syntax: ReQueryDHCPOptions = <D || N || I> Options Keyword Examples: ReQueryDHCPOptions = Discover ReQueryDHCPOptions = None ReQueryDHCPOptions = Inform Default value: ReQueryDHCPOptions = I Warning: This option implements a work around for a few and limited number of technical issues related to very specific DHCP implementations.

  • Page 284: The Nicrxtxqs Keyword

    The mPXELdr Configuration File server returned to the station in its DHCPACK reply to the DHCP request emitted by the PXE boot prom. If set to I, the regular DHCPINFORM method is used. This is the default. The NICRxTxQs Syntax: NICRxTxQs = <n1/n2>...
  • Page 285 The mPXELdr Configuration File The NICRxTxQs parameters overrides the values that mPXELoader got from the PXE firmware with the values supplied. On a general basis, without specific knowledge about the NIC implementation, values above 48/1 are unsafe and should probably not be used.
  • Page 286 The mPXELdr Configuration File Keywords...

  • Page 287: Neoware Active Cloner

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Neoware Active CHAPTER 20 Cloner This chapter describes how to use Neoware Active Cloner to clone the current system partition to another partition. Introduction Neoware Active Cloner is a partition duplicator that works on a file by file basis and enables differential cloning and duplication of the current system partition to another partition while Windows is run- ning.

  • Page 288: Cloning A Partition

    Neoware Active Cloner the target partition so that it stays bootable from an Image Manager server. The Master Boot Record (MBR) of the source partition is duplicated to the target partition. Cloning a Partition Neoware Active Cloner can be run using command line options (described later in this chapter) or through a graphical user interface called .

  • Page 289: Example Cloning Procedures

    Neoware Active Cloner Source Drive is the partition to be cloned and is, by default, the partition running the operating system currently being used. Target Drive must be specified as a drive letter. It can be a hard disk partition attached to the Neoware Image Manager client, another Neoware Image Manager virtual hard disk, a bootable partition on a drive shared on the network, etc.

  • Page 290: Cloning To A Network Shared Hard Disk

    Neoware Active Cloner Make sure the partition you want to make bootable on the attached hard disk is activated and is the first partition on the hard disk. If the source hard disk is the system drive that will run Neoware Active Cloner, close as many applications and services as possi- ble.

  • Page 291: Cloning To Another Image Manager Virtual Hard Disk

    Neoware Active Cloner Target Drive Specify the in the Neoware Active Cloner as the drive letter associated with the shared hard disk. Clone Click the button. When the target drive is a network share, Neoware Active Cloner does not have physical access to the target hard drive and then it can- not check that the partition is activated nor can it dump the MBR of the source drive to the MBR of the target drive.

  • Page 292: Expert Options

    Neoware Active Cloner Expert Options Expert Clicking the button will enable you to access the additional options in the dialog. Disable Disable Options options enable you to modify the cloning process so that certain steps are not included. Disable Files Cloning Selecting will prevent file processing.

  • Page 293: Boot Options

    Neoware Active Cloner Target Type HDD Bootable Boot Options option can be set to (default) or Bootable (Neoware Image Manager) HDD Bootable Selecting will modify the Windows settings on the target partition so that it will not include Image Manager client spe- cific settings that makes a Neoware Virtual Drive bootable with Neoware Image Manager.
  • Page 294 Neoware Active Cloner /NoFiles Using this option will prevent file processing. /NoCleanFiles This option will prevent any files or directories on the target parti- tion that are not on the source partition from being deleted. It will have no effect if is specified.

  • Page 295: Error Messages

    Neoware Active Cloner Error Messages Could Not Copy a If the message is displayed, try manually Could not copy a file File copying the file from the source drive to the target drive. Some files (such as log files, temporary files) may not actually be needed for the Windows operating system on the target drive in order to boot off the target drive.
  • Page 296 Neoware Active Cloner Client-Specific Settings on the Target System...

  • Page 297: Virtualized Environments

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Virtualized CHAPTER 21 Environments This chapter describes how to use Neoware Image Manager with virtual machines, which can run Image Manager clients or server. VMWare Environment Introduction Neoware Image Manager integrates perfectly well in VMWare environments.

