* What's useful in Avanti TaskMaster 4.06?
A few weeks ago, I got an e-mail from a reader about the content of this newsletter. The reader wrote:
“When I first subscribed to ‘Network World Newsletter: Dave Kearns on Novell NetWare Tips’ years ago, I did so because it was filled with ‘Tips’ on using NetWare. It was about how to use little-known utilities to make my life easier. I couldn’t wait for that subject line to appear in my inbox each week. Then about 2 – 2.5 yrs ago something changed.”
I replied to him that the newsletter did change, as there were fewer and fewer issues of the newsletter that dealt with those nifty little utilities that had always, it seemed, been part of the NetWare “culture.” It wasn’t, though, that I stopped talking about them or looking for them; it was because they were no longer being written. Even Novell engineers have almost stopped developing (either on company time or their own) those nice little applications that make the NetWare manager’s job easier.
But there are one or two people left who still write, almost exclusively, for the NetWare platform. And one of those – who has graced this newsletter with his presence before – has just released a new version of an old favorite.
I’ve known Steve Myers for almost 15 years, since my days in Austin, Texas, with the Thomas-Conrad Corp. Myers is CEO of Avanti Technology, which like many other companies that developed and sold NetWare utilities, came about because as a networking consultants, Myers had a need and there were no tools to do the job. TaskMaster, the product of Myers’ tinkering over those 15 years, has just been released as Version 4.06.
Aside: Yes it’s only Version 4. Myers does like to tinker and can take forever deciding that a new version is up to his standard before letting it loose on the NetWare community. He also has very high standards!
TaskMaster (and its baby brother, TaskMaster Lite) is a server-based tool that provides full manual and automated control over the server environment. If you aren’t familiar with these products (and I can’t imagine a NetWare manager who isn’t), browse to https://www.avanti-tech.com/taskmstr/tm_main.htm for the details.
Version 4.06 includes the following:
* Support for IP (UDP) in SCOPY / SXCOPY / SYNC data transfers (both servers must be NetWare v5+).
* Support for /-E option in SYNC (non-exclusive, i.e., shared source file access during copy/updates).
* Optimized screen I/O update logic in DOS Remote Console Client (TMRemote.EXE) for slow WAN links.
According to Myers: “The most significant of these new features is the support for IP (UDP) in SCOPY / SXCOPY / SYNC [TaskMaster commands] data transfers. Test sites have reported performance improvements of 2x to 8x over the default NCP [NetWare Core Protocol] Extensions transfer method (slower WAN links, especially VPN and frame relay, seem to benefit most).
“The logic will automatically determine if IP (UDP) support is available and determine the optimal UDP packet size to use for the transfers. If IP (UDP) support is not available or a stable communications link cannot be established, the default NCP Extensions protocol will be used.”
Additional information on the IP support can be found in the SYNC chapter with the latest TaskMaster User’s Guide (v4.06 – 02 May 2005) that’s included in the update archive.
Thirty-day evaluation copies are available from https://www.avanti-tech.com/evalsw.htm but I think just a few days will convince you that your NetWare network needs TaskMaster.
