iFolder is a user tool, so let them control it
Anyone who even glances at these newsletters should know how big a fan I am of Novell’s iFolder, but many network managers still haven’t grasped the reasons for this technology.
As Novell’s marketing literature puts it:
“iFolder allows you to access, organize, and manage your files from anywhere, anytime. iFolder also provides worry-free security, ensuring that all your files are always safe, secure and up to date. Now your files can be as mobile as you are – at work, home or on the go.”
Note the emphasis on “you.” Not the network manager, nor the administrator. iFolder is about you, the user. The network manager is needed to keep the server-side of iFolder up and running. The network administrator is needed to change iFolder quotas, remove accounts for no-longer-with-us users, to back up the contents of the iFolder and (very rarely) to restore a user’s files. Everything else, though, is within the user’s purview and is really no business of the manager.
Yet frequently, when looking at questions posed on Novell’s online forum for iFolder, I see complaints, rants (and even a real question or two) from network managers and administrators who fail to grasp the concepts of iFolder.
Recently, for example, a network manager asked how to restore a single file for an iFolder user. The quick answer is that it can’t be done since the files are not stored individually on the iFolder server, but as part of a (for want of a better term) “shadow disk” that’s unreadable to the administrator.
While the original poster accepted the answer (which included the thought that the user might still have another copy of the file in question stored on one of the multiple synchronized platforms or within the “conflict bin” on one platform where salvageable files are held), another network manager chimed in. He/she asked: “Am I the only one who thinks this is exceptionally poor planning on Novell’s part?” Sadly, he/she isn’t the only one.
You know that I’m a firm believer in the supremacy of NetWare. You know I’ve often ranted about Novell’s seeming disregard for what should be its “cash cow.” But face it, NetWare is not the only thing Novell has to offer. Nor is everything Novell offers something intended to complement NetWare.
While iFolder is the service I’m mentioning here, think also about NetMail, exteNd and even eDirectory. While it’s still true that all released products from Novell will run on NetWare (if its products don’t why should anyone else’s?), it’s no longer necessary to have a NetWare server for many of them. But also, while Novell may lead the world in secure, robust, scalable network operating systems – not everything it produces is intended to be controlled by a network manager, administrator or supervisor.
It’s been a long time coming, this recognition that there are more people involved with using and running a network than the people who maintain the hardware, the directory or the distribution of the software, but Novell has finally realized it and this is a Very Good Thing. That other company involved in networking (the one up near Seattle) has recognized the importance of the user (often to the detriment of the network) for a long time. It’s an area that Novell has played catch-up in – and it has caught up.
NetWare 6.5 will have a lot more in the way of user-centric services (such as Virtual Office). Get use to it or else you’ll be seen as an impediment, not a facilitator.