  • Page 298: Chapter 21 Virtualized Environments

    Virtualized Environments In particular, you should make sure that the latest VMWare Network Interface Card driver (VmxNet driver) is actually installed and working. Using this driver will actually improve performance and failing to use it may result in creating an image that will not be boot- able by Image Manager Clients.
  • Page 299 Virtualized Environments When the drivers are completely installed in the image, that image can be used to boot all the machines it previously supported, includ- ing the Physical machines, and also the VMWare VMs. Having such an image may be very convenient as you can boot it in any VMware VM and then be able to reproduce what users experi- mence on their machines, even if you do not have to hand any client machine compatible with the image.

  • Page 300: Provisioning Vms With Image Manager

    Virtualized Environments If you are using VMWare Workstation or VMWare server, this is Edit Virtual Network Settings achieved by using the menu > then DHCP Server selecting the tab and stopping the service. You must also make sure that the DHCP Service is not running by default. For instance, under Windows, you should open the “Services”...
  • Page 301 Virtualized Environments Setting a routing service or a NAT service on the guest that runs Image Manager server would then enable it to be the gateway between the private network and public network, and machines in the private network would potentially have access to all the network resources available to the public network (internet access, network file servers etc).

  • Page 302: Performance & Storage Optimization

    Virtualized Environments The server named runs the DHCP service for Private Net- saruman work. It is also configured to route IP packets between the private and public network. When setting such a dual network configuration, administrators should be careful to configure their DHCP service so that it does not interfere with the public network if this is not desired.

  • Page 303: Microsoft Virtualpc Virtual Server Environments

    Virtualized Environments Microsoft VirtualPC Virtual Server Environments Most of what is mentioned in the previous section for VMware environments is also true in Microsoft VirtualPC/Virtual server environments. Refer to the VMware section earlier for more details about general operations with virtual machines. In this section we will focus on Microsoft VirtualPC/VirtualServer specifics.

  • Page 304: Other Virtualized Environments

    Virtualized Environments Other Virtualized Environments There are other virtualized environments than VMWare and Microsoft VirtualPC/Virtual Server: Xen, Virtual Iron, VirtualBox, kvm etc. The VMs in these environments can usually be used to run Neoware Image Manager server module. However, all the “other virtualized environments”...

  • Page 305: Appendix A Upgrading Image Manager

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Upgrading Image APPENDIX A Manager This appendix describes how to upgrade from earlier versions of Neoware Image Manager. Important The components in a specific release of Neoware Image Manager must not be mixed with components from other releases. Components in a specific release of Neoware Image Manager are designed to work together and may not work if used with components that are not part of the same release.
  • Page 306 Upgrading Image Manager If there are WiFi adapters in the list of supported Network cards, Expert check the option and make sure that no WiFi adapter is selected. Shutdown the client. Stop server. nvdd Replace the server modules ( ) and the nvdd.exe mPXELdr.bin server tools (CVolMerge, CVolCompactor, NvddPasswd, Nvd-...

  • Page 307: Troubleshooting

    Upgrading Image Manager Boot-up one client. It should boot with the new mPXELdr.bin and the new drivers from the updated image. If new hardware is detected on the client (e.g. because of some changes in Neoware Image Manager client drivers), you may want to reboot the client in Admin mode so that the new hard- ware is detected once for all and does not have to be redetected every time a client boots up.
  • Page 308 Upgrading Image Manager Upgrading from Previous Versions of Neoware Image Manager 4...

  • Page 309: Appendix B The Tftpd Installer

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual The TFTPD APPENDIX B Installer This appendix describes how to use the TFTPD Installer to configure Windows 2000/2003/XP TFTP Server for Image Manager clients. Introduction The TFTPD Installer is a tool for helping you to install the TFTP server (TFTPD) that is shipped with Microsoft Windows 2000/ 2003 Server, so that it can be used with Neoware Image Manager clients.

  • Page 310: Using The Tftpd Installer

    The TFTPD Installer Using the TFTPD Installer The following procedure assumes that the Microsoft TFTPD service is not yet installed. If the service is already installed, the TFTPD Installer will behave slightly differently to what is described here. However, the messages and hints displayed by the TFTPD Installer should still enable you to use it easily.

  • Page 311: Managing The Tftpd Service

    The TFTPD Installer Run TFTPD Service at It is recommended that you check the boot time box so that TFTP Server will be launched automati- cally when the server boots. If you want the TFTPD Service to be run when the TFTPD Apply Installer is exited or when you click the button, check the...
  • Page 312 The TFTPD Installer Managing the TFTPD Service...

