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Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

  • 1.  Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 12:38 PM
    I have installed the console client on one server and the console server detected it right away with no issues.  I installed it on another server (VMware Windows 2000 Server) and it installs but will not show up in the console server like the physical server.  I can ping the console server from the vmware server so I don't think it is network related.
     
    Why would I be able to do this from the physical server and not from the vmware server?  I do not receive any errors on the vmware server.  It installed just like the physical server but does not show up in the console server under the default group.
     
    What I am trying to do is ghost (clone or backup) the physical server and restore it to the vmware server.  Both have the same OS.  Is this possible to do?  Can this software do this.  The Program version of Ghost Console is 11.0.0.1502.
     
    Also when the client is installed on the vmware server, in the systray the client icon will say trying to locate the server (by name).  Does the IP address need to be put in instead of the name?  I can ping the server from the vmware server.  Is there something I need to do to the Ghost Console server to see this vmware server client?  Is there a better way to add it to the Console server?
     
    Any help would greatly be appreciated.  My head hurts from banging it against the wall.
     
    Thanks,
     
    John

    Message Edited by hjNT on 04-30-200710:00 AM



  • 2.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 12:41 PM
    First guess, they both have the same mac address.  I know there is a way to specify the mac in vmware but my only experience is with ESX server.


  • 3.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 12:47 PM
    No they should not have the same Mac address.  The vmware server was created separately from the physical server.  This vm server is on an ESX host server.


  • 4.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 01:01 PM
    Ahh, When you said the real server to the VM I thought you were saying you wanted to run it under a VM under the real hardware.
     
    I just checked with someone else in our group who admins our ESX servers and he agrees, P2V is the best way to do this.  We have cloned machines before and tried to restore them to  VM's but you run in to a ton of driver related issues that P2V handles for you automatically.  I don't know if its free as of the latest version of ESX or not though. 


  • 5.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 01:03 PM
    I have tried the P2V and it did not work because of the hardware was so old (HP NetServer).  Ghost was suggested to me to perform this.
     
    Any other suggestions?


  • 6.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 01:17 PM
    The only other thing I can think to tell you is that it is the client who actually communicates with the console.  There isn't a "discovery" process that the server initiates.
     
    On your client put the mouse in the upper left corner and then press the left CTRL button for a few seconds.  This should pop up a tray icon that is orange.  Hovering over it should give you some info.  You used to be able to right click and choose "debug console" and you could see its com. status with the server. Also, make sure "Enable client user interface" is checked under tools options.  Choose the client tab and at the bottom you will find that option.  Warning though, if you are actually using this for a production environment all clients will get this icon.

    Message Edited by David.Poprik on 04-30-200710:18 AM



  • 7.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 01:32 PM
    On the client (vmware server), I am not clear where you put the mouse.  The upper left-hand corner on the desktop?  There is nothing on the client to open?  No console.  The only console I have is on the Console Server nothing on the client.  Is there anything to open or check on the client (vmware server)?
     
    John


  • 8.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 01:37 PM
    Assuming on your cient machine you have installed the ghost solution suite client, then the above applies.
     
    On the console server you need to do the steps to enable client interface and the icon should appear without putting the cursor in the upper left corner as I previously said.  There seems to have been some changes to the ghost client and specifically vptray that I havent investigated fully.


  • 9.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 01:54 PM
    I didnt see this before, not sure if it was added in the edit:
     
    "Also when the client is installed on the vmware server, in the systray the client icon will say trying to locate the server (by name)."
     
    That would be why its not in the console.  Your client cant communicate with the server.  One thing I noticed in GSS 2 is I had to reboot the client after the install to actually get it to talk to the server sometimes.  Im sure you have done that though.  Im assuming client and server are on the same subnet as well?  That would eliminate resolution issues.  Firewall is a possibility but seems unlikely as you have one client connecting but not another.

    Message Edited by David.Poprik on 04-30-200710:55 AM



  • 10.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 02:00 PM
    Yes I added that comment a little later.  Sorry.
     
    They are on different subnets but the first server (physical) I installed it on is on a different subnet than the Console server and it showed up in the Default group with no problems.  My main issue is, I cannot add the vmware server client to the Console server no matter what I try, it just doesn't see that one.
     
    I have installed the client on the vmware and put the name of the server in and also the IP address and neither one worked.  Yet I can ping from the client (vmware server) to the Console server by name and IP address.
     
    My head is hurting.  It looks like there would be an add computer interface in the Console server.
     
    Any suggestions??


