Anyone using/used Services for NetWare?

[Marcus Holland]

Hi All,

I work at a university in New Zealand. We currently run both NDS & an NT4 domain, with Novell's account management 2.1 (NDS for NT) taking care of "synchronisation". I've been working on a 2003/AD migration project for sometime now and am getting very close to implementation. The long term plan is to eventually phase out NetWare altogether, until then synchronisation between the environments plays a very important role.

We are looking long term at DirXML2 to tie all our systems together & provide synchronisation (identity management). This is some time away, so I'm looking to use Services for NetWare to bridge the synchronisation gap. AD needs to be running soon & Novell can't be dispensed of straight away.

I've been asked to do a little research into the use of Services for NetWare. I have a test environment here with it running sweet (v5.03). From what I've seen, it should suit our needs quite nicely.

I was wondering if anyone else out there is using it/has used it. I'm particularly interested in how well it performed synchronising the 2 directories, and if there were any issues. Even if it was just used to migrate, all experiences will be useful.

Any comments greatly appreciated. I'm happy to reciprocate with anything if I can be of help (esp. if you're in the same situation).

Regards,

 

[Guest]

Marcus,

I've had a bit of experience with mixed Microsoft and Novell environments.
I cannot comment on the use of Services for netware, but various reviews I
have read, suggest that the migration is very good.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/sfncd.mspx

The above URL will give some very useful info on Migration. 'Microsoft
Directory Synchronization Services' is the clever bit, and will be
responsible for doing the migration.

One big bit of advice though...shutdown Novell Account Management before
migrating. Having Account Management and then the Services for Netware, both
trying to do the synchronising...it could get a bit messy.

In your situation, I personally would do the following:
1. Shutdown Novell Account Management and ensure that it will not start
again (disable services if required)....completely uninstall if possible.
2. Follow the instructions for installation of Services for Netware.
3. Migrate users across to Active Directory (this will use Microsoft
Directory Synchronization Services tools as part of Services for Netware
etc.).
4. Change any client workstations that logon to NDS, over to be members of
the Active Directory Domain (remove Novell Client from the workstations if
necessary).
5. Setup Gateway services for netware on a Windows server, and have the
workstations access the Novell server(s) via the windows server.

I have a lot of experience with step 5...it works extremely well!!

If I can be of any further help, please don't hesitate to get in
touch....willingly help if i can.

Cheers, good luck with that.

Dan Sime
MCSA 2000
CNA Netware 5.1
CNA GroupWise 6

(e-mail address removed)

 

[In Disguise]

Marcus,

IDM2 (Identity Management 2) is extremely powerful and will do exactly
what you want. It can synchronize every bit of data you choose for
users, such as ID, PW, and over 100 different attributes.

I've implemented it several times and it works as advertised.

 

[Ryan Hanisco]

It is, however, a bugger to configure. Once you get it working though it
works as advertised.

 

[David Savoie]

I would have to agree. Services for Netware 5 is easier to use and is
suitable to use to synchronize the directories.
It can also be used to migrate the file system from Netware to Windows2003.

David Savoie
MCSE,CNE,CCA