  • Page 313: Appendix C Configuring The Dhcp Server

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Configuring the APPENDIX C DHCP Server This appendix describes how to configure the Windows 2000/2003 DHCP server. Introduction This appendix describes how to install and configure Microsoft DHCP Server, supplied with Windows 2000/2003 Server, for use with Neoware Image Manager.

  • Page 314: Configuring The Server

    Configuring the DHCP Server Configuring the Server Like with all other Server related components, you can start the setup of the DHCP server by selecting Configure Your Server from the Start/Programs/Administrative Tools menu. Start Programs Administrative Tools From the menu, select >...
  • Page 315 Configuring the DHCP Server Networking Services Click on the line and then click the Details... button. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Locate the line the list box and check the check box next to it. Click the button to continue. Configuring the Server...
  • Page 316 Configuring the DHCP Server Next Windows Components Click in the dialog. A progress bar will be displayed while the system configures the network components. When the Windows Components Wizard has successfully com- Finish pleted, click the button. Configuring the Server...

  • Page 317: Configuring Dhcp

    Configuring the DHCP Server Configuring DHCP The DHCP server must be configured before it can be used. Start Administrative Tools From the menu, display the menu DHCP and select Configuring DHCP...
  • Page 318 Configuring the DHCP Server DHCP In the left pane of the window you will see the name and IP address of the DHCP server. After installation, a DHCP server is not authorized. Do not for- get this later! You need to define the range of IP addresses to be assigned (i.e. distributed) by the DHCP server.
  • Page 319 Configuring the DHCP Server Next Click to continue. Enter a name and description for the scope you are about to Next create, then click Configuring DHCP...
  • Page 320 Configuring the DHCP Server Specify the range of IP addresses and the subnet mask. The range must not include the IP address of the DHCP server itself, or any other device with a manually assigned IP address (e.g. network printers). Although you could exclude them in the next step, usually a range is reserved for manually assigned addresses and then the rest (in this case 100 - 199) is given to the DHCP server for...
  • Page 321 Configuring the DHCP Server If you could not define separate ranges for manually-assigned and DHCP-assigned IP addresses, then you can define the addresses to be excluded and not to be used by the DHCP server Add Exclusions in this dialog. Next Click to continue.
  • Page 322 Configuring the DHCP Server Additional DHCP options must be set when serving IP addresses to Neoware Image Manager clients in order for the system to Yes, I want to configure these work correctly. Select the option options now Next , then click Configuring DHCP...
  • Page 323 Configuring the DHCP Server Is your Neoware Image Manager clients network part of a Wide Area Network? Do you want Neoware Image Manager clients to access the internet? If the answer is yes, you will need to config- ure the client computers with the IP address of the Gateway (or Router) to be able to communicate with systems on the WAN.
  • Page 324 Configuring the DHCP Server Next Click to continue. WINS Servers dialog enables you to enter WINS server IP addresses that computers can use to convert NetBIOS computer Next names to IP addresses. Click to continue. Yes, I You now need to activate scope by selecting the option want to activate this scope now Next then clicking...
  • Page 325 Configuring the DHCP Server The following dialog will be displayed when the New Scope Wizard has successfully completed. You now have to authorize the DHCP server. In the DHCP win- dow, select the DHCP server and either right-click or from the Action Authorize menu select...
  • Page 326 Configuring the DHCP Server Scope Options Open the dialog by selecting the Scope Options folder in the tree-view pane of the DHCP window (or display the Action Configure Options menu) and selecting 066 Boot Server Scroll through the list box and check the option Host Name check box.
  • Page 327 Configuring the DHCP Server 067 Bootfile Name Scroll through the list and check the option String value check box. Enter in the field. mPXELdr.bin Click to accept the settings. 060 Class ID IMPORTANT: Make sure that option is not Scope Options Server present, or not checked, in and in...

  • Page 328: Dhcp Reservations

    Configuring the DHCP Server DHCP Reservations Even though DHCP assigns IP addresses dynamically on a first come, first served basis, using DHCP Reservations allows an IP address to be reserved for a specific client. An IP address can be matched with a MAC address to create a reservation. This allows DHCP to assign a "static"...
  • Page 329 Configuring the DHCP Server Enter a name for the reservation (just a “nickname”), the IP address you want to be assigned to the client, the client’s MAC address, and an optional description. Supported types Both Keep the set to and click The newly created reservation will then appear under Reserva- in the tree-view pane.
  • Page 330 Configuring the DHCP Server Scroll down to the particular option you want to set. To set the host name, select option 012. Enter the desired value ( in the example above) TEST02-IP103 then click The option specific to that reservation will appear in the right pane when the reservation is selected in the tree-view pane.

