CHAPTER 57. Migration and Integration: NetWare, Unix, and Linux

SOME OF THE MAIN TOPICS IN THIS CHAPTER ARE

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Why Use Unix or Linux? 1072

Key Differences Between Unix/Linux and NetWare 1073

Moving User Accounts 1074

Networking Protocols 1074

Applications 1074

Finding Linux Drivers for Hardware 1077

Novell Open Enterprise Server 1077

Although Unix and Linux can be considered close cousins, trying to find similarities between them and Novell NetWare is not an easy job. Unix/Linux and NetWare systems are very different from each other, so when you’re considering a migration from one to the other, or integrating the two into a heterogeneous network, it requires some diligent planning. In this chapter, we will look at some of the key differences between Unix/Linux and NetWare and discuss a few scenarios in which integrating these two different systems can be accomplished.

Why Use Unix or Linux?

NetWare has been around for many years, and other than ARCnet it is perhaps the oldest PC networking technology still in existence on a wide scale. NetWare, however, has been deployed in large networks that span great geographical distances, as well as in small departmental LANs for many years. There exists a large user base and a sizable population of trained network administrators. Many applications have been developed by vendors to make use of Novell’s Directory Service (NDS, now the eDirectory, and referred to in the rest of this chapter as directory services when discussing NetWare). However, using Linux in a NetWare environment to provide services to NetWare clients, to protect the network through a firewall, or to give technical users a Linux desktop does make sense in some situations.

One good integration scenario is the small LAN. For example, consider a small company that originally created a LAN to link several Intel-based Web servers that use a Windows operating system. Business has grown and it’s time to upgrade. The choices are more powerful Intel-based systems running a Windows variant or Linux boxes. In this case, Linux has the edge because it is not limited to the Intel platform. You’ll find both Unix and Linux running on many hardware platforms. Recent partnerships between Red Hat and hardware manufacturers enable Linux to scale to larger enterprise servers. However, if the existing LAN uses NetWare (which means you have Windows systems in your network), exchanging information with Unix and Linux Servers will require some new networking skills. By using fast Unix/Linux boxes to run your Web servers, databases (such as Oracle), and other CPU-intensive applications, you can still keep your Windows desktop machines. Novell does incorporate technology (most notably in the 6.x versions) that goes a long way toward enabling connectivity between Unix/Linux and NetWare.

Another reason you might consider bringing Linux into your small LAN is that it’s basically free. You can buy inexpensive versions from many vendors, such as SuSE, Caldera, or Red Hat, that have sprung up to cater to the Linux community, or you can download a version from a Web site, usually free. If you have an experienced Unix staff at your site, Linux will be much cheaper to implement than NetWare. Without the experienced staff, however, it might become more expensive when it comes to support and engineering. However, the various vendors just mentioned also provide support for their Linux versions (also known as distributions, or distros for short), and you can find a lot of information on the Internet by searching for Unix or Linux “how to” documents.

Key Differences Between Unix/Linux and NetWare

The most obvious difference that should come to mind when looking at NetWare and Unix/Linux is that the latter systems are computer operating systems and NetWare is a network operating system. NetWare clients can include many different platforms, usually ones that have their roots in MS-DOS or Windows of some kind. Yet, no matter on which platform you use NetWare, it basically only provides support for network resource sharing. You can use native NetWare servers, or you can use Windows servers in the same network to offer application, print, and other services to users. Authentication services are provided, as are mechanisms for granting or denying access to data. This is especially the case when using the eDirectory. Or the underlying server operating system (such as Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003) can also be used to enforce access permissions and user authentication.

File Sharing

NetWare excels at providing file servers on the network. Either the bindery-based NetWare 3.x or the directory services versions can be used to exercise a great deal of control over file and directory access for one or more servers on the network. By using directory services, you can distribute files throughout the network on multiple servers. Clients can be authenticated by bindery-based servers or directory services and access the resources they need. Using a bindery-based system of servers works best when local users need access to only one or two servers. In a larger network this might not be a good idea if resources are spread out among many servers. This is because the bindery servers require a user account/password on each server, and keeping these synchronized on a lot of servers can be a headache for the user. If you need to manage a large number of servers, which has users needing resources on different servers, then directory services is a better choice because it allows the user to log on to the network using directory services and gives management a single place to manage users and resources.

Unix and Linux do not come with file shares or directory services. Instead, you must substitute NFS, the Network File System, which was originally developed by Sun. Access permissions can be controlled using the standard mechanisms provided by Linux. You can set up NFS so that users must log on to each server to mount the exported file system, or you can hide the authentication process from users by using proxy mechanisms built in to most NFS implementations.

