Consideration For New Installation Of Novell Open Workgroup Suite Small Business Edition 2.0

  • 3733516
  • 22-Jan-2008
  • 27-Apr-2012

Environment

Novell Open Workgroup Suite Small Business Edition (NOWS-SBE)
Novell Open Workgroup Suite Small Business Edition 2.0 (NOWS-SBE)

Situation

NOWS-SBE's default installation will wipe out data and overwrite the partition on the target installation drive.

Resolution

The Process:

The default installation of NOWS-SBE is coded to overwrite all partitions on the target installation drive with its own partitions (/ and swap). The installation process requires one drive meeting the system hardware requirements (see the documentation at https://www.novell.com/documentation/nows). The default installation should leave all other attached storage alone. This process has been tested. As the system administrator, there are a few options to be aware of (below):

Rules and Options:
  1. If installing onto a drive with existing data that needs to be preserved, back it up. Test the backup to be sure the backup was successful.
  2. Installation does not have to be performed onto a drive with existing data. It can be installed onto a new drive or LUN.
  3. Be sure to review the hardware requirements before running an installation (https://www.novell.com/documentation/nows).
  4. Before accepting the default installation settings, review the partition layout by reviewing the "Partitioning" section under installation settings. Make changes as desired (/boot must exist on the / partition. Do not add a separate /boot partition).
  5. a.  NOWS-SBE requires that the /boot partition be contained with the / (root) partition.
    b.  LVM or EVMS Volume Managers can be used provided that / (root) and SWAP are not Logical Volumes.
  6. Triple-check everything before accepting the installation settings.