  • Page 331: Related Resources

    Configuring the DHCP Server Related Resources Documents relating to MS Windows® DHCP server can be found at the following address: http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/ servermanager/dhcpserver.mspx You can also refer to the following RFCs related to DHCP. RFCs can be browsed on the RFC web site: http://www.rfc-editor.org RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (protocol DHCP, obsoletes RFC 1541)
  • Page 332 Configuring the DHCP Server Related Resources...

  • Page 333: Dhcp Reference

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual DHCP Reference APPENDIX D This appendix describes how clients locate the Neoware Image Manager server, and the DHCP options used. How Clients Locate the Image Manager Server At boot time, the Client station executes the mPXELdr code to locate an Image Manager Server to boot from.

  • Page 334: Dhcpd.conf File Example

    DHCP Reference virtual disk to the client, the client tries to locate a running Neoware Image Manager server module by scanning the next IP address and port in the list sent in DHCP option #132. If the last server in the list does not answer (or if this list is empty), the client tries to connect to the IP address that is sent in DHCP option #66 (field...

  • Page 335: Native Dhcp Options

    DHCP Reference default-lease-time -1; max-lease-time 43200; subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 { host e100-01 next-server 192.168.0.23; hardware ethernet 00:00:39:3C:10:AB; fixed-address 192.168.0.75; filename "mPXELdr.bin"; option option-132 "192.168.0.4:10000,192.168.0.9;" ; host e100-02 next-server 192.168.0.23; hardware ethernet 00:00:39:18:01:AB; fixed-address 192.168.0.70; filename "mPXELdr.bin"; option option-132 "192.168.0.4,192.168.0.9 :10000"...
  • Page 336 DHCP Reference Option #6: Domain Name Server (DNS). Option #12: Computer host name. This value is used by Neoware Image Manager as the TCP/IP host name and also as the NetBIOS computer name (Windows computer name). Option #44: WINS Server. Option #132: Used by mPXELdr to get a list of server IP addresses (optionally followed by a colon (:) and a port number.
  • Page 337 DHCP Reference corresponding information is set in Windows TCP/IP settings). In order for the driver to handle new options, a registry BDRUPD.sys key exists under BDRUPD as follows: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BDRUPD\DHCPTags Note: NVDDTags (options sent by the NVDD server) are also pro- cessed by BDRUPD.

  • Page 338: Optional Subkeys & Values

    DHCP Reference perform before continuing the process. The actual value is useless, BDRUPD uses the type of the RegType value as the type of the value(s) it will write to the keys. Target : REG_MULTI_SZ. Contains couples of path + value to modify.
  • Page 339 DHCP Reference REG_SZ. Contains a registry path to a DWORD value. This value is read by BDRUPD. If it is not zero the option is pro- cessed: the Target is written with the value of the option or emptied if Type=4. Otherwise this key is ignored. IfNot REG_SZ.

  • Page 340: Examples

    DHCP Reference Examples The DHCP option 1 provides the client’s subnet mask. This informa- tion must be set in the active network card’s TCP/IP configuration, under the "SubnetMask" value. Also, if MS DHCP client is enabled by BDRUPD, this option must also be set as "DhcpSubnetMask". The following illustrates how BDRUPD is configured to process this correctly: HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Services...
  • Page 341 DHCP Reference Removing a Value The DHCP option 6 is used to set the DNS list. These data must be set in the registry value "NameServer" if Microsoft Windows DHCP client is NOT activated. If it is activated, the "NameServer" entry must be set to an empty string, and the data must be set to the Dhcp- NameServer value instead.

  • Page 342: Netbios Name For Clients

    DHCP Reference NetBIOS Name for Clients The NetBIOS name of a Neoware Image Manager client is set to Client Host Name, as set by NVD name (see the Client Naming sec- tion), or by DHCP replies. This section deals only with the case when the client name is set only by DHCP option #12.

