Novell Network Management: NetWare 6

Chapter 15: Upgrade or Migrate to NetWare 6

Objectives:

 

This chapter concerns performing the upgrade or migration that you planned for in Chapter 14.. The objectives important to this chapter are found on page 15-1:

  1. Perform an In-Place Upgrade
  2. Perform a Migration
  3. Perform Post-Migration or Post-Upgrade Tasks
Concepts:

Perform an In-Place Upgrade

The chapter begins by reminding us that an upgrade is done in several steps, and that you must prepare a server for the upgrade in case you encounter any problems. Novell installation software (and Microsoft software, for that matter) has a tendency to freeze up if you skip a step and try to back up. You wil do better starting over than you will trying to back up a step and do it differently. The thing is, you can't just start over unless you have a way to restore your original state. This means that you need to have backups of eDirectory and you file system. Make two backups of everything and verify them before you start the upgrade.

Before upgrading, you must prepare the files of some applications. IBM WebSphere is an application server that was supplied with previous versions of NetWare. If you are using it, you must convert your web applications to run on Tomcat 3.3 instead.

If you are running ZENworks for Servers, version 2, you must install service pack 1 for this product before upgrading to NetWare 6.

It is stated elsewhere in the text that your DOS partition must be at least 200 MB in size for NetWare 6. The text makes a larger requirement in this chapter. It may sometimes happen the you will need to capture everything currently in server RAM as a text file, to troubleshoot a major problem. Capturing RAM contents to a text file is called a core dump. Core dumps are stored on the DOS partition, so in reality, your DOS partition must be 200 MB plus the size of your server's RAM. If the server had 1024 MB of RAM, the recommended size for your DOS partiton would be 1224 MB. This could present a problem for servers with lots of RAM. An MS-DOS partition is limited to 2 GB, and a DR-DOS partition (which you can create from your NetWare installation CD) is limited to 1.5 GB.

Begin running the NetWare installation program by putting your installation CD in the CD drive, and rebooting the server. The server should detect the CD, and offer a choice of what to do: the choices are Install and Run. Choose Install. After the license screen, choose Continue with Exisiting Partition. Choose Custom installation, and Upgrade. You will want to make choices in the menus that appear, and continue with the upgrade as you would a normal installation.

Perform a Migration

A migration consists of copying the eDirectory and file system components from a NetWare 4, 5, or 6 server to a new NetWare 6 server. The new (destination) server is placed as the only server in a temporary tree, the migration is performed, the old (source) server is taken down, and the new server is rebooted. When rebooted, the new server will take the place of the original server in the original tree.

This process takes more steps and more hardware than an upgrade.

Workstation requirements
  • Your workstation must run Windows 98, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, or Windows XP, and must have 50 MB of available disk space. NetWare Migration Wizard 6 does not run on Windows 95.
    • If running Windows 98, the workstation must run Novell Client for Windows 98, version 3.3 or later.
    • If running Windows NT 4, 2000, or XP, the workstation must run Novell Client for Windows NT version 4.8 or later.
  • Install the latest service pack for Windows 98/NT/2000/XP on your workstation.
  • If you are migrating from NetWare 4, IPX must be configured on the workstation.
  • The migration will go faster if you run the source server, destination server, and workstation on the same LAN segment.
Source server requirements
  • Must run NetWare 4.11, 4.2, 5.0, 5.1, or 6. Why would you migrate a server already running NetWare 6? Maybe because you just bought a better one.
  • A login ID with Supervisor rights to the server's file system and the source tree.
  • Common protocols to communicate with the workstation and the destination server. If you must use IPX, make sure all devices also have the same frame type. (A frame is a kind of packet used in network communications.) Protocols and frames must be bound on the workstation and both servers.
  • Apply the NW6NSS1A patch to update the version of NSS on the source server.
  • Apply the most current NetWare support pack for the server.
  • If this is a NetWare 4.x server, load long name space on all volumes. The command line syntax is:
    LOAD LONG
    ADD NAME SPACE LONG TO volume name
    Execute the first command once. Execute the second command for each volume.
  • Run DSREPAIR. Use these three options: Unattended Full Repair, Time Synchronization, Report Synchronization Status. Finishing without errors is the goal, but expect unavoidable errors if you have a mixed NetWare 4/NetWare 5 environment.
  • Things can go wrong, so make two backups of the source tree, and two backups of the file system.
  • Seems late in the game to me, but Novell wants you stop here to make sure your hardware is supported by the migration program. Check the Novell web site for this information.
Destination server requirements
  • Must run NetWare 6. It must be installed using the Pre-Migration option.
  • Must be installed in a temporary tree. This is because the destination server is intended to replace the source server after the migration, but it cannot have the same name, or be in the same tree during the migration.
  • A login ID with Supervisor rights to the server's file system and the destination tree.
  • Create volumes on the destination server with the same names as the ones on the source server. These volumes must be at least as big as the ones on the source server, or the originals won't migrate.
  • If you are migrating compressed volumes to uncompressed volumes, decompression will have to take place, which will slow the migration considerably.
  • As noted above, bind common protocols to communicate with the workstation and the destination server. If you must use IPX, make sure all devices also have the same frame type.
  • Configure the destination server as a secondary time server. The command line settings are:
    SET TIMESYNC TYPE = SECONDARY
    SET CONFIGURED SOURCES = ON
    SET TIMESYNC TIME SOURCES = SOURCE SERVER NAME
    Instead of the server name, you may use its IP ADDRESS, if it has one.<
  • Turn on the Timesync Debugger screen with the command:
    SET TIMESYNC DEBUG = 7
  • Set the Timesync Restart Flag to restart TIMESYNC. The command is:
    SET TIMESYNC RESTART FLAG = ON
  • Set the destination server's time the same time or later than the source server. Use the command
    TIME
    and enter the time you want.

