all autoload file arguments | customized versions
The Rembo Wizard is configured with Rembo-C initialized arguments that are successively searched from autoload files in global, group and host scopes, in this order. Therefore only the global level autoload file contains all the arguments and their default values. When it is necessary to override a global or a group level setting, the configuration argument is added to the host level autoload file. This is exactly what the configuration dialog does.
But the configuration dialog does not work with all the possible arguments, there are more parameters that can only be set by modifying the host level autoload file manually, either with Rembo Toolkit's Server Console (SConsole.exe) utility or by downloading, editing and uploading the autoload file using Rembo Toolkit's netclnt utility program.
Following is the list of all arguments and their settings.
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The Rembo Wizard's Configuration Dialog Variables
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MachineType (str) : a string containing six capital letters, split in two
groups of three letters. Determining the type of the
machine according to The Rembo Wizard's naming convention
and as defined on rembo-names file (this file
will also be uploaded to all Rembo servers so that it
can be viewed with The Rembo Wizard FileViewer within
a Rembo client).
SystemDisk (str) : The disk to work with. Rembo OS disk numbering starts from
0 (zero) and this also the default value for The Rembo
Wizard.
Can have any value, but for practical purposes the values
can be limited to 0 .. 3.
RCachePart (str) : The disk on which the Rembo OS's cache partition is located.
Can have any value, but for practical purposes the values
can be limited to 0 .. 3.
SystemPart (str) : The partition to backup. The Rembo Wizard is designed to
backup the system partition. The entire system to backup
must locate on one primary partition, defined here. Rembo
OS assigns partiton number 0 (zero) for Master Boot Record.
Therefore the first primary partition is 1 (one), which
is the default value for The Rembo Wizard.
There is four primary partitions (1..4) and extended
partitions are numbered (5..8).
LxSwapPart (str) : For the automated operations in The Rembo Wizard we have
to define where the Linux swap partition is located so that
it can be preformatted before the restored image starts.
The swap partition must be a primary partition. Default
value is 2 (two).
AutoBoot (bool) : false - do not boot automatically but stay on the menu
true - boot automatically if no menu buttons pressed before
the delay of BootDelay has elapsed:
Windows: boot from the hard disk
Linux: boot with the network kernel or from the hard
disk, according to the menu selection.
Unattended (bool) : false - do not force the operating system installation
true - force the operating system installation
AutoRepair (bool) : false - Do not check partition table for corruption.
true - Hard disk's partition table is checked against the
partition table signature stored on the server when
the disk was generated or backed up for the first
time. If a difference is found, the OS partition
is regenerated.
This is intended to be used in the case where
the maintenance personnel change the hard disk,
and where the immediate regeneration is wished
(example, control system machines).
AutoFix (bool) : false - Do not allow the the MD5 checksum synchronization.
true - OS partition is returned to its original state, using
the MD5 checksum method of Rembo, i.e. the file is not
replaced if it appears to be the same than in
the original installation. This is intended to be used
with the public access workstations. AutoFix includes
AutoRepair. If you define both flags, this will just
slow down the operations; define just AutoFix if you
want both operations.
autofixMD5 (bool) : false - Do not use MD5 in AutoFix, just date, time and size.
This will usually speed the synchronization up but
you are warned that you may lose some reliability
true - (default) Let AutoFix to use MD5 to compare files
AutoBackup (bool) : false - Do not allow automatic base image backup
true - When the system starts, after the AutoBoot delay
take a new base image of the system partition
before continuing according to the AutoBoot
setting. There _must_ be a base image archive
on the server, taken manually, before this feature
is used. The image archive is used to determine
the scope of the operation (global, group, host).
The existing base image archive is renamed with
a backup name (TSTW2K.bas becomes TSTW2K.bas_bup,
for example. If the backup named archive file
exists on the scope, it is deleted first.
KickStart (int) : A switch and a counter for Red Hat KickStart installations.
If non-zero, the KickStart module is activated. It uses
this persistent variable at host level as a counter of
KickStart related boots. The states presented are:
0 = no KickStart module interaction
1 = Start of KickStart module in interactive mode
2 = KickStart installation's reboot
3 = KickStart installation terminated
101 = KickStart installation has failed
1000 = Launch KickStart with default architecture, version
1001 = same but with first architecture, its default version
1002 = same but with second architecture, its default version
BootDelay (int) : Time in seconds for all unattended operations (Unattended,
AutoRepair and AutoFix) and AutoBoot "false".
IsNetDefaultBoot (bool) : false - With Linux, boot with the hard disk kernel
as defined in /etc/lilo.conf's first entry.
With Win*, keep false (not considered)
true - With Linux, boot with the network kernel.
AllowFloppyBoot (bool) : false - do not allow the user to boot from the floppy
inside Rembo.
Note: you must disable this on BIOS as well
in public access workstations.
true - allow the user to boot from the floppy
UseCache (bool) : false - do not use local hard disk as a cache for network
operations but always use NetFS transfer protocol.
true - use local hard disk drive as a cache for network
operations.
