Windows 2000 Server and FPNW 5.02

[kaared]

I'm trying to get FPNW 5.02 (May, 2003, according to the release notes)
working on a fresh, default install of Windows 2000 Server, but am
running into problems getting the clients to actually see the NetWare
server. The server is a PDC running AD/DHCP/DNS (the defaults) and it's
on a separate LAN. The following components are used by the ethernet
interface:

* Client for Microsoft networks
* SAP agent
* File and print services for NetWare
* File and printer sharing for Microsoft networks
* NWLink NetBIOS
* NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS compatible transport protocol
* TCP/IP

The FPNW service starts up and runs. I've tried to connect using
Windows 2000 Professional running the latest Novell NetWare client
(4.91 for Windows 2000/XP), the Microsoft NetWare client, and DOS
clients. I've also tried changing the default network number from
'00000000' to '00000001' and changing the frame type from 'auto' to
'802.2' and '802.3'. The 'IPXROUTE CONFIG' output looks reasonable,
i.e. it matches on both the server and the Windows 2000 workstation.
I've tried getting a list of NetWare servers and also connecting
directly to a named server 'SUN_FPNW'. All the clients are running
IPX/SPX and TCP/IP and can successfully ping the server (SUN).

This is a closed LAN and it has only the server plus the clients on it,
i.e. no other Windows 2000 servers or NetWare servers.

The FPNW release I'm using was obtained from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...8d-acb2-4794-87eb-82a6a3af4be8&DisplayLang=en

Has anyone else been able to deploy FPNW on Windows 2000 Server and did
you have to do any tricks or other magic to get it to work? According
to the release notes it should emulate a NetWare 3.12 server, but I
read elsewhere that it actually implements a pre-3.12 protocol set and
that it also has issues with the auto-discovery of frames when there's
no native-NetWare server on the same segment.

Any ideas on how to resolve this are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

-Kaare

 

[In Disguise]

Might be just as easy to run the Novell Client on that server, logging
in and then map drives to the Novell server(s). Then grant access to
those mapped drives through the Windows server.

Emulating a NetWare 3.x server isn't a good way to go, as NetWare 3.x
was created before the internet was outside of Universities and
Government agencies, so IP support isn't very good. So if you have
workstations that use IP, it will make things more difficult.

Other ways to get this resolved:

1. Install the Novell Client on the workstations and allow NetWare to
manage their accesses and file rights

2. Use Native File Access Protocol (NFAP) on the Novell server(s), which
will allow the workstations to see the Novell server(s) as if they were
Windows servers, so nothing needs to be installed or configured on
anything other than the Novell server(s).

3. Keep beating your head on a 2x4 trying to get this multi-layered way
you are going now. <g>

In fact, with NFAP, you can also let Mac workstations see the Novell
server(s) as Apple servers, and Unix/Linux workstations see the Novell
server(s) as Unix/Linux servers. Works great and does not require
anything further on the client end. Windows servers also are untouched.

You can get the PDF document here:
http://www.novell.com/documentation/nw65/pdfdoc/native/native.pdf

Hope this helps!

 

[kaared]

Thanks for your reply. There are no other NetWare servers in the
picture (native or emulated) -- just the FPNW on the Windows server.
The DOS clients need to run business software that is written for
NetWare (up to 5.x) and they run IPX/SPX only. The reason I also
installed TCP/IP was to verify the connectivity. In other words, I must
be able to deploy a NetWare server (3.x - 5.x) and have the DOS clients
see it and connect to it. The Windows workstations are actually kind of
irrelevant, but I wanted to see if they had any better luck in getting
a connection. The DOS software has not been ported/upgraded to NetWare
6.x so that's not an option unfortunately.

If FPNW on Windows 2000 Server is a no-go then I'll look at NT4+FPNW or
a real NetWare server.

If anybody has been able to deploy FPNW on Windows 2000 Server could
you please reply?

Thanks,

-Kaare