More details are presented about each section in the procedure.

  • Run the Migration Wizard - This utility is found on the installation CD. Install it on a Windows 98, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, or Windows XP workstation. Create a project file to contain the details of the migration. This file will be saved by default to C:\PROGRAM FILES\NOVELL\NETWARE MIGRATION WIZARD.
  • Copy Volumes - Remember to make volumes on the destination server large enough to hold the date from the source volumes. If you copy some volumes, stop, and return to the project later to copy more, there is a potential problem. The Migration Wizard will restore trustee assignments only to the last volumes copied. To avoid this problem, when you are ready to copy the last volume, select all the other volumes for copying, then cancel the copy. This will tag those volumes for assignment restoration. Remember that open files will not be copied, so users should be logged out. The Migration Wizard is not allowed to overwrite the destination SYS: volume. If you choose to copy the source SYS: volume, its directories are saved in the destination server's SYS:SYS.MIG directory.
  • Edit Configuration Files - You are allowed to edit the NCF and CFG files on the destination server to match the ones on the source server. For example, you will want to change the IP address on your destination server to be the same as the IP address of your source server. It must be changed in three files: AUTOEXEC.NCF, SYS:\ETC\HOSTNAME, and SYS:\ETC\HOSTS.
  • Begin the eDirectory Migration - This option is actually called Begin NDS Migration by the Wizard. (Remember, eDirectory is just a new name for NDS.) Back up all volumes, if not done already. Resolve any critical errors found by the Wizard. (Critical errors have icons that look like red circles with white Xs in them. Non-critical errors, also called warnings, are shown with yellow triangle icons with black exclamation points. Informational messages are shown with white balloon icons tha have blue Is in them.)
  • Finish eDirectory Migration - More error and warning messages may appear. Resolve them, finish the project, and proceed to the next objective.
Perform Post-Migration or Post-Upgrade Tasks

Three tasks are listed in the text:

  • First, check external references. These are references to objects on other servers. (The text refers to this as running the Backlinker process.) To check such references, you can use the following commands:
    SET DSTRACE=ON
    SET DSTRACE=+BLINK
    SET DSTRACE=*B
    Continue running these processes until there are no more external references listed.
  • The second task is to Upgrade Existing NSS Volumes. For each NSS volume, there are six steps to upgrade it to the new version of NSS.
    1. (For an in-place upgrade only) At the command prompt enter:
      NSS /ZLSSVOLUMEUPGRADE=All
    2. At the server console, enter:
      SET NLS SEARCH TYPE
    3. Make sure the value for NLS SEARCH TYPE is set to 0; if not, at the console prompt enter:
      SET NLS SEARCH TYPE = 0
    4. At the server console, enter:
      SET STORE NETWARE 5 CONN SCL MLA USAGE IN NDS
    5. Make sure the value is set to OFF; if not, enter:
      SET STORE NETWARE 5 CONN SCL MLA USAGE IN NDS = OFF
    6. At the server console prompt, enter:
      FLUSH CDBE
  • The third task listed is really three: Run DSREPAIR in its most effective mode, Unattended Full Repair. Then, check random user objects to make sure migration took place. Last, reinstall applications that use subdirectories of SYS:.