GSS1.1 to GSS2 Upgrade (Ghost Client problem)

[Migration User]

Then again, I am actually just using the ghost software,

So upgrading from 8.3 to 11.0.

I have upgraded the console from 8.3 to 11 successfully.
But when I send a clone to multiple of machines,
they dont seem to work.

the event log on the task, all said success to upgrade the ghost client, then they just sit and dont do anything else. they dont restart or anything, like they dont even contact the virtual partition...

now, I did a remote restart on all the machines, but according to the console the clients have not started, and all "disconnected"...

I have done this on tuesday with 20 other machines, and they worked perfectly, and all connected with the latest client. but there machines dont want to do anything...
I cant figure out why...

does anyone know whats wrong?

thanks


edit,
I tried to ghost cast (manually) with the ghost cast server.. with the new image with the new client installed, and after the clone has completed, the console still says "disconnected" even if they are online... and working.

edit 2,
40 minutes later, i got the message
"Run client upgrade failed"
"Client timed out"Message was edited by:
Peter Lawlor

[Migration User]

What kind of hardware do you have for your clients? This sounds like it could be related to the duplicate UUID problem in the Dell GX270s.

It would also perhaps be useful if you could send me a copy of the NGSERVER.LOG file from the server, which should have a record of its interactions with the clients (zip up the file, it compresses really well). You can send it to me at nigel dot bree at gmail dot com

[Migration User]

We are not using dells, but we are using "Viglen" the Universities default and recommended store, http://www.viglen.co.uk

I have sent you the email with the log in .rar

I never thought of testing the new ghost console before upgrading the 8.3.
Which is currently on a windows server (2000), but im sure that wont be a problem.

but i dont get how i could clone/update one batch of machines (20 of them), which were built in 2006, then, tried to clone/update an older batch of machines (46), built in 2005, which failed, APART FROM ONE!, but its confusing.

I once updated the client, and on the console it said it has the correct version of the client installed.
NOW!, it says it has 8.3, with the ! on the computer image, but I can't do anything with it, I can't clone it, or update it, and for the manual ghost cast, - which was a bad idea, because by doing that, I will not be able to log in until its joined the windows domain, which i need ghost for. so for that machine i cant even log in to it... Well, hopefully you could help out with the ngserver log.

another thing, I uninstalled the client from a machine, and according to the console it's still installed and connected?,

well, I tried to install the client remotely, and it failed... with the following message:
01-Mar-07 @ 11:21:21 AM \\DCS02621

Failed to install:
\\DCS02621
(7): Connection: Logon failure. Possible reasons are:
1. Incorrectly specified password and/or username.
2. Simple File Sharing is enabled and the client is running on Windows XP.
3. Incompatible Windows LAN Manager authentication levels between console & client machine.
Please refer to the Symantec Ghost Manual to change the above mentioned windows settings.

this is one of the machines that currently doesnt have a client installed, and console says its online and installed, theres not even a directory "Symantec" in the program files of the machine.

Also, on another machine...
On the console says "online/connected with !, says it has 8.3 client version.
On the computer, i checked the version in the add/remove programs, and it says "110.00.1502"...

Never known a problem like this... I have upgraded from 7 to 8, 8 to 8.3 with no problems at all, but 8.3 to 11 (which is a big version jump... don't you think?) giving me problems.

Unless the Licensing is only allowing me to have 20 11.0 clients only?

- I also tried to delete a comptuer from the console, but it says its listed in one a tasks, but I can't find it in any of the tasks... i have all the tasks pointing to another machine, but i still cant delete the computer... without it complaining.

- Typing way too much here.

But thanks for reading....

[Migration User]

Thanks for that information. The clients that failed indeed do have the same kind of manufacturing fault as the GX270s, which is that their system BIOS claims to obey a specification which gives the machines a guaranteed unique ID (similar to the way that Ethernet network adapters contain an IDs that is required to be unique on the network, but tied to the computer) but in fact the "unique" IDs are identical.

The initial release of GSS2 basically just trusted that the machine unique identifiers were indeed unique; we wanted to try and use this because previously, we used the network adapters installed in the machine - however, that didn't work very well in a number of circumstances, such as notebooks with docking stations or software network adapters such as VPN clients that didn't have unique addresses either.

So, the console was getting terribly confused about which client was which, because as far as it was concerned they were all claiming to be the same one, which explains the symptoms you were seeing. The updated ngserver.exe that I've sent you a download link for now recognises situations like this and doesn't get fooled by it.

[Migration User]

Hi,

Thanks for the email,
but one step further and one step back.

Step further: One batch of machines are now connected,
Step back: The other batch is still disconnected apart from ONE machine.

Also, I tried to clone the batch connected machines,
and failed on the "clone" process, with the message "Please register ghost before attempting this operation"

but it is registered...

I have sent another email to you, Nigel.

[Migration User]

Well, I have uninstalled the ghost console (11), and reinstalled it.

Still having problems,
need this working asap, as this is live system, and need to sort it out...
im just gonna reinstall 8.3 if i need to.


which im doing now, hopefully i can get it back to normal,
but i would need to setup the computers and images and stuff.. (on the console but still have an old image with the old client... )

(well before i did the upgrade, i have created a backup of the db stuff and registry settings and stuff, and recovered from those)

:)Message was edited by:
Peter Lawlor

[Migration User]

Thanks to Peter's help, what we've found is that the previous workaround we had for this case wasn't completely effective in an upgrade situation where the clients were already in the database. I've reworked some of the code to make sure that situation is properly covered, and once I have a day or two to let it get it through its paces in testing there will be a newer build.

[Migration User]

I will re-create the situation above, and try out the newfixes to solve these issues when available.

Peter

[Migration User]

I am having the exact same problem.   Last night I decided to upgrade the server to version 11 and all of the machines were showing up as disconnected, deleted them all out of the Server and now it won't repopulate.   We are using the SIS900 network card that is built in on P4S533 boards, and we have had many problems with the MAC Addresses on these cards.    Is there a workaround for it?   I see you sent an updated copy of ngserver.exe, is there a place to just download this?

 

Thanks

[Migration User]

There isn't a place to just download just the newer ngserver.exe; instead, we've completely remastered the product to fix this and a couple of other problems. If you have GSS2 installed, then LiveUpdate should give you a chance to download the 2.0.1 server installer. You can use this to update your server (and it will also update the clients to the latest code as well).

[Migration User]

I just installed suite 2.0.1 and am having the same issues as noted above.  All clients show "disconnected" even though they are in fact running.  I've rebooted, stopped and started the Symantec Ghost services, remotely installed a client (which does not show up at all) and still the clients do not communicate.  The NGSERVER.LOG file indicates timeout ont eh client attempts to reach the server.  We do Run Dell machines ranging from 150s to 270s.  ANy help would be most appreciated.

 

 

[Migration User]

If you've got this happening in 2.0.1 and the clients are showing connected, probably the best thing is to e-mail me a copy of your ngserver.log and an ngctw32.log from one of the affected client (and preferably the MAC address and/or IP address of the client so I can match up the logfile entries from each side). If you can zip that up and e-mail it to me at nigel dot bree at gmail dot com I'll do my best to figure it out.