Network Installer

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Administrator

The following instructions are intended for system administrators and describe the typical procedure for preparing a network installation, using the NetManage Administration Tools.

First, you should copy the entire Admtools folder to a directory on a Windows 95 or Windows NT system.

Note: For network installations on 16 bit platforms, any folder/directory name used for shared files must comply with the Windows 3.1/3.11 file name convention (limit of 8 characters). This restriction applies even though the shared directory resides on a 32 bit machine, if the destination of the installation is on a 16 bit system.

I. Serial Number Distribution (serialno.exe):

1. If you want the NetManage Network Installer to automatically include Serial Numbers and Key Codes, your company must purchase a license for a specified number of users (such as, 20). NetManage will send you a SN.TXT file which contains the Serial Numbers, Key Codes and the Encrypted SN/KC.

2. Run the Serial Number Conversion utility (serialno.exe) to convert the SN.TXT file to the filename serialno.inf file. The serialno.exe file is a 32 bit application, so you must run it on either Windows 95 or Windows NT.

3. Make a note of the path where the serialno.inf file is saved.

Note: Only one SERIALNO.INF file is required, even if installations are being made to different Windows platforms. However, the path where the SERIALNO.INF file is located must comply with Windows 3.1/3.11 file naming restrictions if it is going to be used for installing software to 16 bit systems.

4. Here is an example of a serialno.inf file which has just been created. It lists the serial number, key code and the encrypted serial number/key code. Notice that it lists the number of serial numbers and the [INSTALLED] section reports how many have been used.

Serialno.inf File Example:

[INFORMATION]
TotalSerialNumbers=5
SerialNo1=1234567890111111||ABC1||jdkeimcoJkdLadeinFk
SerialNo2=1234567890222222||ABC2||mmzxnwydhrGtqlLjahq
SerialNo3=1234567890333333||ABC3||pqoeUteTqrwpYueyrte
SerialNo4=1234567890444444||ABC4||jfislePadwZkajdheQl
SerialNo5=1234567890555555||ABC5||lapqjgkGsjahlwinvdZ

[INSTALLED]
SerialNumbersUsed=0

When a serial number and key code combination is downloaded to a user's system, the serialno.inf file is automatically updated. The [INSTALLED] section will update the statement of SerialNumbersUsed. The SERIALNO.INF file also records software installations per host: it lists the user system's Host name and the assigned serial number, followed by a designation as "New" (first time installation) or "Old"(updated installation), and time stamp.

In the following example,

1. The user host system CHAMILLE installed NetManage software for the first time, and received a serial number/key code on April 29th at 14:19.

2. This same host ran NETINST.EXE again to update the installation (perhaps to add some other applications) on April 29th at 15:18.

3. The NetManage Network Installer recognized that this user host system already has a serial number/key code combination. So it updated the SERIALNO.INF file to include another entry for CHAMILLE, flagging this entry as [Old]. Note that the statement of SerialNumbersUsed would remain the same in this case.

[INSTALLED]
SerialNumbersUsed=1
CHAMILLE=1234567890111111[New] on Apr 29, 1997 at 14:19
CHAMILLE=1234567890111111[Old] on Apr 29, 1997 at 15:18

II. Customizing the setup.inf file with prfbuild.exe:

You may want your users to have access to only some of the applications included in the complete product. You can use the Custom Setup Builder application (prfbuild.exe) to prepare a customized network installation file that will install only a selected subset of applications.

Note: You must create separate INF files for the different Windows platforms of the users' host systems. You should save these different INF files into separate subdirectories to be used for the different platform installations.

1. Open prfbuild.exe.

2. Choose the Open command from the File Menu and use the Browse button to find and open the setup.inf file (which is also referred to as the master.inf file).

a) For 16 bit installations go to the Cham_31 directory. For 32 bit installation go to the Cham_95 or Cham_NT directory.

b) Change into the NFS directory.

3. Select a group or a number of applications and drag them from the Source box to the Destination box. The Destination box will show which applications the users will be able to install.

4. Select File/Properties and notice that you can set certain flags.

a) To enable Network Installer to automatically distribute SN/KCs you must set "NetworkInstall=" statement to Yes.

b) To do this, highlight the "Network Install" line, select the right mouse button, select Yes.

c) Notice the other settings that you can control (i.e. Complete, Typical or Custom installation).

5. Save the changes (File/Save As) and place them in any directory.

Note: In this document, custom.inf refers to the customized INF file that you have created with the Custom Setup Builder (such as, custom16.inf, custom95.inf, customNT.inf). However, you are not obligated to use one of these names for your customized INF files.

