Category : Alternate Operating Systems - Quarterdeck DesqView, CP/M, etc
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TECHNICAL BULLETIN


TITLE: Using DR DOS LANPack
DOCUMENT ID#: TB-M-1401
DATE: 08SEPT92
PRODUCT: DR DOS LANPack
PRODUCT VERSION:

Using NetWare DR DOS LANPack to prepare new, diskless and diskette
only workstations

Topics Covered:

1. Installing DR DOS 6.0 to workstations with new or unprepared
hard drive using LANPack

2. Configuring Remote Boot workstations with DR DOS 6.0 using
LANPack

3. Installing DR DOS 6.0 to diskette only workstations using
LANPack

Important additional information for all DR DOS LANPack users:

Appendix A: Mapping DR DOS 6.0 workstations to the DR DOS directory
on the file server

Appendix B: Mapping DR DOS 6.0 workstations to the proper temporary
and configuration directories



1. Installing DR DOS 6.0 to workstations with new or unprepared
hard drive using LANPack

LANPack can be used to install DR DOS 6.0 to a new or unprepared
workstation hard drive. The instructions that follow illustrate
how to create a bootable DR DOS 6.0 diskette. The diskette can
then be used to boot the workstation, login to a NetWare file
server, and run the DR DOS 6.0 FDISK program to prepare the
workstation hard drive. (This same diskette may also be used when
configuring Remote Boot workstations and diskette only
workstations.)

Once such a workstation hard drive is properly prepared using
FDISK, the LANPack Remote Installation feature can be used to
affect a complete DR DOS 6.0 installation to the hard drive.

1.1 Workstation boot diskette preparation

A bootable diskette can be created that logs a workstation into
a known file server and account to activate the LANPack
installation program. The hard drive must be formatted with a
DOS partition in order for the installation process to work
properly. FDISK will prepare the drive partitions and format
the drive. There is no need to run FORMAT after running FDISK.

The boot diskette that is created should match the media format
of the A: drive of the workstation involved, 3 1/2" or 5 1/4".
The DR DOS 6.0 FORMAT program should be used from a workstation
with DR DOS 6.0 already installed to prepare the boot diskette.
The FORMAT command should be used with the /S switch as follows
to ensure that the DR DOS 6.0 system files are copied and that
the diskette is made bootable:

FORMAT /S

1.2 Contents of the boot diskette

The prepared boot diskette should contain the following files:

File Names Comments

IBMBIO.COM DR DOS "BIOS" code (copied by FORMAT /S)

IBMDOS.COM DR DOS "DOS" code (copied by FORMAT /S)

COMMAND.COM DR DOS "Shell" code (copied by FORMAT /S)

CONFIG.SYS Created by network administrator (see section 1.3)

AUTOEXEC.BAT Created by network administrator (see section 1.4)

COUNTRY.SYS Used to support international codepages and
international date and time formats

EMM386.SYS Memory manager driver for 80386/80486 systems

HIDOS.SYS Memory manager driver for 8088/8086/80286 systems

PCKWIN.SYS Driver for SuperPCKwik Windows 3.0/3.1 support

MEMMAX.EXE Program to control use of Upper/Lower memory

LSL.COM Link Support Layer driver

NE2000.COM Driver for workstations using the NE2000 NIC (use
alternate where appropriate)

IPXODI.COM ODI IPX Protocol Stack driver

IPX.COM IPX driver created by network administrator (see
below)

EMSNETX.EXE EMS memory aware NetWare shell

XMSNETX.EXE XMS memory aware NetWare shell

NETX.COM Standard NetWare Shell

NET.CFG Network adapter driver configuration file

You will need a bootable diskette of 720K or larger to hold all
of the files listed above. If the workstations being used have
only low density 5 1/4" (360K) drives, some of the files listed
will have to be omitted. As it is most likely that only one of
the three NetWare shells available (EMSNETX.EXE, XMSNETX.EXE,
and NETX.COM) will be used at any one time, it is possible to
choose only one of these three shells and still fit the
remainder of the files listed above onto a bootable diskette of
360K.