  • Page 343: Windows Dhcp Client

    DHCP Reference Windows DHCP Client In previous versions of Neoware Image Manager, the client’s IP set- tings were set as "statically assigned address" (even if the address was provided by the DHCP server), and set by the Neoware Image Manager integrated DHCP client. This behaviour could lead to issues with some DHCP servers where the lease was not regularly renewed.
  • Page 344 DHCP Reference Windows DHCP Client...

  • Page 345: Appendix E Configuring Nvdd As A Windows Service

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Configuring NVDD as APPENDIX E a Windows Service This appendix describes how to configure the Image Manager server as a Windows service. Introduction The Neoware Service Loader is a utility that enables execution of the Image Manager server as a service on Windows NT/2000/XP/ 2003 boxes that run the Image Manager server module nvdd Installation Procedure...
  • Page 346 Configuring NVDD as a Windows Service Executable file In the field, enter the directory path and filename of the Neoware Image Manager server module (usually ). You can click the ... button to browse for the file. nvdd.exe Command line field enables you to specify arguments that are to be sent to the Image Manager server module.
  • Page 347 Configuring NVDD as a Windows Service The following illustration shows the typical entries for configur- ing the Image Manager server to be run as a Windows service. If you want Image Manager server messages to be stored in Redirect to event log different log files, uncheck the box and Standard output file...
  • Page 348 Configuring NVDD as a Windows Service When all the required settings have been specified, click the Install button. Neoware Service Loader will install and configure to work nvdd as a service. You can then Start and Stop the service using the Neoware Service Loader Setup dialog SrvcLoaderSetup.exe Services...

  • Page 349: Using Nvdd As A Service

    Configuring NVDD as a Windows Service Using NVDD as a Service When is installed as a service, Neoware Service Loader Setup nvdd allows you to start or stop it. Start Run Neoware Service Loader Setup, either from the menu Programs Neoware Image Manager Tools...
  • Page 350 Configuring NVDD as a Windows Service Neoware Image Manager Server Double-click on the entry to display the service properties. This dialog allows you to control the behaviour of the service. Automatic Startup Usually you will select as the type, so that the NVDD service runs automatically when the server box is switched on, even if no user actually launched the server...

  • Page 351: Uninstalling The Service

    Configuring NVDD as a Windows Service Uninstall Uninstalling the To uninstall the NVDD service, just click the button in the Service Neoware Service Loader Setup dialog. This will stop the service if it is running, and uninstall it from the system. Changing Service To change the settings for the NVDD service: Settings...
  • Page 352 Configuring NVDD as a Windows Service Using NVDD as a Service...

  • Page 353: Nvdd Reference

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual NVDD Reference APPENDIX F This appendix describes the command line options that can be used when launching the nvdd server module. Introduction The Neoware Image Manager server module is the main nvdd Network Virtual Disk (nvd) daemon. It reads a configuration file then shares hard disk images and virtual volumes among specified clients on the network using the nvd protocol.

  • Page 354: Port Number

    NVDD Reference Print messages relating to network and disk inputs/outputs. Print messages relating to initialization and configuration conf file parsing. Print messages relating to timeouts. timo Note that if is specified, will display all time-out timo nvdd messages, including those indicating that is waiting for com- nvdd munication.
  • Page 355 NVDD Reference scripts or processes. In the case of a server having a power failure, will not be shutdown cleanly and the file will remain, nvdd .LOCK preventing from being launched automatically, at least while nvdd file has not been removed. .LOCK Users should use this option only in startup scripts (i.e.
  • Page 356 NVDD Reference Command Syntax...

  • Page 357: Nvd.sys Reference

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual NVD.SYS Reference APPENDIX G This appendix describes the parameters that can be set in the reg- istry entry for the driver. NVD.SYS Introduction At the client side, is the Neoware Image Manager driver NVD.SYS in charge of communications with the Image Manager server. This appendix describes the parameters that can be set in the registry entry for the driver, which is located in: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/Nvd...
  • Page 358 NVD.SYS Reference Sectors Per Request sector_per_request This DWORD value defines the maximum number of sectors asked at one time by the client in each read/write operation. The allowed values are: 32, 64 or 128 (default). This value can be set to less than 128 to fine tune the flow of data transmission between client and server.
  • Page 359 NVD.SYS Reference Network Interfaces nic_list Binding This REG_MULTI_SZ value contains indexes of network cards that are used by Image Manager as Virtual Drive controllers. The index numbers are set by Client Builder when the user selects the inter- faces to be used as Virtual Disk controllers, or when UbiBoot Inserter adds the support for a network card into the image.
  • Page 360 NVD.SYS Reference Parameters...

