Precedence Network Computer and NetManager
Living alongside NT

1. How do I get my NC to log onto an NT server for its users areas?

   Firstly, you should read the comprehensive documentation detailing the configuration of the !Login program. This is provided on-line on the NCManager (http://ncserver:880/private/docs/log.html).

   However, for the impatient, providing that your NT server is set up so that all the users' home areas are separate hidden shares with the same name as the user that owns them (e.g. sborrill has home share sborrill$), then you simply need to edit the !NFSBoot.Apps.!Login.Messages file to point to the server. To do this:

   • Alter the filehost: line so that it contains the name of the NT server (e.g.
     filehost:MYSERVER
   • Alter the hometype: line so that it specifies to use LanManFS (i.e.
     hometype:lanman
   • Alter the lmnameserver: line so that it contains the IP address of the domain controller (probably just the NT servers IP address itself) e.g.
     lmnameserver: 192.168.100.5
   N.B. If you are getting 'Connection refused by server' errors when you log on, make sure you have installed NT client access licences

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2. How do I configure the web-based password changing to change passwords on an NT server?

   When you go to http://ncserver/pass/ a number of things happen. Firstly, the browser is immediately redirected to /cgi-bin/pass.cgi. The pass.cgi file hold the details of which servers are to have password altered on. The configuration defined in the pass.cgi file is then passed to http://ncserver:880/pass/index.cgi.

   There are two lines tha can be edited in /cgi-bin/pass.cgi; one which configures whether the password on the NetManager is changed and one which specifies an NT server to change the password on. You can change passwords on both machines simultaneously, however user names and initial passwords should be the same.
   If you have applied Hotfix 54, then initial passwords do not need to be the same.

   To edit the /cgi-bin/pass.cgi file, you can do the following:

   • Log onto an NC as ncadmin
   • Click on the Edit the web pages link
   • Enter the password for the user www and logon with the relevant button. The directory viewer will open
   • Double-click on the cgi-bin directory
   • Shift-double-click on the pass/cgi file (N.B. because the file is viewed from RISCOS dots have been replaced by slashes and vice-versa)
   • The two lines to edit are as follows:

     1. unix=yes

        Change this to the following if you do not want to change the passwords on the NCManager:

        unix=no

        If you have Hotfix 54, then you can change this to the following to force password changes on the NCManager:

        unix=force

     2. smb=

        Leave the line blank after the equals sign if you do not wish to change the passwords on an NT server. Change it to:

        smb=<server name>

        Where server name should be ideally in the hosts file and also correspond to the NetBIOS name of the server
   • Save the file

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3. Why are you using a UNIX-based operating system rather than NT?

   Stability/scalability/cost/reliability/flexibility/non-proprietary. Read this report by a Microsoft Certified Professional (Windows NT) about NT vs UNIX. Read what the press are saying about it.

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4. How do I get ICA to automatically login?

   You'll need build 31 (though it can be done less securely by hacking earlier builds). All versions of the !Login program set Inet$UserName to the name of the current user. In addition, the !Login program with build 31 sets Inet$ICAass to the ICA-encrypted password required by .ica files. In conjunction with the URL mechanism of launching ICA (which lets you override parameters in the ICA files), this allows you to log in automatically. For example, the following URL will set the user name and password options before connecting to a server called winframe:

   ica://winframe/?Username=<Inet$UserName>&Password=<Inet$ICAPass>

   From build 31 onwards, an altered version of the default home page (/general/index.html) is available as index.autopass.html so it can be simply renamed. In addition, there is a file called index.noica.html which is altered to remove the ICA link altogether for use in sites which do not have WinFrame

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5. When logging onto a user area held on NT with LanManFS, I get the error, "Cannot perform operation."

   This error is seen if you do not have enough Client-Access Licences on the NT server. N.B. There may be other situations in which this error is given.

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6. When logging onto a user area held on NT with LanManFS, I get the error, "Error from server."

   This error is seen if the password has expired. N.B. There may be other situations in which this error is given.

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7. How can I get my Terminal Servers to automatically reboot every night?

   Windows 2000
   Open up a Command Prompt and type the following:

   at 23:00 /every:m,t,w,th,f "tsshutdn /reboot"
   

   Windows NT 4.0
   Open up a Command Prompt and type the following:

   at 23:00 /every:m,t,w,th,f "shutdown /reboot"
   

   To check whether the command is active, type "at" and then look for the tsshutdn or shutdown command in the list.

   To stop the automated reboot, type "at" and then look for the tsshutdn or shutdown command in the list. You will see an ID number for the job in the second column (N.B. the first column may be empty). Take a note of this number and type the following where ID is replace by the ID number from the "at" command:

   at ID /delete
   

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