Neoware Neoware e140 - Thin Client User manual

Neoware Image Manager 4.6
USER MANUAL

© 2007 by Neoware, Inc.
3200 Horizon Drive,
King of Prussia, PA 19406 USA
Tel.: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.neoware.com
This manual is copyrighted by Neoware, Inc. All rights are reserved. This document may not, in
whole or in part, be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any electronic
medium or machine-readable form without prior consent, in writing, from Neoware, Inc.
Neoware, Neoware Image Manager, Neoware UbiBoot, Eon, Capio, ThinSTAR, TeemTalk and
ezRemote Manager are trademarks or registered trademarks of Neoware, Inc. Microsoft and Win-
dows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. MetaFrame, WinFrame, and ICA are reg-
istered trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. Other trademarks used in this manual are the property of
their respective owners.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this manual is intended for instructional purposes only
and is subject to change without notice. Neoware, Inc. accepts no responsibility or liability for
errors, omissions, or misleading information that may be contained in this manual.
November 2007

iii
Neoware Image Manager User Manual
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1
What is Neoware Image Manager? 1
About This Manual 2
Conventions 2
Overview of Contents 3
CHAPTER 2 Overview of Neoware Image Manager 7
Software Suite Components 7
How Neoware Image Manager Works 8
Neoware Image Manager Boot Process 9
Adding a New Desktop & Upgrading Hardware 11
Client Writing Modes 12
Normal Mode 12
Volatile Mode 12
Persistent Mode 13
Administrator Mode 13
High Availability & Fast System Recovery 13
Stateless NVD Protocol 13
Replacing Servers 13
Servers List 14

Table of Contents
iv
Using a Cluster of Servers 14
Technical Notes 14
Neoware Image Manager Licenses 15
Server Licenses 16
Client Package Licenses 16
Licenses Explained 16
Evaluation Version 17
CHAPTER 3 Installing Image Manager Components 19
System Requirements 19
Client Requirements 19
Server Requirements 20
Network Requirements 22
Installation Summary 23
Running the InstallShield Wizard 24
Image Manager Server Configuration 32
Disk Storage Required on Server 32
File Locations on the Server 32
Uninstalling Neoware Image Manager 35
Uninstall Procedure 35
Undoing Client Builder Changes on an HDD-based
Configuration 38
CHAPTER 4 Creating a Client Image 39
Introduction 39
Using Client Builder 40
Testing the Image 54
Advanced Client Builder Options 55
CHAPTER 5 Enabling Clients to Access Images 59
TFTP & DHCP Server Configuration 59
Windows 59
Linux/FreeBSD 60
Testing the TFTP Service 60

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v
DHCP Server Configuration 61
Client Configuration 62
Troubleshooting 63
CHAPTER 6 Assigning Volumes to Clients 65
Introduction 65
Running the Image Manager Console 65
Adding New Clients 67
Adding a New Group 68
Assigning a Volume to a Group 69
Creating or Modifying a Volume 70
Adding a Volume from Another Configuration File 73
Changing a Volume’s Write Mode 75
Modifying a Configuration File Currently Running 75
CHAPTER 7 Controlling the Use of Images & Volumes 79
The Image Configuration File 79
Client Volume Overlay Files 80
Location of CVol Files 81
Maximum Size of CVol Files 81
Volume Write Modes 82
Admin Mode 83
CVolwrite Mode 83
Normal Mode 83
Volatile Mode 84
Persistent Mode 84
CHAPTER 8 Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image 87
Overview 87
Before Using the UbiBoot Extractor & UbiBoot Inserter
Tools 89
Extracting Boot Device Details 90
Inserting Boot Device Details into an Image 95
Testing the Image 101

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vi
CHAPTER 9 Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot any PC or
TC 103
What is Neoware UbiBoot? 103
Installing Neoware UbiBoot 104
Potential Incompatibilities 105
Running Neoware UbiBoot 106
Using a UbiBoot Enabled Hard Disk 110
Learn to Use Unknown Hardware 110
Master HD for Building Images 110
Detecting New Hardware 111
Updating or Removing Drivers for Off-line
Devices 112
Additional Uses for Neoware UbiBoot 113
Creating a Windows Installation that can Run
Unknown Hardware 113
Creating a Windows Installation that can Run
Heterogeneous Hardware 113
HAL Considerations 113
Mixing ACPI & Non-ACPI Computers 115
Mixing Unicore & Multicore (or multi-CPUs)
Computers 115
HAL Selection 115
Choosing a Specific HAL at Windows Installation
115
Downgrading HAL After Windows Installation 116
Recommended HAL 117
HAL Related Resources 117
Windows Product Activation 118
UbiBoot & Microsoft SysPrep 118
UbiBoot Expiry Date 119
Troubleshooting 119
CHAPTER 10 Managing Local Hard Disk Access 123
Introduction 123
Using the Local HD Manager 123

