Here at the office we have a group in charge of assigning and maintain user and group rights and permissions to our various systems.  It’s nice not having to worry about that aspect of server administration. 

But I have an urgent need to have some eDirectoy group rights assigned to a specific directory on every Netware server in our Enterprise.  The group that controls user access is saying that they can’t meet my timeframe for getting these rights assigned, so I had to come up with my own solution.

My solution was to use Wolfgang Schreiber’s  lrights.exe utility to script assigning the rights command line style.  The syntax is:

LRights <path> <rights> /name=<trustee>

For example, to assign read and file scan rights to the .mygroup.OU.O user:

lrights \\server\volume\directory R F /Name=.mygroup.OU.O

This utility was written to support long path/file names, unlike Novell’s rights.exe utility.

Related Posts

• NDS / eDirectory login script search and replace utility
• Howto: Authenticate to eDirectory via the Novell Client, command line style
• Enabling Backup Exec remote agent debug logging on Novell Netware
• “Error -618 – The Server has detected an inconsistent database” when trying to view an eDirectory object’s properties in ConsoleOne
• Novell has released patches for DNS cache poisoning vulnerability

We’ve been experiencing issues with some of our Backup Exec 9 remote agents losing their connections to media server during backup.  The Backup Exec server job logs report the following generic error:

Final error: 0xa000fe30 – A communications failure has occurred.

To help troubleshoot this problem, I decided to enable debugging on the Backup Exec remote agent. To do this, on the Netware server that is running the Backup Exec remote agent:

1.  Make a backup copy of the sys:\system\bestart.ncf file

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• Fix: Can’t remove server from Backup Exec selection list
• Converting Backup Exec 11d job logs into .txt or .html files

I have a backup script that runs on a Windows 2003 server that requires Novell client authentication.  Here’s how to authenticate to eDirectory via the command line, which means it’s scriptable!  The syntax is:

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• Assigning Netware rights via the command line
• Howto: Copy files from the Netware 6.5 Server Console
• Howto: Determine the version of eDirectory in SLES 10 SP1
• Howto: Remove eDirectory from a SLES 9 SP3 server
• NDS / eDirectory login script search and replace utility

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Ninotech Path Copy is one of those free utilities I’ve just discovered recently, although it has been around for years. I found it on Novell’s Cool Tools web site, and it isn’t just for use in a Novell Netware environment. You can quickly install it into your Windows 95-Windows XP context menu, where it can copy file or folder paths to the Windows clipboard from any network resource.

You copy the path of a file or directory by right-clicking it in the Windows Explorer and choosing Copy Path from the context menu. The context menu then offers nine standard ways of copying the path, in addition to the user defined copying methods that you create yourself:

- Short Name: File/folder name converted to 8.3 characters
- Long Name: File/folder name
- Short Folder: Parent folder name converted to 8.3 characters
- Long Folder: Parent folder name
- Short Path: Full path name converted to 8.3 characters
- Long Path: Full path name
- Short UNC Path: Full UNC path name converted to 8.3 characters (only enabled in network environment)
- Long UNC Path: Full UNC path name (only enabled in network environment)
- Internet Path: Full UNC path name converted to Internet path (only enabled in network environment)
- Setup… Create your own copy methods for copying the path names.

Why would this be beneficial? As a network administrator, I often find myself browsing for resources in Network Neighborhood. All too often I need to copy the paths to files and folders housed on various network resources, and I need to convert the path to a different format.

Take a Novell Netware for example. When creating a desktop shortcut to a server based ConsoleOne installation, I may need to copy and paste the path to the ConsoleOne executable file found at z:\public\mgmt\consoleone\1.2\bin\consoleone.exe. Since Z:\ may be mapped differently based upon which account I’m logged into the network as, I should specify the UNC path to the .exe.

Rather than manually replacing z:\ with \\servername\volumename\, I can use Ninotech Path Copy to copy the entire UNC path to consoleone.exe, i.e.

\\servername\sys\public\mgmt\consoleone\1.2\bin\consoleone.exe

This saves me keystrokes, and makes my job easier, especially since I am not the most accurate typist.

Related Posts

• NDS / eDirectory login script search and replace utility
• Assigning Netware rights via the command line
• Enabling Backup Exec remote agent debug logging on Novell Netware
• Howto: Authenticate to eDirectory via the Novell Client, command line style
• Novell has released patches for DNS cache poisoning vulnerability

I had a badly behaving Netware 6.5 SP7 server that absolutely would not allow clients to authenticate or connect. It ended up being a problem with a NIC driver gone wild, but I had to do some troubleshooting to determine that fact.

During the troubleshooting process I wanted to backup several directories before I altered their contents. I figured I’d just copy those folders to a safe location, but couldn’t remember how to do it from the server console. I had used the copy command from toolbox.nlm in the past, but of course toolbox wasn’t loaded on this server. I don’t use the BASH shell often enough to use it coherently, so I decided to look for an alternative shell.

