Installation

This page gives a Quickstart installation guide for prepareing and using ANI.

A - Requirements

Server side

• SMB capable server. This may be a linux box or aeqivalent running samba, or - of course - a MS Windows server.
• DHCP server, capable of sending user options.

Client side

• Boot capable floppy or CDROM drive.
• HDD capacity > 3GB

B - Procedure

1. Unpack tarball to a directory on a SMB capable server.
2. Copy the contents of the I386 directory from a MS Windows 2000 resp. XP installation CD to ~/Ai386/i386. Patch the i386 content with the recent service pack, if needed. For this purpose have a look in ~/Ai386/i386/CONTENT for further details.
3. Replace the dummy file ~/Ai386/i386/$OEM$/$1/install/ActiveP.msi with the original ActiveState Perl 5.6.1.638 msi file. You can obtain the original msi file from ActiveState. IMPORTANT: Rename the original msi file to 'ActiveP.msi' before the replacement (like the dummy file).
4. Edit ~/Ai386/ani/unattend.tpl: Replace the <ProductId> dummy with your Windows 2k/XP Id.
5. Add all needed drivers, which are not distributed with Windows 2000 resp. Windows XP, to the directory ~/Ai386/i386/$OEM$/$1/PNP and its subfolders.
6. Share the directories Ai386 and APACK with SMB.
7. Create a user (e.g. "hanswurst") and add read privileges for it on the shares Ai386 and APACK.

   Sample for Samba Server (Linux)

   Adding a user

   useradd -d /dev/null -b /bin/false hanswurst
smbpasswd -a hanswurst

   Sample smb.conf

   -- snip --
   [Ai386]
        path = /shared/ANI/Ai386
        browsable = true
        read only = Yes
        valid users = hanswurst, @admins
        write list = @admins
        guest ok = No
   
   [APACK]
        path = /shared/ANI/APACK
        browsable = true
        read only = Yes
        valid users = hanswurst, @admins
        write list = @admins
        guest ok = No
   -- snip --

   Setting Access-Rights

   Depending on your system:
   chown -R smbrun:nogroup /shared/ANI/Ai386 /shared/ANI/APACK
chmod -R 750 /shared/ANI/Ai386 /shared/ANI/APACK

   Sample for Windows 2kx Server

   Adding a user account

   Create either a domain user on a DC (Domain Controller) or a local user on the File server, which contains the ANI shares. Use the appropriate MMC Snap-in ('Active Directory Users and Computers' resp. 'Local Users and Groups').

   Sharing Ai386 and APACK

   Right click on the according share and choose 'Sharing...'. Share the directory for 'everyone'. The share name is free, but for convention keep the names Ai386 and APACK.
   Use the 'Security' tab to set the NTFS rights: Remove the group 'Everyone'; press the 'Add..' button and add the created user or a group, to which the user belongs. This can be either a domain user/group or a local user/group of the file server. Activate the permissions allow 'Read & Execute', 'Read' and 'List folder contents'.

8. Generate encrypted password for this user using "encrypt.exe" (Win32) or "encrypt" (Linux, ELF) located in the ~/TOOLS directory.
   The key is hard coded on the boot medium: adrv354ggsdgs433 (case sensitive!). You may change this as soon as we manage to publish the sources...

   Sample

   c:>encrypt.exe
Please enter key (16 characters): adrv354ggsdgs433
Please enter password (max. 16 characters): honolulu23
Encrypted password: /IQr8qqEB4hr3JqlK0TTPg==

9. DHCP server configuration

   Sample dhcpcd.conf

   -- snip --
   # Option definitions common to all supported networks...
   option domain-name "substring.ch";
   option domain-name-servers 192.168.2.1;
   option netbios-name-servers 192.168.2.1;
   option netbios-node-type 8;
    
   # User defined options
   option ani-domain-name code 201 = text ;
   option ani-install-share code 202 = text ;
   option ani-packages-share code 203 = text ;
   option ani-installer-password code 204 = text ;
   option ani-installer-account code 205 = text ;
   
   subnet 192.168.2.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
      range 192.168.2.128 192.168.2.252;
   
      option routers 192.168.2.1;
   
      option ani-domain-name "ou=computers,dc=substring,dc=ch" ;
      option ani-install-share "\\\\server1\\Ai386" ;
      option ani-packages-share "\\\\server1\\APACK" ;
      option ani-installer-password  "MlEhFkH1JMsrhIzUAxieMg==" ;
      option ani-installer-account "hanswurst" ;
   
   }
   -- snip --

   Sample Windows 2kx DHCP Server

   Open MMC and add there the DHCP administration snapin. Right click on the according DHCP server and choose 'set predefined options...'. There you have to choose the 'add...' button.
   Add the following options:

   Name:                   Data type:      Code:   Description:
   ani-domain-name         string          201     Domain to Join
   ani-install-share       string          202     Installation share
   ani-packages-share      string          203     Software package share
   ani-installer-password  string          204     Installer password
   ani-installer-account   string          205     Installer Account
   

   In the next step choose a scope and there 'scope options'. Make a right click in the right field and choose 'Configure options...'. Under the 'general'-tab activate the options 201..205 and fill in following values:

   option:                 Value (example):
   201                     ou=computers,dc=substring,dc=ch
   202                     \\YourServerName\Ai386
   203                     \\YourServerName\APACK
   204                     MlEhFkH1JMsrhIzUAxieMg==
   205                     hanswurst
   

   Repeat this procedure for every scope you want to be affected.
   NOTE: The option 3 (routers) must always be provided, otherwise dhclient on the boot media will fail.

10. Make your boot media:

    If you use Linux:

    Floppy disk:

    fdformat /dev/fd0u1440 (to make sure the floppy is ok)
dd if=ADISK/bootdisk.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=10k

    CD-Rom:

    cdrecord [dev=bus#,dev#] -data ADISK/bootcd.iso

    If you use Windows:

    Floppy disk:

    You're welcome to use our tool "AniDisk.exe", located in ~/ADISK, for writing the floppy disk! With AniDisk.exe you have the possibility to change the default configuration on the bootdisk (see ~/CONFIGURE).

    CD-Rom:

    Almost any CD-Rom burn software should be able to burn the Boot-CD-image ~/ADISK/bootcd.iso.

11. Make some coffee.
12. Make sure you're not going to update the wrong PC.
13. Start the installation:
    • If you boot from floppy-disk, the drive should be auto detected. Just press enter on the bootprompt.
    • If you boot from CD-Rom, ANI tries to mount from /dev/hdc (second IDE controller, primary device) by default.
    You may change this behavior by adding 'INITDEV=hd<xy>' at the boot prompt. (IDE0,master=hda; IDE0,slave=hdb; IDE1,master=hdc; IDE1,slave=hdd; a.s.o) In this case you will also have to specify a boot label. Defined boot labels are 'new' and 'update'. For a first installation with ANI the boot label 'new' is mandatory. This is also the default. In our example with the CD-drive on IDE1/slave, the right prompt at the boot prompt would be:
    boot: new INITDEV=hdd [ENTER]