When you start breaking new ground, praise can come from unusual sources. For example, when asked about his take on the Novell Linux strategy in a recent Computerworld interview, Martin Taylor, the Chief Linux Strategist for Microsoft, identified Novell as Microsoft's greatest Linux competitor. He said, "[Novell has] the best point-to-point stack from the kernel through to the application layer and things that go on top of it." (Computerworld, "Q&A: Microsoft's Linux strategist Martin Taylor,", September 16, 2004.) It's nice to have a major competitor reinforce what Novell has been saying for months—that Novell is in the unique position of offering the industry's most complete range of enterprise-ready Linux technology—from the server to the desktop. Of course, experienced business leaders understand that technology offerings, no matter how complete, do not necessarily translate into viable business solutions. It's equally important to have a clear, logical path for moving from where you are today to where you want to go in the future. For the IT industry, that roadmap is now in place. It's the subject of this Special Edition of Novell Connection. And it's called Novell Open Enterprise Server.
In its most basic form, Novell Open Enterprise Server is an integrated suite of services that leverages the infrastructure strengths of NetWare and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. Open Enterprise Server offers enterprise-class file, print, storage, security, management and collaboration services that run on either the NetWare kernel, the Linux kernel or any combination of both. (See Figure 1.) These services are designed to add value in complex, distributed environments where management and administration requirements span organizational and geographical boundaries. And of course, every aspect of Open Enterprise Server is supported by the proven, capable global ecosystem of Novell.
So exactly what does Novell Open Enterprise Server represent for NetWare customers, Linux customers and Windows customers? What kinds of problems does it solve? And what new business opportunities can it offer? Answers to these questions have to start with a discussion about the benefits Linux can potentially bring to your organization—and how Open Enterprise Server can help you capitalize on those benefits. Analysts agree that Linux has reached new levels of maturity. Linux distributions based on the Linux 2.6 kernel offer significantly improved performance, efficiency, scalability and security. Virtually every major hardware vendor has announced strong support for Linux, and the Linux software ecosystem continues to thrive and develop. The bottom line is that Linux offers businesses of all sizes extraordinary new levels of agility and choice—on servers, desktops and handheld devices.
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Moving Linux to the Center of the Enterprise / However, despite the compelling list of potential benefits, many businesses have not yet been willing to seriously consider Linux for strategic, infrastructure-level solutions. The Gartner Group defines "infrastructure" as "a collection of client devices, servers, storage, networks, databases and middleware supporting the delivery of business applications and IT-enabled business processes." (Emerging Trends in Software Infrastructure, December 8, 2003, David W. McCoy, et al., Document Type: Research Note, Note Number: SPA-21-5210) Because Linux has traditionally lacked a number of the services and capabilities that are critical in this type of environment, it has largely been limited to tactical deployments near the edges of organizations—primarily as low-cost Web and specialized application servers. Novell Open Enterprise Server is attracting so much attention because it finally changes this dynamic—by overcoming the last few inhibitors that have prevented organizations from considering Linux as a viable infrastructure option. (See Figure 2.) Open Enterprise Server makes it possible for
Linux to add tremendous business value to the core of any IT infrastructure, including increased agility and choice, dramatically lower TCO and the ability to avoid being locked in to a single vendor for critical infrastructure services. Open Enterprise Server works at the infrastructure level because it delivers all of the services, capabilities and support that businesses require at their core, including advanced management services, global security capabilities, sophisticated end-user productivity tools, flexible deployment options and enterprise-strength business continuance services. Here's what Novell Open Enterprise Server can offer your business in each of these areas:
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Enterprise-Strength Management / The ability to efficiently control and manage all of the different services in your environment—and grant secure, controlled access to those services—is a critical component of any successful infrastructure solution. Until now, many of these advanced, centralized management capabilities have been missing from Linux offerings. Novell Open Enterprise Server changes that—with complete centralized management capabilities that allow you to control your whole IT infrastructure—and all of the services running on it, including file, print, application support, collaboration, security and storage—from a single location. This includes the kinds of advanced management features today's enterprises demand, such as delegated administration, group-based administration and the ability to proactively manage and monitor services and perform policy-based interventions. Most of these management capabilities are delivered through a new version of Novell iManager, a Web-based console that provides total management flexibility across operating systems and geographical boundaries. With iManager and other Open Enterprise Server management tools, Linux can finally meet the demanding management requirements at the infrastructure level.
Global Security / Protecting sensitive information is obviously another top priority for every organization. But too often, this focus on security can also make it more difficult for people to legitimately access the information they need to do their jobs. Novell Open Enterprise Server—with its built-in identity-based security and access management capabilities—addresses these challenges by making it possible to deliver the right resources and information to the right people, while at the same time strengthening your overall security posture. This allows you to finally align all of your assets, including applications, information and physical facilities, with the needs of your business.