The majority of the files listed above can be copied from the
directory on the file server containing the DR DOS LANPack
files. IBMBIO.COM, IBMDOS.COM, and COMMAND.COM will be copied
automatically by the FORMAT /S command.

ODI drivers such as LSL.COM, NE2000.COM, and IPXODI.COM are
supplied with the LANPack on the "DOS Workstation Services"
diskette. If the workstations being used are not equipped with
Novell / Eagle Ethernet NE2000 Network Interface Cards (NICs),
the appropriate ODI NIC driver must be used instead of
NE2000.COM. Several ODI NIC drivers are included in the "DOS
Workstation Services" diskette. The NIC manufacturer may also
supply an appropriate NIC driver for use with NetWare. When
using the ODI NIC drivers and the non-default configuration
settings for the NIC, a NET.CFG file should also be created to
indicate the type of NIC and it's configuration. A NET.CFG for
an NE2000 might be:

Link driver NE2000
INT 5
PORT 320

Consult the NetWare documentation for more details on the use
and format of a NET.CFG file.

If it is necessary to use IPX.COM instead of the ODI drivers for
IPX support, IPX.COM must be generated for the workstation from
the WSGEN diskette provided with NetWare (see the NetWare
documentation for more information.) The WSGEN utility uses a
file called IPX.OBJ to generate IPX.COM. IPX.OBJ can be found
in the NETWARE directory under the directory on the file server
containing the DR DOS LANPack files. Use this IPX.OBJ file with
WSGEN when a more recent version is not available.

1.3 Basic CONFIG.SYS

The following CONFIG.SYS file may be used with any type of DOS
workstation, regardless of processor type. A more complex
CONFIG.SYS file might, for example, take into consideration the
type of processor used by the workstation so as to fully exploit
the DR DOS memory management capabilities. Please consult the
Technical Services Guide provided with DR DOS LANPack for
information on how to be obtain help with the creation of more
complex CONFIG.SYS files with DR DOS and refer to the example
CONFIG.SYS files in the EXAMPLES\NETWARE directory under the
directory on the file server containing the DR DOS LANPack files.

SHELL=COMMAND.COM /E:1024 /P
BREAK=ON
HIBUFFERS=15
FASTOPEN=512
FCBS=4,4
FILES=20
LASTDRIVE=E
HISTORY=ON, 256, OFF, OFF, OFF
COUNTRY=001,,COUNTRY.SYS

1.4 Basic AUTOEXEC.BAT

The following AUTOEXEC.BAT file may also be used with any type
of DOS workstation, regardless of processor type. A more
complex CONFIG.SYS file might load other useful DR DOS utilities
like TaskMAX or the disk cache program. Please consult the
Technical Services Guide provided with DR DOS LANPack for
information on how to be obtain help with the creation of more
complex AUTOEXEC.BAT files with DR DOS and refer to the example
files in the EXAMPLES\NETWARE directory under the directory on
the file server containing the DR DOS LANPack files.

@ECHO OFF
LSL
NE2000
IPXODI
NETX
F:
LOGIN

Again, please recall that if the workstations being used are not
equipped with Novell / Eagle Ethernet NE2000 Network Interface
Cards (NICs), the appropriate ODI NIC driver must be used in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file instead of NE2000.COM.

1.5 LANPack INSTALL configuration

Using a diskette prepared in the manner outlined above, it is
possible to use this diskette on multiple workstations simply to
gain access to the NetWare file server and install DR DOS
remotely and automatically.

