NetWare 4.2 Server

Support

This guest operating system is supported on the following VMware products:

General Installation Notes

Be sure to read General Guidelines for All VMware Products as well as this guide to installing your specific guest operating system.

You can install NetWare 4.2 in a virtual machine using the standard Novell NetWare 4.2 installation CD. VMware recommends you install NetWare 4.2 on a host with at least 256MB of memory.

Creating and Configuring the NetWare Virtual Machine

  1. If you created this virtual machine on a Linux host, open the configuration file (<netware>.cfg) in a text editor and add the following line:
    gui.iconLEDS = false

    This removes all the LED icons in the console window, which prevents the virtual machine display from appearing incorrectly when you power it on while the host is in 8 bit/256 color mode.

  2. Install the guest operating system and VMware Tools, which includes the CPU idler program. See below for details.

Installing the Guest Operating System

To install NetWare 4.2 in a virtual machine, complete the following steps.

  1. VMware recommends that you install MS-DOS 5.0 or higher in a small (50MB FAT16) partition as described in these guidelines. The rest of the free space on the virtual disk is used for the NetWare partition. Even if the virtual machine is to run NetWare most of the time, it is a good idea to install the DOSIDLE.EXE program, which you can download fromwww.vmware.com/software/dosidle210.zip.
  2. Install a CD-ROM driver or CD-ROM software for DOS. If you have problems setting up the DOS virtual machine to access the CD-ROM drive, you can use the mtmcdai.sys driver, which can be found at www.mitsumi.com. Under Drivers and Manuals look for ide158.exe. Modify the config.sys and autoexec.bat files on your DOS boot floppy (along with the mscdex.exe file) as shown below. If you are using a DOS boot partition, adjust the drive letters accordingly.

    config.sys

    device=himem.sys /testmem:off
    device=NEC_IDE.SYS /D:MSCD001
    files=12
    buffers=15
    stacks=9,256
    lastdrive=z

    autoexec.bat

    @ECHO OFF
    set EXPAND=YES
    SET DIRCMD=/O:N
    cls
    set temp=c:\
    set tmp=c:\
    path=c:\

    IF "%config%"=="NOCD" GOTO QUIT
    a:\NWCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001

    :QUIT

    After you have configured the CD-ROM software, verify that the virtual machine can read a CD from the host system's CD-ROM drive.

  3. If the virtual machine is not running, power it on and wait for DOS to finish its boot process.
  4. Insert the NetWare 4.2 CD in the CD-ROM drive on the GSX Server host.
  5. In the virtual machine, at the DOS prompt, run fdisk to create a partition for NetWare.
    A:\>fdisk
  6. After you create the partition, reboot the virtual machine. Press Ctrl-Alt-Insert.
  7. Format the C: drive. Type the following:
    format c: /s /x
  8. Copy the following files to your C: drive from your floppy. Type the following:
    Copy autoexec.bat c:
    Copy config.sys c:
    Copy himem.sys c:
    Copy nwcdex.exe c:
    Copy nec_ide.sys c:
  9. Modify the autoexec.bat file so it points to the CD-ROM directory on the hard drive instead of the floppy drive.
    1. To modify autoexec.bat, type the following at the C: prompt:
      a:edit autoexec.bat
    2. The line
      a:\NWCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001
      Must be changed to
      c:\NWCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001
    3. Save the changes you just made.
      cd d:
  10. Run INSTALL.BAT to start the NetWare server installation process. Install the software in a virtual machine as you would for a physical PC.
  11. If the virtual machine has been configured for networking (bridged, host-only, NAT or custom), the installation program detects a PCI Ethernet adapter and prompts you with a list of possible drivers. At this point, do not select or load any LAN drivers; press the F3 key to continue installing without a LAN driver.

    Note: Once the installation has been completed, you can load and bind the appropriate LAN driver. Selecting or loading a LAN driver during the NetWare 4.2 installation may hang the installation process.

  12. Finish the NetWare 4.2 installation by following the on-screen instructions.

    Then shut down the server and type exit to return to a DOS prompt.

    After you finish the installation, install VMware Tools, which installs and loads the CPU idler program.

VMware Tools for NetWare 4.2 Guest Operating Systems

Be sure to install VMware Tools in your guest operating system. In NetWare 4.2 virtual machines, VMware Tools provides CPU idling, sends a heartbeat from the guest operating system to the host and gives the virtual machine the ability to be gracefully powered on or off. For details, see the manual for your VMware product or follow the appropriate link in the knowledge base article at www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=340.

Installing VMware Tools also installs and loads the CPU idler program. NetWare servers do not idle the CPU when the operating system is idle. As a result, a virtual machine takes CPU time from the host regardless of whether the NetWare server software is idle or busy. To prevent unnecessary slowdowns, VMware recommends that, after you install VMware Tools, you keep the NetWare CPU idle program loaded.