NetWare 5 clustering strategy taking form

PROVO, UTAH - Novell Standby Server is now shipping for NetWare 5, but those who use most other Novell clustering services are going to have to wait a while longer before upgrading their networks to the most recent version of NetWare.

Standby Server for NetWare 5, which began shipping last week, is used to create a fully replicated backup for a single server.

Meanwhile, Novell Cluster Services, which is used to cluster up to 32 servers for fault tolerance, is in beta testing and won't ship until August.

Another clustering product, Novell High Availability Server, will not be upgraded for NetWare 5 networks. This product enables two active servers to back up each other.

Novell High Availability Server users will be encouraged to switch to Novell Cluster Services, says Rajeev Danank, a Novell product marketing manager. Otherwise, users can upgrade the rest of their networks to NetWare 5 and continue to run Novell High Availability Server on NetWare 4.1. The company will release Novell High Availability Server for NetWare 4.2 later this month.

Novell Standby Server Many-to-One, which connects one primary server to multiple backup servers, is now shipping for NetWare 3.X and 4.X and is scheduled to ship for NetWare 5 in August.

Novell's System Fault Tolerance III (SFT III) is now available for NetWare 4.11 and 4.2, but the product won't be upgraded to run on NetWare 5. Many, but not all, of the features of SFT III will be available in the first release of Novell Cluster Services. Support for gray data - data that's in memory but hasn't been written to disk yet - will have to wait until a future release of Novell Cluster Services, Danank says.

Novell Replication Services, which lets companies replicate servers across several locations, is now shipping for NetWare 5.

SnapShot Server is also shipping for NetWare 5. This software runs atop Standby Server and mirrors a data set on a passive computer. SnapShot Server uses NetWare's mirroring feature and replicates a data set every time there is a write request at the primary server.

Novell Standby Server for NetWare 5 costs $4,285 and also supports Versions 3.12, 3.2, 4.11 and 4.2. The only difference between buying Standby Server from Novell and buying it from Vinca, the original manufacturer, is the pricing. Large Novell customers may get a better discount if they buy from Novell.

Novell: (800) 453-1267