Installing NetWare for OS/2 4.10 under VirtualBox
This is the basic procedure I used to get Netware 4.10 up and running under OS/2 Warp 3.0 inside VirtualBox. I expect the process for NetWare 4.11 (IntraNetware) should be much the same. This is documented here with an annoying large number of often fairly obvious and unnecessary screenshots to leave no doubt about whats going on.
Tools
Things you'll need to complete this:
- A VirtualBox VM with OS/2 Warp 3.0 installed on a partition that does not take up the entire disk (eg, a 500MB partition on a 1GB disk)
- A copy of NetWare 4.1 with a valid license disk
Installing NetWare for OS/2 v4.10
A clean install of OS/2 Warp 3 (blue spine) on a 500MB partition of a 1GB hard disk
The Warp 3 desktop
Insert the NetWare 4.1 Operating System CD-ROM, then open an OS/2 Window and run Install from the CD-ROM Drive
And you get this menu. Before installing the server, we need to install the client so choose option 2 (type 2 and hit enter)
And we get the NetWare Workstation for OS/2 Installation Utility (version 2.11). This version of the client is good for OS/2 version 2.1 through to Warp 4 (its included on the Warp 4 CD-ROM). If you've never installed the NetWare OS/2 Client before, the there are screenshots of installing v2.12 of the client. The process is virtually identical - only the patching step doesn't apply (there are patches for the v2.11 client but they're not worth bothering with - better off upgrading to v2.12 and patching that). The particular selections I made were:
- Version 2.11 of the client doesn't include an AMD PCnet driver, so I copied PCNTNW.SYS to C:\NETWARE before installing the client. The driver I used is in this disk image and comes from v2.12 of the client.
- When asked for the LAN driver I entered PCNTNW.SYS in the box
- I installed IPX support for DOS and Windows with the Global option. This allows running the NetWare Admin utilities from Win-OS/2
- I also installed SPX support
- And I told it to copy all LAN drivers rather than only the default one
On startup you may get errors from the network client - this is just because there aren't any NetWare servers on the LAN yet.
Time to install the server! Insert the NetWare 4.1 Operating System CD-ROM, then open an OS/2 Window and run Install from the CD-ROM Drive
And you get this menu again. This time, choose option 1.
The text is slightly different - "NetWare Client for OS/2 has been installed on this workstation and is currently running". Good.
From the Installation menu, select NetWare Server for OS/2.
Defaults should be fine.
File copying action happens down in the status bar
File copying done!
Choose Yes - otherwise you need two network cards to run both the client and server on the same machine.
Choose suitable options - these are the defaults:
And this is probably what you want: IPX/SPX, TCP/IP and Appletalk in OS/2, and Ethernet in OS/2 NetWare Server.
Save changes to config.sys
And now we need to enter a bunch of server details. Doing the Simplified server installation wouldn't ask us these questions - but it also doesn't setup network card
sharing (the documentation implies it should - perhaps the documentation is wrong). The only setting here you actually need to set is the server name (I'm going with VNW41OS2).
The rest of the defaults should be fine for US English.
All done here - exit the installation utility
OS/2 Warp 3 starting up
The usual NetWare Client for OS/2 startup. You can see LANSHARE is loaded (it talks about token ring but that doesn't matter)
Then something new! PNetware starting up
No desktop - we go straight into NetWare, loading INSTALL.NLM
And the netware installer. From here the process looks much like a regular install of NetWare 4.1. This part isn't terribly obvious - we've got to select the NIC driver for the NIC in the machine
(not any sort of lanshare driver). NetWare 4.1 doesn't have an AMD PCnet driver, so press Ins to install an unlisted driver.
The driver disk disk image from earlier has driver version 3.00 dated 30-JUN-1995 which should work.
Insert the disk and hit enter to continue.
Select the only option - AMD PCNTNW
Now we get to watch the driver start-up (or fail to start!). Hit enter to continue.
And now we get to enter an IPX network number. Accepting the default randomly generated one should be fine.
And select no - we don't need more drivers.
Done selecting drivers! Hit enter to continue with the installation.
Select an IPX network number for the TOKENSHR_1 interface. Default should be fine - hit enter.
Checks for conflicting network numebrs...
And on to partitioning - probably best to just choose Automatic. This should fill all unpartitioned space on all drives with NetWare partitions.
My VMs disk has 521MB of unpartitioned space which will be given to NetWare.
Summary of the partitions to be created. If it all looks OK, press F10 to continue.
Confirm volume changes
SYS volume is mounted
And this is where your license disk is required. Insert your license diskette and hit enter to continue.
License accepted!