ReadBackShared (bool) : false - do not automatically read back archive's shared
files back to the cache when a system or
software is taken.
true - always read back archive's shared files back
to the cache.
UseMulticast (bool) : false - If UseCache=true, UCAST protocol is used.
Otherwise NetFS protocol is used.
In server's rembo.conf-file you have to define
Options unicast
line for the group.
true - If UseCache=true, MCAST protocol is used.
Otherwise NetFS protocol is used.
In server's rembo.conf-file you have to remove
Options unicast
line for the group.
UseDiffs (bool) : false - The differential images are taken as base images,
and they represent a full snapshot of the system at
the time taken. When restoring, the system partition
is quick-formatted and the system is restored strictly
to the state it was when the snapshot was taken. The
differential aspect comes with the Rembo shared file
system where the actual base image contains
the majority of the files and the snapshots needs to
store actually only changed files. It is recommended
to use local disk cache (UseCache 'true') with this
setting.
true - The current contents of the disk is compared to
the base image and only the differences are stored.
This technique is useful when images are "add-ons"
to the base image. Typical usage of this setting
is by the system administrator who creates a base
image, a differential with Office (Microsoft or
Sun before you flame me) installed, an other
differential with Office and with yet an other
standard application used in the organization.
MaxDiffs (int) : Adjust the maximum number of snapshots or differential
images that can be taken after the base image. 0 (zero) setting
disables the differential backup button but does not disable
the restoration of existing snapshots/differential images.
It is wise to keep this limiter in maximum of 5 (five) or so,
for the display limitations. The default value is 3 (three)
snapshots or differential images.
HostDiffs (bool) : true - Snapshot images and differential images are always
stored at the host level, no matter what is the
Scope of operation for the base image. For example,
if the base image is located, say at group level,
each host in the group can have its own snapshot
images. This way a group of machines can be
generated from a single source (base image) while
their individual modifications can be stored in
snapshot images without taking an individual base
image for the host.
false - With this setting snasphots and differential
images will be taken at the same level on which
the base image is located (global/group/host).
In other words, the snapshot and differential
images are always located in the same directory
than the base image to which they are compared to.
This behavior is compatible with The Rembo Wizard
versions prior to 2.0.10.
ClientMCASTSpeed (int) : Limit the MultiCAST Speed. This value _does_ have the
the same effect with the UniCast transfer protocol.
Allowed values are:
0 - MultiCAST speed is unlimited. This is dangerous!
1 - MultiCAST is limited to 20mbit/s
2 - MultiCAST is limited to 10mbit/s
3 - MultiCAST is limited to 5mbit/s
4 - MultiCAST is limited to 2mbit/s
ClientCompression (bool) : false - Don't use image compression. This sets
'Settings.Compression' to 0.
true - Use image compression on the server when
backing up images. This sets
'Settings.Compression' to 5 (of max. 9).
Next persistant variables are used for authentication policy
PWOnStartUp (bool) - Ask username and password in boot up
PWOnCreateBase (bool) - Ask username and password when creating base image
PWOnOverWrBase (bool) - Ask username and password when overwriting old
baseimage and creating a new one
(dangerous to set false this one!)
PWOnCreateDiff (bool) - Ask username and password when creating differental
images
PWOnRestoreAll (bool) - Ask username and password when doing image restoration
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Following persistent variables are miscellaneous settings that
are set generally in the global level autoload file.
Nothing prevents to declare different values in the group or
in the host level autoload files, if needed.
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ScreenSaverDelay (int) : Time in minutes for the Rembo (blank) screen
saver to activate.
The default is no screen saver (0).
KeyboardCountry (str) : The file prefix of the Rembo's keymaps. For example,
"us","uk","fr", etc. The default is "us".
CodePageId (int) : Code page ID for Windows 95/98 installations.
If the installation is anything else than an English
installation, this argument _must_ be set. The default
value is (0) - no code page.
Linux and Windows NT/2000 installations are not concerned.
ScreenResPref (str) : The preferred screen resolution. For example, "1024x768".
When The Rembo Wizard starts, available video modes are
scanned. If the preferred video mode is available, it is
selected. Otherwise an attempt is made for "800x600"
resolution.
If even that fails, then the first available, non-textual
video-mode is selected and the available video modes are
printed on the system console. If no video is available,
The Rembo Wizard continues to operate in textual mode.
ReportEmail (str) : Send copy of the events that are SysLog()'ed on the server
to this e-mail address. Requires that you have the TCPtunnel
set to the mail server in the rembo.conf, before groups:
TCPTunnel sendmail {
RemoteHost "mailserv.mycompany.com"
RemotePort 25
}
The events that are logged with SysLog() can be modified
with the compilation switches (see the "Compilation with
options" above). This will also alter the e-mail reports.
