Device Driver Hard Drive emulation

Hi

I hope this is the right place to ask this. I have a
client with a collection of operating systems, one of
which is an AS400, and I would like to right a bit of
software that would allow a windows machine
(98/ME/2000/XP they have a whole collection) to think
that it has a hard drive, but it is in fact a network
type of share. Do I need the DDK to do this, and what
would be the best approach, writing it so that it could
use the "map drive" type interface, or do a hard drive
emulator, must like Deamon does with CD-rom drives?

Any help and pointers in the right directions would be
greatly appreciated. Are there any Books on the subject
etc.

Thanks
Vaughan

Don
Sun Nov 16 10:02:31 CST 2003

If you want a map drive model, that included read and write, this will
require either a file system redirector or using LanMan redirector. If you
are trying to do this on the AS400 as the server look at SAMBA
http://us1.samba.org/samba/samba.html which allows LanMan to talk to the
host running the software.

If SAMBA does not meet your needs, then you are looking at a file system
redirector, this is one of the toughest pieces of software to write. It
will be different for 2000/XP versus 98/ME so you are going to have to write
two of them. For the 2000/XP model you will need the Microsoft IFS kit
($1000), some good training ($3450 in the US), plus a couple of years to get
it working.


--
Don Burn (MVP, Windows DDK)
Windows 2k/XP/2k3 Filesystem and Driver Consulting
Remove StopSpam from the email to reply

"Vaughan" <daly@telkomsa.net.invalid> wrote in message
news:043a01c3ac2a$31b07e40$a501280a@phx.gbl...
> Hi
>
> I hope this is the right place to ask this. I have a
> client with a collection of operating systems, one of
> which is an AS400, and I would like to right a bit of
> software that would allow a windows machine
> (98/ME/2000/XP they have a whole collection) to think
> that it has a hard drive, but it is in fact a network
> type of share. Do I need the DDK to do this, and what
> would be the best approach, writing it so that it could
> use the "map drive" type interface, or do a hard drive
> emulator, must like Deamon does with CD-rom drives?
>
> Any help and pointers in the right directions would be
> greatly appreciated. Are there any Books on the subject
> etc.
>
> Thanks
> Vaughan

Vaughan
Tue Nov 18 03:25:06 CST 2003

Thanks for the reply, this does not sound so good, the
other problem, is that I need a similar type of software,
not only to talk to the AS400, but also to a UNIX ftp
server, and I am sure that in the future they would like
to talk to other types of servers. Would I still need to
make use of the IFS, or is there a way to override the
lanman type of connectivety.

Thanks
Vaughan

>-----Original Message-----
>If you want a map drive model, that included read and
write, this will
>require either a file system redirector or using LanMan
redirector. If you
>are trying to do this on the AS400 as the server look at
SAMBA
>http://us1.samba.org/samba/samba.html which allows
LanMan to talk to the
>host running the software.
>
>If SAMBA does not meet your needs, then you are looking
at a file system
>redirector, this is one of the toughest pieces of
software to write. It
>will be different for 2000/XP versus 98/ME so you are
going to have to write
>two of them. For the 2000/XP model you will need the
Microsoft IFS kit
>($1000), some good training ($3450 in the US), plus a
couple of years to get
>it working.
>
>
>--
>Don Burn (MVP, Windows DDK)
>Windows 2k/XP/2k3 Filesystem and Driver Consulting
>Remove StopSpam from the email to reply
>
>"Vaughan" <daly@telkomsa.net.invalid> wrote in message
>news:043a01c3ac2a$31b07e40$a501280a@phx.gbl...
>> Hi
>>
>> I hope this is the right place to ask this. I have a
>> client with a collection of operating systems, one of
>> which is an AS400, and I would like to right a bit of
>> software that would allow a windows machine
>> (98/ME/2000/XP they have a whole collection) to think
>> that it has a hard drive, but it is in fact a network
>> type of share. Do I need the DDK to do this, and what
>> would be the best approach, writing it so that it could
>> use the "map drive" type interface, or do a hard drive
>> emulator, must like Deamon does with CD-rom drives?
>>
>> Any help and pointers in the right directions would be
>> greatly appreciated. Are there any Books on the subject
>> etc.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Vaughan
>
>
>.
>

Don
Tue Nov 18 07:56:23 CST 2003

Vaughan,

Take a serious look at Samba http://www.samba.org/, it will run on most
Unix's and support access from PC for file and print. I'm no expert but I
suspect it does not have an AS400 port (though do some checking it is
possible there is one). Samba is portable and I suspect if there is not an
AS400 port, that one could be done. Samba is also a user space daemon so
does not require knowledge of kernel programming.

Note, this is a one way connection, i.e. the Unix and AS400 boxes will
act as servers for the Windows machines. If you need two way connectivity,
there are NFS implementations for all of these systems that are commecially
available.


--
Don Burn (MVP, Windows DDK)
Windows 2k/XP/2k3 Filesystem and Driver Consulting
Remove StopSpam from the email to reply

"Vaughan" <daly@telkomsa.net.invalid> wrote in message
news:043201c3adb5$dabe0d40$a601280a@phx.gbl...
> Thanks for the reply, this does not sound so good, the
> other problem, is that I need a similar type of software,
> not only to talk to the AS400, but also to a UNIX ftp
> server, and I am sure that in the future they would like
> to talk to other types of servers. Would I still need to
> make use of the IFS, or is there a way to override the
> lanman type of connectivety.
>
> Thanks
> Vaughan
>

Vaughan
Tue Nov 18 11:53:40 CST 2003

Hi Don

Thanks a bundle, will have a deeper look at samba, and
see what it can do for me. I hope that it will do what
the client requires, or else I will have to find another
way of doing it. I was kinda hoping that I could make it
behave very much like a product called Webdrive done by
South River Technologies. If you think that there is a
possibility of doing something like that using the DDK or
IFS, then please let me know.

Thanks
Vaughan

>-----Original Message-----
>Vaughan,
>
> Take a serious look at Samba http://www.samba.org/,
it will run on most
>Unix's and support access from PC for file and print.
I'm no expert but I
>suspect it does not have an AS400 port (though do some
checking it is
>possible there is one). Samba is portable and I suspect
if there is not an
>AS400 port, that one could be done. Samba is also a
user space daemon so
>does not require knowledge of kernel programming.
>
> Note, this is a one way connection, i.e. the Unix
and AS400 boxes will
>act as servers for the Windows machines. If you need
two way connectivity,
>there are NFS implementations for all of these systems
that are commecially
>available.
>
>
>--
>Don Burn (MVP, Windows DDK)
>Windows 2k/XP/2k3 Filesystem and Driver Consulting
>Remove StopSpam from the email to reply
>
>"Vaughan" <daly@telkomsa.net.invalid> wrote in message
>news:043201c3adb5$dabe0d40$a601280a@phx.gbl...
>> Thanks for the reply, this does not sound so good, the
>> other problem, is that I need a similar type of
software,
>> not only to talk to the AS400, but also to a UNIX ftp
>> server, and I am sure that in the future they would
like
>> to talk to other types of servers. Would I still need
to
>> make use of the IFS, or is there a way to override the
>> lanman type of connectivety.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Vaughan
>>
>
>
>.
>