To prepare for this, the LANPack INSTALL command should be
placed in the system or user login script using the NetWare
SYSCON utility. For installation of DR DOS onto these new
workstations, the INSTALL program requires the use of the /O-
parameter, which prevents INSTALL from attempting to save the
old operating system files. Also, the /Q parameter should not
be used because DR DOS will always be detected as "already
installed" when booting from the DR DOS diskette. A typical
system login script for new workstation installation might be:

if "%LOGIN_NAME" == "DRDOS" then begin
map root a:=SERVER1/SYS:DRDOS6
drive a:
#install /o- /a
map del a:
drive *1:
end

Automatic installation of DR DOS using the above login script is
then performed by booting the workstation with the prepared
diskette and logging into the file server as user DRDOS. To
accomplish this as in the above example, it would be necessary
to use the NetWare SYSCON utility to create a generic user
called DRDOS to be used for installation of DR DOS onto
workstations with newly reformatted hard drives.

NOTE: LANPack INSTALL normally checks the old AUTOEXEC.BAT or
CONFIG.SYS for keyboard drivers and includes them in the new
configuration. For an installation of DR DOS onto workstations
with newly reformatted hard drives, a keyboard driver is not
installed causing DR DOS to use the default US COUNTRY setting.
When using other COUNTRY settings, the KEYB.COM program file should
be added to the prepared diskette, and the AUTOEXEC.BAT file should
contain the KEYB command using the appropriate country codes. See
the DR DOS 6.0 User Guide for more details on using the KEYB
command.

For more information on the LANPack installation procedures and
login scripts used with the LANPack, see the DR DOS LANPack
Installation Guide.

2. Configuring Remote Boot workstations with DR DOS 6.0 using
LANPack

DR DOS can be used to boot diskless workstations equipped Remote
Boot NICs on a network that may contain a mix of diskless
workstations and other types of workstations. Many of the same
features available when using a boot diskette of the type
described in the previous section are available when using the
Remote Boot option available with some NICs. Such features
include advanced CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files which will
take full advantage of the features offered by DR DOS.

The network administrator may need to configure certain
workstations using the Remote Boot option in different ways.
Multiple configurations are possible by generating separate
Remote Boot images files for each workstation requiring a unique
configuration. The Remote Boot loader on the NetWare file
server will send the different Remote Boot images to different
workstations according to the network node address at each
workstation. Please refer to the NetWare documentation for more
information on the use of Remote Boot image files.

Multiple Remote Boot configurations will be generated by
creating multiple pairs of CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files and
then folding them into separate Remote Boot images.

2.1 Preparing a Remote Boot image

The procedure for preparing a single Remote Boot image file, or
multiple image files, for workstations are described clearly in
the NetWare documentation. The following simply describes how
the LANPack can be used to configure workstations for Remote
Boot program loading.

The person responsible for the creation of the Remote Boot image
files will need to have "SUPERVISOR" equivalent rights on the
NetWare file server involved in order to proceed.

Prepare a bootable DR DOS 6.0 diskette of the appropriate
format, 3 1/2" or 5 1/4", by using the FORMAT.COM program in a
process similar to that described in section 1.1. FORMAT should
be used with the /S parameter to make the diskette bootable.
Then copy all of the files listed in section 1.2 onto the
diskette formatted with DR DOS.

Next, generate the DR DOS Remote Boot image or images (one or
more different copies of NET$DOS.SYS) as described in the
NetWare documentation.

Depending on the type of diskette being used and list of files
it contains, the screen will look similar to this:

Floppy Type f9 = Quad Density, 15 Sectors per track
Total Floppy Space 2400 Sectors
Setting Up System Block
Setting Up FAT Tables
Setting Up Directory Structures
Traversing Directory Structures
Processing IBMBIO.COM
Processing IBMDOS.COM
Processing COMMAND.COM
Processing CONFIG.SYS
Processing AUTOEXEC.BAT
Processing COUNTRY.SYS
Processing EMM386.SYS
Processing HIDOS.SYS
Processing PCKWIN.SYS
Processing MEMMAX.EXE
Processing LSL.COM
Processing NE2000.COM
Processing IPXODI.COM
Processing IPX.COM
Processing EMSNETX.EXE
Processing XMSNETX.EXE
Processing NETX.COM
Processing NET.CFG
Transferring Data to "NET$DOS.SYS"

The Remote Boot image has to be modified using the RPLFIX.COM
program to ensure error free Remote Bott image loading, as
described in the DR DOS User Guide. The RPLFIX.COM program can
be found in the NETWARE directory under the LANPack directory on
the file server.

