How To Build Server Appliance by Using Microsoft Server Appliance Kit (SAK) 2.0 in Windows 2000 (301294)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
This article was previously published under Q301294 SUMMARY
The Microsoft Server Appliance Kit version 2.0 enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to quickly create headless, fixed-function server appliance products that are based on the Microsoft Windows operating system. This article describes the preparations for manufacturing a Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliance.
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Recommended Requirements
The following items describe the recommended hardware, software, network infrastructure, skills and knowledge, and service packs that you will need.
- Hardware platform that is identical to what will be manufactured
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server, or Windows Powered CD
- Most recent Windows 2000 service pack CD
- Windows 2000 OEM pre-install kit CD
- OEM-specific Product Identification (ID)
- Server Appliance Kit 2.0 CD
- Microsoft Services for UNIX CD
- Microsoft Service for Netware CD (optional)
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Building a Server Appliance Using the Microsoft Server Appliance Kit- Install Windows 2000 on the boot drive and partition of the server appliance hardware platform. Use the following table to determine what components should be enabled or disabled.
The components that are selected by default for each type of server appliance are as follows:
NAS Web Custom Feature Subfeature Description
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x x x Development This provides documentation and sample code to
tools allow the server appliance to be
customized.
x x x Initialization This software component allows you to
customize the out-of-computer experience for
the user. The appliance can be configured
to search for a floppy disk at first
boot, which can contain a configuration
file to set host name, administrator
password, and IP settings for static IP
environments. If the file is not found
at boot time, the appliance boots
either as a DHCP client or with auto IP
settings. In this case, you can provide
a unique default host name and
administrator password.
x x x Local UI Local The user can set the IP settings, host name,
configuration and administrator password by using the
local user interface on the appliance.
x x x Local UI Local UI The Local UI framework allows you to
framework develop your own content to plug into
the Server Appliance Kit's local
UI, without requiring any code changes
to the local UI framework code. The
optional local display can be a simple
bank of LEDs, or a 64x128 pixel bitmapped
LCD. The framework provides a navigation
scheme using a six-key keypad on the
front of the appliance, including four
directional keys as well as ENTER and
CANCEL keys.
x x x Reliability Reliability To provide the highest level of uptime,
framework you can add optional hardware watchdog
timers to your appliance. A watchdog
timer driver is then provided to allow
the watchdog to plug into the reliability
framework. The reliability framework is
responsible for periodically resetting
the watchdog timer and for taking
corrective action if critical system
resources, such as free memory, exceed
particular thresholds.
x Web UI Disks and This feature allows the end customer to
volumes manage disks and volumes on the Windows
Powered server appliance. The feature
uses an ActiveX Control for the Windows
Terminal Services client to provide
access to the disk management Microsoft
Management Console (MMC) snap-in on the
appliance. The disk management snap-in is
accessed through the appliance's Web
management UI from a Windows-based client
computer. This feature is otherwise
identical to the capability provided on
Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000
Advanced Server.
x Web UI Folders and The folders component allows folders on
shares the appliance to be created and deleted.
Various folder properties can also be set,
including compression, encryption, and
security.
The shares component allows shares to be
created on the appliance by using a browser.
The shares feature aggregates the
management of all shares no matter what
file-sharing protocol you use, including
CIFS, network file system (NFS), FTP,
NetWare and AppleShare. This is different
from the standard Windows file share
management, where each share type has its
own interface. In the Server Appliance
Kit's Web UI, a common property subset
is exposed to simplify the management of
shares. Properties specific to a
protocol, such as CIFS or NFS, are
presented on separate property pages.
x Web UI FTP management TBD
x Web UI IIS management TBD
x x x Web UI Logs This feature allows users to view, clear,
download, and configure logs on the
server appliance. Third-party developers
can add to logs in the Web UI so that
they can be viewed, downloaded,
configured, and cleared by the user. Web
UI plug-ins for specific logs are
provided in the Server Appliance Kit,
including Windows 2000 system,
application, and security event logs as
well as NFS, WWW, and FTP logs.
x x x Web UI Network setup This allows the user to join the appliance
into a workgroup or domain, set the
hostname, configure DNS servers,
configure individual network interface
cards (NICs) on the appliance, and change the
administrator password.
