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Setting up a ghost server and creating images.

i have a ghost cast server 8.0 that i am running on windows xp pro. i installed the ghost software fine. my network only uses static ip addresses. i am trying to create a network boot disk, so i can plug in any computer and create an image or restore an image. when i do that i get an error message saying "unable to find network card" . i need some guidance on this issue. do i need windows server 2003/2000 for it to run? do i need to setup dhcp server that will be my ghost server? do i need a switch or a device that will ensure connectivity to the server? can you tell what i need exactly for this to function right? i am wanting to use the ghost cast option which entells i will need to create a network boot disc. i have basic understanding of the software, your help will be appreciated.

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rjaden

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cchibonga

ASKER

i am using a realtek 8139/810x network card which is an option under the ghost boot wizard for creating a network boot disk. when i used these drivers i made some progress, the client computer booted up to the symantec interface. when i select ghostcast and then unicast it shows that it is initializing the drivers and ip. then it spits out an error saying ''output error A:ghosterr.txt" when i hit ok it gives me an error "abort 19913: tcp/ip unable to connect dhcp failed to connect. a possible network problem."
i have tried to research this error msg but i have not found anything concrete. i wanted to update my realtek 8139 drivers on the ghost server, but i don't know what files to put in that folder. when you download realtek drivers, it gives u a bunch of files which would not all fit in the floopy disk. can you tell me what files to add to the realtek folder on the ghost server.

rjaden

Hard to say what the drivers for your perticular card would be... here is a great document on how to make all this work. http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost.nsf/ppfdocs/2002101612025325 It sounds like you are missing a console piece. The client side is pretty simple. have you checked your configuration on the server side? You might also be able to hard code the IP of the server on the client disk. there should be a protocol.ini file that usually has this information in it.

cchibonga

ASKER

hey rjaden thanks for your last reply. i have changed up a few things and this is what i am trying to do now.
i am trying to ghost (creating/restoring images) computers in my company using ghost 8.0 . I have decided to use pxe boot in lieu of creating floopy/cd boot disks because i have several computers with different network cards. i have setup a ghost server that is running W2K3 it has a DNS, ACTIVE DIRECTORY, DHCP services, TFTP and has GHOST 8.0. i set this server up for PXE BOOT using the instructions on this url:

http://unattended.sourceforge.net/pxe-win2k.html

i am not sure if that is the correct way to set it up for w2k3. anyways my dhcp is working fine and its assigning ip to the computers, tftp is running fine. the computers we buy are fortunately already set up for pxe boot. i have experimented with them and they do recognize the tftp connections when i press F12 as they boot. however they give an error message saying TFTP FILE NOT FOUND. i am assuming the computers are looking for the the boot image which i created with Ghost boot wizard here are the steps :

Go to Start -> All Programs -> Symantec Ghost -> Ghost Boot Wizard2.->TCP/IP boot ->PXE Packet driver->pc-dos ->symantec ghost client->dhcp->image file name(which i save in c:\imagebootfile.sys)

actuallys according to http://unattended.sourceforge.net/pxe-win2k.html i have edited the registry to point to this image file.[ in hkey_local_machine\system\currentControlSet\services\tftpd add a subkey "parameters" to the tftpd folder. Add a string value "Directory" to the "parameters" key. Give "Directory" the path location where your boot image file is located. (example c:\imagebootfile.sys)].

I am clearly missing something and would appreciate your help. i have researched other peoples solutions which mention setting up a boot file in linux i do not have access to linux and i am sure there are alternatives to that.
Please give me a step by step exlanation on how to setup PXE on both the server and clients
How to get it to work with Ghost 8.0 (im i using the right options when creating a boot images? Is the boot image prepared separate from ghost[not using ghost boot wizard]?)
Could my network be the problem, i have a hub a server and 2 computers connected to it just as demo test? however if that is the case please go ahead and give the step by step solution for setting up a pxe boot with ghost. network setup is the least of my problems.
thank you in advance!

cchibonga

ASKER

the document helped some.