The LOGIN directory on the file server and the default directory
(reached at the end of the user login process and normally the
user's home directory) should also contain a copy of the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file used above. This ensures that commands placed
in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file after the LOGIN command will be
executed properly. The DR DOS programs which may be used by
these commands will be located in the directory on the file
server containing the LANPack files and can be accessed from the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file after setting the COMSPEC environment variable
from within the system login script, as described in section 2.2.

2.2 Login script for Remote Boot workstations

When a workstation is using DR DOS as the client operating
system and the Remote Boot image load program, it is important
that that workstation be properly identified and mapped to the
DR DOS client files on the file server so that it can use the
server to access the DOS files and programs instead of the local
diskette drive. Please see Appendix A and Appendix B for
information on how to accomplish this.

3. Installing DR DOS 6.0 to diskette only workstations using
LANPack

A diskette only workstation refers to machines with a single 3
1/2" diskette drive or a single 5 1/4" diskette drive.

DR DOS 6.0 can be used to boot workstations on a network
equipped with only a single diskette drive. It is possible to
install DR DOS, and any appropriate external DR DOS commands,
onto the diskette used to boot the workstations using the
LANPack.

Typically, diskette only workstations will have a boot diskette
in the A: drive at all times. The boot diskette will have a
configuration very similar to the diskette described in section
1.1 of this document.

Although it is best that this diskette be kept write protected
to prevent any accidental changes from being made to it during
normal use, the diskette must NOT be write protected when
installing DR DOS onto the diskette using the LANPack.

In order for a diskette only workstation to be truly upgraded to
DR DOS, the boot diskette must be updated with the DR DOS system
files and COMMAND.COM (done using the SYS.COM program over the
network), and updated with the latest version of NETX.COM.

3.1 Login script for diskette only workstations

The boot diskette used by diskette only workstations can be
upgraded to DR DOS 6.0 automatically using commands in the
system login script. In addition to updating the diskette with
the DR DOS 6.0 system files, any other relevant external
commands or utilities can be updated as shown below.

Having upgraded diskette only workstations with DR DOS, it is
important that the workstations be properly identified and
mapped to the DR DOS client files on the file server so that
they can use the server to access the DOS files and programs.
Please see Appendix A and Appendix B for information on how to
accomplish this.

A typical system login script for the DR DOS 6.0 diskette
upgrade using LANPack will make use of the modified DR DOS
LANPack SYS.COM and XCOPY.COM programs, and the NetWare utility
WSUPDATE.EXE. Please note that the SYS command must be used
with the undocumented /16V switch, and it must also be used
after the XCOPY commands in order to successfully create a DR
DOS bootable diskette.

if "%LOGIN_NAME" = "DISKETTE" then begin
map root z:=SERVER1/SYS:DRDOS6
drive z:
#sys a: /16v
#xcopy IBM*.* a: /h /r
#xcopy COMMAND.COM a:
#wsupdate /f=z:\WSUPDATE.CFG
map del z:
drive *1:
end

To accomplish this as in the above example, it would be
necessary to use the NetWare SYSCON utility to create a group
called DISKETTE consisting of all users with diskette only
workstations on the network.

