Well, OK Jack. (Loren) HERE YA' GO:
April 01, 1997, Issue: 804
Section: NT Enterprise Edition -- NT Feature
Peaceful Coexistence -- Despite the strained relationship
between Novell and Microsoft, it's possible to bridge the
gap between Windows NT Server and NetWare.
By Tom Henderson
If you believe the trade press headlines, the networking showdown
between Microsoft and Novell is a blowout, with thousands of
corporations junking NetWare in favor of Windows NT Server. Now, for
the truth. Yes, most experts agree NT Server will someday outsell
NetWare. However, only a handful of former NetWare shops-including
Pennzoil, retail giant Nordstrom and some portions of the U.S.
Department of Defense-have migrated completely to NT. And while
additional NetWare shops are seeking to standardize on NT, most large
and midsized businesses are using NT Server (for application services)
and NetWare (file, print and directory services) in tandem. That's why
each operating system sold more than 700,000 copies last year,
according to market researcher International Data Corp.
Unfortunately, Novell and Microsoft aren't working together on
NetWare/NT integration. The reason: bad blood between the two
software titans, dating back to failed merger talks in 1991. As Novell
president Joe Marengi puts it, his company's relationship with Microsoft
remains "spotty" at best (see the sidebar "Novell's Marengi: On the
Record")
As a result, Novell and Microsoft are addressing the integration issue
separately. While Novell offers management and directory software for
NT (see the sidebar "Novell Owns Up to NT"), Microsoft counters with
various NetWare integration tools of its own.
Embrace and replace
Microsoft offers three major tools for integrating NT with NetWare:
Gateway Service for NetWare (GSNW), Directory Service Manager for
NetWare (DSMN), and File and Print Services for NetWare (FPNW).
Using these tools, you can link NT with NetWare today and, if desired,
completely migrate your NetWare users to NT tomorrow.
Although adding NT to a NetWare network is an intimidating process for
some NetWare administrators, the fear is unfounded. There are some
cultural differences and genuine functional differences between NetWare
and NT. But Microsoft has gone much further than most people realize to
make the NT addition very achievable.
NT issues
Before we describe Microsoft's integration tools at length, you should be
aware of two issues. First, you'll be disappointed with NT Advanced
Server 3.1 and NT Server 3.5's connectivity to NetWare. If you must use
either of these NT versions, don't do it without consulting NetWare/NT
integration articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base
(http:/www.microsoft.com/kb/). Second, remember that NT Server is
also a client. That is, a user session is always available inside NT server.
Also, an NT server can be controlled through Win95 and NT
workstations, as well as neighboring NT servers. This model can be
confusing for NetWare administrators, who are more familiar with
Novell's traditionally non-GUI, dedicated model.
Adding NT to NetWare
Since most companies are already running NetWare, let's focus on adding
NT Server 4.0 to an existing NetWare installation. The first step,
naturally, is installing NT and choosing which file system (FAT or NTFS)
you'd like to use. Choose NTFS for speed and security, or FAT if
backward-compatibility with 16-bit Windows-rather than security-is your
primary objective.
Next, decide whether this particular NT server is a Primary Domain
Controller (PDC), Backup Domain Controller (BDC) or simply a
workgroup member. If you never plan to use more than one NT Server
(and your NT Server applications don't require a PDC or BDC), choose
workgroup. This relieves a nominal amount of overhead (related to
database monitoring) on the server.
If, however, this is the first of numerous NT servers you'll install, or
BackOffice products are to be used, choose PDC. Finally, if you already
have a PDC, then decide whether to make your new NT server a Trusted
PDC, BDC or just a member of the PDC domain. If you need additional
help with your domain decision, consult Microsoft's Knowledge Base.
During NT's NWLink installation, you'll be asked whether to use IPX
Automatic Frame Detection. To speed up boot times, you might want to
specify the frame type (Ethernet_802.2, Ethernet_802.3, Ethernet_II or
Ethernet_Snap), rather than have NT detect it.
If you're not sure which frame type your existing NetWare network uses,
the defaults of "Automatic frame detection" and the default "Internal IPX
number" of 0 work for most NT installations.
Gateway Service for NetWare
You'll be happy to learn that NT Server 4.0 includes Gateway Service for
NetWare (GSNW), an optional service that lets NT and Microsoft
BackOffice products (such as SQL Server and Systems Management
Server) communicate with NetWare resources-such as server volumes,
print queues and a few components of directory services-across your
local or wide area network. GSNW is also available for NT 3.51, but
you'll find its installation much easier on NT 4.0.
GSNW requires a NetWare group (called NTGATEWAY) and user
account with the same name on one or more NetWare servers. Using this
account, NT Server can log onto NetWare. From there, NT becomes a
gateway for NT-side users desiring NetWare services (such as access to
a NetWare printer or file server)
On the desktop, Windows NT Workstation contains a subset of GSNW
called Client Services for NetWare (CSNW). CSNW offers some links
to Novell Directory Services (NDS). For instance, if you click on NT
Workstation 4.0's Network Neighborhood icon, you can see the NDS
tree and drill down into it.
