Novell software 4 or 5

[Jeremy Fowler]

> File & Print are pretty easy in Linux, you can use SAMBA for file serving to
> Windows clients, and there are a number of Print managers of various levels
> of complexity, but Windows can print directly to TCP/IP print queues.

Your right, Samba is a great replacement for a Windows server, but it doesn't
have many of the features Netware Volumes have. What I like the most about
Netware file shares is the purge feature. When you delete a file from a Netware
volume it isn't totally deleted. Netware keeps deleted files and holds onto them
until they are purged or the OS runs out of free space. Just by right clicking
on the directory that held a file that was deleted you can easily salvage it to
it's original state. This is really useful with applications like Office that
make copies of data files to edit and then deletes the original after the new
copy is saved. With this very elegant feature you have an easy way of restoring
older revisions of files if say the current file is corrupt. Which has happened
many times here - a couple different users decided to open an Excel spread sheet
in Word, make some changes, and then save the file. It also shows you what user
deleted the file and when the file was deleted - which makes finding the person
who did it easy and then you can make damn sure they don't do it again. With
Samba and Windows if you delete the file off the share, it's gone and it's time
to bust out the backup tapes. Good luck trying to find out who deleted the file
in the first place.

As for printing, nothing beats NDPS and now i-Print. Distributed, directory
based, and centrally administered. You don't have to go to each PC, select the
printer from My Network Places, and install. With i-Print/NDPS you select which
people have access to which printers by groups, containers, or even the
individual user. You give that person rights to the printer in eDirectory and
then next time the person logs in the printer drivers are downloaded and
installed. i-Print now offers internet printing so you can print to anywhere in
the world over TCP/IP. It also lets you install and manage printers from a
webpage. Just draw up a map of your floor and mark where the printers are and
then the user can select which printer to use just by looking at the map. No
more dumb user questions like, um my job printed out on lp092-092, where is
that? Granted this feature isn't very useful to small shops with few employees
and a couple printers, but Novell has never really catered to the small business
very well. It's in the large corporate environments and huge campuses that this
feature comes in very handy.

> Linux even has some capabilities to work with Novell systems, and can even
> run IPX networking.

IPX is faster than TCP/IP when on a IPX only network. It's when you start mixing
the two is when the problems start. IPX is also horribly unroutable.

> So my suggestion is that you look at the future, not the past.  Find ways to
> use Linux to solve the problems, do the work, and carry the load.  That way,
> you're part of the solution, not part of the legacy deadwood that gets cut
> when they ditch Novell.

I'm sure Novell has some life left in them. Netware may not be around forever,
but Novell makes other products as well. It's never a good idea to discount a
company for good. Look at Apple, everyone thought they would be gone by now too.
OSX has changed all that. Take everything with a grain of salt and evaluate
products on their features. Don't be too quick to assume something is crap just
because <fill in name here> made it. Novell has made some strong ties with Linux
and I wouldn't be too surprised if Novell decided one day to come out with it's
own distro.