NetWare 5 NFS, Finally!
April 19, 1999
By Robert J. Kohlhepp
When Novell released its long-awaited NetWare 5, the NOS was missing many of the connectivity options that were once the cornerstone of NetWare's cross-platform appeal; for instance, NFS (Network File System) and AppleShare services were nowhere to be found. AppleShare remains under development, but NetWare 5 NFS has finally arrived. (For more information on migrating to NetWare 5, see our workshop on page 110.)
I installed a beta version of NetWare 5 NFS on a Compaq Computer Corp. ProLiant 2500 server running NetWare 5 (with Support Pack 1) in our University of Wisconsin Real-World Labs®, and it was a cinch. Getting up and running is faster and easier, thanks to administration features that now reside in Console1, Novell's Java-based GUI administration tool.
Other improvements include NFS over TCP, WebNFS services, Console1 integration and HTML documentation. However, this version of NFS runs only on NetWare 5, so you cannot maintain a common version between NetWare 4 and NetWare 5 servers.
NetWare 5 NFS is a suite of applications that integrate a NetWare server with Unix hosts, providing file and print capabilities, remote administration and directory services. The bundle includes an NIS (Network Information Services) server, NFS server, NFS gateway, LPR/LPD (line printer remote/ line printer daemon) printing gateway, FTP server and XCONSOLE.
Novell simplifies its NFS services installation by integrating it into the x-based GUI install common to NetWare 5. In the lab, I was able to pick and choose which portions to install, saving valuable disk space. However, I would have preferred an option that let me bypass the GUI installation; I wanted to install the product via a session in RCONSOLE.
As with past versions, administration requires an RCONSOLE (or XCONSOLE) session to the server via the UNICON administration tool, or you can use the new Console1. Unfortunately, even though Console1 is Java-based, it is not a cross-platform tool; it is available only on the NetWare server console or on Windows clients. Platform-independent Console1 is promised for a future version.
Overall, Console1 is a blessing in this update. Administration from a remote Windows machine is much improved from the RCONSOLE method. Using Console1, initializing and configuring NFS Services is as simple as point-and-click.
I easily configured our NetWare 5 NFS, exporting users' home directories with a few clicks. In addition, I started and stopped many other services, such as FTP and XCONSOLE, with Console1. As I added Unix clients, I granted them access to the server.
I still was able to use RCONSOLE to access the server and leverage the familiar UNICON utility for configuring NFS services. That utility will be phased out in a future version in favor of Console1.
On the protocol side, NFS over TCP and WebNFS are new. Although implementing both of these is a step in the right direction, Novell also should have prioritized support for NFS version 3, a four-year-old specification. This would let administrators move to NFS 3 on their clients; WebNFS clients are practically nonexistent.
In the lab, I configured our NetWare 5 server to export a user directory with ease, using the new Console1 integration. From a Voyager IIi (an UltraSPARC clone), I mounted the user file system in a matter of seconds. By using EtherPeek for protocol tracing, I verified that the file system was being mounted via TCP. Although performance is not significantly enhanced by TCP support, expect fault-tolerance to be enhanced over wide-area links and congested networks. NFS 3 support would improve performance as well, requiring fewer transactions to set up sessions.
Send your comments on this article to Robert J. Kohlhepp at rkohlhepp@nwc.com.
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