For more information about NFS, see Chapter 31, “File Server Protocols.” To learn more about how Linux and Unix systems use resource access permissions, see Chapter 39, “Rights and Permissions.”

Printer Sharing

NetWare is capable of providing support for many kinds of printing technologies and protocols, including the lpr/lpd and TCP stream printing protocols used by Unix and Linux. Novell Distributed Print Services enables printing from Unix to NetWare, as well as from NetWare to Unix, by using a generic NetWare gateway. Additionally, third-party printer manufacturers can develop gateways that can provide additional features for their printers.

User Authentication

If the NetWare version you currently employ uses bindery-based authentication services, you are familiar with having to log on to each server when you need to access a resource. Similarly, Unix and Linux use a file called /etc/passwrd that resides on each system. Users must have an entry in this file that can be used when they log on to the server. Linux does not natively support a directory service yet (though an open source directory service is available on the Web), so providing a single logon for the network will not be something you get out of the box. Most Unix operating systems, however, support NIS (Network Information System) for small LANs or NIS+ for larger networks. This software was originally called Yellow Pages, but the name was changed to NIS due to trademark reasons. NIS coordinates password and other information on the network between Unix servers. There are several open-source versions of NIS that can be found on the Web, some of which are intended for use with Unix, and others for Linux.

Moving User Accounts

To establish NetWare user accounts on the Linux server, you must manually configure them. There are no widely available utilities or tools you can use to perform this function. However, the typical Unix/Linux password can be used as a reference for the kind of information you’ll need in order to create user accounts on Unix/Linux systems. If you only need to create a few user accounts for system administrators, for example, the process will be simple. If you need to create a large number of accounts, possibly for client workstations, you probably will find it necessary to produce a report from the NetWare system and use this to make the entries or create a script file that can be used for this purpose.

The Unix/Linux password file is covered in Chapter 38, “Managing Unix and Linux Users.”

And if you are using NetWare 5.x or 6.x, the Native File Access Pack feature enables Unix, Windows, and Macintosh clients to access NetWare servers. This feature doesn’t require you to install NetWare client software on the client systems, and can be integrated with the directory services.

NetWare, particularly the 4.x and higher versions that support directory services, keeps track of a lot more information for a user account than is done on Unix/Linux systems that use just the /etc/passwrd file. Because of this, and the simplicity of the /etc/passwrd file, you won’t have to do a lot of work to create new user accounts on the Linux system. However, you might find that the trade-off is that you need to examine security (file permissions, for example) and other aspects of your Unix/Linux system to ensure that your users are afforded the same access.

Networking Protocols

The TCP/IP protocol is the standard used on the Internet and most LANs. It has become increasingly popular for use in all kinds of networks in just the past few years. For example, early versions of Windows NT would install the IPX/SPX protocol by default. Starting with Windows NT 4.0, the default became TCP/IP. This has stayed the same for Windows 2000/XP and Windows Server 2003.

NetWare’s legacy protocols (IPX/SPX) aren’t used a lot anymore, since NetWare adopted TCP/IP a few years ago. Unless you have an older version of NetWare that still uses IPX/SPX, it would be a good idea to upgrade the NetWare servers to at least version 5.0, which does support IP.

Applications

Unfortunately, if you have a large investment in application software that was written (or compiled) for a Windows platform or NetWare’s native servers, you will need to purchase new versions of your existing software or purchase new software. If you have internally developed applications for which you have the source code, you might need to make only minor changes and recompile the source code on a Unix/Linux system. The C language (and its descendants) is the programming language of choice for Unix/Linux, so if your in-house applications were written in C, this task may be somewhat easier.

Many major as well as second-tier server and system manufacturers are now marketing systems that include Linux. As the popularity of Linux continues to grow, many vendors have started to think about producing Linux versions of their products as well as Unix versions. You won’t find Microsoft Office there yet, but you will find competing products. If you can use the file conversion capabilities that come with most products of this type, you might find that changing to a new product is not that painful, short of a little user training.

One of the factors helping to fuel the popularity of Linux is Sun’s StarOffice, an integrated office suite designed to provide much of the functionality of Microsoft Office at a fraction of the price. With each new release (StarOffice is now at version 8 or above), compatibility with Microsoft Office has improved, and StarOffice now also supports the OASIS OpenDocument format.

StarOffice has an open-source sibling, OpenOffice 2.0. OpenOffice is available as a free download and offers features similar to those in recent versions of StarOffice, including OASIS OpenDocument compatibility.

