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Hi everbody,

Does anyone know how to boot from a sharefs ?
I have one virtual machine with a unprotected adfs share
When i boot the other machine from hostfs it take a while when he see the share

I want to build one server machine and all the clients have to boot from the server because there are some folders on the server he has too lookat

When i select boot from sharefs in the boot optioins (holding shift while start up) i get an boot error because he don't recognize a share on the network

Robbert.

To be honest I have never ever tried this and don't know how. I can see that you can set ShareFS as the default OS - however how you set which drive to boot from god knows - but then will ShareFS be running on the client machine well enough without the Boot sequence starting?

I strongly suggest asking RISCOS Ltd.

Following up on my own post...

Having had a think about how networking operates on RISC OS 4.39 on VirtualRPC I don't think it will be possible to boot from ShareFS (but I would like to be proved wrong).

I guess you are right Aaron.
On the client you can set the shareboot as follows :
*Configure Shareboot <discname>
When i reboot and i let the virtualrpc booting from a share i get the following error message
shared disc 'discname' not yet seen.

So i guess the network will come up after the desktop is loaded. But im not sure
I gonna check it out !!

OK, I've been having a think about this - whilst booting from ShareFS isn't going to work I have an alternative idea...

It might be possible to boot via HostFS from a remote machine. This is untested as I've just thought of it...

Install VRPC on the server and get it working.
From Windows make a new blank folder that will be the "boot drive"
Make a new HostFS mount to this folder that is going to be a "Bootable server drive"
Make sure this new HostFS mount is "Bootable" from the options.
Copy the current Boot sequence into this.

On the client.

Install VRPC and get it working
Make a new HostFS mount that points to the "boot drive" folder on the server
Ensure that RISC OS can see the drive (reboot first).
This hotsfs mount will be the 2nd one (HardDsc4 is the first)
So now set RISC OS to boot from this drive (*con. Boot n)
(where n is the number of this mount between 1 and 10)
Shut down RISC OS.

Now run VRPC on the client -it should boot as normal - but the drive
it's booting from is the one we have set up on the server.

If we have multiple clients they can all boot from this single "boot drive" folder.

Would that do the job?

Further to my previous comment - I ought to add the obvious - the "Shared Boot" folder will need to be shared via Windows networking so that the Client VRPC's will be able to see it.

No that doesn't work
When i use a hostfs system he don't recognize the filetypes
But when i use on server AND client a adfs filesystem (both systems a different disk and both on the local pc) and share the server disk i see the disk appearing on the client only that takes a while

When i put in !Boot-->Boot-->Lookat-->All users the folder from the netdisk and in !Boot-->Boot-->Add to Apps --> all users the applications it will work

But it is a little bit slow. slower than on the old acorn machines at the company
Is there a way to speed up the shares ? Or is there a way to change the broadcast interval from the server ? Because it takes a while the netdisc (so i called him) is recognized by the clients

Why not simply have a standard VRPC build on each of the clients - with everything removed except the local !Boot directory (and even that could be minimised and, probably, set read only)

And then mount the remote drive from the server during the boot sequence - everything else could be loaded from the shared drive.

Can you tell me how to mount the remote drive during the boot sequence ?
Because the drives ALL must be ADFS because else the application files are getting corrupt because of the windows file system.

Ah, well it does work - because I've tried it here. And I have A VirtualRPC on the laptop, booting from the !Boot sequence installed on my main server. And it's working over wireless as well

The key point is to ensure that all the HostFS mounts:

HardDisc4 mount on the copy of VRPC on the server
The "NetworkBoot" mount
The mounts on each client VirtualRPC that point to "NetworkBoot"

are set with the same options. Under the HostFS tabe in the VirtualAcorn options window each Mount must be set with "Bootable" and "Show Dos Extensions" ticked. If either of these is unticked for any mount then it won't work.

If the "NetworkBoot" mount had the Boot sequence copied in without "Show Dos Extensions" ticked on the server copy of VirtualRPC then that Boot sequence may be knackered. Delete it. Then check that "Show Dos Extensions" is ticked. Shutdown and re-start VRPC on the server. Copy the Boot Sequence. Then set each mount on the client VRPCs.

Aaron,

At first thanx for you support so far

About your solution :
I did try that Aaron, But it looks like the application HAS TO RUN on a ADFS filesystem. And ADFS filesystems cannot mounted into the virtual acorn hostfs window

When i forget the whole network issue and just want to make a local machine it only works when i create an ADFS filesystem.

When i create a HOSTFS filesystem with the bootable and the Show Dos Extensions ticked on it won't work.
So i have to run it over a sharefs share.

What i have now is :

I have created a "server" machine with a ADFS filesystem
Installed the software that need to run on the server
Shared the ADFS disk unprotected
this system is up and running

I have created a "client" machine with a ADFS filesystem
Installed the !Boot sequense on its local ADFS filesystem
Configured in choices-Boot-Look at-All users - the share from the discovered share from the server

So this configuration works. Only it is a little bit slow
When i start up the server i get the following message

****************************************
* Message from Share *
*-------------------------------------------------*
*Please insert or make available shared disk 'NetDisc'*
****************************************

Sandgrounder wrote : And then mount the remote drive from the server during the boot sequence.

That sounds great but i don't know how i do that
I only can get it done while the riscos splash already was coming up. So i guess i do it after the boot

Maybe you can tell me how to mount a remote drive during boot ?

Sorry, been out.

Assuming you have a server with a shared drive by the name of 'Server', then during the boot sequence you can do a number of things.

- to mount a remote drive (as in put its icon on the task bar), type *ShareFSIcon Share::Server
- to change the current directory (for all following commands), type *Dir Share::Server.$

These commands could be added to the end of the existing boot sequence in, say HostFS::HardDisc4.$.!Boot.Choices.!Desktop

Dismounting the original HostFS drive is a little more tricky , because it won't work in the boot sequence because the Desktop file is open and being executed. But I am confident there is a way around this.

The command is *UnMount HardDisc4

Thanx John,

These commands are already used.
I think because i mounted the automatic discovered disk on the desktop bar

So i guess that is right. But now the next issue

The client knows that he wants to mount the shared disk. But when i start up the client he will not find the share immediately
well.. that means. sometimes he does most time he doesn't
Then i have to wait a second of 15 and the dialogue box what says that he want me to mount or insert the shared disk dissapears automaticly and from then everything is working

A little bit slow but it is working

Can sharefs in virtualrpc not been set at 100mbit ?
I did a test. a single 100MB file from the server to the client takes aprox 2 minutes so it is aprox 10mbit

ShareFS should run at whatever speed the network cards run at.

Older cards will only be 10Mbit (as in all my real Risc machines )