Managing user accounts is a simple task--NEAT lets you create, delete and modify them. New user accounts are allotted a home directory and set up in GroupWise. NEAT also lets you modify the full names, group memberships and file-system rights; change passwords; and manage login scripts and any user-specific NAL assignments. In the lab, we didn't have any problems adding users to our system.

Getting a printer up and running was a painless process. We just plugged our HP DeskJet printer into our server's parallel port and used NEAT to set it up. Adding a printer object and configuring it to connect to the server's parallel port was effortless. NEAT added the appropriate line to the server's AUTOEXEC.NCF file to start the print-server software after a server reboot. The only remaining task was to install the printer drivers on each of our client workstations, which certainly beats going into PCONSOLE to create and set up the printer, print-queue and print-server objects.

You can also manage group objects and NAL application objects with NEAT. NAL lets you provide applications to one or more users on the network. From the end users' perspective, NAL provides a window with icons for all of the applications to which they have rights. The administrator uses NEAT to set up the application objects and establish who should see them. We added a few new applications, such as PCONSOLE for all the users in our network and NWADMIN only for our administrator. We were somewhat disappointed that NetWare for Small Business was bundled with older applications, such as NAL version 1.02 and Netscape Navigator 3.0. If you want the more current versions, you'll have to download them off the Web.

NEAT is primarily designed to take care of the most common administrative tasks. If you want to configure other NDS attributes, like setting user login and password restrictions (for those companies that want to force users to use lengthy passwords for better security or to log into the system only during certain hours of the day), you will need to turn to the NetWare Administrator program NWADMIN.EXE.

One-Stop Shopping Chances are you'll want to connect your server to the Internet in some capacity. NetWare for Small Business addresses this need with GroupWise Internet Agent, which provides an SMTP e-mail gateway and POP and IMAP servers. Configuring the gateway for sending and receiving e-mail is relatively effortless. Our biggest challenge was having the server send e-mail with the correct DNS mail host information. E-mail sent from GroupWise appeared to come from CoffeeComputing_dom.com, and anyone trying to reply would receive a bounced message. We later discovered that we needed to change the Foreign ID (Hostname) setting in NetWare Administrator.

If your company is using a dial-up connection to an ISP for Internet access, NetWare for Small Business includes MPR, which provides Internet connectivity for workstations.

Need a Web server for your business for an Internet or intranet site? Netscape's FastTrack server is also included in the box. Even though it's not integrated into the setup process, it was not difficult to set up the server. You can perform Web server administration from any Web browser (Novell includes Netscape 3.0).

NetWare for Small Business also includes a five-user version of Computer Associates' ARCserve, so you can back up your files. We did not test ARCserve in our evaluation. For a review on ARCserve, see "Enterprise Backup Software That Keeps Your Data Afloat," March 15, 1997 (www.nwc.com/805/805f2.html). Computer Associates' FAXserve two-user copy is also included, letting you send and receive faxes through GroupWise.

Computer Associates' InocuLAN Lite provides server-based virus monitoring. While it is a separate install, the option to monitor for viruses is a plus. InocuLAN installs and loads on the file server to watch for any infected files that may be present on the server. The "lite" version can only schedule scans on the server and cannot monitor the server in real time. While this isn't the best solution, InocuLAN will at least let you know if any files on the server contain viruses. In the lab, it determined that our system was virus-free. For real-time file monitoring, you'll need to purchase the standard InocuLAN version.

For network dial-up connectivity when you're at home or on the road, you can use the included NetWare Connect. You just need a few modems and phone lines. Again, we did not install NetWare Connect in our testing. For a full review on NetWare Connect, see "Industrial-Strength Remote Access," June 1, 1996 (www.nwc.com/709/709f1.html).

James E. Drews is a network administrator for the Computer Aided Engineering Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He can be reached at drews@engr.wisc.edu.