FromEmail (str) : If ReportEmail is set, the "from:" field must be set too.
It is not a good idea to set it to the same e-mail address
than the ReportEmail, since this is a sure way to get your
message marked as 'junk'.
startPlugin (bool) : Your Rembo Toolkit installation allows execution of
the third party plugins (The Rembo Wizard): set "true".
If you have a demo version or an other Rembo Toolkit
version that allows only (slower) scripting
execution: set "false".
startDebug (bool) : Usually set "false" to execute the normal version of
The Rembo Wizard. If set to "true" a debug printing
version will be executed, with Authentication disabled.
startAuthentication (bool) : For normal operation, set to "true". If you
cannot set your server to respond to
authentication requests or otherwise do not
care about passwords, set "false", at your own
risk, of course. Note that debug version is
always non-authenticating, no matter what is
the setting of this persistent variable.
disklessLinux (bool) : Usually set "false" for normal operation.
Defining "true" here means that The Rembo Wizard is used
only with AutomaticBoot to boot a Linux kernel, with an
initial ramdisk and kernel arguments, all files loaded
from the server. About all other operations are disabled.
Use this option with NFS-root cluster nodes, Linux based
X-terminals and such.
setTimeUTC (bool) : Usually set "false" for normal operation.
On Linux systems where the automatic switching between
the Daylight Savings Time and normal (winter) time is
an issue (servers, for example) because a simple reboot is
not possible, set this variable as "true".
The Rembo Wizard will consult the Rembo Toolkit server
about its time zone information related to the Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC). The offset is then added to the
system clock, normally set by Rembo to Local Time, so that
it will be actually set to UTC.
opmodeNIC (str) : Usually leave empty.
When set, makes the rembowiz_start - module to load The Rembo
Wizard NIC management module. The module scans for all
the devices on the PCI-bus and searches all the NET-class
type of devices for Intel 825xx or 3Com 3c90x based NICs.
The NIC that has the same MAC-address than the device that
Rembo is using will be set to auto-negotiation off. Forced
parameters will be applied according to opmodeNIC string.
"100","100F" - 100 Base-Tx, 100 Mbit/s Full Duplex
"100H" - 100 Base-Tx, 100 Mbit/s Half Duplex
"10","10H" - 10 Base-T, 10 Mbit/s Half Duplex
"10F" - 10 Base-T, 10 Mbit/s Full Duplex
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There are few more persistent variables,
but they should be left 'alone'
and used only within The Rembo Wizard. These are:
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GroupConfigured (bool) - Tells whether group level is configured with
The Rembo Wizard Configuration tool. If this
variable is false then prompt Configuration Screen
right after boot. These values configured with
the Configuration tool will afterwards used as
a default to all hosts in this group.
HostConfigured (bool) - Same thing as 'GroupConfigured' but for a particular
host only.
PartitionTable (str) - Hosts partition table will be registered with this
variable and it is used for checking if
the partition table has been corrupted. This
allows disk layout to be restored to original state.
ePartitionTable (str) - This is the extended partition table part, see above.
If you have a GNU-C compiler available (on a Linux system, for example) you can compile customized versions of The Rembo Wizard using compilation switches. First, you would study distribution's Makefile to set the CC to point to your GNU-C compiler and SDK to point to your Rembo Toolkit SDK's Rembo-C compiler. Then you can issue a command such as
make all switch='-DnoHDBlog'
To compile a version of The Rembo Wizard that does not log hard disk boots in the host's log-file and/or to the reporting e-mail address. Following is the list of all available compilation switches.
-C - preserve source comments (not with -Ddebug)
-Ddebug - for debug printing level 1
-Ddebug=2 - for debug printing level 2
-Ddebug=3 - for debug printing level 3 (max)
-DnoFSize - Use Rembo's default max. file size settings
-DnoDHCPInfo - No DHCP-info request, even if on-line
-Dnoreadpci - No code to read the PCI diagnostics info
-Dnodmi - With an older BIOS, no manufacturer info
-DnewHDauto - Forced installation if no partition table
-DnoMCwarns - No unlimited MCAST speed warning message-boxes
-DnoCachewarns - No warnings of not using Cache (and NetFS)
-DnoLXlog - No logging of LXBoot() calls
-DnoHDBlog - No logging of HDBoot() calls (Windows)
-DnoMBRops - No (re)store Master Boot Record (W2K/Linux,AutoRepair)
-DnoNTBiosName - Do not change the Windows BIOS name with DHCP-name
-DnoLogin - No authentication from server (no security)
-DnoUntdFlip - Do not flip the Unattended setting to false
-DnoHooks - Never call user hook functions
-DnoProbeArch - Do not probe of archives on the server (if buggy)
-DnoCacheUpld - Do not use unconditional cache:// URI for uploads
-DnoAutoFixRep - If AutoFix fails, stop, do not re-install system
-DdoW2KHDDReg - Do W2KHDD registering functions (Rembo says "no")
19 May 2006