Long shot this, but im running out of options..

I am trying to free up some space in the datacentre.. im trying to virtualise 3 legacy NT4 servers to free up half a rack of space lol.

I have managed to P2V the two legacy app servers successfully. but the PDC is proving problematic. cant P2V it using VMware convertor as it has Novell installed on it.. i have managed to get it into a VM by ghosting it.. ghosting it back to a VM, then getting Convertor to fix the kernel.

The problem is (i presume) the networking as on the other two machines i have had to add the VMnic manually.. when the box comes up and you try to login, it first complains about not being able to find a NDS tree/server (which is itself) but then also failed to login just using NT authentication, and being a PDC local logins are disabled...

the only thing i can think of now is actually making the network changes/ binning off NDS before VM'ing the machine, which isnt ideal due to the time it takes to ghost it before and after(7u worth of 200mhz PentiumPro powaaaaaaa lol)

Anyone have any exprience in this... ive not touched NT4/NDS for 6 years lol.

Cheers!

I know nothing about novell, but I do remember NT getting shirty if you removed the only network card.

Can you try adding the AMD PCnet for vmware, making sure all the protocol bindings are there, then imaging it over to vmware with Ghost as you have already tried?

Otherwise, have you considered trying the old P2V assistant method, rather than converter?

One more thing, how about building a new NT4 box on vmware and transferring the PDC role to it, demoting the troublesome box? Is it hard to move the NDS services? Like I said, I know very little about novell.

I know nothing about novell, but I do remember NT getting shirty if you removed the only network card.

Can you try adding the AMD PCnet for vmware, making sure all the protocol bindings are there, then imaging it over to vmware with Ghost as you have already tried?

Otherwise, have you considered trying the old P2V assistant method, rather than converter?

One more thing, how about building a new NT4 box on vmware and transferring the PDC role to it, demoting the troublesome box? Is it hard to move the NDS services? Like I said, I know very little about novell.

You do have some valid options.. and i might well end up using one of them. its just getting it through our change process thats the PITA.. especially with it taking 8 hours to ghost.. NDS, infact the entire domain isnt really used anymore.. it just hosts a couple of apps that noone dare touch

P2V assistant will not work because of NDS (the assistant stuff was merged into Convertor.. both need microsoft networking installed to communicate with the machine, and once the box is in a VM, convertor can fiddle with the filesystem/kernel anyway)

How long will a NT4 box that is on a domain work without a domain controller?.. i suppose trashing the domain completely is an option (my favorite ) - considering ive managed to set-up the application servers in a VM sandbox without DC access makes me think that they dont need domain auth to run..

How long will a NT4 box that is on a domain work without a domain controller?.. i suppose trashing the domain completely is an option (my favorite ) - considering ive managed to set-up the application servers in a VM sandbox without DC access makes me think that they dont need domain auth to run..

Can't remember, but can you make it a non-domian machine to test?