Novell Open Enterprise Server makes it possible to positively establish the identity of every person who requests sensitive information, check the request against established policies and tightly control access based on detailed information about people and their roles. But the advantages of identity management go far beyond security. Establishing identity also provides the foundation for delivering key services, improving individual and group productivity, granting network access and improving compatibility among different systems. The identity management capabilities found in Open Enterprise Server create a single, comprehensive view of user identities across different departments and operating systems, and Open Enterprise Server makes it easy to implement advanced authentication methods, including passwords, smart cards and other biometric identifiers.
End User Productivity / Alternatives and choices are always good for business. But for many years, choice has been sorely lacking in the desktop arena. Novell Open Enterprise Server finally offers intriguing new choices for the desktop—by adding new value for those who choose to continue using Windows and compelling new alternatives for those who don't. With Open Enterprise Server, users can access the same files, desktop tools and networking resources, in exactly the same way, regardless of whether they're running Windows or Linux on the desktop and regardless of what kind of server they're accessing. This consistent, platform-independent access has obvious implications for productivity and support costs. With Open Enterprise Server, you can finally explore the advantages of a practical Linux-based server-to-desktop alternative to Microsoft, and your end users can finally tap into exactly the same critical Novell services—including file access, iPrint, iFolder and many others—regardless of the desktop OS they're running.
Deployment Agility / For more than a year, Novell has touted agility and choice as two of the biggest and most meaningful advantages Linux and open source can offer businesses. Novell Open Enterprise Server brings this concept into sharp, clear focus—with tools that give you the power to accommodate and respond quickly to the constant changes that inevitably take place in every modern enterprise. This starts with sophisticated migration tools that give you the freedom to deploy Open Enterprise Server in a way—and at a pace—that makes sense for your business. Migration to Open Enterprise Server is not an all or nothing proposition, because most of the key components are additive and designed to enhance and co-exist with your existing infrastructure. For example, the version of Novell eDirectory that ships with Open Enterprise Server is backward compatible with earlier versions of Novell Directory Services. Open Enterprise Server includes Novell Identity Manager 2, which allows you to synchronize all of your NT, Active Directory and eDirectory systems. Open Enterprise Server file services integrate seamlessly with your other existing Windows, NetWare, Unix and Linux file systems, so you can create a single, unified file system that provides consistent access from any Linux or Windows desktop. And of course, Open Enterprise Server offers complete freedom to run all of these services on the NetWare kernel, the Linux kernel, or both. These capabilities—and many others—make it possible to create a rich hybrid environment where all of your key infrastructure systems and services interoperate and work well together.
Business Continuance / A few seconds of downtime can cost millions of dollars and have a major negative impact on your company. Unfortunately, the list of serious risks to the health and availability of your key systems continues to grow. In 2003, 82 percent of businesses in the United States reported attacks by Internet viruses and worms. The costs associated with three of the biggest offenders—Blaster, Welchia and SoBig—have already surpassed US$2 billion. (Computer Economics, "August 2003-Worst Virus Season Ever?," August 2003.) Internet threats represent one type of serious and growing risk to your key systems, but there are certainly many others—from internal attacks by disgruntled employees to natural disasters. Open Enterprise Server can add new business continuance capabilities to your IT infrastructure that address these serious availability issues.
First, Novell Open Enterprise Server has a number of interesting implications when it comes to securing your organization from viruses, worms, hackers and other Internet threats. In a recent Evans Data survey of software developers, 92 percent of their Linux machines had never been infected by malicious code. Fewer than 7 percent of the respondents had experienced hacker intrusions on their Linux systems. And nearly 78 percent of Linux developers claim they have never been hacked—almost double the rate among developers on other platforms (Evans Data Corporation, More Than 90% Of Linux Systems Have Never Been Infected By A Virus, New Evans Data Survey.) When you use Open Enterprise Server to introduce Linux into your infrastructure, you automatically gain the benefits of this natural resistance to hackers and malicious code. Novell Open Enterprise Server also includes all of the high-availability, service failover and disaster recovery capabilities you would expect from an enterprise-strength infrastructure solution, including advanced clustering, infrastructure failover services and geo-site failover capabilities. But one of the most interesting high-availability features—and one that is attracting a great deal of attention—is the ability of Open Enterprise Server to create hybrid clusters that allow NetWare and Linux to co-exist in the same cluster. These unique hybrid clusters have the potential to take high availability to new levels. Suppose a particularly damaging worm were to infect a cluster of Linux machines. Under normal circumstances, every machine on the cluster would be affected, essentially eliminating traditional failover options. However, in a hybrid cluster that includes both Linux and NetWare servers, the infected Linux machines could automatically failover to the healthy NetWare machines that are immune to the threat. Essentially, Open Enterprise Server makes it possible to create a new breed of clusters that are essentially immune to platform-specific threats.