StarOffice is available for the following platforms:

Linux (x86)

Solaris Intel

Windows 98, 2000 (SP 2 or higher), XP

Solaris on SPARC

OpenOffice supports the following platforms:

Linux (x86)

Solaris Intel

Windows 98, Me, 2000 (SP 2 or higher), XP, Windows Server 2003

Solaris on SPARC

Mac OS X

The applications provided with Sun’s StarOffice include the following (* feature is also available in OpenOffice 2.0):

StarOffice Writer*—A professional word processing program

StarOffice Calc*—A spreadsheet

StarOffice Impress*—A graphics presentation program

StarOffice Draw*—A graphics drawing program

StarOffice Base*—A database for the suite

StarOffice Schedule—A scheduling application to keep your appointments in order

StarOffice Mail—An email client

StarOffice Discussion—A news reader program

As you can see, StarOffice offers just about the same applications as Microsoft Office. Because of its price and availability on multiple platforms, you might find integrating Linux into an existing Windows environment to be less costly than you had originally anticipated. Or, if you do have a Linux desktop computer, StarOffice is easier to use than many Unix or Linux utilities that provide similar functionality.

OpenOffice is available in several languages, and you’ll even find a version for Windows. So you can run the same office suite for Unix/Linux users as well as for Windows clients on your NetWare network.

If you already have a large investment in Microsoft applications, you can use one of the alternatives to StarOffice or OpenOffice. You can purchase software that emulates Windows and runs some of those applications on a Linux computer.

For example, a company called CodeWeavers (www.codeweavers.com) sells a product called CrossOver Office, available in Standard and Professional editions. A Server edition is available for running office-productivity programs on Linux or Solaris thin clients.

You can download an evaluation copy from its Web site before you decide to make a purchase. If you decide that this product works well on your Linux computers, you’ll find that it is very inexpensive: just under $40 for Standard, and just under $70 for Professional. Although CrossOver Office doesn’t run every Windows application, CodeWeavers is working to add additional applications. Some of the Windows applications depend on the version of the product you buy. The following applications that were written for Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP using CrossOver Office include:

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Microsoft Visio

Microsoft PowerPoint (Windows 2000 version only)

Microsoft Outlook (Windows 2000 version only)

Microsoft Access (Windows 2000 version only)

In addition, some non-Microsoft products are also supported:

Adobe Photoshop

Lotus Notes

Quicken

At the CodeWeavers Web site you can also find a list of applications that can be run, but may encounter a few bugs. These applications are still under development, however, and support for them will be added in future versions of CrossOver Office.

Finding Linux Drivers for Hardware

It wasn’t long ago that trying to find Linux drivers for server and client hardware wasn’t easy. Several trends, however, have made moving to Linux much easier from a hardware perspective. These include

Improved server and desktop PC vendor support for Linux distributions—Many major computer vendors now sell Linux-based servers and desktops. Linux is pre-installed on these systems.

Improved peripheral hardware vendor support for Linux—Many peripheral hardware vendors now offer downloadable device drivers already customized for the most common Linux distributions.

Automatic hardware detection when installing Linux—Many Linux distributions detect and install hardware automatically.

Although you should make sure that Linux support is available for a particular server, network client, or hardware device before you move part or all of your network to Linux, Linux hardware support is no longer a major issue.

Novell Open Enterprise Server

At one time, users who wanted to migrate from Novell NetWare to Linux could do so by using the Caldera NetWare for Linux product. Although SCO Group (previously known as Caldera) no longer produces NetWare for Linux, it is possible to enjoy the best of both the Linux and NetWare worlds with a single official Novell product, Novell Open Enterprise Server.

Novell Open Enterprise Server combines NetWare with SuSE Enterprise Linux (Novell purchased SuSE in 2003). Systems running Novell Open Enterprise Server can continue to use NetWare 6.5, or use NetWare and Linux software, tools, and applications on a single network. Open Enterprise Server offers these and other features and enhancements:

Full implementation of Novell NetWare 6.5 with enhancements

ZENWorks management facilities for NetWare and Linux

Common script management for NetWare, Unix, and Linux

Common management of a mixed network

Python-based agent for script-based updates to NetWare and Linux

Updates to Web and application components such as Apache, JVM, PHP, MySQL, and others

Improvements to Novell Storage Services

Linux and NetWare volume interoperability

Improved printing support

Improved system management

Consistent update mechanism for both NetWare and Linux servers

For more information, see www.novell.com/products/openenterpriseserver/overview.html and www.novell.com/products/openenterpriseserver/docs/whats_new_nw65.pdf.

If you want to move from NetWare to Linux without scrapping your investment in NetWare servers and software, the Novell Open Enterprise Server should be considered.