More about NetWare books

A couple of recent issues of this newsletter dealt with books about NetWare and (like everything else, it seems) brought in some further info from you, valued readers (keep those cards and letters coming).

Regarding tuning NetWare 6 servers, Novell’s Jean-Jacques Clar reminds me that there’s some good, free information available from – of all people – IBM, which publishes a group of electronic tomes called the RedBook Series (https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/).

For example, “Tuning IBM xSeries Servers for Performance” includes a few chapters on NetWare 6 (https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/SG245287.html). Specifically:

* Chapter 11 – NetWare 6.

* Chapter 14 – NetWare 6 tools.

* Chapter 19 – Analyzing bottlenecks in NetWare.

* Chapter 31 – NetWare Enterprise Web Server.

A number of other chapters about general trouble-shooting and problem-solving, could also be useful. The chapters on Windows servers and Linux servers could be of benefit to at least some of you, also. And the price is right – the e-book can be downloaded for free. Note, by the way, that Clar is one of the contributing authors.

In talking about the “CNA Study Guide for NetWare 6,” by David James Clark IV (https://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/netware/2004/0202nw1.html), I complained about one chapter being devoted to GroupWise. Since GroupWise isn’t included in NetWare (except for the Small Business Suite), why would a Certified NetWare Administrator candidate need to learn about it? 

Astute reader Ashley H. Henderson reports that there’s a very good reason for including this information in the book: “The reason GroupWise is included in the book is because it is actually in the Foundations (CNA 6) exam!” This has, evidently, caught more than one CNA candidate by surprise. I know it would boggle my mind should I come across it. But I checked, and he’s right – it is included in the exam.

As I’ve said many a time, GroupWise will never be on my network. Yes, I’m closed-minded about it. Yes, I’m strongly influenced by experiences with its predecessor, WordPerfect Office. But I also believe that Novell’s other e-mail offering, NetMail (previously called Novell Internet Mail System – NIMS) is a far superior implementation of electronic mail (see https://www.novell.com/products/netmail/ for details).

Nevertheless, someone in Waltham really wants me to look at GroupWise should I ever decide to attempt to garner a CNA certificate. My advice? Just say no. Go for the CNE instead, or even the new Novell Certified Linux Engineer (hint: know a lot about NetWare’s Linux services) instead. Less frustration, and a better chance of success, certainly works for me.