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Novell Networks and Linux?

Posted by Cliff on from the interoperability-good dept.

lengau asks: "Has anyone got Linux working with a Novell Network? I'm building a Gentoo system and need to be able to mount a Netware drive. I have IPX compiled into the kernel, already. This is to be a school computer that most students should be able to use like the Windows machines. I'm going to use KDE with OpenOffice and Firefox as the main applications to be used. My ultimate goal is to just have a desktop icon that one can click that goes to one's Netware directory (mounted under $HOME/MyDocuments or something). Any suggestions?"

23 comments

  1. Right here.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Simple

    1. Re:Right here.. by Curmudgeonlyoldbloke · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes, that'd work, and when I had to work with an IPX-only server a few years ago that was what I did. You probably don't need to read much further than http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/IPX-HOWTO.html (although that dates from 1988 - I suspect that the "caldera.com" links may not be helpful any more).

      However - does the server that you're working with really only run IPX? I've encountered quite a few Novell (Groupwise) systems over the last couple of years - some Windows, some Linux, but most Netware. None of them has been IPX-only. Even Novell don't recommend installing IPX with Netware these days, and if it does support TCP/IP why not use that?

    2. Re:Right here.. by lengau · · Score: 1

      It doesn't only run IPX, but to mount the Netware drives, IPX is required.

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    3. Re:Right here.. by Curmudgeonlyoldbloke · · Score: 1

      Sounds odd. What version of Netware is it, and can you mount the Netware drives on Windows clients that don't have IPX installed? If you can, then it should be possible to do the same from Linux - maybe using the Novell Linux client, that someone else suggested. If it doesn't work on Gentoo straight off, you could maybe try a Suse live CD.

      Also, http://www.novell.com/documentation/nw65/tcpipenu/ data/acjxc7b.html describes a bit about the Novell TCP/IP options. If you really need to go IPX, then follow the other links (ncpfs etc), but routing will be a lot more limited.

    4. Re:Right here.. by Degrees · · Score: 1
      I'm going to suppose that depends on the client. I have a network of 32 NetWare servers, and not a one has IPX on it anymore (all 100% TCP/IP). I have servers running both NetWare 5.1 and OES NetWare (which is NetWare 6.5 SP 4).

      Two of my co-workers are running Linux and mounting volumes on the servers. One is using the official Novell client. He was using the user community Novel Client (as opposed to the Novell Client). He reports that the official Novell Client is much much faster at mounting and accessing drives.

      Sorry I'm not more help than that. The only Linux I use is SuSE, and that at home occasionally - no NetWare access here.

      --
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    5. Re:Right here.. by lanswitch · · Score: 1

      I don't want to start a war about "what distro is better", but have a look at http://www.novell.com/linux/suse/. their distro was designed to operate in a novell environment.

    6. Re:Right here.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not true. I have used ncpfs successfully with netware servers running IP only. Just make sure you specify the DNS name or IP address with the -A option. I use this.

      ncpmount -S servername -A 10.0.0.1 -U username /mnt/servername

      Don't read IPX-HOWTO - it's totally outdated.

  2. Did you even try to find it yourself? by Trepalium · · Score: 4, Informative

    A simple Google query would've given you what you seek, but what you need is ncpmount. There are numerous HOWTOs and FAQs on this topic. If people have written these HOWTOs, they've surely implemented it at some point.

    --
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    1. Re:Did you even try to find it yourself? by bluelip · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's even easier than ncpmount nowadays. There was the novelclient (yep, that's the spelling). It was basically a front end for ncpmount.

      Novell has published a nearly full featured client. http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/15402. html

      They also have integrated Groupwise support into evolution. The native windows fat client is still better, but at least i don't have to keep a seperate box just for running groupwise. http://www.novell.com/products/desktop/features/ev olution.html

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  3. IPX? by huber · · Score: 1

    I would have thought eveyone moved to IP by now. Incedentaly you can also connect via NFS.

  4. I was in the exact same situation.. by iantri · · Score: 4, Informative
    .. I was able to get authentication (via PAM) against an NDS tree and automounting of Netware Home drives working without too much difficulty.

    Google for ncpfs, and this site will be particularly helpful too, with step by step instructions.

  5. Two Possibilities by Radical+Rad · · Score: 2, Informative

    Novell has a very nice proprietary client out now which runs on Suse 9.3, 10.0, and the Novell Linux Desktop. But it doesn't do IPX as far as I know. Also I don't know that it will run on Gentoo. If you get it to work you should submit a how-to to the Novell Cool Solutions site. For older distributions and ones which aren't from Novell you can try the Open Source Novel Client for Linux which doesn't support Gentoo per se but might be made to work with minimal fiddling.