x Web UI Services This allows critical system services such as
network protocols to be enabled,
disabled, and configured. Third-party
developers can add service components to
the Web UI so that they can be enabled,
disabled, and configured by the user. Web
UI components for specific services are
provided in the Kit, including WWW
publishing, CIFS, Telnet, NFS, File
Server for Macintosh, NetWare, Indexing,
and Telnet services.
x x x Web UI Set date This component allows the date and time
and time to be set on the server appliance.
x x x Web UI Set language This feature detects the language of the
first browser that connects to the
appliance after first boot and
automatically sets the appliance's
language accordingly. A Web UI component
is also provided that allows the user to
change the language of the appliance
manually.
x x x Web UI Shutdown This Web UI component allows the user to
remotely shut down or restart the
appliance by using a Web browser.
x x x Web UI Software update This Web UI component allows the
appliance software to be updated by the
user through a remote client computer.
You can use this feature to control the
software update process on the appliances
that you create.
x x x Web UI System backup This feature allows the user to back up
and restore and restore the operating system files.
The feature uses an ActiveX Control for
the Windows Terminal Services Client to
provide a system backup capability
through the Web management UI from a
Windows-based client computer. This
feature is otherwise identical to the
capability provided on Windows 2000
Server and Advanced Server.
x x Web UI Users and groups This component allows the user to create,
delete, and edit properties for local
users and groups on the appliance by using
a Web browser on a remote client
computer.
x x x Web UI Web UI framework The Web UI framework allows you to
develop your own Web content, which will
plug into the management Web UI of the
Server Appliance Kit without requiring
any code changes to the Server Appliance
Kit framework code. The framework
provides a navigation scheme that uses
a two-level tab structure with a set of
main tabs, each of which contains its own
set of tabs. These tabs are then used to
broswe to various management task pages
that can be used to configure and monitor
the appliance.
- Install Services for UNIX. You must install Services for UNIX before you install the Server Appliance Kit components. The following Services for UNIX components must be installed and enabled:
- Server for NFS
- User name mapping
- Server for NFS authentication
If you are installing Services for UNIX by using the Services for UNIX wizard, do the following:
- Under Authentication Tools for NFS, select Customized Installation and select User Name Mapping.
- Clear Client for NFS, Shell and Unix Utilities, and Telnet Client.
- When prompted, set the User Name Mapping server to localhost and accept the default install location. NFS logging should be enabled and use the default log file.
If you are installing from the command shell, use the following command:
msiexec /i "sfusetup.msi" ADDLOCAL="NFSServer,NFSServerAuth,Mapsvc" SFUDIR="C:\SFU" /qb - Optional: Install Services for NetWare.
Microsoft Services for NetWare are optional and may be installed after you install the Server Appliance Kit components. The following Services for NetWare components must be installed and enabled:
- Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX)
- NetWare client
- File and Print Services for NetWare (FPNW)
- Microsoft Directory Service Synchronization (MSDSS)
To install Services for NetWare, follow these steps:
- Install the IPX protocol. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Network and Dial-up Connections.
- Select a network adapter. Right-click the network interface card (NIC) name, click Properties, point to Install, point to Protocol, and then click Add.
- Select NWLink IPX and choose OK.
- Repeat steps 2-3 for each NIC card.
To install FPNW from the Services for NetWare distribution CD, follow these steps:
- Click Start, point to Settings, click Network and Dial-up Connections, and select a network adapter.
- Right-click the NIC name of the chosen network adapter.
- Click Properties, and then click Install.
- Click Service, point to Add, and select Have Disk.
- Type the path for the FPNW folder on the Services for NetWare CD.
- Open the FPNW folder and click File, then click Print Services for NetWare.
- Install the latest service pack for Windows 2000.
- Install any quick fix engineering (QFE) updates.
- Configure the administrator account.
- Secure the configuration.
- Install the Server Appliance Kit. From the Setup Wizard, select NAS as the type of server appliance you would like to create, and accept the default components.
To install the Server Appliance Kit components, follow these steps:- Run Sasetup.exe from the root folder of the Server Appliance Kit CD.