Unfortunately, you can't use NWADMIN (Novell's popular
administration utility for NetWare's NDS) on NT Workstation or NT
Server without Novell's Client 32 software (available at
support.novell.com
Migrate me
If your primary interest is managing NetWare from NT, or migrating
NetWare users to NT, check out MIGRATE.EXE. This file, included
with NT 4.0, can move NetWare users into Microsoft's two major
NetWare management utilities (which are available separately): File and
Print Services for NetWare (FPNW) and Directory Service Manager for
NetWare (DSMN). You can purchase the two utilities together for $149.
FPNW is a powerful tool. It lets NT emulate a Novell 3.x file server.
That is, a NetWare 3.x server can be replaced by an NT server on the
back end, with no change to the NetWare client code running on your
desktops. With FPNW, your PCs think they're still talking to NetWare
3.x, rather than to your new NT server.
It's quite difficult to tell the difference between NT running FPNW and a
traditional NetWare 3.x server. Commands that expect a bindery-such as
USERLIST-don't work with FPNW, but user commands, including
MAP, are supported under FPNW.
Of course, FPNW has its downside. First, its log-in script functionality
isn't identical to NetWare's, which means administrators must check
whether their script syntax works on NT. (Fortunately, most syntax will
work.) Also, FPNW can't be managed by NDS; it's a bindery-only
emulation.
At one time, Novell considered legal action against FPNW users. The
reason: Novell's NetWare client code is licensed for use with NetWare
servers, not NT servers. But after some early threats, Novell has not
pursued the FPNW matter.
DSM for NetWare
DSMN lets NT manage NetWare 2.x and 3.x domains, though not
NetWare 4.x directory services. DSMN replaces the bindery from a
Novell 2.x or 3.x server and adds it to an NT Server Primary Domain
Controller. This allows a single log-on to systemwide resources, including
the NT Domain, its trusted domains and NetWare services that are
managed through NT Gateway links. In other words, you generally use
DSMN when NT is displacing NetWare as the predominant server in
your network.
DSMN is Microsoft's answer to single log-on for both NT and NetWare
resources. Once you deploy DSMN, it's difficult to return to a pure
NetWare world because NT absorbs NetWare's bindery-and there's no
easy way to reverse the process.
When FPNW and DSMN are used in tandem, IPX users see an NT
system that's almost indistinguishable from a NetWare 2.x or 3.x server.
Drive mappings and many other characteristics have the "look and feel" of
NetWare to even the most astute observer. From the administrator's
perspective, everything's now managed through NT domain User
Administration.
Desktop support
Thankfully, NT Workstation and Win95 offer solid connectivity to NT
Server and NetWare. Both client operating systems can access resources
on multiple targets concurrently. For example, inside File Manager or My
Computer, you might have a mixture of resources representing:
-- homogenous NWLink resources of NetWare or NT
-- a mixture of NetWare via IPX or NWLink
-- and/or a mixture of NT Server via NWLink, NetBEUI or TCP/IP
The combinations are seemingly endless, but they do work.
Logging off
Clearly, you've got plenty of choices from Microsoft and Novell for
integrating NT and NetWare. You'll likely experience some problems and
pratfalls along the way, but linking the two server offerings is finally a
manageable process.
Contributing Editor Tom Henderson is vice president of engineering for
Indianapolis-based Unitel. Contact Tom in the "Enterprise Administrator"
topic of WINDOWS Magazine's areas on America Online and
CompuServe, or care of the editor at the addresses on page 22.
Copyright r 1997 CMP Media Inc.
===================================
April 01, 1997, Issue: 804
Section: NT Enterprise Edition -- NT Feature
Novell's Marengi: On the Record
By
Novell President Joe Marengi wants to set the record straight: Novell is
not "desperate" for business, NetWare is not a dying breed and Windows
NT is not the de facto server standard. In fact, Marengi asserts that
NetWare will be running on more than 8 million servers by the year 2000,
twice as many as today. At the same time, Novell will "embrace and
extend" NT with its famed directory services-with or without Microsoft's
help. In an exclusive interview, Marengi spoke recently with NT
Enterprise Edition editor Joe Panettieri about Novell's future, one that he
claims will be as glorious as the company's past.
WinMag: Is Novell committed to supporting NT?
Marengi: Absolutely. We understand the world will be permeated with
UNIX, NT and IntranetWare [a rebranded NetWare 4.11 with bundled
Web software] servers. It's incumbent on us to embrace and extend NT
and UNIX. For instance, we're working on Tabasco, which will
synchronize NT domains with Novell Directory Services [NDS].
