More about Novell Client for Linux

A couple of weeks ago, I ended the newsletter by saying that I would re-examine the NetWare client for Linux once again, in light of your many e-mails and some new information from Novell. But neither of the next two newsletters said anything about the Linux client for NetWare. Had the Massachusetts Mafia gotten to me? Had I been silenced forever? Well, no, the answer is much more prosaic – I went on the road and didn’t take the notes for that newsletter with me.

A number of people pointed out the open source utility ncpfs, which ships with many distributions of Linux. This is a command line file system access tool for Novell Core Protocol (NCP) based file systems (i.e., NetWare). A similar tool has been available from a German company (N-iX at https://n-ix.com/) that is also an NCP redirector, rather than an actual client.

By “an actual client,” I mean a utility that handles authentication via eDirectory, processes logon scripts, allows access to NetWare-based files and services (such as printers) and acts pretty much like the Windows-based client (a.k.a. “client32”). Is that too much to ask?

Actually, no. It’s not too much to ask and Novell has answered. It will deliver a fully functional client for Linux along with Open Enterprise Server (OES) when it ships early next year. According to a Novell spokesperson: “The Novell Client for Linux will enable Novell’s Linux desktop to access older versions of NetWare as well as OES.  It will allow users to login to the network and execute their existing login scripts.  It will translate login script commands into their Linux counterparts.  For instance, ‘map’ commands will be seamlessly translated to mount points, giving users the same convenient access to the various areas in the network they’ve become accustomed to when using a Windows PC.  This Client for Linux will support NCP and a number of advanced capabilities such as cluster failover reconnect.”

That sounds like an unequivocal commitment to me. Thanks Novell for remembering your roots.

As we went to deadline, Novell announced that Chris Stone, vice president in the office of the CEO, had resigned effective immediately. Rumor is this is the start of a major shakeup. We’ll look closely at this development in next week’s newsletter.press!>