- Select the type of appliance (for example, Network Access Server (NAS), Web, or custom appliance).
- Select the components that you want to install based on the type of server appliance that you are creating. The preceding table shows which components are selected by default for each type of server appliance. The features that are selected during setup can only be installed locally. Installing on first use and installing from a network are not supported.
- If you have installed the Web user interface (UI) framework, you can access it by opening a browser on the target appliance and typing http:\\localhost in the address field. You can also access the Web UI remotely by opening a browser on a client computer and typing the host name of the Windows Powered server appliance in the address field.
- Install the language resource files for the Server Appliance Kit 2.0.
- Optional: Add custom or third-party add-ins according to the developer's instructions.
- Optional: Install custom branding.
- Optional: Install OEMConfigDll.
- Run SaPrep.
- Run SysPrep.
- Optional: If you have added failover capability to your appliance, install the failover operating system by repeating steps 1-12 on the failover partition of the boot drive.
If the primary operating system (OS) fails to boot, you can use a failover algorithm to make the Windows Powered server appliance failover to another OS in a variety of ways. The algorithm must detect a boot failure, and then boot the server appliance from another partition or volume. See the "Pitfalls" section for details. - Shut down the appliance and remove the boot hard drive, which now serves as the master image.
NOTE: Never boot from the master disk directly. Only boot using copies of the master disk. - Copy the master image onto your test units.
- Test the units thoroughly.
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Troubleshooting
The following example process, consisting of a list of requirements along with a process flow chart, illustrates how to add a failover algorithm to the BIOS. Because adding a failover algorithm to the BIOS is a complex process, Microsoft recommends that you print this topic for reference before you begin designing the failover BIOS. If you are using another means of providing failover support, you may use the following process as a guide in your efforts.
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Required when BIOS Includes Failover
The following list describes what is required if the BIOS includes a failover algorithm:
- Your Windows Powered server appliance must include nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM), a watchdog timer, and associated drivers.
- The BIOS must detect whether a reboot is from an internal or external source. For example, a power failure is an external source.
- If your target hardware includes a watchdog timer and the BIOS sets the initial counter value, set the initial watchdog timer counter value to 2 minutes + (2 x T). "T" represents the length of time the watchdog timer is enabled before the BIOS attempts to run the boot sector.
- The BIOS must determine which disk drive to boot from by searching for a bootable partition or volume on the main disk drive, and then searching for the same partition or volume on the backup disk drive. On Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) systems, the 0 primary device is searched first, and the 0 secondary device is searched second. Boot order is under investigation for SCSI systems.
- The BIOS must use the following procedure to determine the system partition or volume from which to boot:
- Search for an active partition or volume with a system ID equal to 0x07, 0x87, or 0xc7 in the partition or volume table. The partition or volume table is located in the master boot record, which is the System1 partition or volume.
- Search for the boot counter value in the NVRAM that is associated with the System1 partition or volume.
- Determine if the boot counter associated with the partition or volume is less than, greater than, or equal to the boot counter threshold value:
- If the boot counter is less than the threshold, the BIOS must increase the boot counter by 1 in the NVRAM that is associated with System1, and then attempt to boot from the partition or volume.
- If the boot counter is greater than or equal to the threshold, the BIOS must attempt to boot from the first non-active partition or volume with system ID 0x07, 0x87, or 0xc7 in the partition or volume table in the master boot record.
- If both partitions or volumes on the main disk fail to boot, the BIOS follows the same procedure on the backup disk.
- The BIOS must set the drive number to 0x80 after it determines the disk from which the OS will boot.
- If the OS fails to boot, the watchdog timer restarts the BIOS algorithm.
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If the OS successfully boots, the OS uses the NVRAM driver to clear the boot counter that is stored in the NVRAM. - If the server appliance reboots from an external source, the BIOS must reset all boot counters and then restart the BIOS algorithm.
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Next Steps
After your Windows Powered NAS server appliance master operating system image and hardware have been validated, you are ready to begin manufacturing the server appliance in quantity.
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| Modification Type: | Minor | Last Reviewed: | 7/2/2004 |
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| Keywords: | kbhowto kbHOWTOmaster KB301294 kbAudITPro |
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