6. Make a note of where you have saved the custom.inf file(s).

III. Combine all the pieces by manually editing the netinst.ini file(s)

The NETINST.INI file contains pointers to the various files that are used by the netinst.exe file during the network installations. The use of this file offers you considerable flexibility in your network installations:

• You can create a single NETINST.INI file for the various Windows platforms.
• You can create multiple NETINST.INI files that are customized for a specific Windows platform.
• You can specify path locations to the various files with a hard-coded drive letter. If you use a hard-coded drive letter, your end users must map their systems to the root directory of the shared drive using that same drive letter.
• You can specify path locations to the various files using a variable. If you use a variable to specify path locations, your end users can select any available drive letter to map to the root of the shared drive.

Single NETINST.INI for all platforms

It is possible to use one NETINSTI.INI for all Windows platforms. In that case, your end-users will be presented with a dialog box listing the various platform installations that you have prepared. They will have to select the appropriate platform from the list.

1. Go to the Admtools directory and open netinst.ini.

2. Here is an example of a netinst.ini file that shows a Chameleon 16 bit and Chameleon 32 bit installation (using a hard code reference to the "i" drive).

[install]
Title=NetManage Applications for Win 3.1 and WinNT
SerialNoInfFile=i:\netmanag\admtools\serialno.inf
Groups=cham31file,chamntfile

[cham31file]
Description=Cham_31 File & Print
EXE=i:\netmanag\cham_31\nfs\setup.exe
INF=i:\netmanag\admtools\setup31f.inf

[chamntfile]
Description=Cham_NT File & Print
EXE=i:\netmanag\cham_NT\nfs\setup.exe
INF=i:\netmanag\admtools\setupntf.inf

Entries explained:

[install]: This is the first section and it includes three statements:

1. Title= Specify the desired title. In this example, the desired title is "NetManage Applications for Win3.1 and WinNT".

2. SerialNoInfFile= Specify the path to the serialno.inf file. You can type the literal path (i.e. i:\ netmanag\admtools\serialno.inf). The user will need to map to the ROOT of the drive where the netinst.exe file resides.

3. Groups= Specify the group sections that will be enabled for this netinst.ini file. The above example will show the option to choose a "Cham_31 File & Print" installation and a "Cham_NT File & Print" installation. If you only want the user to see the "Cham_31 File & Print" choice then remove the group section called "chamntfile" from the Groups= statement. This makes it much easier to enable or disable group sections.

Group Sections : You can create as many groups as desired. The above example includes two group sections and each section should include the following:

1. Name of the group section in brackets, for instance [cham31file].

2. Description=You may use any description. The above example is "Cham_31 File & Print"

3. EXE=Point to the path where the setup.exe file should executed from. The above example shows "i:\netmanag\cham_31\nfs\setup.exe".

4. INF=Specify the path to the INF file created using Custom Setup Builder. The above example shows "i:\netmanag\admtools\setup31f.inf".

The next group section, [chamntfile], follows the same logic but it is a choice to install Win NT File and Print.

If you used the NETINST.INI example above, your end users will see a display similar to the following when they run NETINST.EXE to install the software.

Platform-Specific NETINST.INI files

To prepare the simplest end-user installation, we suggest that you create a subdirectory for each Windows platform. Then you would instruct your end-users to open the NETINST.EXE from that particular subdirectory, and they will see a dialog box with only the choices that you have prepared for that platform.

In each platform-specific subdirectory, include the following:

• a copy of the NETINST.EXE file
• NETINSTI.INI file that you have edited to include references only to that particular Windows platform
• Customized INF file(s) for that particular platform. For example, you may want to create separate INF files to install just Mail and Messaging applications, or just NFS and FTP.

1. Go to the Admtools directory and open netinst.ini.

2. Here is an example of a netinst.ini file (using a hard code reference to the "i" drive) which references INF files available only for Windows NT.

[install]
Title=NetManage NT Applications
SerialNoInfFile=i:\netmanag\admtools\serialno.inf
Groups=chamntfile,chamntmail

[chamntfile]
Description=File and Print
EXE=i:\netmanag\cham_NT\nfs\setup.exe
INF=i:\netmanag\admtools\setupntf.inf

[chamntmail]
Description=Mail and Messaging
EXE=i:\netmanag\cham_NT\nfs\setup.exe
INF=i:\netmanag\admtools\setupntm.inf

Entries explained:

[install]: This is the first section and it includes three statements:

1. Title= : Specify the desired title. In this example, the desired title is "NetManage NT Applications".

2. SerialNoInfFile= Specify the path to the serialno.inf file. You can type the literal path (i.e. i:\ netmanag\admtools\serialno.inf). The user will need to map to the ROOT of the drive where the netinst.exe file resides.

3. Groups= Specify the group sections that will be enabled for this netinst.ini file. The above example will show the option to choose a "File and Print" installation and a "Mail and Messaging" installation. If you only want the user to see the "File and Print" choice then remove the group section called "chamntmail" from the Groups= statement. This makes it much easier to enable or disable group sections.

