Chapter 14

Many companies have been content with the performance of NetWare 3. Although the benefits and features of IntranetWare vastly improved NetWare 3’s performance, as well as simplified global administration through NDS, upgrading from the NetWare 3 bindery services to an NDS-based platform may be worthwhile for your company.

Novell has introduced NetWare 5 with some enhanced features such as pure IP and a GUI server interface, and has also made it quite simple to upgrade or migrate from the bindery-based NetWare 3 environment to NetWare 5.

For those who are presently operating in a mixed bindery and NDS environment, a lot of planning work has been eliminated. Organizations that have been running NetWare networks in a pure bindery mode will require a little more planning for their NDS tree design. Once this has been completed, the transition is a lot smoother than you might expect. The process has also been simplified with the upgrade and migration utilities bundled with NetWare 5.

This chapter is designed to assist administrators and NetWare CNE candidates to develop the skills necessary to perform a server upgrade or migration to the NetWare 5 NDS structure from a NetWare 3.1x bindery-based system. We will discuss in detail the two methods used and the necessary steps it takes to successfully complete the upgrade. We will also cover the basic requirements for hardware and software as well as preliminary preparation needed before the upgrade is performed. At the end of this chapter, you will be able to perform the tasks necessary to successfully complete the upgrade or migration.

You must first become familiar with the two methods of upgrading. Although you may sometimes hear each term used in the same context as the other, there are several important differences between an upgrade and a migration. The method you choose will be the starting point for the NetWare 5 installation.

The installation program runs as a Java-based GUI window. At a certain point in the installation program, you will be required to select the type of installation. It is at this step that you choose whether to upgrade an existing NetWare 3.1x server.

The in-place upgrade process is summarized by the following procedures:

1. The minimum software and hardware requirements must be met.
2. Network preparation for the NetWare 5 server (required if upgrading into an existing NetWare 4.1x NDS server environment).
3. Server preparation.
4. Start the installation program by running the INSTALL.BAT program file.
5. Follow the instructions indicated on each screen.

Migrating to NetWare 5 is another method of upgrading. You will be upgrading the bindery and file system from an existing NetWare 3.x server to another server that has NetWare 5 installed on it. This process is done over the network and is commonly referred as an across-the-wire migration.

Novell has simplified the process of migrating across the wire by including an easy-to-use program called the Novell Upgrade Wizard. This graphical modeling and upgrade utility allows you to move the NetWare 3.x bindery, passwords, security rights, and volumes to a previously installed NetWare 5 server and NDS tree. The simple drag-and-drop functionality of the Novell Upgrade Wizard is used to perform these moves.

The migration process is summarized by the following procedures:

1. Install the Novell Upgrade Wizard utility.
2. Make preparations for the NetWare 5 migration.
3. Start the Novell Upgrade Wizard utility.
4. Create a project with the utility.
5. Drag and drop objects in the Project Window.
6. Verify that there will be no NDS errors or conflicts.
7. Start the migration process.

Extra hardware is required. Another server is necessary with across-the-wire migration.Hardware and Software Requirements for a NetWare 5 Server

To ensure that the server upgrade process will operate properly, you must check the existing server’s hardware to see if it meets the NetWare 5 minimum requirements. When migrating to a new hardware platform on which NetWare 5 is installed, you would have already determined what hardware is needed based upon the minimum recommended requirements of the NetWare 5 operating system and features that were implemented.

On an existing server, it is just as important to make sure that there is enough hardware presently installed or there is enough available space to add new hardware before proceeding with the upgrade.

Table 14-1 lists the minimum and recommended hardware requirements for a NetWare 5 server.

A DOS boot partition is still needed to load the NetWare 5 operating system. When upgrading an existing server from NetWare 3, you must make sure that the DOS partition is large enough to accept all files needed in the C:\NWSERVER directory to boot the server.

As listed in Table 14-1, the DOS partition must have a minimum of 30 MB free. 50 MB of free space would be more comfortable to work with without having to remove other files stored on the local drive.

You may also want to consider larger boot partition for troubleshooting purposes. This will allow you to perform a memory dump to the local drive when troubleshooting server problems. Figure 14-1 illustrates a formula to help determine the optimal size of the DOS boot partition.

Before you begin the upgrade to NetWare 5, there are certain tasks that should be completed. These tasks differ depending on the upgrade method you have chosen.

Although NetWare 5 still supports bindery client connections, upgrade your workstation’s client software if you have not already done so. This can be done either before or after the upgrade is completed.