  6. Linux 101 dude... by bergeron76 · · Score: 1

    I had linux mounting Netware drives 6 years ago, using a default Redhat 5.x install.

    I don't recall the details now, but it's ncpmount or something like that.

    You'll figure it out, ace - don't ask slashdot.

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    1. Re:Linux 101 dude... by Mishra100 · · Score: 1

      ncpmount would be the command. That is pretty much all you need to get started.

    2. Re:Linux 101 dude... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Things were a lot different 6 years ago. I bet it was easier to find relevent information about Netware stuff before it became NDS and before NT steamrolled Netware.

  7. Ask Slashdot for Discussion by Gherikill · · Score: 1

    Ask slashdot should be used for more general topics. Topics that can create discussion. This is a techinical problem that would be better asked at LQ

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  8. Use TCP/IP with NFS by JLester · · Score: 1

    All the most recent versions of Netware support native TCP/IP and come with Native File Access. The combination of the two should make it fairly easy to mount a Netware volume on a Linux box. Native File Access allows a Netware server to appear as an Appletalk server, an NFS server, or a Windows SMB server. We use the Appletalk setup at several locations and were able to successfully mount with the other two protocols during testing.

    If you are connecting to an older server, it is possible to compile IPX into your kernel and use various utilities to mount a Netware volume. It has been years since we've done it that way, so I don't remember the specifics. It did work though, at least using RedHat. Hopefully it is a newer version of Netware though since it is much simpler.

    Jason

    --
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  9. novell mounts by glsunder · · Score: 1

    As someone mentioned, there's a program that allows you to mount a novell volume. I think the one that's been mentioned (ncpfs) is the same one I've used. You dont need to use IPX, it'll work just fine with tcp/ip. I've used it on various linux boxes, dating back to rh 7 or so, and it's worked very well.

  10. The offical linux client by swimnurd · · Score: 2, Informative

    Novell now offers an official linux client that works really well. I beta tested it at work and now use it on a regular basis, the only catch is that you need SuSE or NLD, but you may or may not be able to hack it to work with Gentoo (if you do I would like to know, cus i prefer Gentoo over SuSE). I have found that it has better performance than the open source alternatives and it reads your log in scripts as well. You can find the linux client at http://download.novell.com./ This is the best way to solve your problem.

  11. Numerous solutions. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Has anyone got Linux working with a Novell Network?

    Yes! Everyone that has ever tried to connect Linux and Novell has been successful since the early 90's. Linux can mount Netware server volumes across the network using:
    ncpmount -S SERVERNAME -A SERVERIPADDR -U .user.ou.organization mountpoint

    Using the old MARS suite of tools Linux can not only mount Netware, Linux can emulate a Netware 3.X server. The clients, Windows or Linux, will never know that the are connecting to Linux and not to Netware.

    Today, Novell ships a few interesting products. They have recently released a Novell Netware Client for Linux that behaves very similarly to the Windows version of the Novell Netware Client. Novell Linux Desktop(NLD) is a modified version of SuSE 9 that is specifically built to be an enterprise desktop system and it includes all the tools to easily connect to Netware networks.

    Perhaps the most interesting Novell product is Open Entrprise Server(OES). This is Novell's Netware 6.5 with a twist. The twist is that you can, at installation, choose whether the underlying platform is Netware 6.5 or SuSE Enterprise Server 9 with all of the other standard Novell goodies on top. With the OES product, your Netware network becomes Linux! Imagine running BASH scripts on your Netware console. W00t!

    Now on to your other question, Any suggestions? Yes, here are a few suggestions:

    1. man ncpmount
    2. RTFM
    3. Look over these links:

    4. Dump Gentoo and get a productive system. Compiling sucks and well, you know, Gentoo sucks.
    5. Profit!!!

  12. Novell client for Linux by edooper · · Score: 1

    There is a Novell client for Linux, with that you should be able to access your Netware volumes. Here is the client for SUSE 9.3 Pro. You will probably have to create your own ebuild file if you want to integrate it in your Gentoo system.

  13. Yes by aCapitalist · · Score: 1

    About 8 years ago. That was the first thing we did when we were migrating away from OS/2 and onto Linux. It would seem that the drivers and tools would be pretty mature by now. Why is this on Slashdot?

  14. ncpmount by i.r.id10t · · Score: 1

    You want ncpmount and its associated stuff. You want to do the autoconfigure and primary_interface on, and you use your not-quite-full-distinguished novell login name/password. username.context.tree - just leave off the first dot

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