[Tabasco, now known as Novell Administrator for Windows NT, should
be available by the time you read this. Use of the code name has been
discontinued.-ed.]
WinMag: Novell is also porting NDS to Windows NT. How is that
shaping up?
Marengi: Just fine. It's due to ship by midyear.
WinMag: Is Microsoft helping you do the port?
Marengi: It would be nice if Microsoft finally decided to cooperate and
recognize our directory strategy. But they haven't. We're developing NDS
for NT ourselves in-house. It would be really, really good if Microsoft
supported that.
WinMag: How is Novell's relationship with Microsoft?
Marengi: Spotty. I don't think Microsoft is focusing on Novell these days.
They've moved on to [battling] Oracle and Netscape. The bottom line is,
we're looking at the Microsoft environment as something we need to
support.
WinMag: Will software developers have to pay for NDS on NT?
Marengi: We'll give a free NT bindery version of NDS to any software or
hardware developer who wants it. We're also giving a free copy of NDS
to any UNIX vendor. The immediate press reaction to this strategy was,
"Novell is desperate. They're giving away the corporate jewels!" What
we were really doing is using the Java model. The directory needs to be
ubiquitous if it is to be important on the Internet. The UNIX environment
is a lock; we've got HP, SCO and Sun supporting NDS. Another partner
[believed to be IBM-ed.] will be announced shortly.
And we'll ship the NT version of NDS shortly. We believe the world will
be heterogeneous.
WinMag: Can Microsoft's Active Directory for NT 5.0, slated to ship
sometime late this year, compete with NDS?
Marengi: You're talking about the year 2000 before Active Directory
matures. In the meantime, what do people do for single-point
administration and security? Talk to any large customer and the value in
NDS is ease of administration. We're going to tie the whole world around
NDS. People say that's impossible. It isn't, because we'll support open
Internet standards like LDAP.
WinMag: Novell is also working on native Java support in NetWare. Will
Java help improve NetWare's reputation as an application server?
Marengi: Java is coming on strong, and the Java development community
is getting very large, very fast. We've just developed our first Java
application [for] GroupWise. But Java won't solve the [application server]
issue next week. The adoption of Java for mission-critical corporate
applications is still 12 to 18 months away.
WinMag: How is NetWare selling?
Marengi: We shipped more than 250,000 servers last quarter, the most in
the history of Novell. Obviously, people are still buying the product, but
you'd never know it from the press coverage.
WinMag: What was the sales breakdown between NetWare 3.x and 4.x?
Marengi: NetWare 3.x is basically going away. It was less than 20
percent of sales. And about 70 percent of sales were new installations [of
NetWare 4.x and IntranetWare]
WinMag: What type of future demand do you expect for NetWare?
Marengi: We've got about 4 million servers installed today. Our
expectation is about 8 million by the year 2000. Will we maintain our
market share? No. Obviously, NT will have made significant inroads. I
acknowledge that, and we'll work with NT.
I also believe UNIX will remain very, very viable in the high-end scalable
server world. Those three server platforms, and some niche operating
systems, will exist as we move forward. We will, however, own our lion's
share.
Copyright r 1997 CMP Media Inc.
==============================================================
April 01, 1997, Issue: 804
Section: NT Enterprise Edition -- NT Feature
Novell Owns Up to NT
By Joseph C. Panettieri
Rather than striving to destroy Windows NT, Novell is seeking an
accord. In fact, Novell will spend most of this year delivering new tools
for tying Windows NT to NetWare and IntranetWare servers, and
managing NT from NetWare.
The new offerings include:
-- Novell IntranetWare Client for Windows NT Workstation. It lets your
NT 3.51 and 4.0 desktops access IntranetWare file, print and directory
servers.
-- Novell Application Launcher. An extension of the IntranetWare client
for NT, it helps you manage applications and electronic software
distribution across IntranetWare and NT servers.
-- Novell Workstation Manager. It allows Novell's NWADMIN utility
to manage NT Workstation and IntranetWare user account information
from a single point of control through NDS. Several major companies,
including J.P. Morgan & Co., are raving about this utility.
-- ManageWise Agent for Windows NT Server. When used in tandem
with Novell ManageWise 2.1, this agent provides a single graphical user
interface (GUI) for managing IntranetWare and NT servers.
-- Novell Administrator for Windows NT. New Novell software that
synchronizes NDS with NT domains to ease administration.
-- NDS for Windows NT. Slated for delivery this summer, this heavily
hyped package could give NT the enterprise directory it has so far lacked
(see the NT Enterprise Edition feature, February)
Some of these new tools are available free on the Internet
(http://www.novell.com/intranetware/ntint/). Imagine that: surfing Novell's
Web site for the latest and greatest NT software. The times they are
a-changin'
Copyright r 1997 CMP Media Inc.
=====================================================
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