When using the Novell Upgrade Wizard to migrate a NetWare 3.1x server to NetWare 5, the workstation that will be running this utility must have the minimum client software requirements installed on it. Table 14-2 shows the client versions based on the operating system on the workstation.

Depending on your present environment, you may have additional steps to take before proceeding with the upgrade. If your network environment contains all NetWare 3.1x servers, only the server needs preparation. If you plan to install into an existing NDS tree that contains NetWare 4.x servers, you need to make preparations on the other servers as well.

If your NetWare 5 server is going to be part of an existing NDS tree that contains NetWare 4.1x servers, it is recommended that certain tasks be completed on the NetWare 4.1x servers before you introduce the NetWare 5 server to the existing NDS tree:

1. Create a backup of the existing NDS structure from the server that contains the master replica of the partition to which you will be installing the NetWare 5 server.
2. Update the DS.NLM on the existing NetWare 4.1x servers to v5.99 or higher.
3. Obtain the following information:
   1. Tree name that the server will be installed in.
   2. The NDS context for the upgraded server.
   3. The Administrator’s user name and password.
4. Install Novell Licensing Services on the existing NetWare 4.1x servers.

Follow the procedure outlined below to prepare for upgrading the NetWare 3.1x server to NetWare 5:

1. Document the new or existing NDS structure that your NetWare 3.1x server will be upgraded to.
2. Make sure the existing server meets all hardware and software requirements.
3. Make at least two full backups of your existing NetWare server and include files on the DOS partition.
4. Document hardware settings for the server’s network board.
5. Log in to the server as a user with supervisor security equivalence.
6. Disable login and broadcast a console message requesting users to log out of the server that is being upgraded.
7. Check for any NetWare 5 compatibility issues with existing third-party party NLMs, disk drivers, or LAN drivers.
8. Check the CONFIG.SYS file on the local drive and make sure it contains the following commands: FILES=40 and BUFFERS=30

Since a migration involves upgrading the bindery and volume information from a NetWare 3.1x server to another server that has NetWare 5 already installed, you will be using the Novell Upgrade Wizard to complete this task as outlined in Exercise 14-1.

Prerequisites for the migration include the following:

1. Create a backup of NDS and the volumes on the NetWare 5 server to which the NetWare 3.1x server will be migrated.
2. Obtain the following information:
   1. Tree name that the server will be installed in.
   2. The NDS context for the upgraded server.
   3. The administrator’s user name and password.
3. If several servers will be migrated to the same NDS context, complete the following before migrating:
   1. Individual user names that exist on different NetWare 3.1x servers must be consolidated.
   2. Rename different users that have the same names on different servers to prevent duplicate NDS user names in the same context.
4. Upgrade client workstations.
5. Verify that you have Supervisor Equivalent rights to both the NetWare 3.1x and NDS tree.
6. Turn SAP filtering off if the servers involved are on different LAN segments. If SAP cannot be disabled, make sure that your client’s default or preferred server is on the same LAN segment as the servers being migrated to and from.
7. Update NLMs on all NetWare 3.1x servers to be migrated. These NLMs are located in the PRODUCTS\NW3X directory where the Novell Upgrade Wizard was installed.
8. Unload the following NLMs on each NetWare 3.x server to be migrated. Unload each NLM in the order listed below:
   1. TSA311.NLM or TSA312.NLM
   2. SMDR.NLM
   3. SMDR31X.NLM
   4. SPXS.NLM
   5. TLI.NLM
   6. AFTER311.NLM
   7. CLIB.NLM
   8. A3112.NLM
   9. STREAMS.NLM
9. Load the new TSA312.NLM to update the NLMs that were copied in step 8.
10. Load and add any additional name spaces on the destination NetWare 5 server volume that the NetWare 3.1x server volume will be migrated to. This must be done in order to properly migrate files that use non-DOS naming conventions.
11. Decide which objects will be upgraded. The Novell Upgrade Utility allows you to select which bindery object or volume to migrate.

