Novell 5.0 server license 1

[moonwarrior]

In the mid nineties we installed a Novell server running Netware 4.x and upgraded to version 5.0 in 1999.
It ran flawlessly for about 5 years and I "ghosted" the harddrive to a new drive just after the upgrade in 1999. Now the drive is beginning to generate some bad block errors and I can't get ghost software to work because of that. I dug out the old Novell cd and installed it on a new Pentium desktop and installed the upgrade license that was used in 1999. It appears to have installed properly but I keep getting the error "server FS01 is running without a server based license". I used "nwconfig" to uninstall and then re-install the license using the activation key, but still get the error message. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the license diskette to work or how to get another license from Novell? It there a license file on the old server that I might be able to copy to the new server? Any help would be appreciated.
Jon

 

[goombawaho]

Take a look at this article:

http://www.novell.com/support/php/s...ID_1_1&dialogID=88342352&stateId=0 0 88336972

What I would do is to remove all licenses from NWADMIN and then run DSREPAIR until there are no errors. Allow NDS to synchronize (if you have more than one server). If not, you should be able to install the license from NWADMIN using your floppy disk.

Also, before installing the license again, make sure you have a license service provider running on the server.

http://www.novell.com/support/php/s...ID_1_1&dialogID=88342695&stateId=0 0 88344210

 

[moonwarrior]

When I log in to the server from a legacy workstation running dos 6.22 and IPX protocol, none of the volumes I created show up in search/mapping. It does show the FS01/SYS volume, but that is all. Is this because of the license problem? I can go to my windows xp workstation and find all the Vol1 and Vol2 volumes. Any suggestions would again be very appreciated!
Jon

 

[goombawaho]

Not sure about that, but let's resolve the licensing issue first. You didn't make it clear whether you made any progress there or not.

Is the new license installed and functioning and allowing "modern" clients to login and map drives???

 

[moonwarrior]

No, I'm still unable to resolve the license problem. I read the information you recommended, but I'm probably too uneducated to figure out what I've read. To be honest with you, Novell is something that I've never had any experience with except when there is a problem. I'm very worried that the old Novell server is going to die soon since the harddrive is probably over 6 years old. If I could figure out a way to copy the old drive to a new drive, that would satisfy me and buy some time. As I mentioned earlier, I tried using "Ghost" to copy the drive but it hits a "bad block error" and aborts the copy.

The new server continues to broadcast the same message "no server based license, etc" about every 15 minutes or so. It's very frustrating that I can access both the new Novell volumes (vol1 & vol2) from my windows XP workstation, create directories and copy files into them, but cannot see the volumes (vol1 and vol2) when I login from the legacy workstation (non windows workstation). I've created the proper login script for the new server based on the script used to log in to the old server, so I feel pretty good about that. Would I have to map a drive to the fs01/vol1 in order to see it? All I see is fs01/sys volume and it's mapped as M:.

We are running Autocad release 12 and a third party software that will only run on a non windows, dos machine. This license problem was the last issue that I thought I'd have to deal with, but it's turned out the be the only problem!
Do you think I could get an updated license from Novell after 9 years? Thanks for all you input and assistance.
Jon

 

[marvhuffaker]

We run into situations like this quite a bit. Companies running NW3.12 or 4.1x and require DOS access etc for certain applications etc.

The main problem we see, very much like you describe, is that the server runs great and does the job, but the hardware is getting old and starting to fail.

We always recommend one thing...

- Put in a New server (business class hardware).. Install NetWare 6.5. Migrate old server to new server. Now you have hardware that is under warranty and you have a supported Novell operating system again. You can configure NetWare 6.5 with IPX and your DOS workstations will connect just fine.. We've never had a situation where we were unable to upgrade a server. We can ALWAYS make it work.

I just hate beating my head against the wall with old software. And the cost to upgrade is not that much.. take all the money you've saved over the years from not having to maintain the server, and you should be able to scrape up enough for an upgrae.

Marvin Huffaker, MCNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting, Inc.
A Novell Platinum Partner

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[goombawaho]

I don't think that's the answer he wanted to hear Marv. They want a zero cost solution - minus new "server" hardware cost that they've already purchased.

Can you answer the question as to whether Novell would provide a new license disk to them? They issued one to us for a temporary 5.1 license to get us up from 5.0, BUT that was because we were paying for an upgrade to 6.5. (It made my life easier in upgrading from 5.1 to 6.5. So a shout out to Novell for licensing us for something we weren't specifically licensed to have just to help me out.)

I'm guessing if you have no support contract and aren't interested in paying for an upgrade, they may not be too helpful in re-issuing a 10 year old license!!!!!

 

[marvhuffaker]

I don't always tell people what they want to hear. Moonriver, seriously, how many users do you have?

About getting Novell to reissue a license disk for NetWare 5.0. Been there done that good luck.

Marvin Huffaker, MCNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting, Inc.
A Novell Platinum Partner

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[moonwarrior]

I guess my question is this: We bought the license in 1999 so why should we have to pay again? I've got the original activation printout from Novell issued to me from 1999 and the original upgrade disk. Is there a time limitation on it?

Is it possible that I'm leaving out a step during the license install? I ran nwconfig and went to "install license" category, logged in with user name and password.
I put the license diskette in "A" drive and hit enter. It searched the diskette and came up with an abreviated 8 digit number and I pressed "enter" again and it acted like it accepted the license.
The Novell printout said not to install the license during the software installation but to do it afterwards. It has something to do with a nine digit number vs an eight digit number. My license number is a nine digit number.

Anyway, back to your question, I am the only user with two
workstations, a legacy dos machine and a windows xp workstation.

I've got the server working except I can't see the Vol1 volume from the dos machine. I reconfigured the server and made the sys volume huge and the used a second hard drive for Vol1. I have enough space on the sys volume for my data files. It's not the way I wanted to set it up but it is working for me. I still get the occasional broadcast about the license not being valid, but that does not keep me from logging in and running my program. If the license problem does not get satisfied will the Novell server stop allowing me to log in? All I have to do is hit "Control/Enter" about four times and the error is cleared. I usually have enough time do do what I need to do before the next alert.


Thanks everyone for your suggestions and if anyone comes up with the a solution, I would really appreciate it!
Jon

 

[marvhuffaker]

You can get a 5 user license for around $500 for NetWare 6.5. They practically give it away to small businesses.

Marvin Huffaker, MCNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting, Inc.
A Novell Platinum Partner

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[Provogeek]

you can also have 2 consecutive connections to an unlicensed box.

they had to make a way for geeks to learn and test on the OS with out having to buy it. CD's and DVD's can be downloaded from support.novell.com


Do read those TID's goom gave you, the SETUPNLS will more than likely fix your problem with the policy manager. PM was a common PITA with NetWare 5.0




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Brent Schmidt SPOOOOON!!!!!
Senior Network Engineer
Keep IT Simple

http://www.kiscc.com