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vii
CHAPTER 11 Windows Product Activation 127
Introduction 127
Product Activation Procedure 128
CHAPTER 12 Windows User Profiles 131
Domain Roaming Profiles 131
"Local" Roaming Profiles 132
Folders Redirection 134
CHAPTER 13 Adding Clients & New Software 135
Adding a New Client 135
Modifying an HD Image to be Used by Several
Clients 136
Using Admin Mode 136
Using the CVolMerge Tool 137
Managing & Updating Images Located at Multiple Remote
Sites 141
Restoring a Virtual Volume to an Actual Hard Disk 144
CHAPTER 14 Adding Clients to Windows Domains 147
Introduction 147
How the Neoware Domain Wizard Works 147
Repository for Domain Credentials 148
Repository in a Server Directory 148
Repository in the System Partition 148
Repository in a Non-System Partition 149
Storing Domain Credentials in an NVDD Server
Directory 151
Windows XP Professional Clients 151
Windows 2000 Professional Clients 159
Client Names 159
Adding a New Client to the Domain 159
Storing Domain Credentials on a Non-Volatile Drive 162
Client IP Addresses 168

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Adding a New Client to the Domain 168
Do I Need to Reboot? 169
Storing Domain Credentials in the System Partition 170
Client Names 174
Adding a New Client to the Domain 174
CHAPTER 15 Merging Image & CVol Files 177
Introduction 177
Using the CVolCompactor Tool 178
Using the CVolMerge Tool 178
CHAPTER 16 The Image Manager Console 181
Introduction 181
Running the Image Manager Console 181
The Toolbar 183
The File Menu 184
The Edit Menu 184
The Tools Menu 185
The View Menu 186
The Help Menu 186
Displaying & Changing Properties 186
Client Properties 187
Group Properties 191
Volume Properties 192
Creating a Volume 193
The General Tab 193
The Parameters Tab 195
The CVol Tab 196
The Computers tab 197
The Allowed Computers Tab 198
Generic Options 199
The General Tab 199
The Directories Tab 201
The Executable Paths Tab 203

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ix
The Network Tab 205
The Authorized Subnets Tab 206
The Nvdd Manager 207
Merging Configuration Files 209
Password for Remote Administration 210
CHAPTER 17 The NVDD Configuration File 213
Introduction 213
The nvdd.smalldisk.vol.conf File 214
Configuration File Settings 217
IP Addresses & Port Numbers 217
Timing 218
Directory for Client Volumes 218
Directories for File Transfer 219
Directory for Binaries 219
Certificate File 221
Maximum Size of CVol Files 221
Computer Name Change Default 222
Flush Disk Buffers on Write 222
Number of Processing Units 223
Buffer Size 223
User Definitions 223
Client MAC Address 224
Computer Name Change 225
Volume Definitions 225
Volume ID & Name 225
Volume Geometry 226
Volume Type 226
Volume Integrity 227
Volume Write Mode 227
Directory for CVol Files 230
Cache Size 230
Allowed Clients 231
Group Definitions 231

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x
Client Naming 233
Setting Client Name using NVD Protocol 233
Updating Client Name from Client 234
Enabling Client MultiBoot 235
Example nvdd.conf with Multi-Volume Support 238
CHAPTER 18 NVDD Server Administration 241
Introduction 241
Secured NVDAdmin Protocol 242
The NVDDAdmin Tool 242
NVDDAdmin Command Syntax 242
Command Examples 243
NVDDAdmin Commands 243
Considerations Related to File Operations 243
Considerations Related to put & get
Commands 243
Conventions 244
Command Descriptions 244
CHAPTER 19 The mPXELdr Configuration File 251
Introduction 251
Contents & Syntax 253
Example mPXELdr .ini File 255
Keywords 256
The Include Keyword 256
The NVDServers Keyword 258
The BootMode Keyword 260
The VolSelectionTO Keyword 265
The PreBootPause Keyword 266
The ReQueryDHCP-Options Keyword 267
The NICRxTxQs Keyword 268
CHAPTER 20 Neoware Active Cloner 271
Introduction 271

