How to Push Norton Ghost Images

[tuant]

HI

​

I have a project that I want to test before I do this on a large scale and it involves Norton Ghost 8.3 Corp. I know it is possible to push ghost images over the network however I have not been able to acomplish this. Right now I have a share folder on the network where I store all the ghost images. I want to be able to boot into a machine using Norton Ghost and select an image from the share folder of another machine have it image the HD. I would like a step by step instruction on this procedure. Thank you very much!!

 

[kimsland]

When you say "boot into" do you mean restore Ghost images from DOS boot.?

If so the Windows Ghost software will help you make a bootable, network, ghost boot disk. I take it that this has been done?

Once you have the bootable ghost, network CD. It is a matter of using the Ghost command line, directing to the network drive:
eg. ghost.exe -clone,mode=load,src=E:\savedsk.gho,dst=1 -sure (assuming E drive holds your image, as savedsk.gho)
All switches:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/on-technology.nsf/docid/1998082612540625

Here's a whole bunch of examples: http://www.sadikhov.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=46384&st=0&p=290029&#entry290029

 

[tuant]

After creating ghost network book floppy disk, where exactly do I enter the commands? When I boot from the floppy disk and get into ghost.exe, there is not option to enter any sort of commands. Do you mean 'exit' the ghost application and from there enter the commands?

Thanks in advance.

 

[kimsland]

Yes

from the command line A:\>

you will need to go over and over the command (entire line) until you get it right

I made one, that took ages until I now have it working all the time (but this is specific to networks, name of image, location, etc.

You need to check each part of the command until you get it right.

You can also add this to your autoexec.bat file (the boot up command file)

The main part of all this is to have the right DOS network drivers.
That's why I made a CD, I put hundreds of network drivers on it !

Good luck, you are starting on a tad higher level than basic Ghost commands, so you may have some issues until it works.

 

[tuant]

Every time I try to exit Ghost to go to the command prompt, it says 'Drive A not ready' 'Retry, Fail, Abort'. Any ideas to what this is?

 

[kimsland]

The ghost floppy that you have made must not have the command interpretter $p$g inside command.com (or is it io.sys) anyway, you may need to download another boot disk (try www.bootdisk.com) and copy ghost to a folder inside A drive called ghost.

ie A:\GHOST\Ghost.exe

To use ghost, just CD to GHOST folder and run Ghost
ie

A:/>CD GHOST
then type ghost to start it

Hopefully you should have an A prompt on exit as well

Also have you tried F (Fail) the F (Fail) then type B:
Sometimes the floppy is set for B: not A: (such as on a bootcd)

 

[LNCPapa]

Why are you distributing your ghost images using this method? The easiest way is to use GhostCast Server - which is included on your Ghost Corp CD. You don't even have to do any additional registering for it unless you use the Ghost Console. If you use the ghost server you simple start up a server session - select which image you want to send out, you can tell it how many clients to expect or just have it wait till you say ready, and then have all your clients locate the waiting server. You also don't have to create any shared folders using this method.

 

[tuant]

After following all the instructions on this site and I am pretty sure I've loaded the correct network driver.

http://help.ischool.washington.edu/faqs/12_29_en.html

I receive the following error stating:
Unable to locate the NIC
1. The system may not support the PCI Bus
2. The NIC may not be properly installed in a slot
3. Some of the NIC resources in configuration may be involved.

Where can I download dos drivers for NICS?

I am trying to re-image the HD of a SuperMicro PDSBM-LN2+ motherboard. I am using this as my test machine, I've already successfully installed Win2kPro on the server using the standard method. Used ghost to create of image and save the image on a different server. Wipe the HD clean on the SuperMicro and now I want to push the image back.

 

[kimsland]

You're getting there.
Asking for DOS drivers for your NIC means you know stuff now

Anyway, you will need to confirm what network card you have. The make and model. This info is stamped on the card somewhere, or it's in your motherboard manual (you can download this online) from your computers motherboard support page.

Once you know the name and model number of your NIC, you then search the manufacture website for the DOS network drivers. If they don't supply them, then that's when Google comes in.

Download the drivers (eventually) extract them, and add them to the Ghost Network installation.

 

[tuant]

Why are you distributing your ghost images using this method? The easiest way is to use GhostCast Server - which is included on your Ghost Corp CD. You don't even have to do any additional registering for it unless you use the Ghost Console. If you use the ghost server you simple start up a server session - select which image you want to send out, you can tell it how many clients to expect or just have it wait till you say ready, and then have all your clients locate the waiting server. You also don't have to create any shared folders using this method.

I know I can probably google this but do you have any sites that you kept over the years that can help me further understand this method?

Thanks!

 

[tuant]

Everytime I try to start ghostCAst -> Unicast on the machine I want to re-image, it creates an error stating 'Can't start TCP/IP...... Can't find the DHCP client.

I am 100% sure I have the correct network driver.

