Ghost Solution Suite

Ghost32 isn't included in the downloadable trialware largely for licensing reasons, but it's included in the full product - there are 32-bit versions of just about all the classic DOS tools there.

Hi,

I have fully registered corporate edition Symantec Ghost Console.  After updating to the latest verion, I am using version 11.0.2.1573 and I am having problems with the ghost client finding the Ghostcast server.  I cannot push an image to a client because the Ghostcast server sits forever waiting for the client.  I've read that the only workaround was to defined the Ghostcast server on the client machine using ghost32.exe.  I cannot seem the find this executable anywhere, or is there a better approach?

~J


Message Edited by ASTRA_QC on 02-27-2008 09:57 AM

Hi,

There could be many reasons for this.

While GC server is waiting for the client, what does client say?

Did you have any issue to see the client in Console once client was installed?

Krish

Krish, I wonder if what ASTRA_QC is experiencing might be another instance of the problem discussed in this thread.

Hi,

Thank you for the prompt response.  As for your questions, I'll do my best to state the answers.


While GC server is waiting for the client, what does client say?

'Waiting for clients to connect...'
All the buttons are greyed out and only the 'Less/More Options <<' button can be toggled.


Did you have any issue to see the client in Console once client was installed?

No, I can make as many backup image requests on the client machine as I want and successful create images, but trying to restore the image onto the clients machines result in GhostCast Server endlessly waiting.


Equipment configuration:
Windows XP Service Pack 2  w/ Symantec Ghost Console
Windows XP Service Pack 2 w/ install ghost client
Window 2000 SP 4  w/ install ghost client


Neither client machines contains ghost32.exe, yet both contain ghost.exe.  The ghost.exe when executed results in a error stating 'Abort: 440, Ghost cannot run on Windows based systems.  Please boot your system into Dos and then run Ghost or alternatively, run Ghost32 (Ghost for Windws).'  Where do I get the Ghost32.exe file?

Hi,

Thanks for the details. Still I'm little unclear about the whole situation here. As Nigel suggested, this could be an issue with the upgrade but some of the data from your post suggests otherwise(like ability to create images)

1. Did this work before you upgrade to 1573?
2. Does this happen to ALL your clients or some of the clients?

For the questions on Ghost32/Ghost.exe,

Currently, when you use Console, it always use Ghost.exe. Ghost32 is a Windows application which can only run in Windows/WinPE environments. However, we do not support using WinPE for Console tasks, just yet.

To use Ghost32, you will have to manually boot the machine to WinPE (when you image the operating system partition) and run it manually. Ghost32 is available in Ghost folder of Console machine.

When you run a Console task to create/restore image, Console creates a temporary DOS partition (what we called Virtual Partition) and boot the machine to DOS. Then it run Ghost.exe, with command line switches to connect to the Ghost Cast session starts in the Console machine. Once the image operation is completed, it boot the machine back to Windows.

Based on the information, in your case most of the operations are successful. It creates the VP and boot to DOS, run Ghost.exe and so on. What seems to be failing is Ghost finding the Ghost Cast session. That's why I'm interested to see if this worked before.

If not, this could happen if you do not have multicasting enabled in your network. Since image create works, Ghost should not have a problem of finding the Ghost Cast session.

This could happen if multicasting is not supported in your network. Could you try doing the restore in Unicast mode?

To do it, in the task properties, network tab, select 'Data transfer mode' to 'Unicast'.

Let me know what happens.

Krish

Hi Krish,

1. Did this work before you upgrade to 1573?

Yes, before the 1573 upgrade I believe backing up/restoring images worked as expected.

2. Does this happen to ALL your clients or some of the clients?

This happens to ALL the clients.

Could you try doing the restore in Unicast mode?

When I tried the Unicast mode, I experienced the same problem as Multicast mode.  As soon as I intiated the restore task from the console, a small splash window (client warning)comes up on the client machine saying that it was choosen to participate in a backup and has the 30 second count down.  Once the count down finishes, nothing happens except Ghostcast server is waiting.  Previously I expected the client to restart into DOS or the symantec virtual partition screen after count down.

~ASTRA_QC

Hi,

This seems to be failing well before multicasting, but at rebooting the client to preOS. But it cannot be something wrong with booting to DOS, since your create tasks work fine.

This is strange, so I have to ask more questions.

When this happens, what does the task log say? What steps it had completed?

Could you provide a task scenario? If you right-click the task and select task scenario, it will open it. You can use ctrl+C to copy the contents.

Krish

Hi Krish,

When this happens, what does the task log say? What steps it had completed?

Update DOS system files                   =    Sucess
Update DOS Network Drivers             =    Success
Create machine account                     =    Warning
Prepare configuration                          =    Failed

Could you provide a task scenario?

Task : 2K\swtester 2k - Deploy Clean Install

Task steps :
    Clone
    Configuration

Number of client machines:  1

Machine names:
    SWTESTER-2000 - jserone

Network Information:
    Data transfer mode: Unicast
    Data throughput limit: Not set

Clone

    Image definition: Images\swtester-2k\2K-Clean Install
    Image file location: E:\2000 Ghost\2000 Image (test ready) 07-09-17a.gho

    Target drive: 1

Image info:
     1 - Diagnostic - 47.0 - 0.2
     2 - NTFS - 76238.2 - 6422.1
    Image file preserved: No
    Files and directories preserved: 0

Configuration

    Configuration change type: Default
    Configuration changes per machine:

SWTESTER-2000 - jserone

Computer Name                         swtester-2000 (Default)
NetBIOS computer name             SWTESTER-2000 (Default)
User                                   (No change)
Computer Description                   (No change)
Member of Domain                            WYATT (Default)
Unsupported domain: WYATT
Add to Active Directory container     (No change)
Move if currently in a container     (No change)
IP Address                            DHCP (Default)
Default Gateway                        (No change)
DNS Domain                             (No change)
DNS Server                             (No change)
WINS Server                            (No change)
Novell Netware Client                  (No change)

Hi,

Thanks a lot for posting all the details, it made trouble shooting easy.

It fails in prepare configuration according to the log file.

The task scenario shows that 'WYATT' is not in the supported list, but configuration is trying to add the machine to the domain.

Somehow, the domain seems to have disappeared from supported domain list. Could you add the domain to the supported domain list and try running the task?

If the domain was never their in the supported domain list, and if you do not want to add the machine to the domain, select to add the machine to workgroup in configuration tab.

Krish