Group Sections : You can create as many group sections as desired. The above example include two groups, [chamntfile] and [chamntmail]. Each group section should include the following:

1. Name of the group section in brackets, for instance [chamntfile].

2. Description=You may use any description. For the [chamntfile] section, its description is "File and Print".

3. EXE=Point to the path where the setup.exe file should executed from. The above example shows "i:\netmanag\cham_nt\nfs\setup.exe".

4. INF=Specify the path to the INF file created using Custom Setup Builder. The above example shows "i:\netmanag\admtools\setupntf.inf".

The same logic applies to the group section [chamntmail] except it points to a different inf file for "Mail and Messaging".

If you used the NT-specific NETINST.INI example above, your end users will see a display similar to the following when they run NETINST.EXE to install the software.

Using a variable rather than a hard coded drive letter

If you do not want to use a hard coded drive letter in your path specifications, you can use the "%ProdRoot%" variable. If you use this variable, the end users may use any drive letter to map to the shared drive.

The following example shows how to use this variable. On the shared drive, the directory structure has been set up as follows:

\\sauron\programs\netmanag

\admtools

\cham_31

\cham_nt

NETINST.EXE is in the "admtools" directory so this makes the "admtools" directory an important directory

level when specifying a path in the NETINST.INI file. Because of this the %ProdRoot% variable takes the place of "\\sauron\programs\netmanag". Using this example here are some ways to specify paths to various files:

1. If the serialno.inf file is in the "admtools" directory then the statement pointing to this file is "SerialNoInfFile=%ProdRoot%\admtools\serialno.inf"

2. If the setup.exe file is in the "cham_nt\nfs" directory then the statement pointing to this file is

"EXE=%ProdRoot%\cham_nt\nfs\setup.exe". Notice that "cham_nt" is at the same directory level as "admtools".

3. If the custom.inf (setupntf.inf) file is in the "admtools" directory then the statement pointing to this file is

"INF=%ProdRoot%\admtools\setupntf.inf".

User

The following instructions should be passed on to your end users.

I. The user runs netinst.exe

The user must map to the root of a shared drive where the netinst.exe file resides:

• If the netinst.ini uses hard code drive letters to designate paths, the user must use the same drive letter. In the above examples, the paths were hard-coded to the "I" drive, so end-users would have to map to the ROOT of the drive choosing the "I" letter.
• If the netinst.ini uses the %ProdRoot% variable then the user may assign any drive letter, but they will still be required to map to the root of the drive to where the netinst.exe file resides.

Troubleshooting Checklist

• If using Serial Number Distribution, verify that there is a serialno.inf file and where it resides.
• The Serial Number Distribution function is dependent on the regsno*.exe file, which must be present in the same directory where setup.exe is being run. For 16 bit, go to the Cham_31\NFS directory and there should be a regsno16.exe file. For 32 bit go to the Cham_95\NFS or Cham_NT\NFS directory and there should be a regsno32.exe file. When Chameleon is installed then the REGSNO#.EXE files should automatically be installed.
• When using Custom Setup Builder (prfbuild.exe), you need to open the correct setup.inf file, depending on the operating system. For example, go to the Cham_31\NFS directory and open SETUP.INF there for the setup31.inf file, or go to the Cham_NT\NFS directory and open setup.inf there for the setup32.inf file. Verify where these files reside.
• Open the Netinst.ini file and check the paths and filenames for serialno.inf, setup.exe and the customized INF file. Do these paths match what is physically present?
• The user will need to map a drive to where the netinst.exe file resides. For instance, if netinst.exe is in the \\sauron\programs\netmanag\admtools directory, the user will have to map a drive to \\sauron\programs.
• If the netinst.ini file specifies literal (hard-coded) paths specified (such as, i:\), the user will have to map a drive to the ROOT using the same drive letter, in this case the "I": drive.

ERRORS and what to check

1. Run netinst.exe and receive the error "The dynamic library DUNZIP32.DLL could not be found in the specified path d:\temp....d:\winnt40\system32".

Solution: User needs to map to the ROOT of the drive where netinst.exe resides. For instance, if NETINST.EXE

is in the \\sauron\programs\netmanag\admtools directory, the user would map to \\sauron\programs.

2. Run netinst.exe. Setup begins and the error "No default directory" appears.

Solution: Open the customized inf file and the first line should look similar to this -

1=Chameleon UNIX^® Link 97, C:\NETMANAG, cham 7.0, NetManage Chameleon UNIX^® Link 97

It lists the name, the path, the internal version, then product name. If it begins with anything else, then the file is not correct. Try recreating the customized .inf file.

3. Run netinst.exe and the error "First key is missing" appears.

Solution: Technically, Setup is running but it cannot find or read the customized .inf file. Check the netinst.ini file and verify the correct paths for all entries, including the path for the customized inf.

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