 

[kimsland]

Found this:
http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=8&threadID=184855&messageID=2168812
Regarding NDIS2 driver

 

[tuant]

Man, every time I feel like I am finally getting somewhere, something else does not work.

When the Ghost Cast session starts, the client indicates "Waiting for the GhostCast session to start" while the server says "GhostCast in Progress". After about two minutes the client reports Application Error 503. GhostCode 19922". The server indicates right after "Connection reset by Client". Firewall is disabled so can anyone tell what I am doing wrong?

 

[kimsland]

Symantec response:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...08b851e690b50857882567bc0052b9e2?OpenDocument

Suggests either incorrect Network driver

Also found this on another tech forum:
This problem happens when the server computer does not have enough disk space to store the image file. To resolve the problem, store the image file on a different computer, or free up sufficient disk space on the server computer.

Other causes and solutions

This problem sometimes happens when mapping a drive to a different server. To resolve the problem, use a UNC path for the server, or install Ghost to the second server and run Ghost from there.
This problem has been seen when using the wrong DOS drivers for the network interface card (NIC), such as drivers that are for a different model of NIC. Obtain the correct DOS drivers from the NIC manufacturer, update Ghost to use the new drivers, and then create a new boot floppy disk that uses the new drivers.
If the client computer uses the D-Link DFE500TX NIC, using the NIC's packet drivers instead of the NDIS drivers sometimes resolves this problem.
This problem has been seen when the client computer has more than one NIC.
This problem has been seen when the server computer has more than one NIC. Ghost does not support running Ghost Multicast Server, GhostCast Server, or Ghost Console on a computer that has multiple NICs. To resolve the problem, remove all NICs but one before running Ghost Multicast Server.
This problem has been seen when the server computer has more than one IP address. To resolve the problem, remove all IP addresses but one before running Ghost Multicast Server.

 

[tuant]

Thanks for everyone's help. I was able to push my first test image over to a test server using 'ghost cast'. A couple issues I came across along the way was that ghost cast did not work when I used the lasted dos driver from the manufacture. However when using the NIC drivers that came with ghost, everything worked fine. Not sure what the issue could be here, need more time to investigate. Initially I created a bootable USB drive, so how do I go about adding more NIC drivers on the USB and allowing ghost to auto detect the appropriate NIC drivers to use on different servers?

 

[kimsland]

I'm posting you my old autoexec.bat and config.sys (both in txt format)

After reading through them myself, I thought what was I thinking, it took a long time to work through !
Obviously you would need all the drivers for it as well.

 

[tuant]

I am still working on creating a multi NIC CD boot however another question has arise. Why does Ghost create spanned images of my original ghost image? For example I create a 2gb image called A. After a test push to a client, inside the folder where I saved the original image, there are three 2gb spanned ghost images called A1, A2, A3. Sometimes there is a fourth file with a file size 1/3 of the original. I would like to know if this is necessary b/c if this is the case, it takes up a lot of disc space.

Thanks in advance

 

[kimsland]

Ghost (v.8 or 2003) will span image if the total image size is bigger then 2GB
Which is a good idea, as images above that, are too easily corrupted

 

[tuant]

Thats interesting however the three span images are of equal size to the original. I figure the three images will add up to the same size as the original.

 

[kimsland]

There should be a compression option
No compression
Medium Compression
High Compression (I use this one)

 

[tuant]

Thanks for the information, I'm pretty sure I will post back here shortly for questions on multi NIC bootable CD. Did not have a lot of time to work on that issue yet.

Thanks in advance.

 

[tuant]

Apparently pushing ghost images hogs most of the bandwidth. I've tried putting the server and client on a different subnet but still the entire company experience a slow network connection. I've also decrease the throughput on Ghost to 50mb/min but then it will take roughly an 1:30 hrs to complete the process and complaints were still coming in. Does anyone know how to overcome this?

 

[kimsland]

That'll be right, you get everything right at last and someone complains. :/

Anyway, I wonder if you could save locally or to another harddrive (ie external USB drive)
And then copy the images across the network.

Maybe your router is not fast enough.

Actually we don't know anything about your network ! Hardware and Software (are you using Server software?)

 

[tuant]

This is done on a windows XP machine where I have 'ghost cast server' installed which allows me to create & push images across the network and is also where I have the images stored.

I can save the images locally on to a ext USB HD but then I would only be able to push the image to one client at a time.

 

[kimsland]

Tuant we're up to post #25, and I'm asking you for your hardware setup, and I'm also concerned about the amount of info ever escalating, but here we go.

Ethernet?
Wireless?
Other clients?
Server?
Other OS (on clients)
Network settings?
Router?
Modem?
Firewall? (hardware or software)
How many users?

Actually drawing a layout is ideal, I tell you what I'll post one that you can edit. (hang on... Done!)
Here post ipconfig too, this command will put it on your Desktop for you.
Start --> Run--> cmd /c ipconfig /all >Desktop\ipconfig.txt <OK>

I suppose I'll wait. :zzz: (joke)