  • Page 361: Appendix H File Transfer

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual File Transfer APPENDIX H This appendix describes issues relating to the file transfer capabil- ities of Image Manager. Introduction Image Manager uses two file transfer protocols: The file transfer protocol NVDFTP is integrated in the NVD •...
  • Page 362 File Transfer anyone who knows how to transfer files using NVDFTP or NVDAd- min could copy or replace the files in this folder, in particular your license file, your configuration files, your images etc. In order to add some security to NVDAdmin protocol, we recom- mend that you set a password on the server side (using the Nvd- tool - refer to the section “Password for Remote...

  • Page 363: Nvdd Temporary Files

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual NVDD Temporary APPENDIX I Files This appendix describes issues relating to temporary files created by the process. nvdd The NVDD Configuration File When is launched it creates a temporary copy of the configu- nvdd ration file in the directory specified by the client_files_dir parameter in the configuration file, and uses this copy to work...

  • Page 364: The Nvdd.conf.lock File

    NVDD Temporary Files If the NVDD server crashes, due to a power failure for example, the temporary file will still remain in the directory current.nvdd.conf specified by . The next time is launched it client_files_dir nvdd will copy any files prefixed with into a subdirectory of the current.

  • Page 365: How To Retrieve Restored Files

    NVDD Temporary Files named . This file is located USER_REP.<configuration file name> in the directory where the NVDD server resides. You can also spec- ify the directory in the Neoware Image Manager Console using the Client files folder Generic options Tools option (select in the...
  • Page 366 NVDD Temporary Files place (copy) the file and give it the name • USER_REP USER_REP.<configuration file name> When you close or restart the server, or reload the configuration file using the appropriate Console button, the data inside the USER_REP file will be processed as usual, and the file will be deleted.

  • Page 367: Appendix J Boot Process Comparison

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Boot Process APPENDIX J Comparison This appendix provides a side-by-side comparison between a HDD-based boot process and the Neoware Image Manager based boot process. The following illustrations contain a side-by-side comparison between a HDD-based boot process and the Neoware Image Manager-based boot process.
  • Page 368 Boot Process Comparison...
  • Page 369 Boot Process Comparison...
  • Page 370 Boot Process Comparison...

  • Page 371: Appendix K Troubleshooting

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Troubleshooting APPENDIX K This appendix provides help on how to overcome problems when using Neoware Image Manager with various systems. Technical Support You can view our on-line support pages at the following Internet address: http://www.neoware.com/support.php Neoware offers various Technical Support programs.

  • Page 372: Pxe

    Troubleshooting In order to check versions, you can refer to the Release Notes docu- ment, or you can perform a “decompress” installation of Neoware Image Manager and check that the files you are using are actually the same as the ones in the “decompressed” folder. File version information may be embedded in files made for Win- dows ( etc.) or may be displayed on screen when...

  • Page 373: Etherboot

    Troubleshooting If your adapter or PXE implementation is not listed here, it does not mean that it will not work with Neoware Image Manager. In case it does not work as expected at the very beginning of the Windows 2K/XP boot process (e.g. you cannot see the first black and white character mode boot progress bar or Windows coloured splash screens, or the boot process is very slow), ask for an upgraded PXE code from the manufacturer of your NIC, motherboard or PXE...

  • Page 374: Network Adapters

    Troubleshooting Cause Certain types of DHCP servers, especially MS DHCP Server, may supply boot file names that are not terminated in a null character. Intel Architecture Labs PXE 2.1 addresses the null terminated boot file names, but fails to work correctly if the DHCP boot file size option is not present when using Intel Boot Agent 4.0.19.

  • Page 375: Servers With Several Network Adapters

    Troubleshooting Servers with If the server response to the client is unexpectedly slow and the Several Network server has several network card adapters, the Neoware Image Adapters Manager server module should be configured so that it is using only one of the server assigned IP addresses. Use the parameter address in the configuration file or use the Neoware Image Manager...

  • Page 376: Acpi

    Troubleshooting <Windows System Root>\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS (usually C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS ACPI Stand By & Stand By and Hibernation are currently not supported on Windows Hibernation systems that run with Neoware Image Manager. driver ver- NVD.SYS sion 1.0.0.5 and after implements a mechanism that prevents Stand By or Hibernation to occur in most cases.

