Migration Documentation

[Schlomo Schapiro]

Hi,

I hope the samba guys are not upset about this topic ...

Anyway, don't do things you don't KNOW ! E.g. if you know Windows, then do
Windows. If you know Novell, then don't.

Besides that, if you don't have any enterprise level management needs
(e.g. only few people in one department) or don't want strong management
of the desktop, then you really don't need Novell.

OTOH, if you need a directory-based authentication backbone with
excellent Windows Client integration and proven high security, then there
are not so many alternatives to Novell, especially when it comes to
stability and support and performance.

And, NW6 will support CIFS and to do roaming profiles you might need
Zenworks (for Novell).

And, don't try to save money at the wrong place !

Schlomo

PS: Does anybody from the samba side know anything about CIFS on NetWare ?


On Sat, 5 May 2001, Nicholas Brealey wrote:

> Schlomo Schapiro wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > you could mount the netware server under linux and read out the trustees
> > (with nwtrustee2 from ncpfs) and set them on the linux box.
> >
> > But why would you want to make such a switch ? Netware is much betteras
> > fileserver and has a much better Windows integration and also a Linux
> > client now.
> >
> > Schlomo
> >
> 
> Hello
> 
> This is probably off-topic but I am intrested in discussing Samba vs
> Netware.
> 
> I don't really know what Netware is capable of. I have a Netware server
> which
> was setup (not by me) for Windows 95/98 clients and we have added
> Windows
> NT/2000 clients. We also have a Sun server running Samba 2.2 as a PDC
> and
> an number of workstations running Solaris, IRIX and Linux.
> 
> This is the list of things I don't like about Netware in my set up. They
> really
> all relate to Windows NT/2000 and are perhaps to do with out setup. I
> would
> love to be corrected if I am wrong (which I probably am).
> 
> 1) Logging in is complicated and anoying. Ihave the Netware client
> installed.
> The user is presented with a window where they type their user name and
> password.
> This window has a check box for 'workstation only' which is misnamed -
> it actually
> means 'don't login to Netware'. There is also an Advanced button and a
> Windows NT/2000
> tab where the user can set their Microsoft user name and choose to login
> in to the
> Microsoft domain or the local workstation. A very annoying feature of
> this dialogue
> is that the Microsoft user name does not default to the Netware user
> name. If more than
> one user uses a machine at least one of them has to type in their
> username twice
> even if their Netware and Microsoft user names are the same. If the
> Microsoft and Netware
> usernames and password are the same and the Micrsoft user name has been
> left at the
> correct name after the last use, then things go smoothly, if this is not
> the case a
> second login dialogue is displayed for Microsoft Networking.
> 
> 2) Installing the Netware client correctly is extrawork. If you use
> Microsoft
> Networking you need to install the Netware client with IP only and make
> sure
> that Microsoft Networking is higher priority than Netware. If you don't
> do a custom
> install of the client then you get slow performance, see
> http://www.ithowto.com/novell/clientspeed.htm for details.
> 
> 3) Users can only share directories on their drives using CIFS so
> they have to have Microsoft Networking installed - having Netware as
> well just
> makes life more complicated.
> 
> 4) Users can change ACLs on files on Samba shares in (almost) the same
> way as
> they change ACLs on files on local disks. I don't know how to restrict
> permissions
> on single file on a Netware share. The only time I tried it I restricted
> access
> to all files. The help button on my NT workstation gave no helpful
> information.
> 
> 5) Windows NT/2000 roaming profiles don't work with Netware (or perhaps
> we don't
> have them enabled).
> 
> 6) It seems that you need a Windows NT/2000 server to act as a gateway
> to integrate
> Netware well with Windows NT/2000 clients. If you have a Windows NT/2000
> server
> why bother with Netware server?
> 
> 7) I have to have Windows NT/2000 and Unix either for the applications
> our users run
> on them or to develop software for customers to run. Why do I a want
> another OS,
> Netware, when the ones I have to have can do everything I need.
> 
> 
> Regards
> 
> Nick
> 

-- 
Schlomo Schapiro
Computation Authority
Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Tel: ++972 / 2 / 65-84404
Fax:             65-27349
email: schapiro at clerk.pi.huji.ac.il
WWW:   http://shum.cc.huji.ac.il/~schapiro