Question : Upgrading Netware 5.0 SP6 to Netware 5.1 SP8

My question is how to do it?

Upgrading Netware 5.0 SP6 to Netware 5.1 SP8.  I am not a Netware person and need to upgrade a standalone Netware server to 5.1 SP8.  The server also runs Groupwise 6 with a small NDS structure.  Is this a large upgrade?  I tried finding some info through google but didn't find what I really wanted.  I have a full install disc of Netware 5.1 (will this work) and the SP8 downloaded from Novell.com.  

Thanks.

 

Answer : Upgrading Netware 5.0 SP6 to Netware 5.1 SP8

Hmmm....do you want to upgrade the server on the existing hardware? Or are you moving to new hardware?

How many servers are in the eDirectory Tree?

For a simplest possible situation - a single-server environment and upgradingon the same hardware - you'd boot the NetWare v5.1 CD and perform an in-place upgrade. As with any such upgrade of any OS, make sure you have good, clean backups. Naturally, you shut down all user access and processes such as GroupWise first.

Have you considered that perhaps Google is not the best place to search for such specific info? Perhaps a visit to Novell's extensive online support website (http://support.novell.com) would let you search their knowledgebase specifically, without the clutter that Google is going to pull up?

Finally, do NOT use the stock NetWare v5.1 installation media and then try to apply SP8. Instead, from the same location where you downloaded SP8, download the Overlay Images. These will be NetWare v5.1 wih SP8 already applied, which makes life a LOT easier than installing the unpatched NOS and then trying to apply the SP.