  • Page 377: Windows 2000 Without The Latest Service Pack

    Troubleshooting value of 10 (10 seconds) is usually enough to let all the system com- ponent that still need to access the virtual disks. On the other hand, if the shutdown time seems too long, you can reduce this parameter value.

  • Page 378: Boot Process Stuck

    Troubleshooting Boot Process Stuck This problem is usually related to the Neoware Image Manager Client component not being able to communicate with the Neoware Image Manager server module. This can happen, for example, if the server module is not actually running or if client drivers are using NVD protocol v1 when the server module is using NVD protocol v2.

  • Page 379: Network Facilities

    Troubleshooting This parameter is a DWORD and can have a value in the range 2 to 128. If the client is acting slowly when remote booted, it is recommended that you try setting this parameter to 32. If this gives better result, try 64 afterwards, and keep tuning until you have worse results.

  • Page 380: Operations On Virtual Volumes

    Troubleshooting ets. This results in lots of packets sent by the server being overwrit- ten before they are dispatched to the 100BT ports. You should also enable flow control on the client and server NICs, and on the Ethernet switches if available. Please also refer to the section “Number of Sectors Per Read/Write Request”...

  • Page 381: Delayed Write Failed Warnings

    Troubleshooting you can also use the Neoware Image Manager Console to set this Tools Generic Options CVol Volume parameter ( > , or the tab in Properties Note that using any variant of CVolWrite mode with clients that are never restarted or that are up and running for long periods of time is very likely to lead to a "CVol file full"...
  • Page 382 Troubleshooting This will also make sure the logical volume is always clean at boot time. When CVolwrite/Volatile mode is not acceptable, you may schedule deletions of the CVol files on an acceptable basis (every night, every 3 days, every weekend etc…). A deletion batch file should: CD to the directory where the CVol files are stored.
  • Page 383 Troubleshooting by 8 (or the maximum CVol data size expressed in Kilobytes divided by 4). For example, if the maximum number of sectors in a CVol is 1048576 (the maximum size of a CVol is then 512MB), the maxi- mum size of Virtual Memory file should be 128MB. To reduce the number of different sectors that are written during a user session, you should make sure that the auto-defragmentation feature in Windows XP is disabled (it is disabled by default by...

  • Page 384: Large File Support On Linux 2.2

    Troubleshooting Large File Support on Linux 2.2 Error When On some Linux servers you may encounter a error File Too Large Opening a Large when NVDD starts and tries to open a volume file that is larger than Volume 2GB. This is caused by the lack of Large File Support in some Linux systems.

  • Page 385: Limitations

    Troubleshooting CVol spaces will be discarded and your image should then run sysprep automatically. It is recommended that you completely understand what the poten- tial problems of duplicated SIDs could be before you configure Neoware Image Manager clients booting from the same disk image to have different SIDs.
  • Page 386 Troubleshooting A large number of stations on one single server MAY be supported, with no warranty, with a configuration in which the following rec- ommendations are met: The server should have at least 2 Ethernet 1000 NICs teamed as a single network adapter so that the server theoretical bandwidth is 2Gb/s or more.

  • Page 387: Clients Booting Same Images On Several Servers

    Troubleshooting The clients should have enough memory for the Page File (swap file) to be disabled or reduced to its minimum (around 20MB). The clients should only run useful applications, not any Net- work/HardDisk consuming application such as video streaming, games...

  • Page 388: Recommended Network Configuration

    Troubleshooting Recommended Network Configuration The following network configuration recommendations should help you to achieve better performances and avoid congestion. Never use uplinked Ethernet switches. • Use good quality Ethernet controllers on the server and the • clients. You can use teamed network adapters on the server to increase •...
  • Page 389 Troubleshooting If local Hard Drives are available to the clients, configure Win- • dows so that its swap file is stored only on local HDs. Temporary folders can also be stored on local HDs. Check that each client will have enough network bandwidth to •...
  • Page 390 Troubleshooting Recommended Network Configuration...

  • Page 391: Appendix L Copyright Notices & License Terms

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Copyright Notices APPENDIX L & License Terms This appendix provides the copyright notices and license terms for software embedded in Neoware Image Manager components. Patents Neoware Image Manager software suite is protected by a number of patents: EP1808763, EP1728164, WO2007006960, WO0193016.