  • 11.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 02:05 PM
    You can try a remote client install but you will have to uninstall the one you manually installed.  Under the tools menu there is a remote client install option.  Im not honestly expecting it to work but maybe that will give you more information to go from.


  • 12.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 02:23 PM
    I uninstalled the client and rebooted.  I installed the Remote client.  The console server found the server and installed the client successfully.  Here is what the log said:
     
    4/30/2007 @ 2:17:37 PM   AMERICASE
    Successfully installed:
     \\ZRSOH0ME-NEW1 (51):
     (0): \\ZRSOH0ME-NEW1
     
    Still doesn't show up in the Console server.  Is there another way to add the client to the console server besides waiting for it to show up after installation?  It looks like they can see each other by installing the client remotely but the client just doesn't show up in the console server.
     
    After the Remote Client install the client says it is trying to locate the server.  It has a red x on it in the systray.
     

    Message Edited by hjNT on 04-30-200711:24 AM



  • 13.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 02:25 PM
    Im going to add this as a sidenote for you because it is something I have done with vmware before.  It seems as if you are just using the eval of GSS to do this cloning from your hardware to the VM so this is a good alternative that doesnt require the console client registration.
     
    You can make a ghostboot floppy with the console by going to tools -> ghost boot wizard.  I would try the universal driver at first. 
     
    Make an image of that floppy and put it on your ESX server and then attach your client to that floppy disk and boot from it.  You will also need to boot the real server you want to clone up from floppy as well.  Once it boots I belive ghost will start up, just quite out to DOS.
     
    On the target VM machine type:
     
    "ghost -tcps" and hit enter
     
    This will put the machine in a peer-to-peer slave mode and it should display an IP address.
     
    On the master machine you want to replicate to the VM machine type:
     
    "ghost -tcpm:<client ip here>"    the client ip is what the first machine is displaying.  From there you can do a disk clone or partition clone because once the "master" machine gets connected to the slave you will be presented with the standard ghost menu. 
     
    So if you want to clone disk one of the master then choose:  Local --> Disk --> To Disk   from there you will be presented options of what source disk, what target disk etc...

    Message Edited by David.Poprik on 04-30-200711:26 AM



  • 14.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 02:27 PM
    I will try it.  Just to let you know, I was able to Clone and Backup the physical server without any boot disks.  Do I still need to run it from the physical?


  • 15.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 02:27 PM
    Im going to say again that I assume you have rebooted after the install because many of my clients would not talk to the server after the client install until I rebooted them.
     
    Answering your last question:
     
    This is a little tricky.  WINS (or the multicast protocal that ghost supports) is required to find ghostcast server sessions outside the subnet.  You can *try* to run ghostsrv.exe and give it a session name, then choose your image file.  Set the client count to 1 and hit accept clients.  Then from your vmware client machine choose "Ghostcast" from the starting menu (if its greyed out and unselectable then the NIC driver didnt load correctly) then choose Unicast from the pop-out menu.  I dialog box will come up after it gets an IP asking for the session name.  That is the name you entered in the session name box on the ghostsrv.exe.  Once it connects you will be asked some questions like target partition/disk etc...   If you can not find the session then you need to run ghostsrv.exe on a machine in the local subnet to the vmware client and try again.  You can point to an image file on a network share in ghostsrv.exe but it does slow things down a bit.

    Message Edited by David.Poprik on 04-30-200711:33 AM



  • 16.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 02:30 PM
    Which one is the universal driver?
     
    Standard Ghost Boot Package
    Network Boot Package
    Drive Mapping Boot Package


  • 17.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 02:34 PM
    Just rebooted the client again and the red x is gone but still it does not show up in the Console server.


  • 18.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 02:34 PM
    Network boot image then under there you will find the universal packet driver.
     
     
    re-read that above post asking again about the reboot as I added more to it.

    Also, lets take this to personal messages I dont think everyone wants to read our tennis match like post frenzy.

    Message Edited by David.Poprik on 04-30-200711:35 AM



  • 19.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 02:48 PM
    There can be a lot of reasons why the client can't find the server, but the most common source of problems are networks that, whether by design or by accident, don't support IP multicast quite right. Modern switches often do some clever things using a protocol called IGMP which machines use to subscribe to a multicast "channel"; the switches listen for the subscriptions to decide where to send multicast traffic, but for this to work properly it also needs to be backed up by a router that is configured to emit IGMP queries, otherwise switches time out their internal routing tables and start discarding the multicast traffic (usually after about three minutes, although this is up to the switches).

