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Novell Releasing NDS for Linux

Posted by emmett on from the mmm-directory-services dept.

Eric Feldman writes, "Novell will finally be showing its NDS product running natively on Linux. Red Hat is listed as a vendor who will be at the Brainshare conference in March, and Caldera was there last year. The article also talks about some open-source license problems Novell has been having, as well as the possibility of some parts of Groupwise being released under Novell's Open Source License. The next version of Groupwise (code named BulletProof) is supposed to be announced at Brainshare also. It will be XML-based and tightly integrated with the directory."

10 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Finally... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3

    With the right marketing and some push Novell could lock down the corporate market on this one... For those of you that have not experienced the ease of admin dealing with a well designed NDS tree you are really missing out.

    1. Re:Finally... by DaveHowe · · Score: 3
      With the right marketing and some push Novell could lock down the corporate market on this one...
      More than that - given that NDS has pretty much a consistant user interface, this could easily blur the dividing lines between different server platforms from the viewpoint of Windoze-locked Users - if you logon to a NDS prompt, and get a mapped drive to your home and working directories, email, printers and web access, does it really matter what operating system provides those services?

      For those of you that have not experienced the ease of admin dealing with a well designed NDS tree you are really missing out.
      Not to mention the deep joy of doing it once, and KNOWING it is done *right*, equally applied to all the servers needed and will be backed up for all eternity next time the tapes spool :+)
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  2. Good news by blane.bramble · · Score: 5

    This has got to be good for Linux - NDS could well prove to be a key technology, particularly as by most reports it not only beat MS's offering to market, but also is the better of the two. It also serves Novell well to have NDS on all available platforms - theres little point having a global directory for your organisation if it's specific to only a few systems.

    I don't think the license matters - this is a business product aimed at IT departments, who are quiet happy to pay for serious products - but it should help legitimise the use of Linux for other purposes (why can't we use it as a web server, it's already used for NDS...)

    1. Re:Good news by aqua · · Score: 3

      The likely market for NDS (on Linux or otherwise) coincides with the portion of the market least interested in the open source aspects of Linux. That portion also has a reasonably high personnel/software cost ratio anyway (where the software represents a fairly small fraction of the total cost), so standard commercial licensure wouldn't likely adversely affect the potential market much.

      That said, I'd like to see NDS open sourced; however, recall that Novell is currently in a fairly bitter fight with MS over enterprise directory services, and realize that if there were source to NDS around, MS would almost certainly steal^h^h^h^h^hapropriate its better bits to benefit their own Active Directory, licensure prohibiting or not.

      (I submitted the same article a week ago, dammit)

  3. NDS on Linux by DaveHowe · · Score: 5

    Even with a standard commercial licence, this is a tremendous step forward - NDS, for all it is a damned expensive way of administering a network, is still the best way I have seen to date. It is stable, cross-platform (and single-login enabling) and can manage almost anything (from remote resources to application licence counting to bandwidth allocation from NDS enabled routers).
    However, the company I work for rejected it for NT administration - purely on the pricing structure; for each registered (not concurrent!) user, per server, you had to pay a large NDS licence fee, with obviously the cost of a standard NT user licence on top of that. I would want to see how the new NLS "per user" model is applied to both the Linux and Nt clients - and how much a Server licence for Linux is under this scheme.....
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    1. Re:NDS on Linux by Gleef · · Score: 3

      The company I work for is already paying for NDS. NDS for Linux will make it easier to incorporate Linux boxes into our existing NDS infrastructure.

      As far as whether or not it's worth it, basically you can do everything NDS does with Free LDAP servers. What you're paying for is easy management tools, integration with NetWare, easier deployment, support, and the Novell brand name. I can see how it's worth it to some companies, it certainly runs rings around ActiveDirectory.

      If someone wants a good idea for an Open Source company, take LDAP, make sure you've got good ports on dozens of platforms, good login and management frontends on dozens of platforms, put a snazzy label on it, and sell CD's, Books, Directory Consulting and Support for it. Your goal would be something cheaper than NDS and better than ActiveDirectory, and freeer than both. There's a good niche there.

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      Open mind, insert foot.
  4. Re:Common place in press lately by DaveHowe · · Score: 3
    I have noticed that the phrase, "open some of the code", is becoming common place in press lately. Obviously this is a key to the future of exceptence of the open source model. I would rather have a bit to work with then nothing.
    I am going to reserve judgement on this one until I see both the code and the licence; Novell have a past history of being as restrictive as they think they can get away with where licencing is concerned; The last thing I imagine anyone would want is for Novell to release this under any of the following:
    • Such a restrictive licence that you are prevented from using the OSS "netware server" software for linux in conjunction with it
    • giving Novell the right to run the current OSS code as closed-source "official" novell products for other unix platforms (basically, doing all of Novell's beta testing and bugfixing for them on Linux before they do the simple port to big "commerical" *nix systems.
    • simply re-closing the source at a later point when all the major bugs are fixed, so that they can charge for development tools again.
      On the other hand, they HAVE started posting to their website the dev tools that used to be one of their more expensive cashcows, so they *may* be gaining Clue due to MS's competition - we will have to wait and see.

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  5. references on the Novell web site by dlc · · Score: 4

    Here are some relevant references from Novell's site:

    <darren />

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    (darren)
  6. Great for Linux by haggar · · Score: 5

    I am aware of many customers that would not let Linux in the server room if it wasn't possilbe to manage it centrally with NDS. Why? Do you ever think why are so many MCSEs needed? Because to administer an NT network you need a lot of silly NT admins that will run around silly NT boxes that need to be rebooted or administered.
    NetWare does not need that, hence the little number of CNEs around. A typical CNE will lean back on the chair and happily administer a horrendously huge network composed of NetWare, NT and (since recently) Sun boxes. Thanks to NDS. The companies that are used to keep the administrative expenses low (NOT those having a pure NT network, obviously) didn't want to have to deal with Linux because it's a separate box, unattached to the rest of the NDS tree. Now, Linux has a way into those companies, too.
    And believe me, those NDS-enabled companies are much more willing to work with Linux than the NT-only companies, for the simple reason that the NT-ony companies have IM departements run by morons.

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  7. Certification Numbers by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 4
    Do you ever think why are so many MCSEs needed? Because to administer an NT network you need a lot of silly NT admins that will run around silly NT boxes that need to be rebooted or administered. NetWare does not need that, hence the little number of CNEs around.
    Interesting. By this account, there are only so many CNE available because its an admin's dream job. Apparently, the shrinking install base of Novell and the desire for clueless HR to see the latest alphabet string on a resume plays no part in this.

    My experience is completely different.

    In our environment, Novell is a dinosaur. To its credit, the old install base of Novell servers are performing their jobs admirably. But they're being replaced by NT. And the admins know it. They can't wait to get pulled from the Novell pool and get their MCSE. One admin I talked to was rather bitter about being held in an "unmarketable" position by the company.

    Technical merrit need not apply to this conversation. Certification is as much about marketing as technical issues (be it the base technology or the individuals involved). And true to form, Microsoft has positioned themselves (and their certifications) into a much nicer position than Novell.

    One final comment...

    If the generalizations expressed in this post were slighting Linux, it would have been labled a troll. And to think we feel cheated by other's FUD.