  • Page 392: Software Copyrighted By Paul Kocher

    Copyright Notices & License Terms Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose, including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it freely, subject to the following restrictions: The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim that you wrote the original software.

  • Page 393: Software Copyrighted By Lukas Gebauer

    Copyright Notices & License Terms Software Project: Delphree - Synapse 003.006.004 Copyrighted by Content: HTTP client Lukas Gebauer Copyright (c)1999-2003, Lukas Gebauer. All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
  • Page 394 Copyright Notices & License Terms The Initial Developer of the Original Code is Lukas Gebauer (Czech Republic). Portions created by Lukas Gebauer are Copyright (c) 1999-2003. All Rights Reserved. Contributor(s): History: see HISTORY.HTM from distribution package (Found at URL: http://www.ararat.cz/synapse/) _________________________________________________ Project: Delphree - Synapse 002.002.003 Content: SNTP client...

  • Page 395: Software Copyrighted By Jordan Russell

    Copyright Notices & License Terms OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUP- TION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIA- BILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARIS- ING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAM- AGE.
  • Page 396 Copyright Notices & License Terms Third Parties Copyrights...

  • Page 397: Index

    Neoware Image Manager User Manual Index automatic updates access disable client images ACPI binaries considerations directory for troubleshooting boot process activating Windows products 118, 127 bootable virtual drives Active Cloner booting 68, 191, 235 clone directly to attached HD adding net boot device to image clone to another Image Manager virtual clients using same images on several servers...
  • Page 398 Index accessing images CVolCompactor activating Windows products CVolMerge adding new nvdd adding to Windows domain computer name change 222, 225 assigning volumes to configuration file 65, 69 boot volume adding volumes from another config file 68, 191, 235 changing name allowed volume users configuring for images buffer size...
  • Page 399 Index introduction domain adding clients to 147, 159, 168, 174 using Client Builder client IP addresses volume client names 159, 174 current configuration file credentials CVol files management description roaming profiles location 81, 196, 201, 218, 230 storing credentials in server directory maximum size 81, 196, 199, 221 storing credentials in system partition...
  • Page 400 Index building procedure nvdd.smalldisk.vol.conf cloning NvddPasswd.exe for booting any PC Service Loader Setup local client access smalldisk.vol partition size SrvcLoader.exe use unknown hardware SrvcLoaderSetup.exe using when UbiBoot-enabled TFTPD Installer hard drive TFTPDInstall.exe SATA UBExtract.exe SCSI UbiBoot hardware upgrade without re-installing UbiBoot Extractor software UbiBoot Inserter...
  • Page 401 Index Volume Properties user manual overview Allowed Computers IP addresses 205, 217 Computers CVol lanpccltnn.lic General lanpcsrv.lic Parameters license file Image Manager Service Loader Setup client package images example accessing location adding new software server configuration file 65, 79 license terms controlling use of load balancing creating...
  • Page 402 Index VolSelectionTO CVol file location 218, 230 mPXELdr.bin 9, 59, 295, 311, 318, 320, 357 MS-TFTP Server Helper max size multiboot selection 68, 191, 235 description multicore computers editing using Image Manager Console multi-CPU computers example file transfer files location NeoDomain.exe group definitions Neoware Virtual Disk...
  • Page 403 Index nvdd.current.conf domain nvdd.exe folders redirection nvdd.smalldisk.vol.conf local NVDDAdmin command examples SATA hard drive support command syntax save computer name change 222, 225 commands script NvddPasswd.exe updating image on remote servers NVDTFP SCSI hard drive support server overview cluster of Image Manager DHCP software suite components...
  • Page 404 Index installation master HD for building images system restore running system virtual volume troubleshooting restoring to actual HD unknown hardware updating drivers for off-line devices using UbiBoot-enabled HD technical support UbiBoot Extractor temporary NVDD files UbiBoot Inserter testing UBInsert.exe client images unicore computers TFTP server configuration uninstalling Image Manager...
  • Page 405 Index allowed clients description 82, 227 allowed users introduction assigning to clients 65, 69 Normal CVolwrite 83, 228 boot from Persistent CVolwrite 84, 228 cache size Volatile CVolwrite 84, 228 changing write mode creating creating new Windows CVol files domains defining 193, 225 adding clients to...
  • Page 406 Index...

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Image manager 4.6

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