A Natural Next Step for NetWare Users / For longtime NetWare users, Novell Open Enterprise Server represents an intriguing blend of trusted services from the past and new opportunities for the future. Past NetWare upgrades have always delivered a generous helping of new features, and Open Enterprise Server is no exception. There are plenty of new capabilities for long-time NetWare devotees to get excited about, including enhancements to the NetWare kernel, new clustering and storage capabilities, improvements to NetWare file and print services, new management features and much more. But Open Enterprise Server is different than past NetWare upgrades, because it also provides a clear, logical path toward a more flexible and agile future that includes open source. Open Enterprise Server preserves and enhances the traditional NetWare experience for those who wish to build on their existing NetWare infrastructure, while also making it surprisingly easy to introduce Linux—with all of its advanced application capabilities—with minimal disruptions.
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Here's an example of how this process might work in an organization where people have traditionally accessed NetWare services running on NetWare servers using the Novell Client32 for Windows. With Novell Open Enterprise Server, these same users can use the same Windows client to access identical Novell services running on a Linux server. Later, if you decide to migrate some or all of these users to a Linux desktop solution, they can continue to access all of the Novell services running on NetWare servers. And finally, after your server and desktop migration is complete, people can access Novell services running on a Linux server using a Linux desktop. This complete freedom to access the same Novell services—regardless of what desktop and server operating systems you're running—gives you unprecedented flexibility as you look for ways to add Linux to your infrastructure environment. (See Figure 3.)
Excellent new migration tools also make the actual migration process easier and more efficient. The migration tool that ships with Novell Open Enterprise Server supports migrations from NetWare 4.2, 5.1, 6.0 and 6.5, as well as Windows NT4 and Windows 2000/2003. With Open Enterprise Server, you have the option of migrating users, groups, file systems (including trustees and ownerships), containers and printers to either the new NetWare kernel or a Linux kernel. Of course, a significant part of any migration—especially if you're moving to Linux—means having the services people expect waiting for them after the process is complete. Open Enterprise Server provides that soft landing spot by delivering a complete, tested set of enterprise-level Linux services that your NetWare users already feel completely comfortable using.
Hybrid clusters also create interesting new migration possibilities for long-time NetWare customers. Normally, moving terabytes of data from NetWare to Linux would be a daunting prospect—even using the most sophisticated migration tools. With hybrid clustering, you have the option of simply adding Linux servers to hybrid NetWare/Linux clusters gradually, so the migration takes place naturally without any disruptions or downtime. All of these benefits combine to provide an ideal next step for NetWare customers. Novell Open Enterprise Server offers impressive new capabilities for businesses that decide to stay with NetWare, a simple, painless path for businesses that wish to explore Linux and a remarkable set of enhanced services that run on both. (See Figure 4.)
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A Smart Alternative to Windows / Novell Open Enterprise Server means good things for NetWare users, but it also has a great deal to offer organizations with a significant Windows presence. A major analyst estimates that 57 percent of all companies have plans to introduce Linux into their Windows environments, and Open Enterprise Server makes that process more practical and cost-effective. First, Open Enterprise Server migration tools fully support Windows, making it possible to move data, users and other resources without a hitch. Open Enterprise Server also ships with Novell Identity Manager 2, which allows you to synchronize all of your Windows and Novell directories to create a more unified and centralized identity foundation. And thanks to MONO, Open Enterprise Server even makes it possible to take advantage of Microsoft's .Net development tools—and run .NET applications—on the Linux platform. With Open Enterprise Server, Linux and Windows can—for the first time—coexist flawlessly together in the same IT environment. This gives you unprecedented freedom to explore the advantages of Linux, add open source solutions to your infrastructure where they make sense and maybe even consolidate your whole IT environment whether you currently use NetWare, Windows or both.
Linux has clearly matured to a point where it has a great deal to offer in an IT infrastructure. Novell Open Enterprise Server overcomes the final barriers to making Linux a viable option for your IT infrastructure by delivering unmatched security, common management tools, and reliable enterprise services—and by making the transition to Linux practical and cost effective. The ultimate result is an environment that gives you total freedom to choose the solutions that work best for you from the server to the desktop, enhances the agility and flexibility of your whole IT infrastructure and brings all the advantages of low cost open source solutions to the heart of your organization. 