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xi
Cloning a Partition 272
Example Cloning Procedures 273
Cloning Directly to an Attached Hard Disk 273
Cloning to a Network Shared Hard Disk 274
Cloning to Another Image Manager Virtual Hard
Disk 275
Expert Options 276
Disable Options 276
Boot Options 277
Command Line Options 277
Error Messages 279
Could Not Copy a File 279
Client-Specific Settings on the Target System 279
CHAPTER 21 Virtualized Environments 281
VMWare Environment 281
Introduction 281
Streaming Disk Images to Virtual Machines 281
Provisioning VMs with Image Manager 284
Running Image Manager Server in a VM 284
Using Private Networks 284
Using Public & Private Networks 284
Performance & Storage Optimization 286
Image Consolidation 286
Limitations 286
Microsoft VirtualPC Virtual Server Environments 287
Enabling Network Boot 287
Other Virtualized Environments 288
APPENDIX A Upgrading Image Manager 289
Important 289
Upgrading from Previous Versions of Neoware Image
Manager 4 289
Order of Upgrading Operations 289

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xii
Troubleshooting 291
APPENDIX B The TFTPD Installer 293
Introduction 293
Using the TFTPD Installer 294
Managing the TFTPD Service 295
APPENDIX C Configuring the DHCP Server 297
Introduction 297
Before Installing DHCP Server 297
Configuring the Server 298
Configuring DHCP 301
DHCP Reservations 312
Related Resources 315
APPENDIX D DHCP Reference 317
How Clients Locate the Image Manager Server 317
dhcpd.conf File Example 318
Native DHCP Options 319
Optional Subkeys & Values 322
Examples 324
NetBIOS Name for Clients 326
Windows DHCP Client 327
APPENDIX E Configuring NVDD as a Windows Service 329
Introduction 329
Installation Procedure 329
Using NVDD as a Service 333
Configuring NVDD Service Options 333
Uninstalling the Service 335
Changing Service Settings 335

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xiii
APPENDIX F NVDD Reference 337
Introduction 337
Command Syntax 337
Verbose Mode 337
Port Number 338
Configuration File 338
Log File 338
No Lock File Check 338
APPENDIX G NVD.SYS Reference 341
Introduction 341
Parameters 341
IP Address 341
APPENDIX H File Transfer 345
Introduction 345
Root Folder for File Transfers 345
APPENDIX I NVDD Temporary Files 347
The NVDD Configuration File 347
The nvdd.conf.LOCK File 348
USER_REP Files 348
How to Retrieve Restored Files 349
APPENDIX J Boot Process Comparison 351
APPENDIX K Troubleshooting 355
Technical Support 355
Check Versions 355
PXE 356
PXE Implementations 356
Etherboot 357
PXE Error File Not Found 357

Table of Contents
xiv
Issues 357
Network Adapters 358
VIA Rhine Family 358
Servers with Several Network Adapters 359
Volumes 359
Multi-Volume Windows 2000 Clients 359
ACPI 360
Stand By & Hibernation 360
Shutdown & Reboot 360
NVD.SYS Shutdown Delay 360
Windows 2000 Without the Latest Service
Pack 361
Startup 361
Clients Using Intel i810 Chipset Under Windows
2000 361
Inaccessible Boot Device 361
Boot Process Stuck 362
Global Performances 362
Single Client Running Slowly 362
Number of Sectors Per Read/Write Request 362
Network Facilities 363
Global Connectivity 363
1000BT/100BT Ethernet Switches 363
Operations on Virtual Volumes 364
Delayed Write Failed or Disk Full Error in Client
OS 364
Delayed Write Failed Warnings 365
Large File Support on Linux 2.2 368
Error When Opening a Large Volume 368
Computer SIDs 368
Limitations 369
Data Transfer During Single Client Boot-up 369
Maximum Clients Attached to a Single Server 369
Clients Booting Same Images on Several
Servers 371

Table of Contents
xv
Maximum Number of Applications Run from an
Image 371
Recommended Network Configuration 372
APPENDIX L Copyright Notices & License Terms 375
Patents 375
Third Parties Copyrights 375
Software Copyrighted by Aladdin Enterprises 375
Software Copyrighted by Paul Kocher 376
Software Copyrighted by Brian Gladman 376
Software Copyrighted by Lukas Gebauer 377
Software Copyrighted by Jordan Russell 379
Index 381