I did a quick search and came across the Novell Script for Netware shell. To start the shell, from the server console type:

nsninit

and then

nsnshell

which should bring you to a screen with a prompt that looks like

SYS:\>

From that point I was able to use the copy command just like I would from a DOS command prompt, i.e.

copy sys:\system\dsr_dib sys:\system\dsr_dib2

To exit from the shell, just type exit

Related Posts

• Assigning Netware rights via the command line
• Enabling Backup Exec remote agent debug logging on Novell Netware
• Howto: Authenticate to eDirectory via the Novell Client, command line style
• Novell has released patches for DNS cache poisoning vulnerability
• Howto: mount an .iso image on a Netware server

I’m installing Zenworks 7SP1R2 today, and the customer did not provide the installation media.  I’m downloading the .iso’s from Novell as we speak, but don’t have access to any blank CDs to burn the image files.  I decided copying the .iso files to the server and acessing them directly would be the best solution.

TID 10095903 [via koolbeans] says starting with Netware 6.5 SP2, you can mount an .iso using nss:

nss /MountImageVolume=path_imagefilename

The above command will add and mount the specified CD or DVD image file as a read-only NSS volume.

nss /RemoveImageVolume=path_imagefilename

The above command will dismount and remove the specified CD or DVD image file as a read-only NSS volume.

The image file must reside on an NSS volume.

To mount an .iso on a Netware 6 server, see Alex’s cool solution tip:

1)  Copy your .ISO image to a directory on your volume.

2)  Load cdinst.nlm

3)  Type “cd image <volumes:Path to iso file\iso filename>”

4)  As the last step, type “cd mount <volume name>“
 

(When you don’t know the volume name of your image you can type “cd device list”   and check the volume name on the logger screen)

Related Posts

• Assigning Netware rights via the command line
• Enabling Backup Exec remote agent debug logging on Novell Netware
• Novell has released patches for DNS cache poisoning vulnerability
• Howto: Copy files from the Netware 6.5 Server Console
• NDS / eDirectory login script search and replace utility

A task I was assigned today had to do with Novell eDirectory login scripts.  The only information the local admin reported that Windows 2000 users were getting login script errors when the script was trying to execute “c:\program files”.  He didn’t mention any more specifics about who was experiencing the problem, but he wanted the error(s) resolved.

The eDirectory tree is rather large at this site, and it contains many organizational units, each which have their own specific login script.  There are also some user login scripts, so finding this problem was going to be a fairly labor intensive (and monotonous) task, involving checking each login script for errors by hand.

I made it through reviewing about a dozen login scripts before I decided there had to be a better way to track down the root of the problem.  I did some quick searches and came across the NDS Login Script Editor 1.2.  It’s a free program written by Jeff Brusoe that can search or search & replace login scripts for users, organization containers, org units, templates, and profiles in NDS.

The installation was painless, and once I set my starting context I quickly searched for “program files” and came up with 9 hits almost instantaneously.  I could have had the program edit the scripts for me, but I chose to have the query results saved to a log file so I could manually change the scripts. 

I would guess this program saved me three or four hours worth of work.  If you need to make changes to login scripts, I would highly recommend using this Cool Tool.

Related Posts

• Assigning Netware rights via the command line
• Enabling Backup Exec remote agent debug logging on Novell Netware
• Howto: Authenticate to eDirectory via the Novell Client, command line style
• “Error -618 – The Server has detected an inconsistent database” when trying to view an eDirectory object’s properties in ConsoleOne
• Novell has released patches for DNS cache poisoning vulnerability

I updated my NW65SP6 Groupwise 7.0.1 server to 7.0.2 Hot Patch 1a yesterday, and my gwia kept abending when I tried to restart it or exit it. It didn’t matter if gwia was loaded in protected memory or not, it would just lock the system console. I was unable to down the server, spawn a new process, or restart the server from Netware Remote Manager. I had to walk down to the server room and physically restart the machine to regain access to it.

I found that you can enable the kill threads on exit or restart option in ConsoleOne from the gwia object’s SMTP/MIME settings page. This forces the gwia to terminate all current threads and exits almost immediately without locking up the server. You’ll have to cycle the gwia for this setting to take effect, and killing threads without a proper shutdown can theoretically lead to data loss.

You could specify this setting in both eDirectory and the gwia.cfg file in versions of Groupwise prior to 7.0.1, but now ConsoleOne moves the gwia.cfg file settings into the wpdomain.db file. You can still use the gwia.cfg file to override the ConsoleOne settings, but it didn’t work for me, so good luck.

Confused?

Here’s Novell’s Explanation from the Groupwise 7 installation guide (accurate as of 06-14-2007):

Consolidated Configuration Information (v7.0.1)

Before GroupWise 7 SP1, Internet Agent configuration information was stored both in eDirectory, as properties of the Internet Agent object, and in the Internet Agent configuration file (gwia.cfg). Starting in SP1, all primary configuration settings have been consolidated into the properties of the Internet Agent object. Secondary settings are still available only through the startup file.

When you update an Internet Agent to GroupWise 7 SP1 and access the Internet Agent object in ConsoleOne, all primary configuration settings are moved from the startup file into eDirectory. ConsoleOne no longer writes configuration settings to the startup file. Switches in the startup file can be used to override the settings in ConsoleOne.

Please note that the under the Internet Agent Fixes section of the readme for Groupwise 7 SP2 it states:

The /killthreads startup switch immediately kills all Internet Agent threads

so does that mean if you’re using a pre 7.0.2 gwia, this switch doesn’t work?

Related Posts

• Identifying and Clearing Groupwise GWIA Queues of Corrupt Messages
• Assigning Netware rights via the command line
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