    When it starts up, the server on the console machine subscribes to the multicast group 229.55.150.208 - this looks like an IP address, but it's interpreted differently, and any number of machines can subscribe to receive traffic sent to that group. The clients send out packets on the network to find the server to this group number, and the switches and routers will send the location requests just to the Ghost servers. At least, that's the way it's meant to work.

    It's also possible that your router is configured to explicitly block the distribution of multicast traffic, in which case the client falls back to a protocol called WINS (or NetBIOS name service), which is a variant of DNS that works within individual subnets without needing an explicit server (there are various techniques to extend it over multiple subnets). Currently that's the only fallback system we use if the network has problems with multicast traffic.

    Since ping uses simple unicast IP packets, it can't tell you much about multicast connectivity (unfortunately, it's something that's flat-out hard to explore - the behaviour of "smart" switches I mentioned above means that simple tests can appear to work fine and then suddenly stop dead).

    Being able to support multicast is good if you can, because modern switches can use this to ensure that imaging traffic is efficiently distributed in a way that limits the impact on your network. Unless someone has chosen explicitly to block it, it can be good for the health of your network to ensure that it works properly and that's usually a matter of just turning on a missing option.

    So, the first question is, is your network meant to be able to support IP multicast, or not? If so, then there's something going wrong, most likely in the configuration settings which the switches and router need to work together to support this.

    If the network is not multicast-capable for some reason, then you need to configure WINS support on your network such that the clients can resolve name registrations made by your server machine.


  • 20.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 03:08 PM
    Our network does not support multicasting.  I did notice that after I rebooted the client and it came back up, I closed out my Console server and on my client the icon in the systray came up with the red x.  I brought back up my Console server and in a few minutes the red x went away on the client.
     
    To me that says it sees the server but just cannot be added to it.


  • 21.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 03:20 PM
    Nigel,
     
    I can tell you that under no circumstances will our networking group enable IGMP routing outside a subnet.  All it would take is one big multicast session spanned across multiple subnets to bring a network to its knees, now imagine an environment with kids in dorms doing God only knows what and multiple IT departments etc... etc...  It could rapidly become a nightmare. 


  • 22.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 04:21 PM

    I did notice that after I rebooted the client and it came back up,I closed out my Console server and on my client the icon in the systray came up with the red x. I brought back up my Console server and in a few minutes the red x went away on the client.

    To me that says it sees the server but just cannot be added to it.

    Just to be clear, there are two ways to read this and I'd like to confirm exactly what is happening.

    Earlier in the thread you said that the client in the VMWare guest was showing the red X and "trying to locate", which means the appropriate network protocols are not available for the client to locaet the server.

    What I want to clarify is whether you meant to imply that after you rebooted it the VMware guest client was not showing this any more, and was instead showing connected - but still wasn't appearing in the console. In this scenario, closing the server caused it then to bring up the red X.

    If this is what you meant, and the client tray icon after the above shows connected but the machine isn't visible in the console, then there is potentially a problem with the server identifying the client.

    It's probably a good idea for me to take a look at the ngserver.log file to see what is in there, and whether that can help me disgnose the situation. You're welcome to zip it up and email it to me at nigel dot bree at gmail dot com


  • 23.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 06:38 PM
    Nigel,
    I am having the same issue as hjNT and have gone through the rigors also.
     
    My issue is with a Physical machine in a room of other like machines that all show up in GConsole.  This paticular machine was showing up previlously until I upgraded to 2.0 and updated the client.
     
    I did delete the old instance of this machine after the server upgrade but before the client upgrade.  Now it the client tray icon shows it's connected to the server it just doesn't show up in the servers console screen.  Any ideas as to why?
     
     
    jason


  • 24.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 08:01 PM

    This particular machine was showing up previously until I upgraded to 2.0 and updated the client. [...] Now it the client tray icon shows it's connected to the server it just doesn't show up in the servers console screen.

    This sounds exactly like the duplicate UUID issue, one of the things that is resolved in the 2.0.1 LiveUpdate patch.


  • 25.  RE: Ghost Console Client will not show up in Ghost Console Server

    Posted May 30, 2007 04:15 PM
    Same issue here. I'm installed clients on several machines and one or two won't show up in the Console. The client shows that it is managed by the server, though the server doesn't see the client. The computers with the issue are on the same subnet as others that are working properly.

    I've run LiveUpdate and my server and client software is up to date. As Jason said above, this computer is in the same room with several other, same model computer which do show up in the server.

    This thread seems to have died without resolution. Any input is appreciated.

    -John

    Message Edited by JWStuart on 05-30-200701:39 PM