Table of Contents
xvi

1
Neoware Image Manager User Manual
CHAPTER 1 Introduction
This chapter introduces Neoware Image Manager and describes
the scope of this User Manual.
What is Neoware Image Manager?
Neoware Image Manager delivers operating systems and applica-
tions on-demand from your server to PCs or thin clients. The server
is used as a virtual disk drive, so clients do not require a hard disk
or flash memory. All application processing is done by the client.
A single software image containing the operating system, applica-
tion and hardware drivers for multiple hardware platforms can be
streamed on-demand to any PC or thin client - regardless of the
device’s hardware configuration. PC and thin client users keep
their personal configurations and settings, and their data remains
unique and secure on the server.
Using Neoware Image Manager you can easily manage multiple
images from a graphical interface representing client desktops,
groups of desktops and their related hard disk images (volumes).
You centrally manage images and define each client’s virtual
drives in just a few mouse clicks.
•Changes are made to a single image on the server.
•Applications can be deployed instantly.
•Images can be swapped in and out quickly.
•Desktops can be re-purposed just by rebooting.
•Software failure gets repaired by a simple reboot.

Introduction
2 About This Manual
You can think of Neoware Image Manager as a network storage
product (a SAN product) that makes it possible to boot several
clients off a single virtual drive hosted on the server.
About This Manual
This manual describes how to install and use Neoware Image Man-
ager version 4.6. It assumes that you are familiar with Windows and
server operating system administration, as well as DHCP/BOOTP
and TFTP server configuration.
Conventions The following names may be abbreviated within the text of this
manual:
Neoware Image Manager may be abbreviated to "Image Manager".
Neoware Image Manager Server may be abbreviated to "Image
Manager server" or "NVDD server".
Neoware Image Manager Console may be abbreviated to "Image
Manager Console" or just "the Console".
Neoware UbiBoot may be abbreviated to "UbiBoot".
Neoware Image Manager Client Builder may be abbreviated to
"Client Builder".
Neoware Active Cloner may be abbreviated to "Active Cloner".
The following abbreviations are also used:
"HD" for Hard Disk.
"HDD" for Hard Disk Drive.
"TC" for Thin Client.

Introduction
About This Manual 3
Overview of
Contents
This manual is divided into the following chapters and appendices:
Chapter 1: Introduction
Introduces Neoware Image Manager and describes the
scope of this User Manual.
Chapter 2: Overview of Neoware Image Manager
Provides a brief description of how Neoware Image
Manager works.
Chapter 3: Installing Image Manager Components
Describes how to install Neoware Image Manager
components on the server and client computers.
Chapter 4: Creating a Client Image
Describes how to use Client Builder to create a client
image on the Image Manager server.
Chapter 5: Enabling Clients to Access Images
Describes how to configure the network and clients so
that hard disk images can be accessed.
Chapter 6: Assigning Volumes to Clients
Describes how to use the Image Manager Console to
assign volumes to clients.
Chapter 7: Controlling the Use of Images & Volumes
Describes the image configuration file settings that
determine how clients can use images and volumes.
Chapter 8: Adding Network Boot Devices to an Image
Describes how to add bootable network card details to
an image so it can be remote booted on different
machines.
Chapter 9: Building a Virtual Hard Disk to Boot Any PC or TC
Describes how to use Neoware UbiBoot to build a vir-
tual hard disk that can boot a range of PC and TC hard-
ware configurations.

Introduction
4 About This Manual
Chapter 10: Managing Local Hard Disk Access
Describes how to enable or disable client access to
local hard disks.
Chapter 11: Windows Product Activation
Describes how to activate Windows products for Image
Manager clients.
Chapter 12: Windows User Profiles
Describes how to configure your Neoware Image
Manager system so that clients can use Windows user
profiles.
Chapter 13: Adding Clients & New Software
Describes how to add a new client, add new software,
and restore a virtual hard disk volume to an actual hard
disk.
Chapter 14: Adding Clients to Windows Domains
Describes how to add Neoware Image Manager clients
to a Windows domain using the Neoware Domain
Wizard.
Chapter 15: Merging Image & CVol Files
Describes how to use the CVolMerge tool to create a
new hard disk image from an existing image and a
CVol file.
Chapter 16: The Image Manager Console
Describes how to use the Image Manager Console to
change settings in an nvdd configuration file.
Chapter 17: The NVDD Configuration File
Describes the nvdd configuration file and the settings
that can be specified in it.
Chapter 18: NVDD Server Administration
Describes the NVDDAdmin tool and NVDAdmin
protocol commands for administering a remote NVDD
server.