Migrating from NetWare, NDS to Linux, OpenLDAP is a smooth ride, says user

Saugus Unified School System migrates from Novell to Red Hat

Any server administrator who came up through the Novell ranks knows the value of directories; Netware Directory Services has been a valuable tool to network admins for years, allowing for control of network access and applications.

One user who recently made a switch from Novell servers to Linux says the background of NDS was a good preparation for the world of open source directories - namely, the open source version of the Lightweight Directory Application Protocol (OpenLDAP).

The Saugus Unified School System recently migrated its data center from Novell servers to Red Hat Linux. Replacing trusty old NDS was OpenLDAP, which the school district now uses for its central network directory. The impetuous for the Novell-to-Linux migration was cost savings: Jim Klein, director of information services and technology for the California school district, says he was able to save over $50,000 per year in maintenance costs by making the switch.

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Any server administrator who came up through the Novell ranks knows the value of directories; Netware Directory Services has been a valuable tool to network admins for years, allowing for control of network access and applications.

One user who recently made a switch from Novell servers to Linux says the background of NDS was a good preparation for the world of open source directories - namely, the open source version of the Lightweight Directory Application Protocol (OpenLDAP).

The Saugus Unified School System recently migrated its data center from Novell servers to Red Hat Linux. Replacing trusty old NDS was OpenLDAP, which the school district now uses for its central network directory. The impetuous for the Novell-to-Linux migration was cost savings: Jim Klein, director of information services and technology for the California school district, says he was able to save over $50,000 per year in maintenance costs by making the switch.

"OpenLDAP was easy to migrate from NDS," Klein says. "We had been a Novell shop forever, and we had all of the concepts down for NDS. It was just a matter of working out how you did certain things in one directory vs. another."

Klein says Novell's own venture into Linux, with its SuSE product and its support for Linux-based GroupWise e-mail servers and other applications, also helped in the migration. Now the school has a single sign-on for all of the school's applications, from network login, to e-mail, and all of the educational software packages that are in use.

"It really cuts down on support headaches when [teachers] only have one password to remember," he says.

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