** Reply to note from Automatic digest processor <LISTSERV AT VM.MARIST DOT 
EDU> 03/13/96 12:01am -0500

> Date:    Tue, 12 Mar 1996 10:25:49 CST
> From:    Ron Ritchey <[email protected]>
> Subject: RECOVERY OF A CRASHED MACHINE
>
> If I have the ADSM client on an OS/2 machine and the hard disk crashes
> what would be the process to restore to a new machine?
>
> I know there are tools that can be used to create boot disks, but they
> are too hard to maintain. You have to update the disks each time you
> have a hardware change. I need a process that will work on any machine
> no matter which type of hard disk, video or NIC card you have in them.

When you make your rescue boot disks, make sure that the configuration is
setup for standard VGA only, not whatever super-VGA is on the workstation
where you make the diskettes.  Hard disk is a little tougher to handle,
but OS/2 will usually auto-select what's needed unless you have a driver
loaded for something really unusual.  Have the rescue disk's CONFIG.SYS
load all of the "reasonable" drivers for your site (IBM1S506, IBMSCSI,
etc.) similar to the "out of the box" OS/2 install disk #1.

For the NIC situation, I have had good results by setting up boot diskettes
to use a Xircom parallel port Ethernet adapter, regardless of what's really
in the workstation.  When you do your restore from ADSTAR, you'll naturally
get the "real" network drivers back on the hard disk even if you loaded
something else from the floppy.

Another approach, which I have also used, is to make a set of boot disks
for each of the two or three most common NICs you have, then use the Xircom
disks for the weird ones.

Btw, all of these are things I use for CID-type remote installations, and
I haven't tested with ADSTAR per se...but the techniques are the same since
the root issue is what's on the OS/2 bootup disks.


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"Today is always Version 1.0"          Scott D. Courtney,
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