Get to know Novell Open Enterprise Server

Last issue I warned you that running your current NetWare NLMs on Linux just wasn’t going to happen, at least that’s Novell’s position. But as we rush headlong into the brave new world of “NetWux” or “LinWare” or whatever one word shortcut we’ll use for the upcoming Novell Open Enterprise Server, we’d better start preparing to understand this new beast and start to determine where it will fit in our network.

Fortunately, the folks at Novell’s NetWare Cool Solutions have just posted a new three-part series called “Getting to Know Open Enterprise Server” (see links below). Part 3, in fact, was just posted last week. What do these three articles cover? According to the authors:

“In Part I of this series, we discuss the components that will be included in Novell Open Enterprise Server, and explained how it will help you expand and solidify the deployment of open source tools in your network. In Part II, we explore the ways Open Enterprise Server can help you make sure that workers in your organization remain productive and have access to the information and services they need to do their jobs. And finally, in Part III we look at what it takes to manage, back up, and provide failover for an enterprise network with hundreds, even thousands of servers, when some of them are Linux boxes. “

There certainly is some marketing “puff” involved, such as a section called “Alternative to Microsoft” which states: “You have many alternatives available to you. Now you can protect against viruses and security breaches, minimize patching and updating your system, forget licensing problems, maintain your choice of who you partner with, create solutions based on open standards and have a more reliable, yet open environment.” Yet overall the three articles (and you should read all three) give a very good, if somewhat biased, introduction to the direction Novell will be taking with operating systems.

Five hundred and twelve years ago (a nice, computerese number), Christopher Columbus set sail over mostly uncharted waters looking for a better route to the riches of the Far East. Today, many NetWare network managers are planning to set sail themselves looking for a better route to the “riches” of a well-behaved, trouble-free network. Columbus didn’t come close to his intended target. Maybe you should find out more about the roadmap Novell has in mind to help you reach your destination. Otherwise, who knows, you might end up somewhere near Seattle.