Installing CallManager 4.X on Non-MCS Server Platforms by Jeremy Cioara

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Added by Jeremy Cioara November 1, 2006

I did it. I finally did it. I've got a Cisco CallManager 4.1(3) server running natively on a Dell Optiplex 270GX. Now, I'm not talking about the old registry hack forcing you to install Windows 2000, hack the registry, and then put the Cisco CallManager software on top of it. Doing this causes a host of problems because the base windows operating system does not have the correct services running and permissions set.

I'm talking about a hack that allows you to install the Cisco CallManager Windows image straight from the CD-ROM, setting all the correct permissions and giving you a working Cisco CallManager on a non-MCS server. Here's what I did:

Step 1: Download a Windows utility called FDIMAGE.EXE. This is typically used to create floppy boot disks from disk images for BSD/Linux. You can get this utility from here.

Step 2: Pop in in the CallManager Hardware Detect CD-ROM (Disk 1) into your PC – sorry, I can't give this one out :o)

Step 3: Put in a blank floppy disk

Step 4: Open a command prompt and type "fdimage d:\bootimg.bin a:" this copies the boot image from the CD-ROM to the floppy disk

Step 5: On the floppy disk, edit the autoexec.bat file (I'm having flashbacks to the MS-DOS days)

Step 6: Find the line in the autoexec.bat file that says "s:\tools\systype s:\tools\sssksys.ini" This line is right before the boot process does the hardware check to see what sort of server you have

Step 7: Hit enter after the above line and add the following two lines:
set XIMAGE=x345
goto IBMx345

Step 8: Save the file

Step 9: Boot off the floppy disk and put the Hardware Detect CD into the drive. Follow the wizard to blow the Windows 2000 image onto the non-MCS machine. It will prompt you for the OS Disk 3 (I'm using DVDs – it's DVD #2 of the OS install for me).

Step 10: After Windows comes online, you'll have to install your platform specific video/netcard/etc… drivers

Step 11: Pop in the Cisco CallManager CDs and proceed as normal! This rocks!

Of course, this is only in a lab environment. The great Cisco powers that be would definitely frown upon a TAC support call from a Cisco CallManager running on a desktop PC.