Press enter to begin copying NetWare files from the CD-ROM to the SYS: volume
Select any additional (optional) stuff th copy. Defaults should be fine - hit F10 to continue.
Preliminary file copy happens...
My NetWare servers are all turned off at the moment for testing this out, so I'm picking
Yes, this is the first NetWare 4 server. This is because I don't intend to run this VM 24/7
and the other NetWare servers may get unhappy if a server thats joined my NDS tree is shutdown most of the time.
Pick an NDS tree name.
And pick a timezone. I imagine any DST stuff is completely out of date.
But you can configure it! Thats neat. I'm not going to bother though - this is just a test instance. F10 to continue once you've made any changes you'd like.
Fill out the NDS stuff. Entering a Company/Organisation will fill out the server context and administator name automatically.
Then you've just got to set an admin password
Once you've set the admin password, you get to save and continue.
Installing NDS... This took a while for me.
Please wait...
NDS Installed!
Our chance to edit the startup file, STARTUP.NCF. Shouldn't really need any changes at this time so hit F10 to save and continue.
Yes
And then AUTOEXEC.NCF - no changes required so hit F10
Yes
Installing the rest of NetWare...
Fily copy done. Choose Continue installation (you can always come back to the other installation options stuff later with load install.nlm)
Install complete! Hit enter to exit to the system console.
Type down and hit enter to bring down the server.
Then type exit and hit enter to exit to OS/2.
And then type exit and hit enter at the OS/2 prompt to exit back to the desktop.
Back at the desktop. Shutdown OS/2 and reboot the machine. I had to wait a little while before OS/2 would actually shutdown when told.
OS/2 Warp 3 starting up again
Back in OS/2, and the network drivers aren't complaining anymore!
Two new icons in the Novell folder on the desktop - PMMon and "NetWare Server for OS/2"
Clicking on "NetWare Server for OS/2" will launch NetWare
Server booted
load monitor.nlm - just like a regular NetWare Server. You can hit Ctrl+Esc to go back to the OS/2 Desktop.
And there is NetWare 4.10 running in the background.
And it even works! A mapped a network drive via NetWare Tools
Quick look at PMMon
And this is PMMon - a monitor application for the NetWare server. Pretty neat.
File menu - nothing interesting
Configuration menu
Memory sharing options
Options menu
Help menu
About
Further Exploration
Set NetWare to run in a window via the properties on the NetWare Server for OS/2 icon...
...and NetWare runs in a window! Much easier to minimise and put out of the way
To login properly: Open an OS/2 Window, change to L:\OS2, and run login
Then login normally
Done!
Drives mapped
There is NetWare Administrator
But it doesn't work sadly.
Upgrading to Client 2.12
Process is basically installing v2.12 over the top of 2.11. Only notable thing you've got to do is not upgrade the TOKENSHR.SYS driver as client 2.12 doesn't seem to include it. The 2.11 version of this driver seems to work fine with 2.12. Before upgrading you'll need to shutdown NetWare so you can reboot at the end.
Lets see if upgrading to the latest version of the client (v2.12) fixes the Win-OS/2 issues. I'm doing this the
lazy way - using the NetWare 4.11 CD which includes v2.12 of the client. You launch the installer the same way
as with the NetWare 4.10 CD, though it it makes you pick a language and
accept a license along the way.
The installation type menu on the 4.11 CD is a bit different too - option 2 (OS/2 (EPFIGS) Client Installation) is the one to choose
Same old installer. Process is the same - choose target directory, edit config.sys, etc.
But you'll want to check the Do NOT upgrade the currently installed LAN driver option as client 2.12 doesn't
seem to include a copy of TOKENSHR.SYS.
And the rest of the install is pretty much just accepting the defaults (or whatever values you entered when installing 2.11)
like the settings for autoexec.bat, optional protocols, then you
copy files as normal. Once its all installed, reboot.
Final look around
This time running Netware Administrator gets us the NetWare WINOS2 splash screen - looks like the NetWare OS/2 client is now
properly integrated with Win-OS/2.
And NetWare Administrator works!
NetWare Server for OS/2 in the background, RConsole in the foreground (after loading rconsole and rspx on the server)
NetWare Server for OS/2 with its administration utilities: RConsole (DOS), NetWare Administrator (Win16), and PMMon (OS/2)
Disclaimer & Comments
I'm not a netware expert, don't have any of those fancy novell certifications and have never administred a netware network; I've just played with it at home occasionally since 2004 or so. Email me if you've got any suggestions or corrections for this page or any extra information you think is worth including here. My address is david at this websites domain name (without the www bit of course).