The file WSUPDATE.CFG is a simple text file which contains the
names of files to be updated on the boot diskette. Refer to the
NetWare documentation for more information on the use of the
WSUPDATE.EXE program. Such a file should contain, but not
necessarily be limited to, the following:

Z:NETWARE\NETX.COM A:NETX.COM /C /O /S
Z:NETWARE\NETX.COM A:NET3.COM /C /O /S
Z:NETWARE\NETX.COM A:NET4.COM /C /O /S
Z:NETWARE\NETX.COM A:NET5.COM /C /O /S
Z:NETWARE\EMSNETX.EXE A:EMSNETX.EXE /C /O /S
Z:NETWARE\XMSNETX.EXE A:XMSNETX.EXE /C /O /S
Z:EMM386.SYS A:EMM386.SYS /C /O /S
Z:HIDOS.SYS A:HIDOS.SYS /C /O /S
Z:MEMMAX.EXE A:MEMMAX.EXE /C /O /S

NOTE: Check to make sure that the version of the WSUPDATE.EXE
program on the file server is v3.56 or later before using
WSUPDATE.EXE for diskette only workstation installations. The
directory information for WSUPDATE.EXE MUST match the
information below:

27,356 6-25-91 2:35p DC3F wsupdate.exe

Please obtain the correct, most recent copy of WSUPDATE.EXE from
a Novell reseller, distributor, Novell representative, or from
NETWIRE on CompuServe, if it does not appear on the file server
as shown above. The name of the update file to obtain is
WSUPDT.ZIP.

More information on using DR DOS 6.0 and NetWare can be found by
consulting the Technical Services Guide provided with the DR DOS
LANPack.



Appendix A: Mapping DR DOS 6.0 workstations to the DR DOS
directory on the file server

When setting up a NetWare file server, it is normal for the
network administrator to create a directory structure on the
server's hard drive which contains all the various DOS operating
system files for all the DOS operating systems being used by the
network DOS clients. This is done to accommodate clients
without a local hard drive so that such clients can use the
server to access the DOS files and programs instead of the local
diskette drive.

If a workstation is using DR DOS as the client operating system
without a local hard drive, as would some workstations
configured as described in this document, it is important that
that workstation be properly identified and mapped to the DR DOS
client files on the file server so that it can use the server to
access the DOS files and programs instead of the local diskette
drive. This section describes how this can be done.

NOTE: It is recommended that the original directory on the file
server containing the LANPack files (described in examples above
as SERVER1/SYS:DRDOS6) be maintained and a new directory be
created for use by clients who do not have their own hard drive.
The new directory might be similar to
SERVER1/SYS:PUBLIC\DRDOS\6.0. The new directory should be an
exact copy the original directory except for the following
changes: 1) the CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, NOVELL.LOG, STARTUP,
and VMAX files should be removed, and 2) the INSTALL.EXE program
should be renamed to SETUP.EXE.

A file server serving clients using two DOS operating systems,
say MS DOS 3.30 and COMPAQ DOS 3.31, will have two directories
which contain all the operating system files that would be
contained in the client DOS directories on a local hard drive.
These directories might have paths on the server like
SERVER1/SYS:PUBLIC/MSDOS/V3.30 and
SERVER1/SYS:PUBLIC/COMPAQ/V3.31.

When a client running MS DOS 3.30 attaches to this file server
and logs into this environment, it is important that the client
DOS PATH and COMSPEC variables be adjusted to "point" (or MAP)
to the server copy of the client DOS. This is normally
accomplished by the network administrator through changes and
adjustments to the system login script.

Normally, a line like MAP INS
S2:=SERVER1/SYS:PUBLIC/%OS/%OS_VERSION in the system login
script will handle the mapping to the correct client DOS
directory on the file server properly. When DR DOS is the DOS
client operating system, however, the %OS and %OS_VERSION
variables actually return MS DOS and v3.31 respectively. It is
obvious how this may cause confusion.

The DR DOS operating system is most compatible with MS
DOS/COMPAQ DOS version 3.3X. It is for this reason that DR DOS
appears to the NetWare operating system to be MS DOS 3.31. As a
result, both COMPAQ DOS 3.31 and DR DOS 6.0 will end up being
mapped to the same directory on the NetWare file server. In
order to prevent conflicts, a little extra work is required when
writing the system login script.