One of the major changes that occurred when Novell developed NetWare 5 is the use of pure IP in network communications. In previous versions of NetWare, IPX/SPX was a required protocol suite for network communication. Even when TCP/IP was enabled on a server, IPX/SPX was still required to encapsulate IP and UDP (another Transport Layer protocol in the Internet Protocol Stack) packets to be properly processed by NetWare servers. NetWare 5 can run pure IP natively, without IPX/SPX being bound to LAN drivers, thus reducing the network’s and server’s overhead. However, this has important ramifications during the upgrade/migration to NetWare 5. Until all the non-NetWare 5 servers are upgraded, IPX/SPX must remain bound to the LAN drivers loaded on the NetWare 5 servers. Once all servers are upgraded, then all extra protocols can be removed, until only TCP/IP remains. Also, don’t forget, for Ethernet LANs and WANs, NetWare 3.11 and earlier, use frame type Ethernet_802.3, and for NetWare 3.12 and later, use frame type Ethernet_802.2 as defaults, so make sure that the appropriate frame types get bound to the NetWare 5 servers while the network is in transition.

—By Dan Cheung, CNI, MCNE, MCT

The installation process copies files from the CD, or from a network drive, to the hard drive in two separate areas. The first area is where files are copied to the boot partition. The second area is where files are copied to the SYS volume of the server.

Many NetWare files that were used in older versions of NetWare use the same names as NetWare 5 files, but have been enhanced. Old files are moved to an archive subdirectory on the boot partition, and under the SYS:SYSTEM directory. Some drivers, such as .DSK drivers, have been completely replaced by a new architecture – in this case, .CDM and .HAM drivers. Such files are not initialized until after the server has been rebooted.

Once you are confident you have made all the necessary preparations, you are ready for the upgrade itself. This section will describe the steps for both an upgrade and a migration to NetWare 5.

The steps in Exercise 14-2 are used to upgrade an existing NetWare 3.1x server to NetWare 5.Exercise 14-2 Upgrade to NetWare 5

The Novell Upgrade Wizard will be used in across-the-wire migration when upgrading to NetWare 5. Once you have completed the preliminary preparations, you will be ready to do the migration.

Create a new project by doing the following:

1. Choose Create | New | Upgrade | Project in the Startup dialog box; then click OK.
2. Type in a project name and then Browse to the location where you want to save the project; then click Next.
3. On the next screen, choose the source server and the destination tree from the drop-down lists; then click Next. If the bindery server or the NDS tree is displayed, click on the Server or Tree button to browse and log in to them.
4. Click Create to create the project.

If you have already logged in to the source server and the destination NDS tree, you can begin moving the objects around. You do this by dragging and dropping the bindery object and volume data from the source server to the desired location in the destination NDS tree. Figure 14-5 demonstrates how objects are moved around in the Project window.

If you have prepared in advance, the container object will be there. If the container has not yet been created, right-click the parent object and create a new container or folder.

Verify that the migration can proceed as indicated in the Project window by completing the g tasks in Exercise 14-3.Exercise14-3 Verifying the Migration

1. Click on Verification from the toolbar or select Project | Verify.
2. Click Next at the Overview page.
3. If you will be upgrading the NetWare 3.1x print information, select a volume in the tree browser; then click Next. If not, de-select the box on the page.
4. If you have configured a template object for the users being upgraded, locate and click the template object; then click Next. If not, de-select the box on the page.
5. To create a user template, mark the box on the page, enter a name for the template and click Next.
6. Mark the box to indicate how you want to handle conflicts between duplicate files; then click Next.
7. Enter passwords to the source server and destination tree; then click Next.
8. Mark the boxes to select the categories you want verified; then click Next.
9. When a naming conflict is found between same object types, correct it by selecting one of the following options:
   1. Let the wizard rename the object automatically.
   2. Don’t migrate the object.
   3. Merge the objects and maintain the bindery properties.
   4. Merge the objects and maintain the NDS properties. Each object is renamed by default if a resolution is not selected. If no conflict occurs, the list box will be empty.
10. Click Next.When a naming conflict is found between different object types, correct it by selecting one of the following options:
    1. Let the wizard rename the object automatically.
    2. Don’t migrate the object.
11. Click Next.
12. After all errors and conflicts have been resolved, click Next.
13. Read through the verification summary page; then click Finish.

After the verification is completed, the objects that can or cannot be migrated are listed for review. It is up to the installer to "clean up" the existing bindery in order for a clean migration to take place. That means if there are duplicate user IDs that will be migrated, the migration will fail. So, the installer runs the verification to find out what errors will occur, then fixes them to avoid such errors. Fixes can include renaming user IDs, group Ids, or print queue information, as well as deleting those objects. It is highly recommended to rename objects rather than delete them, except in cases where two servers are migrated to the same context and contain essentially the same user and group data.

