To calculate the time slice a particular application space could consume, you must divide the share for that application by the sum of all the share values on the system. For example, if WIDGET.NLM is given a 100 share value and the NetWare applications space is also given a 100 share volume, WIDGET.NLM would be permitted to consume up to 50 percent of the CPU.

NDS Enhancements Novell's NDS also has been updated in NetWare 5. Two of the biggest improvements are the ability to use IPX or IP for NDS synchronization and a new feature called "Transitive Sync." Under NetWare 4.x, each server must communicate with every other server in its replica table before all information is considered to be in sync. But with NetWare 5, a server can determine which servers in its replica table have been updated and skip a redundant synchronization step. This is important because not all servers that are migrated to an all-TCP/IP network can communicate directly with the IPX-only servers.

To assist tree administrators with NDS health monitoring, Novell includes a new utility, DSDIAG.NLM, which enables administrators to check the status of NDS on all servers in the tree quickly from a server's console. We used DSDIAG.NLM to evaluate the health of our tree and found that it also can be used to check the status of other trees. But while this utility enhances the management suite, we found it more difficult to use than the Windows NDS Manager.

A more significant improvement to NDS is the ability of objects to inherit access-control-list security restrictions for individual attributes. This lets you create a user whose only ability is to change other users' passwords or other attributes, such as telephone numbers. For example, we were able to create a user--we called him Joe--who was granted the right (at the NDS context level) to modify all passwords. Any of our administrators or a user we selected could then enter the system as Joe to change passwords. This much-needed improvement to NDS provides a great deal of flexibility.

Catalog Services NetWare 5's new Catalog Services lets NDS build an indexed catalog of user-specified data. Once an indexed catalog has been created, programs can run queries against that catalog, which results in faster searches.

One of the first to take advantage of this service is the NetWare Client. Through the use of "contextless login," the new client can quickly find a user's NDS context as long as it knows the login name. After installing and enabling the contextless login feature, we tried to trick the client by entering a user name that exists in two different contexts. To our delight, a dialog box appeared displaying the full NDS user name and the full name field of both targets. We also found that the new system can perform wild-card searches for users who have forgotten their logins.

Java on the Server Also new to NetWare is the ability to run Java applications on the server--both behind the scenes and as a GUI. Although GUI-based Java applications are slow, they are convenient for server administration. And with Java on the server, the tools and functionality open to in-house and commercial developers is endless. Java also can cut down on network costs. For example, client-side NDS server administration tools need not transfer their packets across the network, and NDS lookups can be performed locally.

Unfortunately, GUI interfaces implemented in today's Java are slower than Novell's text-based interface. And we noticed that they consume a portion of the server's RAM, making for a painful experience on our 90-MHz Pentium server. Performance greatly improved when we used a Pentium II.

Embracing the Internet NetWare 5 caters to TCP/IP zealots. Instead of the more traditional IPX-based network layer or the encapsulation of IPX within IP (NetWare/IP), NetWare 5 has the ability to communicate in a total IP environment.