Because the DR DOS client operating system actually maintains
two environment variables called OS and VER which equal DRDOS
and 6.0 respectively, it is actually possible to test the DOS
client operating system in the login script to determine if the
DOS client is running COMPAQ DOS 3.31 or DR DOS 6.0. Once the
DR DOS client is detected, the login script should map the
client to a directory with the following path:

SERVER1/SYS:PUBLIC/DRDOS/6.0

The following sample portions of a system login script explains
and implements such a technique. The first few lines establish
environment variables OS and VER if the DOS client is NOT
running DR DOS. That is, any DOS client operating system other
than DR DOS does not already maintain the DOS environment
variables OS and VER, and as a result, they need to be set.

if != "DRDOS" then begin
dos set OS="%OS"
dos set VER="%OS_VERSION"
end

All that's left to be done is to map the DOS client using the
DOS environment variables and .

map ins s2:=SERVER1/SYS:PUBLIC/%/%
COMSPEC=s2:COMMAND.COM

The above portions of the system login script would result in a
drive mapping for Compaq DOS 3.31 of

SERVER1/SYS:PUBLIC\MSDOS\3.31 and a drive mapping for DR DOS 6.0
of SERVER1/SYS:PUBLIC\DRDOS\6.0.

Please see Appendix B for additional information on mapping
workstations without a local hard drive to the proper DOS client
files on a file server.



Appendix B: Mapping DR DOS 6.0 workstations to the proper
temporary and configuration directories

If a workstation is using DR DOS as the client operating system
without a local hard drive, as would some workstations
configured as described in this document, it is important that
that workstation be properly identified and mapped to the DR DOS
client files on the file server so that it can use the server to
access the DOS files and programs instead of the local diskette
drive. Appendix A describes how this can be done using the
system login script. There are a couple of other issues that
should be considered for such workstations in addition to those
described in Appendix A.

DR DOS itself and some of the DR DOS utilities are designed to
use two DR DOS specific DOS environment variables to control
their operation. One environment variable, TEMP, is used to
specify a path to which DR DOS should write temporary swap
files. (This same variable can be used by other applications
like Windows.) The second variable, DRDOSCFG, is used to
specify a path where DR DOS and some of the DR DOS utilities
will find configuration files. (The DR DOS configuration files
have a file extension of .INI and are found in the directory on
the file server containing the LANPack file.)

Workstations without a local hard drive will need to use
non-default settings for these DOS environment variables for DR
DOS and the DR DOS utilities to function properly. It is
recommended that the TEMP and DRDOSCFG variables be set to a
path in the individual user directory. (It is common that a
directory similar to SERVER1/SYS:USERS\JSCOTT be available for
each user on the file server. This example is the path to the
directory used by user JSCOTT.)

It would be helpful to create two new directories in each user
directory for this purpose. As an example,
SERVER1/SYS:USERS\JSCOTT\DRDOSTMP could be used for the
temporary files, and SERVER1/SYS:USERS\JSCOTT\DRDOSCFG could be
used for the configuration files. These directories could be
created for all users on a file server, but those users with
workstations not equipped with a local hard drive will be most
in need of them.

These special, non-default settings for these variables could be
set in the portion of the system login script described above in
Appendix A. For example, add the following login script excerpt
to the one in Appendix A:

if = "DRDOS" then begin
if member of "DISKLESS" then begin
map z:=SERVER1/SYS:USERS\%LOGIN_NAME
dos set TEMP="z:\DRDOSTMP"
dos set DRDOSCFG="z:\DRDOSCFG"
end
end

There are number of places where such DOS environment variables
might be set, of these, the system login script is probably most
convenient. To accomplish this as in the above example, it
would be necessary to use the NetWare SYSCON utility to create a
group called DISKLESS consisting of all users with diskless or
diskette only workstations on the network.

The DOS environment variables might also be set in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file on the diskette only workstation boot
diskette, or in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file in the Remote Boot
image(s) created for workstations using Remote Boot image load.


  3 Responses to “Category : Alternate Operating Systems - Quarterdeck DesqView, CP/M, etc
Archive   : DRTIPS.ZIP
Filename : 1401.TXT

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