Migrate the bindery and file system across the wire by completing the following steps:

1. Click on Upgrade from the toolbar or select Project | Upgrade.
2. After reading the Overview page, click Next.
3. As the program goes through the verification process again, resolve any remaining errors and conflicts.
4. Start the upgrade process by clicking on Upgrade. The upgrade process can be stopped at any time by clicking Stop and Yes to confirm. All bindery and file information that has been copied to NDS up to that point will remain there until manually deleted.

• After the upgrade process has been completed, you should perform any post-upgrade procedures. Below, are a few post-upgrade tasks:Make any necessary changes to the login script.
• Modify printing configuration.
• Check the information on the users that were upgraded.
• Check the file information that was upgraded.
• Check any third-party applications that were running on the NetWare 3.1x server.
• Move any other objects to other locations in the NDS tree that you may need.
• Upgrade the client software if you have not done so already.

After completing the upgrade, confirm that it was successful by sample-testing the following items:

• Logging in to the NetWare 5 server.
• Drives are being mapped correctly as specified in the login script.
• User accounts and restrictions are configured properly.
• Directory and file attributes are set correctly.
• All applications run properly.
• Printing environment has migrated correctly.

In this chapter, we have discussed the two methods used to perform an upgrade from NetWare 3.x to NetWare 5.

• Using the installation program, INSTALL.BAT, from the NetWare 5 CD-ROM, you can perform an in-place upgrade. This method will overwrite the system files on an existing server and upgrade the bindery and file system to an NDS structure.
• The Novell Upgrade Wizard is used during an across-the-wire migration. This upgrade method can take the bindery and volume information from multiple NetWare 3.1x servers and upgrade them to another more powerful server that has had NetWare 5 already installed.

Although Novell has simplified the process for both methods, you should still have a plan in place that conforms to the requirements and prerequisites before beginning the upgrade.

• Novell has introduced NetWare 5 with some enhanced features such as pure IP and a GUI server interface, and has also made it quite simple to upgrade or migrate from the bindery-based NetWare 3 environment to NetWare 5.
• A typical upgrade involves the installation of NetWare 5 on an existing server. The old system files are simply overwritten with the bindery objects and file system upgraded to an NDS structure. This method of upgrading is known as an in-place upgrade.
• Migrating to NetWare 5 is another method of upgrading. You upgrade the bindery and file system from an existing NetWare 3.x server to another server that has NetWare 5 installed on it. This process is done over the network and is commonly referred as an across-the-wire migration.
• To ensure that the server upgrade process will operate properly, you must check the existing server’s hardware to see if it meets the NetWare 5 minimum requirements. When migrating to a new hardware platform on which NetWare 5 is installed, you would have already determined what hardware is needed in order to install NetWare 5.
• The software programs needed for a NetWare 5 installation are: Drivers for accessing a CD-ROM drive from DOS, NetWare 5 CD-ROM, License diskette for NetWare 5, Novell Client for DOS and Windows 3.1x (required if upgrading from the network) and Novell Upgrade Wizard (if migrating across the wire).
• Although NetWare 5 still supports bindery client connections, it is recommended that you upgrade your workstation’s client software before upgrading to NetWare 5. This can be done either before or after the upgrade is completed.
• When using the Novell Upgrade Wizard to migrate a NetWare 3.1x server to NetWare 5, the workstation that will be running Novell Upgrade Wizard must have the minimum client software requirements installed on it.
• If your network environment contains all NetWare 3.1x servers, only the server needs preparation. If you plan to install into an existing NDS tree that contains NetWare 4.x servers, you need to make preparations on the other servers as well.
• Since a migration involves upgrading the bindery and volume information from a NetWare 3.1x server to another server that has NetWare 5 already installed, you use the Novell Upgrade Wizard.
• The installation process copies files from the CD, or from a network drive, to the hard drive in two separate areas. The first area is where files are copied to the boot partition. The second area is where files are copied to the SYS volume of the server.
• After completing the upgrade process, perform any required post-upgrade procedures, including: making any necessary changes to the login script, modifying printing configuration, checking user information for users that were upgraded, checking file information for files that were upgraded, checking third-party applications that were running on the NetWare 3.1x server, moving any other objects to other locations in the NDS tree that you may need, and upgrading the client software if you have not done so already.
• After completing the upgrade, verify that it was successful by: Logging in to the NetWare 5 server, confirming that drives are mapped correctly as specified in the login script, confirming that user accounts and restrictions are configured properly, confirming that directory and file attributes are set correctly, confirming that all applications run properly, and confirming that the printing environment has migrated correctly.